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Cookbooks We Love: ‘The Woks of Life’ brims with outstanding Chinese and Chinese American recipes

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By Leslie Brenner

The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family by Bill, Judy, Sarah and Kaitlin Leung, Clarkson Potter, $35

“The best dumplings I’ve ever had.” That’s how my son Wylie described the Pork, Mushroom and Cabbage dumplings from The Woks of Life — the debut cookbook from the Leung family behind the website of the same name. I’d made the dumplings last month and frozen most of a batch, anticipating he’d enjoy them when he visited from Southern California for the holidays.

That’s right — Wylie lives in California, which means he has access to the best Chinese restaurant scenes in the U.S., and one of the best outside of China. He loves dumplings, and eats a lot of them. That his favorite so far came from The Woks of Life is a meaningful endorsement.

Want great Chinese food? You don’t have to live on the West Coast or restaurant-rich New York to get it. Whether it’s Chinese American restaurant classics you’re after, home-style Cantonese or Shanghainese dishes or many other regional styles, you can make it at home. The Woks of Life is a great guide: fun, approachable, relatable and highly user-friendly.

Backgrounder

In 2013, the Leungs — a Chinese American family living in New Jersey — created their blog to document their family history through recipes. It grew an impressive following and evolved into the preeminent United States-based Chinese cooking site. We spotlighted The Woks of Life in a story two years ago, then featured the eldest Leung daughter, Sarah, on our first Makers, Shakers & Mavens live video event. After we finished the live event, Sarah told me she and her family were working on a cookbook, and I waited eagerly for it for nearly two years; it was published in early November, quickly became a best-seller and garnered a ton of press. The New York Times, Bon Appétit and the San Francisco Chronicle all wrote wonderful stories about it.

Why we love it

The book distills the winning personality of the site into a tangible, approachable, delightful and eminently useful volume. A good part of the fun is getting to know the family: Judy, a native of Shanghai; Bill, a Chinese-American whose parents owned a Chinese restaurant in New Jersey called Sun Hing; and daughters Sarah and Kaitlin, who bring contemporary sensibility, curiosity and enthusiasm to the family’s life-project.

I particularly enjoyed an essay by Bill depicting “The Friday Night Rush at Sun Hing,” which segues into a recipe for Beef and Broccoli — one of the “Special House Dishes” on the Sun Hing menu reproduced in the essay.

Organized by type of dish (dim sum; starters; noodles; rice; poultry & eggs; pork, beef & lamb; etc.), the book is an enticing mix of those Chinese-American restaurant dishes I’m constantly craving, plus regional Chinese specialties and Chinese home cooking as practiced by the Leungs.

Throughout the book, there’s plenty of helpful hand-holding, including things like the Leungs’ preferred brand of light soy sauce (Pearl River Bridge) and how to prevent food from sticking to your wok (before adding oil, heat it till it just starts to smoke).

Mastering technique

I also like the fact that when a video is most useful, QR codes lead you to instructions on the website — such as “How to Fold a Chinese Dumpling (4 Techniques!).” I doubt I could have achieved all those pleats without watching.

So, yes, back to those dumplings!

The filling is easy to achieve: Vigorously stir together ground pork and seasonings, then stir in dried shiitakes that you’ve rehydrated, chopped and stir-fried, plus chopped napa cabbage (which you’ve salted, rested and squeezed).

Put a spoonful of the filling in the center of a round, Shanghai-style dumpling wrapper, moisten the edges, fold it in half and make pleats as you seal it at the top. But even if you seal them simply without pleating, they’re delicious. The book gives directions on how to steam, boil or pan-fry them; our adaptation calls for steaming.

The recipe makes about 6 dozen dumplings, which (again) freeze very well; pack and stash in the freezer before they’re cooked. Steam and enjoy some right away; freeze the rest for another day. Ten or 11 minutes takes them straight from frozen to hot, tender and enticing.

Assembling the dumplings is a great cold-weather project — one that’s perfect for Lunar New Year, which will be here before you know it. (The year of the rabbit begins on Sunday, January 22.) Traditional for the holiday, dumplings represent wealth, as they’re shaped like Chinese silver or gold ingots. Making them at home is also said to be good for chopping away bad luck.

Next time I make them, I’ll try fashioning homemade wrappers. Complete instructions are included in the book, but basically it’s 1 1/3 cups of tepid water slowly stirred into 4 cups of all-purpose flour, kneaded about 10 minutes until it’s smooth, rested 1 hour, then rolled into 18-gram rounds. (If you’re that level of cooking geek, you’ll surely want to purchase the book.) Not quite there yet? Making these dumplings — or one of the recipes that follows — may well hook you.

An easy, healthy, delicious stir-fry

Looking for something much simpler to achieve? This quick stir-fry has been in the Leung family’s rotation for as long as they can remember, according to the headnote in the book, so I had to try it. For me there was a bonus: I love pickled mustard greens; I’m always picking up plastic containers of it when I go to Chinese supermarkets. I never know what to do with it, so I usually wind up just eating it straight out of the container. This dish makes great use of them.

The stir-fry starts with frozen edamame — another fine thing to keep in your freezer. Stir-fry it for two or three minutes, then stir-fry ginger, chiles, pickled mustard greens, garlic and cubes of pressed tofu, add back in the edamame and a quickly stirred-together seasoning sauce. Done! Heathy! Delicious!

Another Leung family favorite: Cantonese Steamed Fish

“No fish preparation has played a bigger role on our dinner table than Cantonese steamed fish,” writes Bill Leung in the book’s headnote for this recipe. The flavor profile is a classic Cantonese combo of ginger, scallions, cilantro and soy sauce. It’s one I’ve been improvising my entire cooking life; the Leung’s recipe finally gave me the right technique: sizzling the ginger, scallion and herbs in hot oil and pouring it over the fish only after it has been steamed. It also gave me the idea of using branzino, which means I can find it — along with all the other ingredients — in my neighborhood supermarket.

Oh, and whole steamed fish is also traditional for lunar new year –– new year’s eve in particular.

You’ve gotta try this

My favorite recipe in The Woks of Life cookbook (so far!) is what I reach for when I’m craving American Chinese restaurant comfort food: Shrimp in Lobster Sauce. To achieve it, start by blanching ground pork, then rinsing it; that gives depth and texture to the sauce you’ll build on it, but keeps it clean. Stir-fry that with shrimp and garlic, add Shaoxing wine, then chicken broth, peas and seasonings. Simmer, add a cornstarch slurry to thicken, then add, without mixing it in just yet, beaten egg and chopped scallions. Let the egg set briefly on top, then quickly fold in the egg so it forms ribbons in the dish rather than dissipating.

The dish — one of our favorites made from cookbooks last year — is delightful and rewarding. The book recommends serving it with pork fried rice, a dreamy combo to be sure (you could make this fabulous and simpler Yangzhou Fried Rice if you don’t want to go to the effort of making char siu pork). Steamed white rice is lovely as well; I happen to also love the dish with plain old steamed brown rice — a dear, old friend I’ll be spending quality time with as I try to eat as healthy as possible this month.

RECIPE: Woks of Life Shrimp in Lobster Sauce

Still wanna make

So many things! Starting with Garlic Chive and Shrimp Dumplings. I’ve spent some time on this classic har gow variation before; it requires a challenging handmade wrapper made from tapioca starch. I’m hoping The Woks of Life’s hand-holding will make me a champ. Also Classic Scallion Pancakes, Chili Oil Wontons, Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup, Shanghai Cold Noodles, Special Golden Fried Rice (where the grains are coated in egg yolk before cooking), Chinese Crispy Salted Duck, Beef and Broccoli, Shanghai Street-Stall Wonton Soup, Hot & Sour Soup.

Yep, it’s a keeper

The Woks of Life has already found a permanent spot on the Chinese essentials area of my shelf. Congratulations to the Leung family on a fabulous achievement, and thank you for giving us lovers of Chinese American cooking such a valuable and delightful volume!