• craftycarmen on March 22, 2026

  When restaurant chefs write cookbooks, I’ve found that those books are not always scaled properly for the home cook, which I imagine is their target audience. This is one of those books. I highly recommend reading the ingredients carefully and using your best judgment on when/what to scale down. For instance, the amount of marinade and batter for fried chicken is quite excessive. There are two recipes I came across that have the same amount of marinade/batter, but one has double the chicken. And even then, the marinade/batter is still excessive, meant for a much larger batch.

• MattKG on April 25, 2024

  I really wish the measurements for the fermented Chinese broccoli were in weight. Every fermentation recipe i have used that has ended with good results has been in weight. The amount of Chinese broccoli to use is in...bunches? I had 2 large prepackaged bags that were unbunched. The most aggravating thing is, the yield of the product is given in GRAMS! why not just do the whole recipe in weight? Trying out the fried chicken this weekend. The recipe looks pretty great on paper. Very excited. UPDATE: fermented Chineee broccoli finished fermenting today, and there was really no pickled flavour to it. I can take chili crisp in small doses, but it completely obliterated any flavour nuances that were developed through the fermentation process. I'll probably just use my Old Faithful Kim chi recipe with the appropriate green subbed in next time. .

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sesame Caesar salad

  • dmdmdmmm on January 25, 2026

    This salad is sooo good! Was a hit during Christmas dinner.

  • TheresaH on February 20, 2026

    This salad is really good! Will make again.

• Sautéed cabbage with bacon

  • Kerreydp on February 02, 2025

    This recipe could have used some editing. After rehydrating and slicing the shiitakes, there is no further mention of what to do with the shiitakes or with the reserved soaking water.

• Black sesame noodles with mushrooms

  • eclairea on July 31, 2025

    This was interesting! Not as much of a flavour bomb as I was expecting, but it was not bad. Lots of steps for not as great a reward as I hoped.

• Auntie Leah's corn soup

  • jaxcap on September 27, 2023

    This was fine but not the best version of this soup I've ever had.

• Pei's white mapo tofu

  • eclairea on September 25, 2025

    This recipe redeemed the book for me! Tasty and quick, will make again. Ended up using ground pork instead of chicken because that’s what I had, and for some reason had trouble finding soft tofu so used medium firm. Still good!

• Big chicken buns with fu ru mayo, cilantro, and scallions

  • craftycarmen on March 23, 2026

    This was good. For the marinade, make sure to scale down on the ingredients! I used 1/4 cup shio koji for 4 chicken thighs and that was definitely enough. You do not need 1 pint! I also scaled down the batter, but kept the sweet potato starch amount. Also, I do not recommend liberally seasoning the chicken with salt like it says to because the fu ru mayo is already salty. I made this mistake and it made it all too salty.

• Fried chicken with imperial sauce

  • MattKG on April 30, 2024

    I would 100% use the marinade again for fried chicken. It's absolutely amazing. I didn't find the coarse sweet potato starch added anything to the recipe (supposed to create craggy crunchy bits), and actually didn't cook at all. The breading had a noticeably chalky texture. Wasn't a Dan of the imperial sauce, BUT that's probably on me. I am allergic to shellfish and couldn't find my usual vegetarian oyster sauce, so I subbed in half the amount called for with fermented black bean paste. My takeaway: use the marinade, but find a different breading and sauce.

• Milk bread and buns

  • yasmine_8pjoga on October 07, 2025

    Dough was WAY overproofed after leaving in fridge 24 hours. Would do 8-12 hours max next time.

• Scallion pancakes

  • ethedens on March 23, 2023

    I was so frustrated trying to follow this recipe. The dough did not deflate like it was supposed to, eight dough balls magically became four partway through the instructions, and I had trouble with both the rolling technique and with tearing.

• Blueberry mochi muffins

  • eclairea on July 27, 2025

    Sadly a poorly written recipe! The second I had added all the ingredients into my largest mixing bowl, I knew the bowl was already too small to mix everything by hand. Recipe says it yields 12, but I laughed as I looked down at my batter after already putting 12 in the oven - there is at least more for minimum 12 more! They turned out just okay out of the oven. If I made again, I’d use my stand mixer, but I have plenty of other mochi recipes from other books that are further up the list than this one. Would love to know if anyone else has better luck with this recipe than me!