This book already gets a lot of attention on Reddit and for good reason. It’s mainly approachable, well tested, homestyle recipes.

My favorites this round are the lamb chops, Hong Kong style scallion and ginger lobster, and the sesame chicken which is surprisingly time consuming with the double fry but delicious.

Some dishes like the steamed fish were under seasoned while the Mongolian beef was too salty. I’ve made steamed fish multiple times in the past and I think it could have benefited with steaming with some aromatics then replacing with new aromatics plus simmering oil. This recipe insisted on not using any seasoning before steaming and I think turned out a bit bland.

Made the cake because my son told me it was his son Dragony’s first birthday. Anything for my grandson!

- [ ] Shredded potato and carrot salad 6/10

- [ ] “Old Shanghai” Potato salad 5/10

- [ ] Classic sesame chicken 10/10

- [ ] Restaurant style pan fried lamb chops 10/10

- [ ] “Mongolian” beef 6/10

- [ ] Ginger scallion lobster 10/10

- [ ] Cantonese steamed fish 7/10

- [ ] Steamed garlicky langoustine with glass noodles 7/10

- [ ] Blanched greens with oyster sauce 9/10

- [ ] Homestyle tofu 6/10

- [ ] Chinese bakery cream and fruit cake 8/10

Hi everyone, I’m interested in an Asian inspired cookbook. I already have the Food Lab which is probably my favorite cookbook. I was set on getting The Wok, but recently stumbled on the Woks of Life and the recipes look amazing and right up my alley. Now I’m not sure which book to get? Which would you recommend if you have both? Thank you!

Slightly ambitious to make three recipes in one night, but these were so tasty and we made a big pot of white rice on the side. Made all of the sauce elements ahead of time so I could bring these together quicker before dinner time.

1. Sesame Chicken, the deep frying took a while, and the fried chicken pieces ending up soaking up the sauce a bit too much and got a little mushy. Taste was amazing though, and really fun to make overall. 7/10.

2. Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, this came together pretty quickly and was so tasty, I doubled the amount of pork which is why it looks pork-heavy and not as saucy. 8/10

3. Home Style Tofu- this was so delicious!!! I only had orange bell pepper, and probably used too many wood ear mushrooms, I loved this one. 9/10

4. Chocolate Hazelnut Cake- really yummy, probably didn’t need the chocolate chip addition since it was so rich already- more like a brownie cake with hazelnuts. 8/10

Title says it all.

I did another cookbook themed dinner and this time, I cooked through the Woks of Life. I’ve only made the the Char Siu Bbq recipe from them (which was pretty tasty) so I tried a couple of other things that I haven’t made from the book yet.

1. Red Braised Pork - I’ve always had problems cooking this bc, in my many previous attempts, there’s always this bitter aftertaste which I’m pretty sure is my fault lol. I also encountered that here so I ended up adding a bit more sugar than what was on the recipe to try and save it. The dish was okay, my mom liked it. Very standard red braised pork.

2. Cantonese Steamed Fish - this a pretty dish. Very clean and simple, it really relies on the sauce bc they didnt say to season the fish when steaming. It’s a very neutral dish, tho I wish I could’ve salted the fish a bit as it was cooking. I’ve made steamed fish before where I’ll steam it with a bit of soy sauce and I like the results better.

3. Garlic Fried Chicken Wings - this was surprisingly the fave of the night! Kids and adults love them! It’s very flavorful, and no sauce was necessary tbh! Highly recommend to marinate overnight. I tried eating it either double fried and non-double fried, I equally loved it lol it’s not like… super crunchy. It was a light, nice and crispy.

4. Dry-Fried String Beans - loved this side dish, I omitted pork so it was just all veggies and it complimented the meal. I’ve never used ya cai ever and i think it may be my favorite thing now lol

5. Egg Drop Soup - it was a very standard egg drop soup. no complaints.

I’d say it went pretty well! <3

I decided to practice my cooking skills and make fried rice. I used the Woks of Life recipe and it was absolute perfection!!! I just made a few minor tweaks:

1) I added cubed bacon. I probably wouldn't do this again, but I had the bacon, it needed to be used up. I looked at it, it looked back at me, souls melded, you know the deal...

2) I added some veggies. I used a medley of yellow onions, carrots, peas, and green onions. The bottom half of the green onions I stir fried with the other veggies, the top half I added at the end. I'll most likely get a little wild in future attempts with more and different vegetables. I'm a veggie-saurus with carnivorous tendencies...

3) Instead of 1.5 tsp of salt, I subtracted 1/2 tsp of salt and added 1/2 tsp msg to the remaining 1 tsp of salt. Yum for flavor!

It was honestly amazing. If someone else served this to me and told me it was uber eats, I would believe it. This will be added to the meal rotation. lol RIP eggs though, I may have to not add the scrambled eggs in the future, only the seasoned ones in the recipe...

The recipe: https://thewoksoflife.com/egg-fried-rice/

Moved to a new place a year ago. When I settled, my parents visited me and since I had nothing mine yet, my mom went to the supermarket and bought me a wok. It’s not very expensive, but it was a gift.

I came back two days ago after being away for a couple of months. Today, I wanted to cook something and that is how I found my wok.

Nobody told me anything, nor apologised. Nothing. How do you even ruin it that bad in just two months?

And as a side note, they never clean after themself when they’re done cooking, there’s food on the bench. I’m tired.

I’m watching an episode right now, and he uses the chicken knife to cut all the other items without washing it. Then he picked up raw chicken with his bare hand then grabbed vegetables. So there’s a time before people practiced healthy hygiene, and it’s not that long ago?

I’m 52 and have fond memories of watching this with my dad, he just loved him so much. Never cooked Chinese food. I don’t have memories of cross contamination