The wok : recipes and techniques

Title:

Author:

Summary:

"The obsessive mastermind behind one of the decade's best-selling cookbooks returns with the definitive English-language guide to the science and technique of cooking in a wok. J. Kenji López-Alt's debut cookbook, The Food Lab, revolutionized home cooking, selling more than half a million copies with its science-based approach to everyday foods. And for fast, fresh cooking for his family, there's one pan López-Alt reaches for more than any other: the wok. Whether stir-frying, deep frying, steaming, simmering, or braising, the wok is the most versatile pan in the kitchen. Once you master the basics--the mechanics of a stir-fry, and how to get smoky wok hei at home--you're ready to cook home-style and restaurant-style dishes from across Asia and the United States, including Kung Pao Chicken, Pad Thai, and San Francisco-Style Garlic Noodles. López-Alt also breaks down the science behind beloved Beef Chow Fun, fried rice, dumplings, tempura vegetables or seafood, and dashi-simmered dishes. Featuring more than 200 recipes--including simple no-cook sides--explanations of knife skills and how to stock a pantry, and more than 1,000 color photographs, The Wok provides endless ideas for brightening up dinner."-- Provided by publisher.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

658 pages : color illustrations ; 28 cm.

Genre:

Cookbooks.

Subject Term:

Cooking, Chinese.

Cooking -- Technique.

Wok cooking.

Publisher:

W.W. Norton & Company, Independent Publishers Since 1923,

Publication Date:

2022

ISBN:

9780393541212

Publication Information:

New York : W.W. Norton & Company, Independent Publishers Since 1923, [2022]

Call Number:

641.5951 LOPEZALT

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003529511	New Adult Nonfiction	641.5951 LOPEZALT	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

#1 New York Times Bestseller * #1 Washington Post Bestseller * One of Time's 10 Most Anticipated Cookbooks of 2022

From J. Kenji López-Alt, the author of the best-selling cookbook The Food Lab : the definitive guide to the science and technique of cooking in a wok.

J. Kenji López-Alt's debut cookbook, The Food Lab , revolutionized home cooking, selling more than half a million copies with its science-based approach to everyday foods. And for fast, fresh cooking for his family, there's one pan López-Alt reaches for more than any other: the wok.

Whether stir-frying, deep frying, steaming, simmering, or braising, the wok is the most versatile pan in the kitchen. Once you master the basics--the mechanics of a stir-fry, and how to get smoky wok hei at home--you're ready to cook home-style and restaurant-style dishes from across Asia and the United States, including Kung Pao Chicken, Pad Thai, and San Francisco-Style Garlic Noodles. López-Alt also breaks down the science behind beloved Beef Chow Fun, fried rice, dumplings, tempura vegetables or seafood, and dashi-simmered dishes.

Featuring more than 200 recipes--including simple no-cook sides--explanations of knife skills and how to stock a pantry, and more than 1,000 color photographs, The Wok provides endless ideas for brightening up dinner.

Author Notes

J. Kenji López-Alt is the managing culinary director of SeriousEats.com, author of the column The Food Lab, and a columnist for Cooking Light. His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, was published in 2015.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The intricacies of wok culture are brilliantly explored in this definitive offering from chef and New York Times cooking columnist López-Alt (The Food Lab). While the more than 200 recipes are nothing to scoff at, what makes this a stunner is the extensive coverage of cooking techniques and culinary history. López-Alt dispenses advice on purchasing the right supplies ("Get yourself a 14-inch, flat-bottomed, carbon steel wok"); offers an array of useful tips, such as how to stir-fry on an electric burner; and even parses the effects of condensation on food when it is tossed in steamy air. Thus armed, the home cook can whip up dishes like moo shu mushrooms or slippery egg with beef. Subsequent chapters dig into rice bowls (among them gyudon, with its toppings of shaved beef rib and poached egg); serve up noodles hot, cold, and stir-fried; and provide scores of fried and braised options. Along the way, q&a's and sidebars help answer common questions--including whether or not MSG is bad (in moderation, it's fine)--and step-by-step photos make easy work of more complicated tasks, such as making ultrathin Mandarin pancakes two at a time. López-Alt's conversational prose never fails to entertain, even when detailing how the alkaline properties of baking soda are "the secret to plumper, snappier shrimp." Readers will be cooking with gas thanks to this fiery and insightful work. (Mar.)

Library Journal Review

Clocking in at over 600 pages, this cookbook is a fitting follow-up to López-Alt's James Beard Award-winning The Food Lab, which covered an array of techniques but no wok-based recipes. Using a similar, science-informed approach, López-Alt demonstrates here not just how to use a wok but why certain tools, techniques, and approaches work better than others. The recipes include Chinese-, Korean-, Thai-, Vietnamese-, and Japanese-inspired dishes and incorporate precise directions for preparation, cooking techniques, and kitchen organization. An extensive introduction provides guidance on selecting a wok and stocking a pantry with essential and optional ingredients. Sidebars, reference charts, and ingredient-specific guidance ensure that budding chefs will develop the skill and understanding to confidently produce stir-fried, steamed, braised, and deep-fried dishes. Readers interested in the science behind a successful wok-based meal will appreciate the way López-Alt experiments with techniques to determine how to achieve the best results in a home kitchen. A section of no-cook sides at the end of the cookbook ensures that even a wok novice can produce a balanced menu. VERDICT López-Alt's latest is an essential addition to any cookbook collection, providing both insights and inspiration for cooking.--Rebecca Brody