My 2nd cookbook, The Chinese Way

a technique-based cookbook on how to cook Chinese!!!!!!

May 06, 2024

I am so delighted to share my second cookbook, The Chinese Way: classic techniques, fresh flavors, with you!! I am doing personally signed preorders from Brookline Booksmith (perfect for gifts!!!!!). Hold on to your receipts, because more goodies are to come if you preorder. Preorders are actually very helpful for authors, because they help publishers gauge the initial success of the book. So I would love love love if you would consider pre-ordering!

Too often, I hear that Chinese cooking is intimidating. That they don’t have access to the right wok, the right brand of soy sauce, black vinegar, a steamer, or Chinese spices. The truth is, you don’t need much to cook Chinese. What does “cooking Chinese” mean to you? To me, it’s about the approach to cooking.

My first book, My Shanghai, was an homage to the more traditional recipes I grew up with. The classics that represent old Shanghai. These traditional dishes will always hold a special place in my heart: not only the taste memory but also everything else associated with it: the warmth of my mom’s kitchen, the feeling of arriving home. However, when I make these dishes, the way I make, say, hong shao rou in my Boston kitchen won’t be exactly the same way my mom makes it in her California kitchen, which isn’t the exact way her parents did in Shanghai. Yet, these can still hold sentiment, nostalgia, and taste memory. We can still cherish a dish even if we cook it our own specific way. The way we cook is so influenced by our environment and moment in time: there is no way a dish doesn’t evolve, even one passed down through generations. You can never exactly replicate the food of the past, simply because food is a product of its environment, and that environment includes you, in your kitchen, at that moment in time.

This book is about the Chinese food I cook everyday. It’s not traditional, but it is most definitely Chinese.

“In The Chinese Way, Betty Liu showcases a familiar mode of cooking in our family—applying Chinese techniques and a search for vibrantly varied textures and flavors to both traditional and non-traditional ingredients. Her inventive recipes show us that ‘cooking Chinese’ is an ethos that any home cook can learn. This book is a joy to read and cook from!”―Kaitlin, Sarah, Bill, and Judy Leung, New York Times bestselling authors of The Woks of Life

“Like Betty Liu’s first cookbook, the remarkable My Shanghai, this book is a treasure. The photographs are beautiful, the recipes are seductive, Betty’s instructions are crystalline, and there’s something to love, learn and savor on each page. The Chinese Way teaches us traditional methods of cooking, gives us enticing recipes both classic and new, and then sets us free to use each lesson in our own kitchens in our own way. It’s a brilliant way to teach and a delicious way to learn.”―Dorie Greenspan, New York Times bestselling author of Baking with Dorie

In this book, I hope to empower you to cook Chinese without the pressure to cook traditionally. Through the lens of a 2^nd-generation Chinese American home cook who grew up with homestyle Chinese cooking, I want to teach you Chinese cooking. Adopting the medical way of teaching, see one, do one, teach one, I first introduce you to a classic cooking technique (such as steam) and show you how it’s used in traditional dishes, then show you how we can use this technique non-traditionally. Then, go forth and do it yourself! Many of these recipes are endlessly riffable. After all, whether you’re stir frying pork with chive flowers or pancetta with cauliflower – isn’t it still stir-frying a protein with a vegetable?

I’m excited to show you 8 techniques I consider essential to Chinese homecooking. With gorgeous illustrations from Justine and photographs by yours truly, I hope this book will bring you joy and discovery. A few of my favorite recipes include: caramelized shallot bing (wrap), citrus soy pickled lotus root (pickle), scallion oil potatoes (infuse), chorizo over tofu (sauce), corn mochi fritters (fry), red braised squash (braise), and dashi-steamed mushrooms (steam).

A sneak peek of what’s to come: