Beef With String Beans and Sweet Pepper

This is my first official experiment in my quest to create accessible, simple recipes for those who are new to cooking Chinese foods, and it came about because I had a piece of beef top round thawed that needed to be cooked. I also had some string beans and a sweet red bell pepper sitting […]

Cooking With the Staple Ingredients of the Chinese Pantry

After my rant on the inadequate editorial treatment of Asian recipes in Cook’s Illustrated, a number of people commented that there was a great need for Chinese recipes that used a minimum of unfamiliar ingredients, used raw materials primarily available at the average American grocery store and yet which taught the neophyte cook how to […]

Inspired by Kylie Kwong: Bok Choy With Oyster Sauce, Ginger and Fermented Black Beans

Now that I have posted a list of basic Chinese pantry items, I think the next step is to create a series of simple recipes using a minimum of ingredients which just about anyone can recreate. The goal is to simplify Chinese cooking for Americans who have limited access to Asian markets while still making […]

Weekend Kat Blogging: To Boldly Go…

…too far.
This photograph gets filed under, “Oh, my God, I cannot believe what pathetic geeks my parents are.”
Later, when Kat is in her early teens, she is going to desperately try and hide every copy of this photograph in existence. I just know it.
Oh, well.
In our defense, though, in truth, this silliness […]

From Simple Chinese Cooking: Chicken with Cashews

Chicken with cashews is a perennial favorite on the menu of Chinese restaurants all over the world.
Being that I love both chicken and cashews, by all rights I should love it.
However, far too often in my experience, it is a disappointing dish. Overcooked, bland chicken and soggy cashews drowning in puddles of oil […]