Lady M

Welcome to December (Cook) Book Club! As we announced in our most recent book club post, we decided to switch it up from a regular book to a cookbook this month. We selected Every Grain of Rice written by always impressive Fuchsia Dunlop. Dunlop is a British woman who is an expert in Chinese cooking.

She was the first westerner to ever train as a chef at Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, that in itself is an amazing feat! Dunlop has written a beautiful memoir call Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, along with several cookbooks, each focusing on a regional Chinese cuisine. Land of Fish and Rice: Recipes from the Culinary Heart of China is all about Shanghai cuisine, and The Food of Sichuan explores Sichuan cuisine. We selected Every Grain of Rice, which focuses on simple Chinese home cooking, for the beautiful ease and approachability which it offers. From fresh oyster omelettes to "emergency midnight noodles," every dish we've made from this cookbook has been very well received!

Many of the recipes call for only a few ingredients and while some longer recipes might require a trip to an Asian supermarket, there are many you can easily make with a trip to the "regular" supermarket such as this tofu-avocado dish we just posted about.

We are also announcing our January cookbook club pick today: Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking!! Maangchi has the best known Korean food blog (and is super famous on YouTube for her cooking videos). She has been called the "The Korean Julia Child" by the New York Times, and the cookbook (which just came out last month) has already been selected by Amazon as one of the best cookbooks of 2019.

For those who love Korean food (*raises hand*) but have been intimidated by the seemingly obscure and hard to find ingredients, fret no longer! Maangchi breaks down every essential ingredient with step by step photos. Most importantly, her book is fun and warm and just really makes you want to cook. Let's get to it, shall we?

See you back here soon!
- Lady M