The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji López-Alt

The Wok: Recipes and Techniques Reviews

• 
  Julie

  The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji López-Alt is a 2022 W.W. Norton Company publication.
  
  Absolutely THE best cookbook I’ve picked up in a long time! Kenji is a popular chef and food writer and has a YouTube channel with an astronomical following. This new cookbook, obviously, is centered around recipes and food preparation using the versatile Wok.
  
  This book is packed with mouth-watering recipes- naturally- but the book could also serve as cooking class, it is so chock full of information and lessons on how to use your Wok- such as:
  
  The science behind the way the Wok works, the type of Wok you should buy, how to season your wok, must have knives, spices to keep on hand, how to slice, and seed, vegetables, and in-depth information about ingredients- like MSG and Glutamic acid, the best way to freeze food, and the right oils to use for the best results.
  
  All this fabulous information is packed in between pages and pages of in-depth recipes, which also includes color photographs.
  
  This cookbook is awesome and is one my husband and I will use frequently and refer to often.
  
  The author is so knowledgeable and explains things in such an easy-to-understand manner, it makes this book both fun and informative.
  
  After learning how to use the Wok properly, and following Kenji’s advice, your recipes will be professional quality too!
  
  Overall, this cookbook has a wonderful presentation and layout. I learned so much reading it, and can’t wait to try out these tantalizing recipes!
• 
  Toni

  Update: Received the print book on pub day, and it’s gorgeous!
  
  Kenji has no competitors in his field and he wants to share everything he knows with everyone so they can enjoy eating and cooking as he does.
  
  His first cookbook, The Food Lab, was and is stellar, our own personal copy has so many bookmarks, sticky notes, and food stains, that it's beloved like a child's favorite stuffed animal.
  
  I have a strong feeling The Wok will join its sibling in the same manner. I know many people 'highly anticipating' this cookbook, my husband included.
  Well done Sir, oustanding!
  
  Thank you to W.W. Norton & Co. and Edelweiss for the egalley.
• 
  Nelson Minar

  Kenji is one of my favorite food people. His Serious Eats articles, his first book “The Food Lab”, his Youtube channel. They’re all excellent content, full of science-based cooking tips and a big dose of friendly vibes. I was excited to get The Wok and to get a wok.
  
  That impulse didn’t last long. I liked the book quite a bit! But it put me off wok cooking, specifically stir fry. He does a great job explaining the techniques. But they sound so challenging! Precise tossing, super hot pans, everything moving fast, velveting.. It seemed like a lot. And do I really need another big pan in the house? Maybe stir fry is something I get only via takeout and restaurants.
  
  Fortunately the book has a lot more in it than just stir fry. Really only a third of the book is even wok specific, a lot of the recipes don’t use a wok at all or will braise just fine in a Western pot. So really the book is a great tour of mostly Asian cooking. His explanations of how to use Chinese sauces is fantastic. So is his collection of relatively simple but flavorful dishes.
  
  It’s a mistake to call the book “recipes”, it’s not a traditional cookbook. Most of it is really more a description of techniques. At its best the book is a sort of choose-your-own adventure where he explains how to prep vegetables and proteins to make a dish and then gives suggestions for good flavoring. This matches exactly how I think about cooking, and I think a lot of other people. It’s a great cooking writing style.
  
  I seldom sit down and read a cookbook cover to cover like a regular book but I’m glad I did with this one. I should add the Kindle edition is quite nicely done, I may actually prefer it to the hardback.
• 
  dessertcomes1st

  An outstanding body of work, as has come to be expected from the author. I am an Asian living in Asia with no dearth of delicious Asian food available, but I still want to cook from this book.
  
  Highly recommended.
• 
  Grace

  I was lukewarm on Kenji's first book, but I enjoyed this one a lot more! I think the slightly more narrow focus worked in his favor, and just tonally I sensed a slight shift away from what I found to be a quite off-putting ''I MAN, I KNOW BEST" vibe in the first book. Lie-flat binding, and a lot of photos, though the layout of the book made some of the photo placements confusing, since they'd sometimes come well before the actual recipe itself. And I will say, this is still a MASSIVE tome, really meant to be a reference book and to really walk you through a lot of the principals of cooking with a wok, which frankly is just not personally what I'm looking for in a cookbook. I want recipes, and I want to be given the relevant information to make said recipes as concisely as possible. And I did bookmark a lot of things to make, but ultimately the layout and Kenji's style here aren't quite for me.
  
  Recipes I've Made
  Cheesy Congee with Bacon, Charred Corn, Scallions, and Cilantro - delicious twist on congee!! I swapped parsley for cilantro, which worked great, and the whole thing made for a very tasty breakfast!
• 
  Helga Cohen

  The Wok author J Kenji Lopez-Alt is of one most influential food writers today. He is the author of the popular book The Food Lab. In this book, he gives us an understanding of wok cooking. He navigates from authentic Sichuan cooking to American Chinese to Thai curries. He addresses the how’s and whys of cooking with the wok from stir-frying to steaming and smoking. He provides tremendous amount of information, systematic recipes and beautiful photographs that makes it a fascinating read and useful kitchen tool. He demonstrates home style and restaurant style dishes like Kung Pao chicken, Pad Thai and San Francisco style garlic noodles, fried rice, dumplings, tempura vegetables or seafood and many other delectable dishes.
  
  Kenji has so much personal experience with a variety of foods and cooking techniques that he can show people with less experience how to get a feeling for cooking with a wok. He explains the virtues of a wok and what wok is the “best” (carbon steel). It is a comprehensive cookbook with more than 200 recipes including non-cook sides and 1000 pictures. He discusses the science behind the cooking. I will enjoy this book for many years. His explanations of knife skills, how to stock a pantry and his explanations of cooking techniques is fascination. This is a must book for learning everything about cooking with a wok.
• 
  AllBookedUp

  Gives you helpful photos along with instructions regarding how to cut vegetables and what the dishes are supposed to look like. I will be transparent by stating, that I did not get this book for his recipes. I wanted to see what his preferred brands were and just to get a better understanding of who he regards as great chefs, since he is a chef, as well.
  
  Some helpful ideas include: slice and don't chop your scallions. This prevents bruising. If you want to mince garlic or ginger, take the knob, use a pestle and mortar, and smash away.
  
  He gives major accolades to Joyce Chen, the pioneer who got America into Chinese American cooking. While her cooking is not authentic by any means, it was never advertised to be. It's an introduction to those who do not have access to various Chinese ingredients.
  
  What I truly enjoyed and the biggest takeaway is Kenji give us name brands for which condiments. His preference is Lee Kum Kee.
• 
  Liquidlasagna

  A great compendium of science and culinary techniques, written with Kenji’s characteristic curiosity and verve, that addresses the hows and whys of cooking with a wok, from stir-frying to steaming and smoking. The wealth of information, systematic recipes and plentiful photographs make this both a fascinating read and an invaluable kitchen tool.
  Fuchsia Dunlop
  
  The Wok offers a new approach to mastery of this ancient and venerated culinary workhorse. López-Alt’s groundbreaking kitchen science is an unprecedented contribution to our understanding of wok cooking. This book will inspire a new generation of home cooks to embrace the wok.
  Grace Young
• 
  Morgan

  I consider myself a pretty good cook. I consider cooking to be an art and baking to be a science. I bought a wok thinking it would be easy for me. The learning curve is harder than I was expecting! This book makes cooking in a wok a science, which isn’t my flavor of cooking. That said, tons of info and a few recipes I will be trying.
• 
  Alena

  If you’re just looking to expand your stir fry sauce repertoire by a couple of options this book way exceeds your needs. You get history, you get technique, you’re being told that your stovetop won‘t get hot enough (which, fair).
  Still, I did find sauce options, jutted down stuff to maybe find in the big Asian supermarket and marked a couple of chapters to return to.
• 
  Leticia

  Holy moly, this one could double as a weapon. It is a thiccc one. Sarah, if you're reading this, get this one from the library. It's like the standard Asian dishes bible. I think you'd like it.
• 
  Mariko

  Seems very comprehensive. The only downside was that the pictures weren't great quality, although it's awesome there are a ton of them to help illustrate the techniques.
• 
  Barbara

  Certainly not read cover to cover. But what I have read/referenced is pure Kenji. So, 5 stars. :-) And gratitude to my nephew who told me he (Kenji) now has a YouTube channel.
• 
  Liz Cadorette

  If Kenji Lopez-Alt's name is listed, I'm just going to get the book. There's really no further need for discussion - clear, conversational, and packed full of spectacular recipes that I want to cook, immediately, all at once.
• 
  Bookworm

  This did not come in time for AAPI Heritage Month but that's fine. I had read other works by López-Alt and was curious what he might have to say int his behemoth of a book (I mean that in a nice way). I've never cooked with a wok, didn't really have any thoughts or expectations and wasn't looking to really try any of these recipes yet, but was excited to see where this would go.
  
  It's a cookbook, breakdown of the history and background of the wok, plus a general tips and tricks that you can adapt for yourself. There's tidbits of historical information, cooking techniques, stories, pictures and more. Some have also personal anecdotes of his that you may like or maybe not, depending on what you're looking for.
  
  There's not much to it than that. If you're looking for a more traditional cookbook it's not that, nor is it an examination of the wok itself (in the context of historical, social and other situations, etc.) It's more of a mix that is probably for foodies, serious chefs and the like. If you're just a newbie or someone who has passing interest, it might not be for you.
  
  It'd probably make for a fantastic gift for a chef or foodie. If you're a layperson, a library borrow is probably best. I borrowed this as an e-book as it IS more than 600 pages, eeek. So be aware that it's probably fairly hefty/heavy if you're considering issues such as space and/or moving it around, etc.
  
  Library borrow was best for me.
• 
  Miss Pickypants

  If you love asian food but are thinking "I don't have a wok, so this book isn't for me." you are mistaken. I kind of wish the title was more broad because this a great asian recipe cookbook, wok or no wok (and full disclosure, I do not own a wok].
  
  Not a only are there lots of pictures that show what the dish should look like, there are how-to pictures showing you various techniques. I love that
  J. Kenji López-Alt provides detailed explanations regarding ingredients, as well as recommended brands. If you've ever wandered the aisles of an H Mart or Super 88, you know how overwhelming all the choices can be. This book provides me with the author's preferred brands of ingredients, and this is so VERY helpful and APPRECIATED.
  
  The author notes before each recipe provide some extra info regarding the recipe, be it a warm personal explanation of how the recipe impacted him in some way or some extra technique tips. The instructions for the recipes themselves are straight forward and easy to follow. Any recipe that seems like it might be complicated is explained quite clearly so you won't be nervous about trying to make it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Sarinna Chavez

  I was SO excited to find this book at Costco, especially for $29.99. I almost bought The Food Lab too, but decided to start with just one. Glad I did!
  This book gets 5 stars for technique, history, science, pictures that make you want to cook and eat everything in it. However, I’m only giving it 3 stars because it is definitely not for the average person. This book is for someone who literally wants to be a chef and has the time to dedicate to it.
  I absolutely love to cook! I love to learn new techniques and try new recipes. I have had a wok for over a decade and was excited to read this and maybe use it more. This book made me want to stay away from my wok and just go out to a nice place to enjoy Asian specialties or do takeout.
  Way too many ingredients (including hard to find ingredients for the average person). Too much instruction. Definitely not quick and user friendly.
  Again, this is a fantastic book for someone who wants to dive DEEP into culinary art, but very expensive book if you thought you were going to learn how to make your favorite take out at home.
• 
  Steve Portigal

  It's a bit disingenuous to rate a cookbook I've read but haven't used. I starting making note of the recipes I wanted to try and that I thought were within my skillset, and it quickly became more than I could keep track of. I got this from the library but I'm going to buy my own copy of it and work my way through it.
  
  So much of what's in here is the food I like to eat, some of it being food I've tried to make but always in a series of one-offs; here it is organized, explained, documented, with photographs, with step-by-step sidebars, with charts laying out everything you could possibly wonder.
  
  For sure once I get into using this I'm going to run up against my own inexperience and maybe even hope for more or different content. But even with this book in my hands I've read more than any other cookbook I've gone through, so I'm really hopeful for a lot of delicious meals to come.
• 
  Solomon Foster

  Read more or less straight through this, frequently cooking stuff -- I think I've already cooked more recipes from this book than I have from any other cookbook I got in the last 20 years. Some really interesting recipes, plus a really strong organized approach early on. Did have that issue I had with The Food Lab cookbook -- he includes very detailed instructions that sometimes just don't work for me.
  
  The Red-Braised Pork recipe, for instance -- his instructions for browning the sugar at the beginning didn't work at all for me, and for the last step I turned the heat way up and it still took an hour longer than the recipe suggested. That said, the end result was at least as good as any red-braised recipe I got from Fuchsia Dunlop's books.
  
  Anyway, speaking as someone who has a dozen Chinese cookbooks, this was absolutely a worthwhile buy IMO. I look forward to trying more recipes from it as soon as possible!
• 
  Amy

  Another masterpiece from Kenji. If you enjoy the writing and recipe style of The Food Lab, you’re sure to enjoy this. My experience reading The Wok was very different from reading The Food Lab. The Food Lab was all about food I know very well, and I was really just learning more. The Wok was a bunch of basically brand new information for me. I am quite unfamiliar with Asian food; I may already own a wok, but I now know I have never used it the way it’s meant to be used. I learned so much from this cookbook, and I’m looking forward to making a bunch of recipes from it. I already know Kenji’s recipes don’t disappoint.
• 
  Jenny

  This was a terrific cookbook, interspersed with sidebar information about substitutions, methods, and Q and A’s. Organized around wok-cooking methods rather than ingredients, it is peppered (pun intended) with personal and historical stories about the recipes. An opening 30-page chapter about equipment and ingredients was helpful. The writing itself was very funny, and since this is by the author of The Food Lab, it also contains experiments that test different methods and ingredients to back recommendations.
• 
  Eric Guzman

  This is the most detailed and comprehensive cook book on Woks I’ve ever read. So far I’ve tried a few of the recipes and even with my own substitutions they’ve been great. Kenji goes into great detail on the different types of Woks, techniques to practice. He gets especially scientific about the cutting angles used to produce the most tender meat possible.
  
  This is an amazing cook book beginning to end.
• 
  T

  4.5 stars. This book is a revelation. It’s combines food with the science of how to cook and includes so many tasty looking recipes (and techniques I am stoked to try out) that I will be off to purchase my own, physical copy of this as soon as I post this review.
  
  The only reason why I didn’t give it the full 5 star treatment is because the ebook version got a little messy, formatting wise, from time to time. Hopeful that physical copies aren’t this way.
• 
  Amanda Supak

  Kenji hits it out of the park again. I love his blend of science, humor, and practicality. His writing style is: "you mention to your good friend you want to start cooking with this new wok you got, and they would love to show you the ropes". I bought a wok recently just so I could practice making a lot of the recipes in this book!
• 
  Max Alexander

  Unacceptable Kindle conversion
  
  Sorry but an index with hard-copy page numbers? Not acceptable. This Kindle book costs $20 and the publisher has no print production costs. What are Kindle readers paying for, beyond corporate greed? (Insert link to Bronx cheer here.)