Grace Young

This succulent and juicy drunken chicken gets boiled—twice!—and served with a classic ginger and scallion sauce.

This is a typical Sichuan technique for dry-frying beef. Unlike most meat stir-fries, the beef is not marinated; instead it is stir-fried immediately then cooked for a few minutes longer to intensify the beef flavors and to give give the meat a slightly chewy texture.

When I was in Trinidad, Winnie Lee Lum showed me how to make this superb dish, which beautifully demonstrates the convergence of Chinese and Trinidadian cooking traditions. Of course, the taste was extraordinary because Lee Lum only cooks with fresh local shrimp that her husband, Tony, purchases for her. Before cooking, she rinses the shrimp in lime juice, a Trinidadian cooking practice said to remove the "fishy" taste. She prefers the Chinese custom of cooking the shrimp in the shell to protect the shrimp's succulence and flavor. Rather than rice wine, Lee Lum insists on using dark Jamaican-style rum; according to her, white rum is too harsh for cooking. This is one of the easiest dishes to stir-fry, and it is guaranteed to satisfy.

This Chicken Lo Mein recipe is extremely simple to make and has a nice peppery flavor from the red pepper flakes, white pepper, and ginger.

Editor's note:
The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Grace Young's book The Breath of a Wok. Young also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. A high-quality curry is key to this recipe's success. I prefer curry paste, which I think has greater depth of flavor than curry powder. Be sure to stir the coconut milk in the can; the cream always floats to the top.

Pungent and salty, preserved snow cabbage is a great flavor-booster in this fresh-tasting stir-fry.

Ketchup might seem odd in this dish, but some say it's Chinese in origin (from ke-tsiap, a pickled condiment). Serve the ribs as an appetizer or as part of a dinner.

Repeated salting and rinsing give this shrimp a firm texture that's said to be crystal-like. Serve with steamed rice.

A serrated kinpira peeler ($15 online at amazon.com) makes quick work of a carrot-and-celery julienne.

Cutting the pork is easiest using a cleaver or large chef's knife: Slice thick crosswise pieces, stack them, and then cut matchstick-size pieces.

In Shanghai restaurants, this popular appetizer is typically served cold, which brings out its rich flavors. Traditionally, the fish is smoked. Though modern cooks now skip this step, the Shanghainese still call it "Smoked Fish."

The egg in this fried rice is cooked by a super easy method. Rather than being made like the classic egg "crêpe," the egg is cooked right in the well of the rice, which creates a much more delicate texture.

Editor's note:
The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Grace Young's book The Breath of a Wok. Young also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. For Young's article on Cantonese cooking, click here. Chef Yip Wing Wah, of the Spring Moon Restaurant in Hong Kong, garnishes these exquisite dumplings with a dollop of crab roe, which can be substituted for the carrots.

Editor's note:
The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Grace Young's book The Breath of a Wok. Young also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. For Young's article on Cantonese cooking, click here. Chef Lee Wan Ching of Yee Hen restaurant on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, taught me this recipe. Traditionally ginger is always cooked with broccoli — its warmth balances the coolness of yin vegetables such as broccoli. Just a small amount of ginger juice intensifies the flavor of the vegetables. To make ginger juice, grate a small amount of ginger and then squeeze it with your fingers to extract the juice.

Traditionally, the garlic and ginger in the marinade are minced, but Grace Young finds it easier to use a rasp grater.

I discovered Pot Stickers at about the same time I was introduced to Scallion Cakes. Pan-fried on only one side, the dough for these dumplings is at once crisp and chewy. When I was about eleven years old, I could sometimes devour a dozen of these fried dumplings at one sitting. It was such a sweet pleasure to eat as much as you wanted and still be a skinny child. Filled with pork, cabbage, and a rich broth, every bite was heavenly. The secret of these pot stickers is to reduce the Homemade Chicken Broth until it is concentrated enough to jell when refrigerated. The broth should then be roughly chopped and stirred into the filling mixture right before the dumplings are formed. The Pot Stickers are pan-fried only on one side a few minutes until golden. A little water is added, the lid is placed on the pan, and then, as the dumplings steam-cook, the broth melts. To eat, place a pot sticker in a deep spoon (traditionally, a Chinese porcelain spoon) and sprinkle with a few ginger shreds and a little red rice vinegar. Gently bite into the dumpling and the delicious broth that has now melded with the flavors of the pork filling will burst forth.

One of the secrets of steaming sole is to season the fish just before cooking. If the fish sits too long with the seasonings, the salt will extract water from the fish and, consequently, the fish will be less juicy. Try to choose a fish not longer than 14 inches, so that it will hang over the plate by no more than 1 1/2 inches on each end but will still fit in the steamer. It is not necessary to purchase lemon sole for this recipe; just be sure the fish is very fresh and has the head and tail intact.

Neen Gow, New Year's Cake, is the most important cake eaten on New Year's — the main ingredient, glutinous rice flour, is a symbol of cohesiveness. The egg-dipped, pan-fried slices have a mellow sweetness and are slightly chewy from glutinous rice flour. Mama remembers watching her grandmother's servants scraping the slab brown candy, peen tong, for this cake, which is the traditional technique. Brown candy is a kind of sugar that is sold by the slab in 1-pound packages and is also available loose in bins in some Chinese markets. The slabs are about 5 inches long, 1 1/4 inches wide, and a scant 1/2 inch thick. The scraping of the sugar is extremely labor-intensive, so some cooks dissolve the slabs of sugar in water, which is less authentic but much easier to prepare. Be sure to use glutinous rice flour here, not regular rice flour! See the introduction to Turnip Cake for how to serve and store this New Year's Cake.

Walnut Soup (Hup Tul Woo) is a favorite snack soup, often eaten in place of dessert. The Chinese believe that walnuts resemble the shape of the brain and, thus, are good for nourishing the brain. Any foods that resemble the shape of a body organ are said to be god for that organ. Walnuts are also associated with longevity, since walnut trees live for hundreds of years. Regardless, this is a delicious soup. The oven-roasting brings out the fragrance of the walnuts, and it is rich and creamy despite the fact that there is no dairy added. I think Walnut Soup is a wonder because it tastes so good while also being good for you. Be sure to use rice flour and not glutinous rice flour.

When we were children, we adored zeen doy(sesame balls). The dough is fried until golden brown so it is both crisp and chewy from the glutinous rice flour. It is eaten year-round, but especially for New Year's and for birthday celebrations. As the dough fries, it expands, so the Chinese believe if you eat Sesame Balls your fortunes will expand similarly. The Sweetened Red Bean Paste for the filling can be purchased in a can or homemade. Sesame Balls must be eaten the day they are made. The following day, they can be heated in a 300-degree oven but, like so many foods, they are not nearly as good as when they are fresh. Remember to use glutinous rice flour and not rice flour! My Auntie Lil, who taught me this recipe, says the secret is to never knead the dough and to use cold sugar water.