Twice-Cooked Pork: From Joyce Chen’s 1961 Kitchen to Today’s Sichuan Pantry

July 20, 2026July 22, 2026Leave a comment

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a large collection of modern, vintage, and antique cookbooks. One of the things I enjoy most is comparing how recipes have evolved over the decades and seeing how cooks adapted authentic dishes to the ingredients available at the time.

Where did I find this classic dish?

I first discovered this recipe for Twice Cooked Pork in Joyce Chen’s 1961 cookbook, where it appeared under the name “Chungking Pork.” Like many early Chinese-American cookbooks, it adapted traditional Chinese cooking for ingredients American home cooks could actually find.

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Authentic Char Siu Recipe: Make Delicious BBQ Pork at Home

June 19, 2026July 19, 2026Leave a comment

Living in an area where good Chinese BBQ Pork – Char Siu can be hard to find, I found myself wondering, “Why not make it at home?” I’m glad I did. The results were remarkably authentic and, quite honestly, among the best char siu I’ve had.

What is Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu)

Whenever I travel around the world, if I’m anywhere near their local Chinatown, I will head straight to the window with the Char Sui/barbecued pork, ducks and geese hanging on hooks in the window, and I go inside and order myself some of the pork and then eat it as I walk around the city. It’s the perfect walking food.

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Red Braised Pork, Mao’s Favorite Dish

June 13, 2026July 19, 2026Leave a comment

When I was traveling in China, I was told to visit a very special restaurant in Shanghai. They said this restaurant specialized in “revolutionary dishes“. The place was called Mao Jia Cai or Mao’s Family Restaurant.

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