Curry & Kimchi: Flavor Secrets for Creating 70 Asian-Inspired Recipes at Home

Abkin and Taylor, chefs of Coco and the Cellar Bar in Easthampton, Mass., coax readers toward Asian “flavor secrets” in recipes best suited for those new to the wok. A Korean bolognese—a pork sauce seasoned with ginger and gochujang, which may be “unmistakably Korean”—will feel familiar “when you pour it over Korean Spaghetti or stuff it in Korean Sloppy Joes.” Korean-inflected dishes, drawing from Abkin’s early childhood in South Korea, are a relative strength here. Other Asian cuisines are less expertly evoked: coriander and shrimp chow fun tries without success to “avoid the muddiness” of a stir-fry by arranging boiled noodles next to corn starch–thickened sauce, topped with shrimp and raw pea shoots. Readers may be thwarted in their quest for Asian-inspired cuisine by the fact that ingredients are scattered throughout each recipe. Cooking a “cleaner, simpler” shiitake mushroom and tofu pad Thai, home cooks might be dismayed to turn the page and find a dozen ingredients that didn’t make the initial shopping list. Once the reader learns the book’s quirks, the recipes themselves are manageable and flavorful. [em](Oct.) [/em]