Articles by Grace Young

Grace Young is an award-winning food writer and the author of Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge, The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen and The Breath of a Wok. Her work has appeared in Gourmet, Metropolitan Home, Copia, Gastronomica, and Eating Well magazine. You can find her online at http://www.graceyoung.com.

Braised cabbage and mushrooms (doong qwoo mun wong gna bock)

Napa cabbage, wong gna bock, varies in its water content depending on how old it is. Younger cabbage has more water and, therefore, may not need the addition of any liquid as it cooks. Older cabbage is drier and is sweeter in flavor but will need the addition of broth to prevent it from

Braised mushrooms (mun doong qwoo)

Chinese dried mushrooms, also called black, winter mushrooms, or shiitake, as they are known in Japan, can vary broadly in quality and price. For everyday cooking I generally use inexpensive ones, which have thin brown caps and a soaking time of only about thirty minutes. However for this dish, since the mushrooms are the

Shrimp with spinach and tofu (leung boon ho mai baw choy dul foo)

San Francisco has an Indian summer for at least one week every year, when the temperatures can reach eighty or ninety degrees. It was then that Mama would make us Shrimp with Spinach and Tofu, a dish she remembers eating in Shanghai in the summer, when the weather was unbearably hot. We always ate

Remember China, Nan Chung

Growing up in America, my older brother Douglas and I behaved more like American children than Chinese. It is only now, after nearly fifty years, that I have begun to heed our grandfather's instruction to "Remember China."

The wisdom of the Chinese kitchen

In Chinese cooking, every ingredient and dish is imbued with its own brilliance and lore. Passed on through a lifetime of meals, conversations, celebrations, and rituals, every food we ate in our home had a story.

Going to market with Mama

To my mother and my father and, indeed, most Chinese people, selecting farm-fresh produce brings them pure delight and satisfaction. They literally glow, and beam, to bring home choice, blemish-free produce.