Mister Jiu's in Chinatown

January 18, 2021
Chef Jew brings food from his Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurant to the home kitchen in this formidable collection of 90 recipes that elevate homestyle Chinese American cooking with rigorous professional cooking techniques. His section on soups includes oxtail soup and a classic hot and sour soup, while vegetable entrees offer a tasty Taiwanese style eggplant. Among the small bites is a delicate prawn toast, while the lengthy meat and barbecue chapter has a poached chicken galantine and a roast duck. Jew’s desserts are particularly inventive, with a banana black sesame pie and frozen whipped honey. The food is unapologetically complex restaurant fare, and many recipes require equipment not found in many home kitchens (one for potstickers, for example, calls for a juicer and a meat grinder) while others are multiday affairs (barbecued pork buns take four to five days). The techniques can also be daunting (Jew suggests oil-blanching is best accomplished with two separate woks). But, for home cooks who are up to the task, this is an exciting challenge well worth taking.

March 1, 2021

Mister Jiu's, the Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown, celebrates chef Jew's vision of cuisine rooted in Chinese culinary tradition, shaped by classic Chinese American banquet fare, and driven by using local ingredients at their peak. This stylish cookbook, cowritten by food writer Ho, shares 90 of the restaurant's recipes, ranging from fundamental building blocks such as stocks and spice blends to what are accurately called "master class" recipes. Chapters follow the typical order of courses in a traditional Chinatown banquet, from bites and soups to vegetables, seafood, meats, and dessert. Alongside the recipes, Jew shares snippets of San Francisco Chinatown's vibrant history and pays homage to some of the most iconic dishes, restaurants, and chefs. Although most recipes rely on accessible ingredients, many of the advanced dishes feature multiple sub-recipes and require several days' worth of time in the kitchen. VERDICT Rewarding for home cooks seeking a unique technical challenge, and readers looking for a deeper understanding and appreciation of Chinese American cuisine. The dessert chapter, with recipes and narrative by Mister Jiu's pastry chef Melissa Chou, is a particular highlight.--Kelsy Peterson, Forest Hill Coll., Melbourne, Australia

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