Author: Joseph Lee

This recipe is from Bon Appetit, saved here in case of link rot (with some modifications in the notes). It’s incredibly rich and creamy. Ingredients 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided 1 cup finely chopped kimchi, plus ⅓ cup kimchi juice 2 tablespoons gochujang ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth 1 pound fresh udon noodles Kosher salt…

Another Costco Business special. I bought a 25 lb case of Roma tomatoes and a pound of cilantro and then adapted this recipe to help use them up. Ingredients Dressing 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce 1.5 teaspoons oyster sauce 3 tablespoons…

This is an amalgamation of a few recipes I found online that I wanted to remember. I simplified the ingredients (e.g. no carrots, no celery, no milk, no lemon, etc.) and cut out any fancy equipment (e.g. no pressure cooker, no dutch oven). Everything is browned to add flavor before it’s added to the soup….

Yes, it quesadillas! I bought a 30 pack of flour tortillas from regular Costco and a 5lb bag of shredded Mexican four cheese blend from business Costco. The only way to eat it all is to try to quesadilla everything. My wife asked me to recreate the kimchi fried rice with spam from Bear’s Ramen…

Costco Business sells restaurant-sized quantities of food for close to wholesale prices. A case of 35 avocados costs $16. 8 oz. of basil costs $4. Whatever you buy becomes the Iron Chef secret ingredient to use it all up. Freeze-dried strawberries are a substitute for tomatoes and take this dish to the next level. They…

Terra Cotta Warrior is our benchmark for cumin lamb. It’s an excellent Shaanxi/Xi’an restaurant. It’s always packed and almost all of the patrons are Chinese (although the secret is out and non-Chinese people dot the crowd). This cumin lamb recipe from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes tastes slightly different (cumin is more subtle,…

This recipe is from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes, where it’s described as “This bastard love child of Bolognese and mapo tofu is a de-escalated and simplified version of a dish from Momofuku Ssam bar. You will Win Friends and Influence People by serving it in your home.” It’s as delicious as advertised….

A lot has changed since my last post in Feb 2016. Although I no longer have time to spend on complex recipes, the current COVID-19 pandemic has created a renewed focus on cooking at home. Going forward, I’ll be posting recipes with a high deliciousness/effort ratio. Jook is an excuse to make soy sauce eggs….

ChefSteps has a unique recipe for dark matter: chocolate made with coffee beans instead of cocoa beans. After making the chocolate, I’d like to discuss three issues I encountered: Chocolate melangers are expensive.  What is an affordable tool to conche the chocolate? It’s very bitter.  How does the “percent” of this chocolate compare to real…

My dream home has a fully automated aquaponics system that grows tilapia and vegetables in the backyard. Alas, I live in San Francisco, so the closest I can get to experimenting with food self-sufficiency is this Back to the Roots Water Garden. Aquaponic farming is a closed system that captures the complete nitrogen cycle to…