In this groundbreaking cookbook, Brandon Jew takes inspiration from classic Chinatown recipes to create innovative spins like Sizzling Rice Soup, Squid Ink Wontons, Orange Chicken Wings, Liberty Roast Duck, Mushroom Mu Shu, and Banana Black Sesame Pie. Recipes and techniques are interwoven with stories about their roots in Chinatown and in Jew’s own family history. Beginning with fundamentals of Chinese cooking and then applying them to every day and master class recipes, Jew’s essential guide to Chinese American food demystifies the elements of good cooking for occasional and experienced cooks alike.

In the pages devoted to dim sum and dumplings, and throwing a party Chinese-banquet style, Jew connects his classical training and American roots to Chinese traditions of celebration, through the shared making and enjoying of food.

With more than a hundred photographs of finished dishes as well as moving and evocative atmospheric shots of Chinatown, this book is also an intimate portrait—a look down the alleyways, above the tourist shops, and into the kitchens—of the neighborhood that changed the flavor of America.