Grace Young - The Breath of the Wok

I had dinner with Grace Young last night and was delighted to learn that she is the author of one of my most treasured cookbooks: The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen, a cookbook my husband gave me several years ago.

I love cookbooks that tell stories and her book makes me want to be adopted by her family.

The book is about a way of life.

I especially love the stories of foods and their importance to health and prosperity. I was excited to hear that she had newer books:  Stir Frying to the Sky’s Edge and The Breath of the Wok.

The Breath of the Wok

This is a beautiful book and I wanted it before I even opened it.

It has a beautiful meditative cover with a picture of perfectly seasoned wok. I want that wok, I tell Grace. She tells me she can get me the source for the wok.

I asked about seasoning the wok. I love my cast iron pans, and I have a great collection of stainless steel pans, but I don’t love the way they are seasoned or how they look. Grace said that we should only use stainless steel pans and that they all go through an awkward stage and she calls it an adolescent stage when it looks all full of acne and pimply, but that is simply part of the seasoned process and says that it takes years to have a beautifully seasoned wok.

She says one way to season a wok is to stir fry chives in a wok. I can hardly wait to read her book and to begin to season a new wok!