Walk through the red lanterns, crowded markets, steaming dim sum kitchens, neighborhood bakeries, and family restaurants of San Francisco’s Chinatown—without leaving your own kitchen.
Savoring San Francisco’s Chinatown is a collection of 60 recipes inspired by America’s oldest Chinatown and the generations of cooks who shaped its unmistakable food culture.
This is not simply a general Chinese cookbook.
It is a tribute to a particular place.
A neighborhood where delicate shrimp dumplings arrive in bamboo steamers. Where bakery windows display glossy buns and golden egg tarts. Where noodles, roasted meats, fried rice, vegetables, soups, and family-style dishes carry stories from one generation to the next.
Lily Chen brings those flavors home through recipes that are welcoming enough for developing cooks while still capturing the character of Chinatown favorites.
Start with pork siu mai, translucent har gow, crispy-bottomed potstickers, steamed barbecue pork buns, vegetable dumplings, spring rolls, shrimp and chive dumplings, turnip cake, and sesame balls.
Move into Chinatown bakery treasures such as smooth egg tarts and soft, filled buns. Discover comforting noodle dishes, including wonton noodle soup and beef chow fun, along with wok-cooked favorites such as Yang Chow fried rice, beef and broccoli stir-fry, sweet and sour pork, lemon chicken, and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.
Finish with family favorites and traditional sweets such as mango pudding and red bean soup.
These recipes are not presented as restaurant food that must remain mysterious.
They are explained step by step so that home cooks can understand how to fill and fold dumplings, steam buns, prepare noodles, work with a wok, create balanced sauces, and use ingredients commonly found in Chinatown markets and Asian grocery stores.
Inside you will discover:
60 recipes inspired by San Francisco’s Chinatown
Classic dim sum recipes for dumplings, buns, cakes, and small plates
Pork siu mai, shrimp har gow, potstickers, and steamed dumplings
Steamed barbecue pork buns and other Chinatown favorites
Chinese bakery recipes including traditional egg tarts
Comforting noodle dishes such as wonton noodle soup and beef chow fun
Yang Chow fried rice and family-style rice dishes
Beef and broccoli, sweet and sour pork, lemon chicken, and other familiar restaurant favorites
Vegetable dishes featuring gai lan, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, sprouts, and savory sauces
Traditional desserts including sesame balls, mango pudding, and red bean soup
Guidance for steaming, stir-frying, frying, folding dumplings, shaping buns, and preparing sauces
Ingredient tips for soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, rice flour, glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, wrappers, noodles, Chinese sausage, and red bean paste
Storage recommendations and cooking tips throughout
Recipes written with both imperial and metric measurements
This San Francisco Chinatown cookbook is ideal for readers searching for Chinatown recipes, Chinese American cookbook, dim sum recipes, Chinese dumpling recipes, Chinese bakery recipes, wonton noodle soup, beef chow fun, Chinese family recipes, Cantonese cooking, and San Francisco food history.
But this book offers more than a collection of recognizable dishes.
It captures the feeling of sharing them.
The excitement of lifting the lid from a bamboo steamer.
The first bite of a crisp-bottomed potsticker.
The aroma of noodles tossed in a hot wok.
The silky center of a warm egg tart.
The comfort of soup served at a crowded family table.
Prepare siu mai for a weekend gathering.
