hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the sundubu jjigae from the FX series “The Americans.” For those unfamiliar, the stew that the Jennings family are eating here is a classic Korean kimchi and soft tofu stew, prominently featuring the Korean chili powder “gochugaru,” which is a fairly mellow form of spice (not unlike the chili powder found here in the states). Sundubu jjigae also leans very heavily into fishy and brine-y umami with its use of a dried kombu sea kelp and anchovy stock, not unlike the rabokki recipe that we did a few months back as well.

While our gochugaru certainly does give the stew a deeply red color that looks quite spicy, I honestly think that this is a bit of a mislead, and it looks a little spicier than it actually is. Lastly, the final note that I’ll mention is that a truly classic sundubu jjigae is made using a Korean dolsot stone bowl. Apart from being a super iconic part of how this dish is plated, it also allows to you cook the stew directly in the stove in the bowl that you’ll be eating out of, which (as we’ll see in a moment) ends up being a super important part of how our poached egg turns out. I don’t own a dolsot stone bowl, so I’m gonna run through my best approach to work around this today as well. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday December 24, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into the wonderful world of Thai street food with a pad gra prow inspired by the Hangover Part 2 Bangkok street food night market scene. Most commonly, these street food dishes are associated with the drinking culture that is commonplace in Bangkok, and are usually purchased from stalls coming right out of the wok after a night of heavy drinking, then eaten outside on the street while you (hopefully) sober up a bit. For those following along, we have done a handful of noodle dishes originating from Thai street food already, and have also touched on the similar cultures of Taiwanese street food, korean street food, AND hong kong street food. 

More specifically today we’ll be cooking up a Thai stir fry known as pad gra prow which, for those not familiar, is a stir fry that prominently features a minced meat, stir fried with veggies (today we’ll be using green beans), and then tossed in two iconically Thai aromatics, some Thai chiles and Holy basil. Then we’ll be tossing that in a rich dark soy sauce and fish sauce base, and finally, rounding everything out with a lacy wok fried egg, for a classic Thai finishing touch. Hope you try it.

Bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 8oz ground chicken (or pork, beef, or turkey)

• 4-6 Thai chiles

• 1 cup holy basil (or Thai basil)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 1 shallot

• 8oz green beans

• 2 eggs

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp black soy sauce

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1/4 cup stock (chicken or veggie)

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into the wonderful world of Thai street food with a pad gra prow inspired by the Hangover Part 2 Bangkok street food night market scene. Most commonly, these street food dishes are associated with the drinking culture that is commonplace in Bangkok, and are usually purchased from stalls coming right out of the wok after a night of heavy drinking, then eaten outside on the street while you (hopefully) sober up a bit. For those following along, we have done a handful of noodle dishes originating from Thai street food already, and have also touched on the similar cultures of Taiwanese street food, korean street food, AND hong kong street food. 

More specifically today we’ll be cooking up a Thai stir fry known as pad gra prow which, for those not familiar, is a stir fry that prominently features a minced meat, stir fried with veggies (today we’ll be using green beans), and then tossed in two iconically Thai aromatics, some Thai chiles and Holy basil. Then we’ll be tossing that in a rich dark soy sauce and fish sauce base, and finally, rounding everything out with a lacy wok fried egg, for a classic Thai finishing touch. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on September 24th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 8oz ground chicken (or pork, beef, or turkey)

• 4-6 Thai chiles

• 1 cup holy basil (or Thai basil)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 1 shallot

• 8oz green beans

• 2 eggs

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp black soy sauce

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1/4 cup stock (chicken or veggie)

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into the wonderful world of Thai street food with a pad gra prow inspired by the Hangover Part 2 Bangkok street food night market scene. Most commonly, these street food dishes are associated with the drinking culture that is commonplace in Bangkok, and are usually purchased from stalls coming right out of the wok after a night of heavy drinking, then eaten outside on the street while you (hopefully) sober up a bit. For those following along, we have done a handful of noodle dishes originating from Thai street food already, and have also touched on the similar cultures of Taiwanese street food, korean street food, AND hong kong street food. 

More specifically today we’ll be cooking up a Thai stir fry known as pad gra prow which, for those not familiar, is a stir fry that prominently features a minced meat, stir fried with veggies (today we’ll be using green beans), and then tossed in two iconically Thai aromatics, some Thai chiles and Holy basil. Then we’ll be tossing that in a rich dark soy sauce and fish sauce base, and finally, rounding everything out with a lacy wok fried egg, for a classic Thai finishing touch. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday September 24, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series on foods from TV and film with some inspiration from the Larb Gai Spider-Man: Homecoming. For those not familiar, larb gai or just “larb” as it is often colloquially referred to, is a Thai small plate dish composed of ground minced meat and aromatic veggies that are sauteed and wrapped in fresh butter lettuce leaf. There are MANY variations on this classic Thai dish that can include all kinds of veggies and aromatics, like Thai chiles, Thai basil, green onions, and more.

Personally as far as I can tell though, by FAR the key to a more “larb-y” larb gai (in the words of Aunt May) comes from the use of dry toasted rice powder which we’ll be using to season our ground mince meat. This is also where a number of our key Thai ingredients are going to come into play as well, including glutinous rice, lemongrass, and my two personal favorites, a bit of galangal root and kefir lime leaves, both of which you’ll find come up in a of Thai cuisine for their iconic aromatic flavors. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday July 30, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re adding on to our series on foods from TV and Film with a sweet and sour chicken, inspired by “How I Met Your Mother.” Its origins (as you may have guessed) very much come from American cuisine, and for this reason, very prominently features the use of both canned pineapple AND the pineapple syrup that it’s canned in, for an almost aggressively sweet quality.

It is commonly paired with a handful of other colorful veggies like red bell pepper and white onion, and of course makes use of the all American classic condiment, Ketchup, in order to achieve that bright red color that you’ll know and love. We’ll be using one of my favorite go-to fried chicken recipes with a double fried, carbonated soda water tempura batter, which yields (in my opinion) the best fried chicken results in a Chinese glazed chicken dish like this one that i’ve ever managed. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday July 9th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re taking a shot at one of my favorite stir fries of all time, which is a broccoli beef stir fry. For those not familiar, a broccoli beef stir fry is an entirely American creation, and is one of the more popular dishes that you’ll come across in Chinese take out spots throughout the states. It features a tender seared steak, flash cooked crispy broccoli, and a savory sauce based that heavily relies on the use of the big 3 that you will now have come across in many Woo Can Cook recipes for deeply savory sauces: dark soy sauce, black vinegar and oyster sauce. We’ll also be using this one as an opportunity to explore the use of baking soda and corn starch, which is going to help us science our way to the most tender piece of steak that I have ever created. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday July 2nd, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re adding to our series on foods from TV and film with a korean gimbap, inspired by the film Minari. For those not familiar, a Korean Gimbap (or Kimbap, as it is occasionally pronounced here in the states) is a rice roll wrapped in dry nori seaweed, with a number of veggies and proteins folded in.

While it more or less will look (to the unsuspecting eye) like a japanese sushi roll, a korean gimbap is actually quite different, because of what it typically contains. While a sushi roll is most typically made with some form of raw fish, a gimbap can contain a wide variety of cooked ingredients. For today’s version, I’ll be going with a classic combination of carrot, eggs, spinach, and my two personal favorite ingredients, some pickled daikon radish, as well as some bulgogi steak, borrowing from our bibimbap recipe a few weeks back. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday June 18th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re taking a crack at a Chinese take out classic, which is a a Tomato Beef Chow Mein. For those not familiar, tomato beef chow mein as you might guess, prominently features the use of tomatoes, which happen to be in season right now here in CA. If you don’t happen to be so lucky though, you can also totally make use of some canned whole tomatoes, too (which actually might be preferable than an out of season tomato, since it’ll have been picked and preserved at its peak ripeness).

Our flavor palette is mostly going to be drawing from a number of familiar pantry sauces that you’ll likely recognize here. There will however be one VERY American addition, which is a little bit of ketchup for that classic form of sweetness you’ll know and love, cut with a bit of sweet chili sauce, for an interesting sweet and savory addition. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday June 11th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. As some folks may have noticed, fried rice is a dish that we have already done in this series a few times, including kimchi fried rice, SPAM fried rice, and crispy skillet seared fried rice. That said, I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to explore one of my favorite classic approaches to the dish that my dad used to make when I was a kid with leftovers from breakfast, which is a lap cheong fried rice. For those not familiar, lap cheong is a form of chinese sausage made from pork (and occasionally, organ meat for the adventurous).

It comes up in many, many savory chinese dishes, and you may recognize it from our Zhong Zi and pancit recipes as well. What has always stood out to me though is its particularly fragrant nature, since it is iconically seasoned with sichuan peppercorn. In addition, we’ll also be boning up the heat of our dish with some doubanjiang and lao gan ma, for a super pervasive and oily heat as well. Hope you try it!

It will be out on Friday May 28th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. This is a recipe for one of my absolute favorite Japanese dishes of all time, which is a katsu donburi rice bowl, inspired by Yuri!!! on Ice’s Yu-topia Katsuki Specialty Dish or “pork cutlet bowl.” For those not familiar, a katsu donburi is a deep fried pork or chicken cutlet, that’s then braised in an egg and dashi broth base with veggies for a super tender, hearty, and filling rice bowl. We’re gonna be using a few of my favorite veggie additions today including some onions and pickled daikon radish, but by far the highlight of the dish is gonna be our katsu cutlets, which very specifically must be a leftover cutlet in order for it to become tender in the braise. This is some leftover chicken katsu cutlet from our chicken katsu plate lunch video not too long ago (which you can find here), but you can also do this with pork cutlet too, if that’s your fancy.

It will be out on Friday May 21, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Today we’re adding to our series on comically racist sh*t from TV and Film with some liberal inspiration from that one wildly racist scene from Lady and the Tramp. If you’re like me, I certainly grew up using this clip as my main reference point for Siam, which is the former name of the geographic region now known as Thailand. Now, other than being one of the native origins of the Siamese cat, Thailand is home to some of the most delicious rice noodle dishes that you will ever eat. So! I thought I’d use this as an excuse to get to a request that a lot of folks have asked for, which is a Thai dish called Pad Kee Mao or “Thai Drunken Noodles,” as it is known as here in the states.

For those following along, a Pad Kee Mao actually has many similarities to another noodle dish which we have already done, which is a pad see ew. Not only do both rely heavily on the use of dark soy sauce and oyster sauce, but they also prominently features the ingredient which many of you may know as the my personal arch nemesis, which is fresh chow fun rice noodles. Aside from our chow fun and dark soy sauce elements however, a pad kee mao also contains a few additional veggies which you won’t find in a pad see ew, which traditionally just contain gailan. Hope you try it!

It will be out on Friday May 14th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Today we’re adding to our series on food from TV and Film with some inspiration from this Rush Hour 2, which I thought I’d use as an opportunity to take a crack at a request a few folks have asked for now, which is the Chinese Egg Roll. A LOT of folks have also been asking about what the differences are between the chinese egg roll, a filipino lumpia, and a vietnamese spring roll, and after doing a WHOLE bunch of research, I discovered that I honestly have no earthly idea.

What we generally refer to as the Chinese “egg roll” is actually made with wonton wrappers, giving it that super blistered exterior quality that you’ll probably associate with the egg rolls you’ll find at Chinese American places like Panda Express. However! I have been making egg rolls with my family for my entire life, and I have never made an egg roll like this. My family has instead always used a thinner pastry sheet, which you can see in the video is referred to as a “spring roll lumpia wrapper,” which just makes everything even more confusing (is it a spring roll or a lumpia? i have no idea). What’s most important to note though, is that if you want those blistered, puffy “panda express” style egg rolls, you should use either wonton wrappers, or wrappers specifically labeled as “egg roll wrappers.” If you want thin, flakey egg rolls, use lumpia wrappers.

It will be out on Friday May 7, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Today we’re adding to our series on comically racist sh*t from TV and Film with some liberal inspiration from that one wildly racist scene from Lady and the Tramp. If you’re like me, I certainly grew up using this clip as my main reference point for Siam, which is the former name of the geographic region now known as Thailand. Now, other than being one of the native origins of the Siamese cat, Thailand is home to some of the most delicious rice noodle dishes that you will ever eat. So! I thought I’d use this as an excuse to get to a request that a lot of folks have asked for, which is a Thai dish called Pad Kee Mao or “Thai Drunken Noodles,” as it is known as here in the states.

For those following along, a Pad Kee Mao actually has many similarities to another noodle dish which we have already done, which is a pad see ew. Not only do both rely heavily on the use of dark soy sauce and oyster sauce, but they also prominently features the ingredient which many of you may know as the my personal arch nemesis, which is fresh chow fun rice noodles. Aside from our chow fun and dark soy sauce elements however, a pad kee mao also contains a few additional veggies which you won’t find in a pad see ew, which traditionally just contain gailan. Hope you try it!

It will be out on Friday April 23rd, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!