The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook

November 16, 2015
The recipes in this irreverent chronicle are enriched by a very personal story. “I look at this cookbook as a document of a specific time and set of experiences: the early years of Mission Chinese food, the end of my 20s, growing up as a chef,” Bowien writes. With childhood photos, interviews with mentors such as Anthony Bourdain, and a chronology that charts the ups and downs of Bowien’s cooking career, the book offers rare insight into the making of a young American chef. Bowien’s undying love for Chinese food—“What I ate when I had no money”—finds expression in his profane interpretations of the classics, a melding of tastes and cultures that is truly American. The recipes are “Chinese by way of Oklahoma, San Francisco, and New York.” The dishes are big and bold, with no regard for culinary boundaries whatsoever. An Oklahoma-inspired smoked beef brisket with smoked cola BBQ sauce sits alongside a recipe for crunchy tea-smoked eel rolls (a burrito-like snack nicknamed “the Chinito” by Bourdain), which pales in comparison to the incredibly over-the-top Beggar’s Duck, a sticky rice–stuffed whole duck that’s baked in potter’s clay, cracked open at the table, and lacquered with sauce. Bowien advises, “If you’re going to invite people over for a meal, really have them over. Be generous, be ridiculous.” Fortunately for readers, he wrote his cookbook in the same spirit.

Starred review from November 15, 2015

Introduced by Momofuku kingpin David Chang as "a portrait of an artist still in progress," this unconventional cookbook traces Korean American chef Bowien's emergence as a major force in the restaurant industry. Bowien's experiences growing up in Oklahoma and cooking in San Francisco and New York are relayed in captivating interviews conducted with Lucky Peach editor-in-chief Ying and other longtime colleagues. Interspersed with the narrative are challenging original recipes from Bowien's acclaimed Mission Chinese Food restaurants, including kung pao pastrami, fried pigs' tails with smoked cola barbecue sauce, and squid-ink noodles with minced pork and peanut sauce. A final chapter offers guidance on Asian spices, condiments, and pantry basics. VERDICT To hear Bowien in his own words is a treat, and his debut cookbook is not to be missed. Like Gabrielle Hamilton's Prune, this will thrill foodies and aspiring chefs.

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