Tiffy Cooks: 88 Easy Asian Recipes from My Family to Yours: A Cookbook

by Tiffy Chen

The wildly popular blogger and TikTok sensation behind Tiffy Cooks shares 88 of her favorite easy, everyday, family-style recipes from across Asia.

Tiffy Chen started blogging about food and recipes after learning to cook from her mother and grandmother. In her debut cookbook, Tiffy shares memories and recipes shaped by growing up in Taiwan—a country with rich culture, diverse cuisines, and some of the best street food in the world—along with beloved family recipes and unique dishes inspired by her travels across Southeast Asia.

With eighty-eight (a very lucky number in Chinese culture) flavor-packed recipes, Tiffy offers her favorite quick and easy everyday dishes, like a classic Taiwanese Breakfast Sandwich and her grandmother’s Sesame Chicken Rice . Also included are family-style dishes to pass around and enjoy, from Drunken Chicken and Braised Five-Spice Beef to Garlic and Scallion Lobster and Braised Sticky Pork Belly . You'll find favorites like bao, buns, wontons, and dumplings that are great to make in bulk—all freezer-friendly to help you save time and have them on hand for when the mood strikes!

With gorgeous step-by-step photography and heartwarming stories about traveling in Asia and finding the best street food in Taiwan, Tiffy Cooks celebrates Asian food and family in this must-make collection of go-to, easy recipes.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Food, Cooking

272 pages, Hardcover

Published February 27, 2024

Reviews

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiffy Chen, a premier Taiwanese-Canadian food blogger, doesn’t hold back in this excellent Taiwanese cookbook. Caveat emptor: While Tiffy includes recipes like Flaky Scallion Pancakes, Taiwanese Breakfast Sandwich and Cheesy Baked Pasta that have everyday ingredients, most of the recipes require a trip to the Asian food market, even if you live in a second-tier city and have pretty fancy grocery stores. While rice vinegar, sesame oil, oyster sauce, tofu, tapioca flour, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, fresh ginger, fresh cilantro, rice wine, Napa cabbage, Bok Choy, chili oil and five-spice powder are available in even pretty small cities these days, Tiffy employs black vinegar, dashi powder, baby octopus, miso paste, fresh chow mein noodles, lotus root, sake and dried shrimp. These aren’t items for sale in grocery stores in most of the Midwest or Deep South.

That said, Tiffy Chen would be the first to say that adapting recipes (as Chen’s mother had to do when the family emigrated to Vancouver when Chen was 12) is just fine. The dishes, of course, would be better and more authentic with real Asian produce and condiments, but plenty of the dishes will be delicious made with dry sherry, cornstarch, all-purpose flour, dill pickles, globe rather than Chinese eggplants, red pepper flakes or angel hair spaghetti. Chen’s cookbook is definitely worth a look, even for cooks who live in rural America where Kikkoman soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms and Napa cabbage are luxuries. Highly recommended.

And do not miss the hilarious final photo of Tiffy, her sister and her mother!

[Waverly Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had this cookbook for well over a year and I love it! All my favorite Taiwanese/asian recipes and not too hard to make ❤️

[Dawn "MASSIVE TBR" Allsun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Tiffy's approach to food and cooking.

[Tonya Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such good recipes that I ordered the book! Instead of just borrowing.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had more time to dedicate to cooking. Some of these recipes look really labor & ingredient intensive and ain’t nobody got the time - let alone the money - for that.

There are some good looking, and simpler, recipes included. However, those are the exception and not the norm.

[Kerry Croucier · Rating 4 out of 5]

TIFFY COOKS by Tiffy Chen is a combination of memoir and cookbook as she explores her love of the food she grew up eating and cooking with her grandmother. It is a family culinary history, made even more important given her childhood move from Taiwan to Canada for better opportunities. The cookbook has recipes that are both quick and easy, and those that require more time and steps. She includes a section that details ingredients in her pantry, with explanations of why they are important and, for some, what the differences are between two similar items. She also lists her favorite brands and gives vegetarian/vegan options for ingredients when they are available.
The recipes are divided into different sections and, I must admit, the “Noodles” section is one I will gravitate more to, as she says, they are “recipes that can all be made in 30 minutes or less.” I am not sure about 30 minutes, I always find I take longer than the state time in recipes, but they do look quick (if I don’t use the hand-cut noodles when I’m in a hurry!) The Creamy Sesame Cold Noodle Salad and the two different Chow Mein options will be in regular rotation with my family. Egg Drop Soup is a favorite, and prompted discussions with my Mom on technique, and we love a good Hot and Sour Soup. I was excited to find a recipe for Crispy Beans and Garlic Cucumber Salad, both dishes my daughter and I love to order out. There is a section for Bao and Buns and another for Dumplings and Wontons that have recipes that are a little more time consuming but will be fun for my daughter and I to explore during breaks, since they foods we both enjoy and it will be fun to make our own.
The recipes are beautifully photographed and the dishes that require more detailed instructions also include photos for each step. As you read, Chen’s love for the food shines through, as well as the special memories that each invokes. You may not use every recipe in this cookbook, but you will enjoy reading about the importance of each that is included.
Thank you to 10 Speed Press for the gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own and freely given.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chen promises stories throughout and she delivers. She truly comes from a food-loving family and that’s evident through her family “sampling food” vacations. She moved to Vancouver in her tweens with her mom and sister and found the food culture-shock to be hard. When she enrolled in a small university in Ontario, she forced herself to cook the foods she found the most comforting. A four-month trip traveling to Southeast Asia after graduation sealed her foodie fate. Even though she started working at a Fortune-500 company, her free time was spent cooking.

She left to pursue her TikTok success in 2020. The rest, as she says, is history.

Chen starts her book with a list of basic tools and (more importantly) condiments and spices. They’re both pretty definitive lists.

I was very intrigued by the “Quick and Easy All Day” section which contains four breakfast recipes plus Traditional Silky Soy Milk and Taiwanese Peanut Rice Milk; four noodle recipes; five rice recipes; two soups; three salads; and eleven entrees. Of these, I will have to try the Taiwanese XXL Fried Chicken (79).

Part 2 is entitled “Family-Style Dining.” It includes Small Plates, Family Style Entrees (chicken, pork, beef, seafood).

Part 3 is “Make in Bulk” and contains recipe and detailed pictorial instructions for bao, steamed flower rolls, Chinese steamed buns, crispy pork buns, vegetable buns, dumplings, and wontons. I was very impressed with the step-by-step directions.

“Dessert and Drinks” (Part 4), may have been my favorite! I have earmarked Honey Cake (224-225) as well as a few from the drinks section—Taiwanese Fruit Tea (233) and Traditional Taiwanese Pineapple Syrup (236).

Chen doesn’t leave without tutorials and recipes on rice, making hand-cut noodles, chili oil, garlic oil.

While I wasn’t in love with her writing style (I like a little more humor mixed in), the recipes and instructions are impressive.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb collection of recipes, especially if one is looking to expand their cultural horizons or would like to learn to make Asian meals at home.

Shao Bing You Tiao
Traditional Taiwanese Chow Mein
Sesame Chicken Rice
Taiwanese Egg Fried Rice
Sesame Chopped Salad
Spicy Lotus Root Salad - try it!
Taiwanese XXL Fried Chicken
Taiwanese Braised Pork Chops
Mushroom and Chicken Sizzling Plate
Braised Soy Sauce Chicken
Braised Five-Spice Beef*
Pickled Cucumber
Traditional Taiwanese Stick Rice
Grandma's Taiwanese Stir-Fry Noodles
Scallion Chicken
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
Three Cup Chicken
Scallion Beef Stir-Fry
Braised Sticky Pork Belly
Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice
Pan-Fried Crispy Pork Buns
Vegetarian Dumplings
Fried Mantou with Creamy Condensed Milk
Honey Papaya Smoothie
Taiwanese Fruit Tea

Also an excellent list of ingredients and suppliers for some that may not be pantry staples.

[Jessica Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook is many things.

Each recipe has a beautiful picture and a well written recipe that isn't overly complicated. Everything looks well curated and thought out, not rushed or poorly put together. I find that some of the recipes tie into each other which is perfect when you're learning certain recipes that are made up of other more complex recipes. (That's next level cooking!)

I don't have many cookbooks (this is my second in my growing collection) and I can't express how much I love this one. I'm so excited to rry out these recipes for family and friends.

[Chrissy♥Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved her YT videos and have tried a multitude of her recipes. So I went out and got her cookbook, to be honest I don’t think I’ll be making at least 25% of the recipes in here only because they are kinda hard and time consuming. Maybe one day but I doubt it. I think her online recipes are faster and more versatile which I was kinda hoping for more of with her cookbook. Regardless I love to support tiffy in anyway I can.

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiffy Cooks... I feel like I just learned ALL of Tiffy's family recipe secrets! Detailed and well explained recipes are highlighted by beautifully plated finished dishes, some accompanied by step by step images for the more challenging images. I appreciate the flavors used, and I like the variety of recipes included. Really looking forward to reading more from Tiffy!

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the range of spices used while drawing similarities to my own cultural dishes, especially since they're also labor intensive. Although, some recipes, such as the braised pork belly I've made, require a higher water ratio than recorded. Nonetheless, I can't wait to make the satay beef stir-fry and others!

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this recipe book. I have tried more than a few and they are all so delicious! I absolutely love the backstory to each one and how connected she is to the food she makes! Will definitely be keeping more than a few of these dishes on constant rotation.

[Lydia Kass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asian inspired recipes with Nuevo riche twists; heavy on the directions.

[BingeReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite cookbooks at the moment! I love her story and how easy and comforting some of the recipes are! I’ve tried 3 of the recipes so far and my fave is the smashed cucumber recipe! So tasty! The lu rou fan recipe was very salty though.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made the Hand-Cut Noodles from the book and a sauce from Tiffy's website.