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Mister Jiu's in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food [A Cookbook]
JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed chef behind the Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s restaurant shares the past, present, and future of Chinese cooking in America through 90 mouthwatering recipes.
ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE The New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE Glamour • “Brandon Jew’s affection for San Francisco’s Chinatown and his own Chinese heritage is palpable in this cookbook, which is both a recipe collection and a portrait of a district rich in history.”—Fuchsia Dunlop, James Beard Award-winning author of The Food of Sichuan
Brandon Jew trained in the kitchens of California cuisine pioneers and Michelin-starred Italian institutions before finding his way back to Chinatown and the food of his childhood. Through deeply personal recipes and stories about the neighborhood that often inspires them, this groundbreaking cookbook is an intimate account of how Chinese food became American food and the making of a Chinese American chef.
Jew takes inspiration from classic Chinatown recipes to create innovative spins like Sizzling Rice Soup, Squid Ink Wontons, Orange Chicken Wings, Liberty Roast Duck, Mushroom Mu Shu, and Banana Black Sesame Pie. From the fundamentals of Chinese cooking to master class recipes, he interweaves recipes and techniques with stories about their origins in Chinatown and in his own family history. And he connects his classical training and American roots to Chinese traditions in chapters celebrating dim sum, dumplings, and banquet-style parties.
With more than a hundred photographs of finished dishes as well as moving and evocative atmospheric shots of Chinatown, this book is also an intimate portrait—a look down the alleyways, above the tourist shops, and into the kitchens—of the neighborhood that changed the flavor of America.
ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE The New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE Glamour • “Brandon Jew’s affection for San Francisco’s Chinatown and his own Chinese heritage is palpable in this cookbook, which is both a recipe collection and a portrait of a district rich in history.”—Fuchsia Dunlop, James Beard Award-winning author of The Food of Sichuan
Brandon Jew trained in the kitchens of California cuisine pioneers and Michelin-starred Italian institutions before finding his way back to Chinatown and the food of his childhood. Through deeply personal recipes and stories about the neighborhood that often inspires them, this groundbreaking cookbook is an intimate account of how Chinese food became American food and the making of a Chinese American chef.
Jew takes inspiration from classic Chinatown recipes to create innovative spins like Sizzling Rice Soup, Squid Ink Wontons, Orange Chicken Wings, Liberty Roast Duck, Mushroom Mu Shu, and Banana Black Sesame Pie. From the fundamentals of Chinese cooking to master class recipes, he interweaves recipes and techniques with stories about their origins in Chinatown and in his own family history. And he connects his classical training and American roots to Chinese traditions in chapters celebrating dim sum, dumplings, and banquet-style parties.
With more than a hundred photographs of finished dishes as well as moving and evocative atmospheric shots of Chinatown, this book is also an intimate portrait—a look down the alleyways, above the tourist shops, and into the kitchens—of the neighborhood that changed the flavor of America.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 9, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 17, 2022
This is really 2 books: One is a brief history of Chinese restaurants in America, with emphasis on San Francisco and Jew's own development as a chef and restaurateur. It's a useful outline and reminder of the different regional cuisines that were introduced with each wave of immigration from China.
The second book is a cookbook, but it is not for the faint of heart. The author already had an exceptional background in fine Cal-Mediterranean cooking when he decided to immerse himself in Chinese cuisine. In this book he brings together techniques and ingredients from both kitchens.
This is definitely NOT a "what to cook tonight" book. It is a book to make you gasp at the intricacies of the art and the dedication of its practitioners. There are very few recipes here that take less than a long afternoon to produce and many that take multiple days. Even so, I read through them with fascination (and mounting hunger). I'm a fairly ambitious cook, and although I would like to EAT every dish in the book, I doubt I will make more than a couple. But I value this book and felt grateful to Brandon Jew for sharing his knowledge and techniques. I hope I can eat at Mr. Jiu's in Chinatown some day.
The second book is a cookbook, but it is not for the faint of heart. The author already had an exceptional background in fine Cal-Mediterranean cooking when he decided to immerse himself in Chinese cuisine. In this book he brings together techniques and ingredients from both kitchens.
This is definitely NOT a "what to cook tonight" book. It is a book to make you gasp at the intricacies of the art and the dedication of its practitioners. There are very few recipes here that take less than a long afternoon to produce and many that take multiple days. Even so, I read through them with fascination (and mounting hunger). I'm a fairly ambitious cook, and although I would like to EAT every dish in the book, I doubt I will make more than a couple. But I value this book and felt grateful to Brandon Jew for sharing his knowledge and techniques. I hope I can eat at Mr. Jiu's in Chinatown some day.
January 17, 2022
Living in SF, I’ve had the opportunity to eat a meal at Mr. Jiu’s in Chinatown in 2019. While the meal itself ranked a modest “good” in my history of meals, reading this cookbook has given me greater appreciation for the thought and purpose of this establishment and what it represents for Chinese-American immigrants. I personally do not love seafood so I had to take points off for the relative inapplicability of this cookbook for my everyday cooking (though I did tab a few stocks, soups, and pastries I would like to try). Overall, a wonderful and beautifully laid out cookbook that I appreciate tons as somebody who is Chinese-Canadian and lives in San Francisco.
May 14, 2023
A beautiful cookbook from cover to cover in its intentionality—teachings, stories, and photographs. The recipes focus on contemporary, community-driven Chinese American food from the first three years of operating Mister Jiu’s in San Francisco (the oldest Chinatown in America). I like the pace of the book and how it doesn’t dwell too heavily on one particular topic but still offers plenty of specific details on things like pronunciation, spellings, sad and happy histories, techniques, personal nostalgia, sourcing ingredients, and more. I especially enjoyed the chart about balancing the 8 flavors, photographs of knife cuts, the step-by-step guide to oil-blanching, and how the book ends with a small section about events (with a focus on the hot pot). In-between the Acknowledgents and Index is a page called One Last Thing which is an extra note about the pandemic, economic recovery, and the importance of community. Well-deserving of the 2022 best restaurant cookbook James Beard award!
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July 6, 2021Made: salt and pepper squid, Taiwanese-style eggplant, soy milk ice cream. Lots of great recipes here, many of them VERY HARD (in my opinion) with many steps and techniques like deep frying in a wok, and oil blanching which suggests that you have two woks (I don’t have a wok, but I made do with a deep cast iron skillet and another pan).
That eggplant in particular was delicious, though!!
That eggplant in particular was delicious, though!!
June 5, 2021
I think this is an amazing compendium of the story and the process of cooking at one of the most iconic Chinese American restaurants in San Francisco, which is the most iconic Chinatown's in the United States--second only to Vancouver in North America. The restaurant has a wonderful window onto the street where you can watch dumplings being hand made, and with that, you know that you are in for a treat.
The recipes are largely both complex and detailed. My Food 52 cookbook group did this last month, and the people who dove right in, expecting each recipe to be a project rather than a breeze, were the happiest. We plan to do some longer term exploration of the recipes, but the story that is told (which is about a third of the book) is well worth reading as well.
The recipes are largely both complex and detailed. My Food 52 cookbook group did this last month, and the people who dove right in, expecting each recipe to be a project rather than a breeze, were the happiest. We plan to do some longer term exploration of the recipes, but the story that is told (which is about a third of the book) is well worth reading as well.
January 10, 2022
Such a gorgeous book!!!! I love that it's in-between approachable & expert. Jew is an expert at what he does, and he doesn't dumb down his recipes for non-Chinese or new cooks. You'll likely need to plan ahead for a trip to your Asian market before making any of these recipes (sans maybe the desserts), but the recipes are thorough in language & method. (& when I say language, I mean languages -- Jew includes the Chinese characters for ingredients, which I'd bet is super helpful for bilingual readers.) I also really love the stories that are interspersed between recipes, and the photography is STUNNING. Very very happy to have this book in my collection, & I can't wait to start cooking & learning from it!
July 10, 2021
This isn't a book you'll pick up if you need dinner on the table in 30 minutes. There's a chicken galantine recipe that fills up 6 pages, a roast duck that takes two weeks from start to finish. There are lots of complex techniques and a few speciality items required.
But, it's a fascinating book for its insights into Chinese American food culture, history, and San Francisco Chinatown itself. It really helps to provide a better understanding of the principles behind Chinese cuisine and why things are done a certain way, the different flavor profiles and techniques. I don't know if there's many recipes I would try (much less be able) to pull off, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
But, it's a fascinating book for its insights into Chinese American food culture, history, and San Francisco Chinatown itself. It really helps to provide a better understanding of the principles behind Chinese cuisine and why things are done a certain way, the different flavor profiles and techniques. I don't know if there's many recipes I would try (much less be able) to pull off, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
February 21, 2022
I enjoyed this cookbook and the stories behind the recipes. Some of the recipes were standouts to me, like the sizzling rice soup (definitely a showstopper for a dinner party.) There were a few ingredients I could not find, so I made substitutions - especially all the different types of mushrooms - my local Chinese grocery did not have them. A few of the recipes were complex so I wouldn't recommend this for weeknight dinners. Standouts include, sizzling rice soup, mushroom bao and the milk bread.
December 31, 2023
A detailed cookbook with history of both Chinese America (and specifically the San Francisco Chinatown) and the recipes at Master Jiu's in the former Four Seas Restaurant location. While I do have the habit of reading cookbooks without actually trying anything in them, I am for sure not doing any of these though I appreciate how upfront they are about prep time and equipment needed, which is super useful (so often just Active Time is mentioned online...)
Plenty of information and photos to really appreciate the work they do!
Plenty of information and photos to really appreciate the work they do!
July 14, 2024
Loved the stories that go with the recipes, most of which are more complex than what I would want to do, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the book!
Brandon provides bits of history as well as tales of what the recipes mean to him personally. Love that he cares about the history and then going a step or two further to innovate.
He knows his craft!
Brandon provides bits of history as well as tales of what the recipes mean to him personally. Love that he cares about the history and then going a step or two further to innovate.
He knows his craft!
October 2, 2022
Love not only the recipes but also the tidbits about SF Chinatown history that make it into this book. So inspired to see Brandon Jew’s cooking up close and excited for the future of the restaurant and neighborhood
July 20, 2021
Learning to cook Asian…. I love it!
August 5, 2021
Absolutely beautiful read !
October 24, 2021
After reading this delicious book, I really want to go to the restaurant in SF and explore the neighborhood. Won't be attempting any of the recipes at home. Thrown by a photo of a random white woman dressed in an adorable outfit to match her Poached Spot Prawns on page 185; no explanation of who she is or why she's in the book!
December 2, 2021
Moderately complex recipes. They look tasty, but I'm skeptical whether the extra effort is worth the payoff compared to simpler Chinese recipes.
February 19, 2022
Exquisitely rendered cookbook because of all the backstories Brandon shares of his heritage and recipes.
April 15, 2023
This cookbook was a beautiful journey. stunningly beautiful pictures and great recipes.
April 2, 2024
i borrowed this from a friend for design inspo, and i ended up reading (most of) it cover to cover! theres a lot of good history and info in here, and its also just a really well designed cookbook. highly rec for those interested in chinese/chinese-american cooking
April 26, 2025
Great book. Lots of Chinese food history and knowledge.
March 6, 2026
Good cookbook so far. Loved the orange chicken wings! But the milk bread recipe needs some tweaking. Something is slightly off.
June 26, 2022
Read June 2022
NYPL book
NYPL book
February 11, 2023
Go to Mister Jius in SF if you can. I’ve never had a bad thing there. This cookbook was a fun read but most of the recipes seem so so complicated - I’ll just go over to the restaurant instead
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews