BAO

by Erchen Chang, Shing Tat Chung, Wai Ting Chung

The first cookbook from London’s cult favorite restaurant BAO offers a taste of Taiwanese food culture with 100 signature recipes for steamed buns, noodles, xiao chi, fried chicken, and more.
 
Since its humble beginnings as a London food stall, BAO has amassed a cult following of hungry fans with its Taiwanese-inspired cuisine and sleek design sensibility. BAO’s first book reveals the top-secret recipes behind 100 of its most beloved dishes – from the traditional steamed buns of its name to Taiwanese fried chicken, soul-warming beef noodles, snack-size xiao chi, and more.
 
Every BAO restaurant reflects a unique element of Taiwanese eating culture. The book follows suit, with chapters exploring each restaurant’s inspiration – Taipei night markets and grill houses, noodle shops and cafés – along with its creative interpretation. 
 
Part cookbook, part manifesto, BAO weaves together delicious recipes, lively stories, evocative photography, and playful illustrations to inspire BAO super-fans and curious home cooks alike. 
 
Chapters and featured dishes
BAO – Classic Pork BAO, Daikon BAO, Cod Black BAO, Short Rib BAO
Xiao Chi – Taiwanese Fried Chicken, Sweet Potato Chips with Pickled Plum Ketchup
Grill House – Chilli Chicken Wings, Shacha Ox Heart Skewers
Taiwanese Café – Dan Bing, Taro Congee with Crispy Shallot Wings
Noodle Shop – Slow-cooked Beef Cheek and Short Rib Noodles, Dan Dan Tofu Noodles
Drinks – Peanut Milk, Melon Sour, Milk Foam Tea

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Food, Cooking, Food and Drink

240 pages, Hardcover

Published April 5, 2023

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taiwanese food is an interesting style, that usually was considered to be extremely minor for being different, depending if you believe in the 4/5/8 regions of chinese cuisine or others that say there's 17 styles, where in one list i think the 17th was Taiwan

Classic Pork BAO
Daikon BAO
Cod Black BAO
Short Rib BAO

Taiwanese Fried Chicken
Sweet Potato Chips with Pickled Plum Ketchup

Chilli Chicken Wings
Shacha Ox Heart Skewers

Dan Bing
Taro Congee with Crispy Shallot Wings

Slow-cooked Beef Cheek and Short Rib Noodles
Dan Dan Tofu Noodles

Drinks
Peanut Milk - Melon Sour - Milk Foam Tea

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Hugely inspiring...there is so much in it that I long to eat.
Nigella Lawson

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Amazone

Beautiful book but recipes not realisti
4/10

I returned book after opening. Beautiful book, beautiful food.
I love Chinese cooking but dislike food as art.
I kept thinking if I could find one recipe I actually wanted to try, I would keep book.

Florence

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Immerse yourself in the weird and wonderful world of Taiwanese restaurant BAO with this new book detailing its journey and the most exciting cult recipes.
ES Magazine, The Evening Standard

Rewarding recipes... The book delves deep into the restaurant's thoughtfully curated and well-branded universe
Esquire

BAO's debut cookbook reveals their deepest, darkest cooking secrets.
The Independent

Multifaceted, complex yet rewarding recipes
Library Journal

The stylish and appetizing debut from the creative minds behind London’s Bao restaurants is part cookbook and part manifesto
Publishers Weekly

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15% of people don't care for this book though

[Charles Eldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. This is art.

It is rare to come across a cookbook that is also so much more. This is a story. This is a vibe. This book is an inspiration.

Earlier today I spent probably a half hour typing a perfect ode to this cookbook that captured my imagination. It might have been my own best review effort. Sadly, the Goodreads app bugged out and my review was lost. I cannot fully recreate the poetic prose I was heaping on “BAO” - but I will say a few things:

- This gorgeous book could easily be just an artistic coffee table tome to flip through, but it would be better served getting messy in your home kitchen.

- The three owners/chefs/artists that crafted the BAO restaurants and this book pour their soul into sharing their inspirations and desires and influences for their recipes. It is unique. The closest I’ve experienced is reading through the Mumbai/Bombay-influenced “Dishoom” and learning of their respect and influence of the different decades of Indian food and culture to craft their restaurants and menus. Must be something in that London water influencing these great culinary innovations that pay respect to history but create something new.

- The recipes are well presented and very accessible. Each gorgeous photo and story behind the dish made my mouth water.

Perhaps I’ll edit this when I recall the praise and prose of my first review that was lost to the ether, but hopefully the words above suffice to intrigue you to engage with the “BAO” experience.

[mol · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars, finished
you know the drill by now—i didn’t do anything but read the recipes except for a few of the excerpts at the very beginning because i thought their approach to serving food in various locations/environments was pretty cool. while i don’t see myself cooking any of these recipes any time soon because i’m not sure i could do them justice, i would KILL to eat at any of the locations. not to mention, this is a beautifully designed cookbook, so well organized and visually satisfying. also haha page 36 bao boob.

[Zachary Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bao is already becoming one of my favorite cookbooks! The 40-day Aged Beef and Taipei Butter, and the Jiang Shao Beef Short Rib Pancake with Bone Marrow were show-stoppers!

Rich, complex flavors and relatively easy to follow instructions.

I have to wonder if some of the gram conversions are a bit off? Half a pound of cilantro for an accompanying salad seemed excessive.

Glad to have this one on my shelf.

[Aksel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recipes look great and I’m excited to try them out. BAO shares insider knowledge to the street food culture of Taiwan. It is also the story of a group of artists who decided to start a restaurant group, and how art has influenced their decision making in the world of restaurants and memorable dining experiences. It’s quite unique in that regard, and I pleasantly enjoyed reading the group’s stories.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those cookbooks that deserves a novel-reading approach. I don’t have time to do it justice (the library wants it back). I read enough to be sure I’d love to visit one of their restaurants or pop-ups or whatever. The recipes look very complex (mostly), but that just makes me think they are trying to ensure the reader’s success.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a fair amount of reflection on the business of cooking and only a modicum of very fancy recipes. Still it was interesting in spots.