Chinese Cooking in America

Buwei Yang Chao (1889-1984) 

How to Cook and Eat in Chinese 

New York: John Day Co., 1945 

How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, by Buwei Yang Chao, was first published in 1945, and is considered the first Chinese cookbook to connect with a wide American audience. How to Cook features recipes, as well as a discussion of Chinese cooking techniques and culture. It was written by Buwei, a medical doctor born in the Jiangsu province in 1889, while her family was living in Massachusetts during WWII, and its publication was a family affair--her daughter Rulan Chao helped her collect over 200 recipes, and her husband, linguist Yuen Ren Chao, aided in writing the text. The couple coined the terms "pot sticker" and "stir fry" for the publication. 

TX725.C515 1945 

Sou Chan (1909-1978) 

The House of Chan Cookbook 

Garden City: Doubleday, 1952 

Sou Chan was born in Guangdong, China in 1909, and emigrated to the United States in 1928, arriving in Oregon, before moving to New York City in the 1930s, where he worked as a waiter and butcher while saving money to establish his own restaurant. In 1938, House of Chan opened in midtown, and thrived until his death in 1978. 

TX725.C518 1952 

Lin Tsuifeng 

Cooking with the Chinese Flavor 

Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1956 

TX&24.5.C5 L56 1956 

Doreen Yen Hung Feng 

The Joy of Chinese Cooking 

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1974 

TX725.F36 1974 

Victor Sen Yung (1914-1980) 

Great Wok Cookbook 

Los Angeles: Nash Pub., 1974 

Victor Sen Yung was a successful character actor, staring in the Charlie Chan films, and the television shows Bonanza, Bachelor Father, and Kung Fu. A talented chef, he would make guest appearances on cooking shows, and published Great Wok in 1974 

TX724.5.C5 Y85 1975 

Titus Chan 

The Chan-ese Way 

Reston: Reston Pub. Co., 1975 

Titus Chan was born in China, and moved to the United States to attend college. Deciding to make America his permanent home, he studied and worked in California, Arkansas, Alaska, and Texas, before putting down roots in Hawaii, where he worked as a resort chef and college instructor. His popularity as a cooking instructor led to an invitation to appear on Hawaiian public television, leading to Cooking the Chan-ese way his nationally syndicated cooking show, which premiered in 1972. His show and cookbooks focused on Chinese cuisine, with Hawaiian influences. 

TX724.5.C5 C463 1975 

Liu, Catherine 

Chinese Cooking the American Way 

Dallas: Chinese Cooking Institute, c1976 

Catherine Liu taught Chinese cooking in the Metroplex, Houston, and San Antonio in the 1970s and 1980s, before opening a series of successful restaurants in north Texas, including Cathy’s Wok in Plano 

TX724.5.C5 L58 1976 

Stephen Yan 

Chinese Recipes 

Port Coquitlam: Yan’s Variety Co., 1978 

Stephen Yan was born in Hong Kong, and moved to Canada in the 1960s, where he opened two restaurants in Vancouver. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a popular television host and talk show guest in the United States, Canada, and Australia. 

TX724.5.C5 Y2869 1978 

Florence Lin (1920-2018) 

Cooking with Fire Pots 

New York: Hawthorn Books, 1979 

Florence Lin was known as the Doyenne of Chinese cooking in America. Born in Hankou China, she joined the nationalist army in WWII, before emigrating to New York City in 1947, where she married a stockbroker and taught herself to cook, missing the meals she’d grown up with. She’d cook first for friends and her husband’s colleagues, developing a reputation that grew as she began teaching at the China Institute in Manhattan, where one of her students was Julia Child. In her obituary, the Washington Post credited her as the chef “who helped expand the American palate beyond chop suey and sweet-and-sour pork.” 

Folio-2B TX724.5.C5L547 1979 

Ken Hom (B. 1949) 

Quick and Easy Chinese Cooking 

San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1990 

Ken Hom was born in Arizona to Chinese parents, and raised in Chicago, where he worked in his uncle’s Chinese restaurant. He studied at Berkeley and the California Culinary Academy, and shortly after graduation, he successfully auditioned to host a cooking show for the BBC, beginning a long television career in the United States and Britain. 

Folio-2B TX724.5.C5 H6657 1990