March 2024: Return of cast iron woks + wok book signed by Grace Young

March 05, 2024

March 2024: Return of cast iron woks + wok book signed by Grace Young

Woks and Wok Books

Greetings, Friends of The Mala Market 
 
Sure, you know woks. You know what they look like and that they're essential to Chinese cooking. But do you really know woks? I'm not talking about just the best material, shape and size (which are indeed important), but also about the history, lore and infinite uses of China's greatest gift to the cooking world. 

Twenty years ago, Grace Young—showing off her new Mala Market cast-iron wok above—wrote a cookbook that explored all of these facets of the wok and more. Re-reading The Breath of a Wok recently, I realized that every person who cooks with a wok should read this book—and that those who already own it should have a copy personally signed by the author.

So to celebrate both the return of our Sichuan heritage-brand cast-iron woks and the 20th anniversary of Grace's wok masterwork, we asked her to sign some copies just for you. And as a longtime supporter of The Mala Market, she gladly said yes. Both the wok and the wok book are classics that deserve a place in any serious Chinese cook's kitchen. 
 
Enjoy!
🌶 Taylor & Fongchong 🌶

P.S. While we think our 14.5 inch woks are the ideal size for stir-frying, we do realize that many of you have smaller kitchens and/or cook for only one to two people, so we are bringing in a 13.5 inch wok for you. It should arrive in June.

Also, keep reading for a message from Grace!
 
The Breath of a Wok (Classic Cookbook by Grace Young) *Signed by the Author*
The Breath of a Wok (Classic Cookbook by Grace Young) *Signed by the Author*
$32.00

As much as we hope you'll adopt a wok as one of—if not THE—main cooking pots in your kitchen, we hope you won't cook in a wok without really understanding the history, culture and proper usage of China's greatest contribution to cookware.

Let The Breath of a Wok be your guide and you'll get not only practical and insightful stories about the wok but a trove of mostly Cantonese and American-Chinese recipes from kitchens across the U.S, Hong Kong and Mainland China written by Grace Young. 

You might know Grace as someone who dropped everything to champion America's Chinatowns both during and post-Covid, and who has become a beloved public figure for her tireless work and promotion of these quintessentially American neighborhoods.

But we still think of her as Grace the Great Cookbook Writer. Her books—and in particular The Breath of a Wok—are, just like Chinatown, American classics. In the early 2000s she traveled through Hong Kong, Guangdong and Guangxi looking for the perfect wok and learning tips and recipes from both chefs and home cooks. Twenty years later, no one else has done that, and this book remains the definitive guide to old-world wok cooking as perfected by China. 

No Chinese cookbook collection is complete without (a signed copy of) The Breath of a Wok!

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Lightweight Flat-Bottom Cast Iron Wok (Sichuan Heritage Brand)
Lightweight Flat-Bottom Cast Iron Wok (Sichuan Heritage Brand)
$160.00
We launched these woks in December, and they sold out in days! So now we know you are as excited about cooking in a lightweight cast-iron wok as we are. 

Grace got one from the first shipment, and here is her review:

"I couldn’t resist adding the Mala Market’s Sichuan Hongjiang wok to my vast collection of woks. I love cast -iron woks and this is the first high quality cast-iron wok that is lightweight with a flat bottom, long pao-style handle and a helper handle. The light weight means it heats faster than traditional cast iron and with the pao handle I can lift the wok with one hand! This wok will be a game changer for cooking on induction, ceramic glass top and even gas stoves! And it’s a thing of beauty."

Click below to read more about what makes these woks unlike any others on the U.S. market. 
 
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Lightweight Round-Bottom Cast Iron Wok (Sichuan Heritage Brand)
Lightweight Round-Bottom Cast Iron Wok (Sichuan Heritage Brand)
$160.00
The traditional round-bottom model of the Hongjiang cast-iron wok is only for use on gas stoves and only for those who have a built-in wok grate or similar setup that they are comfortable wokking on. 

This 14-inch, round-bottom "pow" wok weighs only 4 pounds.

Both the round and flat-bottom woks are pre-seasoned, nonstick and naturally dark gray from the start. They include a gold-tinted tempered-glass lid that fits tightly to the wok to facilitate steaming and braising. 
 
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A Message From Grace


Here's a message from Grace, a longtime friend of The Mala Market (she developed this popular recipe for Sichuan Spareribs With Mala BBQ Sauce for us back in 2019). I said it then, and I'll say it again: She is our hero. 

"It’s hard to believe The Breath of a Wok is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Writing the book was a privilege and I was so lucky to work with Alan Richardson—it was an amazing collaboration. Alan’s  photography and design brought everything to life. No other cookbook has explored the concept of wok hei, which I translate as 'the breath of a wok,' as thoroughly as The Breath of a Wok. My reputation for being an expert on woks and stir-frying was established with its publication.

In 2005, 
The Breath of a Wok won the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Jane Grigson Award for Distinguished Scholarship and the IACP Best International Cookbook. It was an even greater honor in 2019, for The Breath of a Wok to be inducted into the IACP Culinary Classics Cookbook Hall of Fame. It’s a source of enormous pride that this cookbook, now in its 13th printing, has inspired so many to master wok cooking."
***
Grace and I both love this quote about the book from author Betty Fussell: “If you’ve never used a wok, you must have this book. If you’ve always used a wok, you must have this book. This book is not just about the care and feeding of the wok as a useful kitchen pan, but ’the wok as a way of life,’ a bridge between cultures for a Chinese American in search of history and destiny. It is also a remarkable collaboration between a writer and a photographer seeking to integrate text and images in a form that reveals what the wok symbolizes—a craft, an art, a container of communal harmony and balance.”
***
Finally, I will add that the photo above shows a snow pea-tomato-chili stir-fry from Guangxi that is an example of fresh ideas this classic book can bring to your kitchen. We served this with a divine beef short-rib dish from the Braising section of the book, the beef long-simmered in Zhongba soy sauce and Shaoxing wine and garnished with loads of caramelized scallions. So. Incredibly. Good. 

Notice that the Guangxi cook in the photo uses a cast-iron wok. The Breath of a Wok addresses the care and use of both carbon steel and cast iron woks.