Learning Korean: Recipes for Home Cooking

Learning Korean is Peter Serpico's guide to thinking like a Korean cook. It's traditional, practical, and careful to make explicit things Koreans might take for granted in the kitchen.

Born in Korea and adopted by an American couple whose ancestry was Italian and Polish, Serpico grew up eating "spaghetti, green peas, and garden salads," and still makes his mom's mac and cheese for his own daughter.

Although he would become a professional chef, including a stint as chef de cuisine at the Korean-influenced Momofuku Ko, it was only after falling in love with and eventually marrying a Korean-American woman, that he began learning about and cooking Korean food. And the best Korean food, he decided, is made in homes.

Serpico's 100 home recipes are accompanied by helpful headnotes that reveal whether a dish is an everyday item or a celebration staple. Where necessary, he provides step-by-step photo sequences to explain techniques for the likes of stuffed dumplings and hand-cut noodles. And he makes sure to include the familiar favorites which are many people's introductions to Korean fare, from an array of banchan and beef short ribs to kimchi and hearty stews.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.