Episode 136: Kristina Cho

This week, we’re joined by Kristina Cho to discuss her debut cookbook, Mooncakes and Milk Bread: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries.

Kristina is a Bay Area-based recipe developer and writer who grew up in a restaurant family in Cleveland, Ohio. After a degree in architecture left her longing for something more, she turned to food blogging and launched Eat Cho Food.

As her recipes grew in popularity, she realized some of the hits were items you’d find at Chinese bakeries (one of the first to resonate: the hot dog flower buns). Before long, Kristina had made another realization: the cookbook world was missing a book dedicated to Chinese bakery-style recipes. So Kristina set out to write up.

Mooncakes & Milk Bread is the result of that effort, and it landed Kristina two coveted James Beard Awards earlier this year (in both the Baking & Desserts and Emerging Voice cookbook categories.) The book is packed with classic and inventive recipes, from pineapple buns to almond cookies. Sweet and savory items share the space, as they do in most Chinese bakeries. And Kristina offers essays on the history of Chinatowns, profiles of some storied bakeries, and more.

I met up with Kristina in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where we strolled past long-standing bakeries, sampled some fare, and chatted about her career and her first cookbook. We were meeting just before the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival), one of the most important Chinese holidays and an important time for enjoying and sharing mooncakes.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Kristina Cho.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive Kristina’s recipe for Youtiao (Chinese Doughnut), which we enjoyed together in San Francisco:

Also later this week: Chef Ji Hye Kim on how she celebrates Chuseok, the Korean Mid-Autumn Harvest Festival.

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This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Here are a few of the new cookbooks on shelves this week:

Dinner in One by Melissa Clark

The Weekend Cook by Angela Hartnett

Prep and Rally by Dini Klein

Healthy in a Hurry by Danielle Walker

Modern Bistro from America’s Test Kitchen

Chetna’s Easy Baking by Chetna Makan

Pasta Night by Deborah Kaloper

The Little Book of Gin Cocktails from Pyramid

Cocktail Botanica by Elouise Anders

Flavor by Fire by Derek Wolf

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