The ten Finest Korean Cookbooks of 2025

The idea of a Korean cookbook would seemingly mystify my Korean-born dad and mom, who I’ve by no means seen use a lot as a teaspoon within the kitchen. Neither of them ever measures something after they cook dinner, nor did their dad and mom earlier than them. Koreans would possibly say all of them have sohn-mat, a time period that roughly interprets to “style of the fingers” and refers to somebody with an intuition for taste, a natural-born cook dinner. I’d say it signifies that everytime you’re attempting to pry any kind of recipe out of them (, for posterity), their response is all the time, “Simply add just a little little bit of this and a pinch of that and an enormous spoonful of that.”

Thankfully, you don’t must have sohn-mat (or perceive my dad and mom’ cryptic recipe directions) to make glorious Korean meals nowadays. Because the 2010s, there’s been a notable explosion of Korean cookbooks in the marketplace, and a few of my favourite cookbooks in my assortment are written by Korean, Korean-born, and Korean American authors. (This Stained Web page Information story by Helin Jung on the historical past of Korean cookbooks in America is a fully fascinating learn).

Whereas there are such a lot of extra Korean cookbooks on the market than this checklist might ever hope to cowl, these are ten books that I—a Korean American cook dinner and meals author—actually love, every with a novel perspective to contribute to the ever-growing dialog in regards to the thrilling prospects of Korean and Korean American meals. If ever the day comes after I’m pressured to whittle down my 120-plus (and rising) cookbook assortment, these would make the minimize.

This dynamic, colourful, and soulful love letter to Koreatowns throughout America felt groundbreaking to me when it got here out in 2016, and nonetheless feels timeless at this time. It defied so most of the day’s established conventions for promoting an viewers on a lesser-known delicacies. As a substitute, Koreatown absolutely embraces all of the issues that make these Korean American enclaves uniquely particular by means of its mixture of daring design (the banchan-grid cowl is iconic) and reportage-style images that seize moments of on a regular basis life unfolding in typically “unglamorous” places like underground buying facilities and strip malls. The recipes handle to strike a fragile stability between being achievable and tempting to strive at house, whereas not watering down any of the essence of Koreatown cooking. You’ll discover a mixture of Korean American classics (kimchi fried rice with bacon) alongside recipes from visitor cooks who’ve discovered their very own culinary footing within the diaspora (corresponding to chef Edward Lee’s Southern-inspired cornmeal and shrimp pajeon).

To the uninitiated, the numerous small plates of varied savory facet dishes that greet you upon sitting all the way down to a standard Korean meal, generally known as banchan, are sometimes a complete revelation. A Korean meal merely isn’t full with out no less than a number of banchan on the desk, and the excellent news is lots of them are fairly easy to arrange with Caroline Choe’s playful, eye-catching e-book as your information. This charming e-book presents a style of a few of the major sub-categories of banchan, from ferments and preserves to recent vegetable dishes, soups, and savory pancakes. Most of the recipes draw on Caroline’s American upbringing because the daughter of Korean-born immigrants, leading to deliciously shocking treats like recent strawberry kimchi and spring greens namul quiche. Whereas the e-book options some meat and seafood dishes, most recipes place greens entrance and heart. In case you’re attempting to embrace extra crops in your food regimen, banchan is a good way to up your veggie consumption.

I didn’t develop up in Atlanta, however New York Instances meals and cooking columnist Eric Kim’s evocative recipes and lovely writing one way or the other make me nostalgic for Atlanta, maybe as a result of regardless of the variations between each Korean American household and group (and their cooking customs and tastes therein), some meals incontrovertibly really feel like house, like griddled Spam or crispy donkkaseu (breaded fried pork cutlets). Kim’s debut e-book is deeply private, equal components cookbook, novel, and love letter to his mom Jean. It’s additionally the story of an advanced, in the end triumphant homecoming that was solely made doable by means of Kim’s personal interrogation of how and the place we discover house. Kim’s recipes are precisely what I need to eat: Suppose pan-seared rib eye with gochujang butter, or creamy bucatini with gim (roasted seasoned seaweed). That is the e-book I’d purchase for the buddy who reads cookbooks as in the event that they had been novels (me).

If a buddy requested me which cookbook they need to purchase as an introduction to trendy Korean meals, this prompt traditional is the one I’d advocate. It’s a extremely honed piece of workmanship filled with understated magnificence, from its daring but clear and stripped-back design to the attractive pictures. (Full transparency: I really like this e-book a lot that I employed the photographer, Kristin Teig, to shoot my very own upcoming cookbook!) The recipes are a well-curated edit of what I’d take into account a few of Korea’s most well-known dishes, from yangnyeom-gejang (spicy marinated uncooked blue crab) to dolsot (scorching scorching stone) bibimbap to doenjang jjigae (fermented soybean stew). However, this being a cookbook written by a Michelin-starred chef, I respect the addition of barely extra formidable recipes, corresponding to juicy pork and shrimp “dumplings” wrapped in perilla leaves as a substitute of dough, that are then delicately battered and fried. The e-book additionally has an exceptionally considerate information to buying Korean components.

The pandemic pressured Monica Lee’s beloved Los Angeles restaurant Beverly Quickly Tofu to shut in September 2020, however Beverly devotees are blessed to have Sohn-mat (reminder: Korean for “style of the fingers,” a time period used to explain a cook dinner with pure instincts for taste). That is Lee’s blueprint for recreating her iconic quickly tofu chigae, or comfortable tofu stew (which you might also see spelled as sundubu jjigae or soondubu jjigae). Lee spends a 3rd of the e-book going deep on each aspect of her well-known chigaes, with numerous data and recommendation on shopping for the appropriate components and the Korean earthenware serving vessels known as ttukbaegi (integral to the consuming expertise at Beverly), in addition to recipes for broths, spicy seasoning paste, and the chigaes themselves. The remainder of the e-book is devoted to the dishes you’ll need on the desk to eat alongside your quickly tofu chigae and a scorching bowl of rice: every kind of banchans, kimchi, appetizers, massive platters to share, and stews and soups.

It’s exhausting to consider there wasn’t a e-book dedicated to jangs prior to now. “Jang” refers back to the household of fermented soybean merchandise that make up the all-important “mom flavors” that give Korean meals its undeniably distinctive taste. You’re conversant in jangs in the event you’ve ever had bibimbap or cooked with gochujang, the more and more standard candy fermented pink pepper paste that’s in all the pieces nowadays from glazed fried hen to cookies. This e-book, written by the esteemed chef of Michelin-star restaurant Mingles in Seoul, bridges the standard with the trendy, going deep into the wealthy historical past of jangs in Korean delicacies and tradition, accompanied by beautiful pictures of conventional Korean artisans within the jang-making course of. It’s divided into three sections: ganjang (Korean soy sauce), doenjang (fermented soybean paste), and gochujang (fermented pink pepper paste), with a mixture of conventional Korean dishes in addition to recipes that present how jangs is usually a welcome, versatile addition to a world pantry. (Suppose tagliatelle with ganjang ragù, or Greek salad with doenjang French dressing.) Whereas this isn’t the e-book I’d advocate to somebody brand-new to Korean delicacies, I’d purchase it for the buddy whose concept of a weekend well-spent is getting misplaced within the aisles of a specialty meals retailer, then coming house to make one thing scrumptious.

Phaidon’s single-subject cookbooks dedicated to main culinary cuisines of the world are objects price gracing your espresso desk, to make sure. However repeatedly, I’ve been delighted by the invaluable trove of data these books include that I can seldom discover in different English texts. At 496 pages, The Korean Cookbook is an absolute beast, protecting the nation’s historical past, geography, culinary evolution, native components, and rather more together with the 350 recipes, lots of which I had by no means heard of or seen in every other English e-book. The chef-authors strongly emphasize the significance of greens and fermented and preserved meals within the evolution of hansik (Korean delicacies), and the recipes accordingly showcase the huge and diversified Korean preparations of greens, kimchi, and preserved pickles. The recipes had been developed with the house cook dinner in thoughts (although I don’t suppose this house cook dinner will probably be making the recipe for 26 kilos of doenjang anytime quickly), and certainly many will be simply ready after a fast journey to H Mart. Different recipes would possibly current extra of a problem to those that don’t have entry to Korea’s native greens and animal proteins, although they’re fascinating to examine all the identical.

Like the remainder of the web, I take into account the wildly standard YouTuber Maangchi (a.ok.a. Emily Kim) to be Korean Mom (and I have a Korean mom). It’s inconceivable to not love her candy demeanor, her wild outfits, and her knockout-delicious meals. Maangchi’s Actual Korean Cooking is her first cookbook, which got here out in 2015, and reads like a greatest-hits compilation of the recipes on her web site, like bulgogi, seafood-scallion pancake (haemul-pajeon), and sticky-sweet Korean fried hen (yangnyeom-tongdak). Maangchi excels at delivering the flavors of her youth rising up in Korea (versus within the Korean American diaspora) along with her American and world viewers, making this e-book complete however accessible. Maangchi does a very glorious job of explaining the necessities of the Korean pantry—you’ll need to convey this e-book as your area information on a visit to the Korean grocer.

Chef Peter Serpico’s recipes are knowledgeable by his lived expertise as a South Korean-born transracial adoptee rising up in Laurel, Maryland. The recipes on this environment friendly little e-book are undoubtedly nontraditional, however clearly relay Serpico’s distinctive perspective as somebody who realized to attach along with his Korean heritage within the kitchen properly into his maturity. He has made a considerate effort to develop recipes which can be accessible to house cooks of all expertise ranges, in addition to those that may not have entry to a Korean grocer or specialty retailer. You in all probability wouldn’t discover a recipe for curly parsley kimchi or pickled iceberg lettuce in a Korean cookbook that hewed extra intently to conventional fare, however that’s precisely what makes Serpico’s e-book fascinating to me. I additionally respect that though Serpico is an acclaimed chef with a high quality eating pedigree, many of those recipes are streamlined and exceptionally achievable, even for busy weeknights.

Korean-born, London-based creator Su Scott’s second cookbook, dedicated to the road meals tradition of Seoul, is the e-book she says she wished to put in writing even earlier than she penned her quietly stunning debut e-book, Rice Desk. (The titular “pocha” is shorthand for “pojangmacha,” the numerous avenue stalls or carts you’ll discover slinging low cost and comforting snacks and drinks in South Korea.) The e-book’s cleverly constructed chapters take you on a daylong feast: Begin with pine nut porridge with oatmeal (jat juk) in All Day Eating, break for smoked salmon bibimbap in Market Lunch, seize a salted Nutella pancake for a pick-me-up in 4PM Droop, and wind down with some anju (ingesting snacks) washed down with numerous soju in Feasting Beneath the Stars. Scott is a poet. Her Seoul, captured in mesmerizing pictures, is deeply attractive, electrical, alive, and filled with historical past. You possibly can’t assist however need to observe her by means of the streets of the town, rapturously consuming your means by means of 24 scrumptious hours in her beloved hometown.

Why We’re the Specialists

• Christina Chaey is a Korean American recipe developer, author, and soon-to-be cookbook creator. She is an ardent lover of cookbooks and, eventually depend, owns greater than 120 of them.
• She spent seven years as an editor at Bon Appétit, the place she wrote and edited tales and developed recipes within the Check Kitchen.
• She labored as a line cook dinner underneath chef Suzanne Cupps on the now-closed Untitled on the Whitney Museum of American Artwork, the place she cultivated her love for native, seasonal cooking.