Great Books of 2022 ⇥ kottke.org

Jason Kottke, who recently returned from a months-long and well-deserved sabbatical, put J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s “The Wok” on his list of the best books of the year, and I have to agree. I only received a copy a few weeks ago, but I have been enjoying it thoroughly and referencing it frequently.

More broadly, Lopez-Alt’s increased video output in the first several months of 2020 — and a recommendation of the Made with Lau YouTube channel — was the encouragement I needed for a concerted effort to improve my wok skills. In the last couple of years, my confidence with a wok has made a dramatic leap. If you do not want to buy the book and it is not available at your nearest library, I recommend trying some recipes from either of those channels, if you would like. It is satisfying to prep some ingredients and then having a whole meal come together in just a couple of minutes with the unique flavour of cooking over very high heat.