Betty Liu's Pan-Fried Crispy Mushroom-Soy Sauce Noodles

and ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!

Hi friends!

I had such a fun time this past weekend getting WHAT GOES WITH WHAT out into the world! Thanks to all of you who swung by the farmers markets and came to Queer Soup Night on Saturday at Common Table in Kingston. Including Mr. Starr, my AP Art History teacher from high school…..ah!

Saturday night was full of so much community love and I’m so grateful to everyone who was involved (especially Emmet, Stephen, Timmy, Colton, Quay, Anne, and Kate).

All photos by the lovely Margo Sivin. Me and Liz Alpern, one of the founders of Queer Soup Night / me and Emmet Moeller who makes all of the queer magic at Common Table happen! / Rick Starr and Dulcie Arnold, my teachers from high school!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am wearing a t-shirt of Winky photos. Grace got it for me for my birthday and I was waiting for the right moment and Queer Soup Night was IT!!!

If you’re in or near Seattle, Chicago, D.C., Connecticut, Brooklyn, or Cleveland, please please please come say hi at one of my events over the next few weeks. It is a PLEASURE to meet and talk to you all in person!

• Thur. Oct. 24th at 6:30p / SEATTLE: In Conversation with Molly Wizenberg at Book Larder

• Fri. Oct. 25th at 7p / CHICAGO: In Conversation with Monica Eng at the Swedish American Museum with Women and Children First

• Mon. Oct. 28th at 7p / WASHINGTON D.C.: In Conversation with Joe Yonan at All Souls Unitarian Sanctuary with Bold Fork Books

• Wed. Oct. 30th at 6:30p / SALISBURY, CT: In Conversation with Virginia Sole-Smith at The White Hart Inn with Oblong Books

• Fri. Nov. 1st at 7p / BROOKLYN: In Conversation with Helen Rosner at Books Are Magic

• Sun. Nov 17th at Noon / CLEVELAND: In Conversation with Aubrey Johansen at Van Aken Event Center with SLFMKR

• Mon. Nov. 18th at 6:30p / HUDSON, OHIO: In Conversation and Book Signing at Hudson Library & Historical Society with Learned Owl Book Shop

I’ve got a real treat for you this week for “I Love Lunch Tuesday.” Do you know Betty Liu? She’s an acclaimed cookbook author, photographer, and doctor completing her surgical residency….you know, just totally casual.

Here’s Betty!

I LOVED Betty’s first book My Shanghai which came out in 2021. Like some of my favorite cookbooks of all time, My Shangai takes you somewhere. It’s got beautiful photography and writing and of course recipes. It’s a really great book.

I was so excited when I heard that Betty was working on another book. Her latest, The Chinese Way, came out this fall.

I’m delighted she was up for answering some questions for us today and she’s also sharing one of her favorite lunchtime recipes from The Chinese Way for Pan-Fried Crispy Mushroom-Soy Sauce Noodles (YUM) for all of you paid subscribers. It’s the recipe that’s on the cover of her book!

A Giveaway!

Before I share Betty’s Q&A and recipe, I talked my publisher Flatiron Books into offering another giveaway this week since so many of you were excited about it last week!!! (P.S. Congratulations to Lucy from Seattle who is last week’s winner!)

One lucky newsletter reader will receive a SIGNED copy of my new book, What Goes With What, in the custom box my publisher has put together that also includes two jars of Better Than Bouillon, The "7 Lists" zine that I made for everyone who preordered from Oblong Books…includes doodles by my mom!, and an "Endless Possibilities of Salad Dressings" postcard:

To enter, just click on the button below and fill out the form (entry ends end of the day next Monday / US residents only — apologies to my international friends!). Flatiron Books will be in touch with the winner for shipping info!

Okay, back to Betty!!!

1. You thought you'd never write another book after My Shanghai. How did this new book get past that?? 

I know! I actually declined submitting another proposal to Harper Collins after My Shanghai was launched. I didn’t have an idea at that time and didn’t want to write a book for the sake of another book (too much work!). Then, I started to have this idea. Through many conversations with friends and also readers of My Shanghai, I realized that a lot of people are intimidated by Chinese food, especially when they’re “traditional” recipes. They felt like they needed exactly the right equipment, sauces, ingredients - everything, before trying. This is not true – Chinese food is more flexible and forgiving, actually. It’s ok to cook Chinese without cooking traditional Chinese – to me, it’s more about the philosophy and approach to the dish, rather than the final product. After all, how boring would cooking be if you only adhered to a certain flavor profile?

2.  What do you hope readers feel when they read your books? 

I hope they feel inspired to try different cooking techniques and flavors!

3.  What's been the most challenging part of writing a second book? 

Balancing work. I am a surgery resident, and I did take two years off of clinical duties to do some research in a lab, and that provided me the flexibility of working on this book. If I were in my clinical duties, this would be impossible (as I work 60-80 hours a week currently).

4.  And the most rewarding? 

Oh it’s been so much fun developing these recipes – using classic Chinese cooking techniques with often non-traditional ingredients. I think some of these dishes will “shock” traditionalists – but to be very clear: this is not a traditional Chinese food cookbook. I’m hoping these will show readers that substitutions are OK – the dish will ultimately change (for example, exchanging Shaoxing wine for dry sherry or mirin), but as long as you understand that and adjust seasoning accordingly, who cares if you don’t have Shaoxing wine???

5. What does a typical lunch look like for you? 

If I’m not at the hospital, I keep things simple for lunch: a one-pot rice situation (for example, cooked in a rice cooker with vegetables, or a protein), or noodles topped with a simple sauce.

6. What did you have for lunch today?? 

I had noodles topped with a soy sauce and black vinegar sauce, with some pan fried tofu.

7. What was your favorite thing to eat when you were growing up? 

Wontons – specifically, the pork and shrimp ones that are in this book.

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Tell us what YOU had for lunch today in the comments!!

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PAN-FRIED CRISPY MUSHROOM-SOY SAUCE NOODLES

Excerpted from THE CHINESE WAY by Betty Liu. Copyright © 2024 by Betty Liu. Photographs by Betty Liu. Used with permission of Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. New York, NY. All rights reserved.

PAN-FRIED CRISPY MUSHROOM-SOY SAUCE NOODLES

Serves 2 generously

Chow mein, the Cantonese romanization of 炒面 chao miàn in Mandarin, aka stir-fried noodles, comes in many different flavors and is well-known in Chinese American cuisine. In this variation on a Cantonese classic that is popular in Hong Kong cafés, the noodles are pan-fried to give them an intermittently crispy but tender texture. I give the dish a slight twist that leans its profile away from salty soy sauce toward umami, earthy mushrooms by using a mix of fungi for a multifaceted mushroom flavor. The noodles are seasoned with just the right amount of soy sauce, which caramelizes in the wok.

• 8 ounces (225 g) dried Hong Kong-style egg noodles

• 4 to 5 tablespoons neutral oil, divided

• 7 ounces (200 g) mixed mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, and/or beech, cleaned and trimmed, sliced or torn into 2-inch pieces if necessary (about 3 cups)