Kat Lieu, founder of the Subtle Asian Baking Facebook group, never claims to be the expert on authentic Asian baking and cooking. However, what she does claim as her expertise is her own lived experience — the staple ingredient that she brings to her sophomore cookbook, “Modern Asian Kitchen,” which launches on April 9, 2024. But the book isn’t just about food; it honors cultural connection, community, and Asian representation — three things that Lieu always brings to the table.
Following “Modern Asian Baking at Home,” Lieu switched from baking to writing a book about cooking. While her new book references Asian cooking, Lieu clarifies that it is not intended to be a compendium of all Asian cuisines — or even exact replicas of dishes that you would find in a restaurant. Lieu, who describes herself as a “third-culture kid,” grew up eating a variety of dishes, namely Vietnamese and Chinese. As a result, “Modern Asian Kitchen” reflects cuisine familiar to other third-culture kids or those of the Asian diaspora.
“A lot of people would say [the recipes] are not authentic, but they’re authentic to my experience,” Lieu says. “They’re authentic to my culture and upbringing, what I’ve eaten. … The recipes are ones that, to me, have a story and are reflective of what we like to eat. They’re easy to make and are modern.”
Although baking remains Lieu’s first love and claim to fame, she admits that writing a cookbook was much easier than writing a baking book. Baking is about science; one miniscule mistake and the dough becomes too dense or crumbly, or the cake batter becomes too flat or viscous. Cooking is more forgiving. The phrase “to taste” is everyone’s saving grace, but having a recipe can be helpful, especially when many of us grew up with vague instructions like “add a bowl of flour,” or “add a few shakes of salt.”
Putting a Modern Twist on Asian Recipes
The beauty of Lieu’s “modern Asian” concept is that her…
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