Brent Lineberry

Brent Lineberry

Web and app developer. Coffee, beer, and running, in any order.

The Wok Errata

I’ve come across a couple of errors in _The Wok_. I found a comment from Kenji confirming these on reddit, but no official errata page from the publisher.

I have come across a couple of recipes in J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook that I think have some mistakes. I searched for an official errata page from the publisher, which is common for books about programming, but I haven’t found one. I did find this response from Kenji on reddit confirming the two errors I’ve noticed so far:

  1. For Thai-Style Stir-Fried Ground Pork with Basil (Pad Bai Horapa or Pad Ka-Prao): the ingredients call for long beans, but the directions never say when to add them. According to the Kenji’s reddit comment, they should be added after the pork is browned.
  2. For Khai Jiao (Thai-Style Omelet): the yield says “Serves 1”, but the ingredients call for eight eggs. According to Kenji’s reddit comment, it should be four servings. I, however, reduced the eggs to two and kept the rest of the ingredients as-is. That’s inline with other khai jiao recipes I’ve made, and it turned out well.
  3. For Congee with Pumpkin and Pine Nuts: the ingredients call for both “Water or low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock (6 cups for short-grain, 5 cups for jasmine)” and “9 cups water, vegetable, or chicken broth,” but the directions only call for “water or stock” once: “Add the rice, squash, water or stock, and brown sugar or maple syrup.” I’ll update with a proposed correction after I make the recipe. I did the 6/5 cups and it was fine.
  4. For Sweet and Sour Chicken or Pork: the sauce ingredients call for pineapple juice, ketchup, distilled white or apple cider vinegar, light soy sauce, and sugar. The directions never mention the vinegar, saying “combine the pineapple juice, ketchup, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl and stir together until homogenous.” I added the vinegar along with those ingredients at that step, and that seemed to work just fine.
  5. For Hot and Numbing Spice Blend: Kenji directs to add “the sesame seeds to the rest of the spice mixture,” but does not include sesame seeds in the ingredients.
  6. For Dan Dan Noodles: Fried Peanuts are listed among the “To Serve” ingredients, but never mentioned in the directions. I added with the toppings at the end alongside the pork, scallions, and remaining Sichuan peppercorn.

I’ll add anything else I find as well as update with an official link if I discover it.