Gather Around My Table

“Recipe developers I know cite NYT Cooking contributor Kay Chun among their favorite recipe developers, and it’s easy to see why. Her book starts off with snacks and pickles, Chun adding low-lift but flavor-packed flourishes: She quickly marinates sardines to top toast; her calamari gets a gilda-esque zhuzh, skewered with fried peppers and olives. Gather Around My Table delivers on its promise of simple, weeknight-friendly food that doesn’t feel boring, with dishes such as grilled tofu simmered in soy sauce with aromatics, and then given the ssam and taco treatment with both a perilla leaf and a tortilla. Wakame and a shallot vinaigrette featuring grated tomatoes make her green salad livelier and less run-of-the-mill (her mustard vinaigrette, meanwhile, gets amped up by doenjang). I appreciate that Chun gives tofu an entire chapter, too, coaxing even omnivores to employ it more, as in her pork breakfast sausages with crumbled tofu for added moisture and protein. With Gather Around My Table, Chun consistently offers low-effort ways to make familiar dishes more interesting and rewarding.”
—Bettina Makalintal, Eater

“New York Times Cooking contributor Kay Chun draws on her global pantry of ingredients to compile this ‘master class’ recipe book — complete with 100, globally inspired dishes ranging from a Crispy Dumpling Pancake to Cherry Cornmeal Torte and more crowd-pleasing favorites that are perfect for all sorts of foodies (and home chefs).”
—Kyley Warren, USA Today

“Known for her former NYC restaurant, Share, and stellar recipe development chops, I couldn’t wait to cook through Kay Chun’s debut book, Gather Around My Table. True to its title, Chun’s ethos is simple: The best cooking is all about connection. That spirit pulses through her stories; Chun shares fond childhood memories of wrapping dumplings with her mother and grandmother, and regularly eating global plates of food: She was just as likely to devour Kalbi jjim (Korean braised short ribs) as she was meatloaf. “Eating this way taught me that exciting flavor comes in many forms and often from their combination,” she writes. That sensibility shines in her recipes. Kimchi brine gives her micheladas a spicy, electric lift, and earthy kale and savory seaweed lend her risotto depth. Also: doenjang carnitas. How fun is that?”
— Nina Moskowitz, Bon Appetit

“With recipes like star anise pickled peanuts, risotto with roasted seaweed, and cashew horchata slushies, Chun’s debut cookbook interweaves flavors and techniques from the author’s French culinary school training and a childhood spent eating bagels and lox alongside her mother’s Korean cooking. There are sections focused on soups, meats, and fish, but there’s also an entire chapter dedicated to pickles and another to tofu (though it isn’t always the star, as in a recipe that uses it in Italian meatballs). Chun is intentional about ingredients—for example, she recommends using 100-percent California olive oil for its balanced and versatile flavor—but unfussy, as in her take on the Spanish classic pan con tomate, which uses kaiser rolls as the base. Her experience as a recipe developer and content creator for major food media outlets, including the New York Times, is evident in clearly and simply written instructions that show readers easy ways to maximize flavor, such as by sweating garlic or caramelizing tomato paste. Like a box of beloved family recipes, this idiosyncratic and exciting collection is a keeper.”
— Booklist

“Gather Around My Table is a master class in recipe writing and home cooking. Here is an artist who cooks with a quiet restraint that makes you lean in. There’s a precision to Kay Chun’s recipe development style, yet whimsy in the way she combines flavors and ingredients that aren’t usually found together. Through her food, Kay proves that we all have more in common than we don’t. Our disparate cuisines touch at the edges, and when combined, deliciousness ensues. What a delight!”
— Eric Kim, author of Korean American

“With Gather Around My Table, Kay Chun’s vast experience in magazines and test kitchens, returns home. Filled with inspired recipes that filter her mother’s freestyle Korean cooking and a life of New York eating and shopping, ‘Gather’ invites you to make dishes and drinks seasoned with ingredients and techniques that bring meaning and excitement to classics. Ditalini with radish and butter will be your new comfort food. The Yucatán inspired carnitas with fermented bean paste is a reminder that sometimes bringing one new element into your cooking can shift your repertoire forever. This is food about flavor and pleasure with a natural inclination toward balance, health and variety.”
— Alex Raij, author of The Basque Book

“This scrumptious book reveals the secrets behind one of the culinary world’s most meticulous talents. Kay’s cuisine is a love letter to home cooking, filled with flavor building techniques, invaluable tips and wrapped in a bundle of joy. This book will live on top of my kitchen counter where I will cook from every page.”
— Edward Lee, chef and author of Bourbon Land Meals

“Trust me, Kay Chun is the flavor architect you want rebooting your pantry and whispering in your ear every time you make dinner. Her recipes are electric, effective and remarkably healthful–delivering a mini flavor revelation on your plate night after night.”
— Sarah Copeland, author of Feast; Every Day is Saturday; and Instant Family Meals

“Gather Around My Table is a gorgeously delicious feast that tells the tale of a life spent cooking and eating in New York. Kay Chun’s recipes are uncomplicated but expressive, rooted in the stories of her Korean family, at the counter of her local deli, and from around the world. Her dishes are bright and briny, familiar and cozy, and made to be cooked and loved at every table.”
— Irene Yoo, author of Soju Party

Kay Chun is a chef, writer, and culinary consultant. She is a regular contributor to NYT Cooking and has been an editor at several food publications, notably Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, and Real Simple. Her restaurant, Share, received accolades from The New York Times, New York, and Time Out for her market-driven globally inspired cooking. She also specializes in innovative food product development for consumer packaged goods brands. Kay is a native New Yorker and lives in Manhattan with her husband.

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