Cook Korean!

This is a review of Cook Korean! by Robin Ha.
I gave this book ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 stars, I loved it.

Cook Korean! is a comic book with recipes.  It says it right on the cover and that is exactly what it is.  Ha drew beautiful comics throughout the entire book.  There are comics that show you how to prepare and cook amazing Korean food, there are comics explaining the historic and cultural significance of the food and other items draw in this book.  It is beautifully drawn and easy to follow.

This cook book is broken down into chapters for kimchi, vegetable side dishes, meat, seafood, soup, porridges, noodles, snacks, drinks & Korean fusion food.  You can start at the beginning or jump around to the recipes that interest you most. 

The introduction chapter gives you a quick rundown of the most common staples in a Korean pantry, the Korean table, the way to cook rice and a breakdown of Korea by region and most common foods.  It is very informative and accompanied by great visuals. 

Each recipe is chapter starts with a quick information page that explains what the foods in the chapter are, when they are eaten, how they are prepared and how to do it in America.  Each recipe has the English name of the food and the Korean name.  Each recipe has a clearly marked ingredient list as well as stating how long the prep takes, how the long the cooking takes and how many people the recipe will serve.  Each step of the instructions is accompanied by an illustration to show how to do something or what it should look like.

I have always been a little intimidated by Korean food.  It looks like it is complicated or takes a long time to prepare.  This cook book breaks down that illusion and shows you how simple it is.  Some things do take a long time to prepare but it appears that a lot of the prep time is actually marinading time where you don't have to do a lot.  I am really excited to give these recipes a try!  First though, I have to make a trip to the Asian grocery store for some Korean food essentials!

I received this book free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.