From Unmi Abkin and Roger Taylor, owners of the popular western Massachusetts restaurant Coco and The Cellar Bar, come the secrets to creating bold, balanced dishes built on the foundational flavours of Asian cooking in the home kitchen.
In their western Massachusetts-based restaurant Coco and The Cellar Bar, chefs Unmi Abkin and Roger Taylor create well-balanced, boldly flavoured signature dishes shaped by Abkin’s Korean and Mexican-American upbringing. In Curry & Kimchi, they open their kitchen secrets up to the home cook, sharing their foundational dressings, salsas, broths and infused oils and the dishes that feature them, through recipes that are delightfully simple to execute and beautifully complex in flavour. Honey Miso Dressing lends full-bodied taste to Honey Miso Noodle Salad, while Shoyu Ramen Broth (made in an Instant Pot) is the key ingredient in Coco Shoyu Ramen.
AUTHORS: Unmi Abkin’s early relationship with food centered around longing. As an orphaned child in South Korea, she experienced hunger on a daily basis. Eventually adopted by a Jewish-American father and a Mexican mother, Abkin was steeped in diverse food traditions. Roger Taylor’s life as a cook began with a childhood spent in professional kitchens and working in restaurants from the age of 15. His years in the food industry have honed his ability to create efficiency in the kitchen while still producing spectacular meals.
SELLING POINTS: . Recipes combining East-West influences from an award-winning restaurant led by a three-time James Beard semifinalist for best chef in the Northeast. Unmi Abkin and Roger Taylor, owners of the Easthampton, Massachusetts-based restaurant Coco and The Cellar Bar, which hosts more than 30,000 visitors a year, are also well respected in the San Francisco restaurant world where they previously worked at Chez Panisse and other popular restaurants. . Unmi Abkin creates a global menu inspired by her own food heritage. Born to Korean parents and raised by a Mexican-American family, Abkin’s dishes range from Bibimbop and Korean Sloppy Joes to Green Thai Curry, Hoisin-Glazed Baby Back Ribs, and Honey Miso Noodle Salad. . Clean, balanced sauces and other key flavor components made accessible for home cooks. Abkin has dedicated herself to perfecting the flavours that are the building blocks for all her recipes, and she provides precise, easy directions for creating these staples in the home kitchen.