Simply Korean: Easy Recipes for Korean Favorites That Anyone Can Make Hardcover – December 20, 2022

I love watching their YouTube videos and was excited to get their book. I was expecting a cookbook with recipes, but they really went way above and beyond that. This is a book you'll find yourself reading it not just for recipes, but just for fun. They made learning fun and comprehensive. You don't just get a book of recipes, you actually get a deeper understanding of the cuisine, the ingredients, preparation, application, flavors, and cooking methods. You don't just know what or how, but why, and that's so useful for cooking anything, not just the recipes in the book. If there's something you struggle with cooking, but can't figure out what you're doing wrong. If the smoke alarms go off when you cook. If you can't figure out why your meat is rubbery or burnt. This book just might have the answers you need. It doesn't just teach you how to cook Korean dishes, it teaches you fundamentals for cooking anything.The book starts with a list of measurement conversions from metric to imperial. Then he explains that green onions in Korea weigh 100-120 grams and in North America they weigh 15-25 grams. However, you won't need to worry about that because the recipes assume you're using smaller onions and offer measurements for larger onions if you have them. Which, just...wow! I'm really impressed that they took the time to convert it for us. Then they give you a list of the sauces and spices used in Korean cooking, so you can figure out what you need to add to your pantry to get started. They describe the flavors, purpose, and application of the sauces, which gives you a better idea of how you can use them for other recipes. That way you don't have to worry that you'll buy it, use it once, and then it sits in your cupboard taking up space until it expires. Then they give you all the foundational sauces for Korean cuisine. Also with details explaining the flavor, purpose, and applications. Then you get over 200 pages of recipes with beautiful photos for visualizing, and an index. Every recipe has a description of the flavor which makes planning meals for picky eaters easier, gives you an idea of what to make based on what you're in the mood for, and if it tastes like it's supposed to in the end. They also note which ingredients are optional so you can easily make things to your own taste, and offers substitutions in case you can't find an ingredient where you live. Their personality comes through throughout the book and you can almost hear them saying it while you are reading. The "Claire says" bits for the recipes give you extra little insights for pairing the recipes, alternate ideas, things to add and enhance the dish, and other little useful insights. The whole book is not only thoughtful and thorough, but it's also educational and entertaining, just like their YouTube videos.I also like that the book is a size that will fit on any bookshelf. I included photos of the book next to an iPad to get a better idea of the size and thickness (it's 256 pages). I love this book and hope there's more to come from them in the future. Thank you guys!

Just received this cookbook today. The most important criteria, for me, when cooking dishes I'm unfamiliar with, is to have pictures of the finished dish! Not only does this cookbook show me what the finished product looks like, but having a picture helps me to decide if I even want to try it. Plus if a recipe is something you essentially never heard of before, and has ingredients that are unknown to you, how can you know if you want to try it if there is no picture? You wouldn't even know what the dish is. This cookbook fits the bill with pictures of every recipe. In addition, it has very clear instructions. When necessary, pictures of steps along the way are provided. The introduction has pictures and descriptions of basic products you might need to stock in advance. The recipes have both Korean and English names. This is helpful because although I've seen the Korean names before, I had no idea what they stood for. The pages are thick and sturdy, not paper thin. The print is easy to read. The recipes are organized into sections. I won't be trying all of the recipes because I don't eat much meat. I haven't counted but I'm going to say over half of the book is meatless, but I'm sure most of the recipes can be made with some adjustments. Really doesn't matter because who cooks EVERY recipe in a cookbook? (OK, I'm sure some do but most don't.)The point is I've learned a lot just by reading through several of the recipes and skimming through the entire book. The collection of recipes are all accessible for any cook to make. I would say the traditional Korean style of eating is generally healthier than western. FYI, one major difference that I've learned from other sources, is that the traditional Korean breakfast is almost like any of their other meals (vegetables, rice, etc). Think how much healthier we'd be if we approached breakfast the same way. This book will definitely serve to enhance and provide more variety to healthy cooking. I can't wait to make homemade Kimchi!!

Aaron's recipes are great. I've made a handful and they've all turned out fantastic. The book is laid out well and easy to read. It's just a visually appealing book. He keeps things simple and easy for our lifestyle.

great that he explains the products he uses & the essentials. This is so important to me! Love his easy to follow instructions & recipes! Amazing! I only wished the type was a little larger.LOL

The book covers a good range of approachable Korean recipes, some sauces, sides, soups, noodles, proteins and a few desserts.I started watching Aaron and Claire's YouTube channel randomly to learn a bit more Korean recipes. I knew nothing about the subject, and slowly tried new things and graduated to going to HMart and some other Korean stores to just try stuff. I keep coming back to this book because it's generally super easy and stays within the more commonly available Korean ingredients.The quality of the book is really good as well, (I like browsing through, and its more enticing to try stuff if the pictures are nice and the book feels well put together).This is my favorite cookbook purchase in a while. I hope they do a follow-up. It's fun looking around a Korean store and wondering what all the different items get used to make. And you can make some really healthy and inexpensive Korean dishes that will surprise you.I highly recommend this book, and will likely buy more for gifting.

This is the absolute best! The recipes are so easy to read, gorgeous pictures, and organized. Not to mention delicious! I can’t recommend this enough!

Not exactly what I expected as compared to YouTube, but very good.