Maggie Tran

Reviews (41)

• Braised Chicken with Potatoes (Huang Men Ji)土豆焖鸡/黄焖鸡

  The rock sugar plus yellow soybean paste combo is the whole game here — it builds a sauce so glossy and savory that my family was scraping the pot with rice. Soaking the raw chicken instead of blanching felt wrong until I tasted how much cleaner and deeper the braising liquid came out.

  Oct 23, 2026

• Scallion-Perfumed Stir-Fried Beef葱香浓郁的葱爆牛肉

  Pressing the scallion chunks to loosen the layers before they hit the wok is such a small step but it made them soak up the sauce like little flavor sponges. Also, mixing the sauce in a bowl ahead of time meant the actual stir-fry took literally 30 seconds at the end — no scrambling for bottles mid-cook.

  Oct 23, 2026

• Winter Melon and Pork Meatball Soup巨鲜美的冬瓜丸子汤

  Batch-cooked this Sunday for my meal-prep rotations and made my roommate try it as the official taste tester. Served it with jasmine rice and extra scallions, and he went back for a third bowl, which never happens. The melon stayed surprisingly intact even after the fridge overnight. I'm already planning a double batch of the meatball mixture for the freezer. Four stars only because winter melon peeling is a workout.

  Oct 23, 2026

• Garlic Cumin Beef Bites我做的蒜香孜然牛肉粒完爆烧烤店！！

  Heads up on scaling: this does not reheat well, so fry only what you'll eat tonight and store the seasoned raw cubes in the fridge up to a day instead. If you must batch it, under-fry the beef slightly and give it a quick second hit in the garlic pan when reheating. A wide wok over high heat matters more than you'd think — crowded cubes steam instead of fry.

  Oct 21, 2026

• Stir-Fried Beef with Bean Curd Sticks腐竹炒牛肉

  Made this for my brother's Sunday meal-prep drop-off since he's been living on sad takeout. I served it over jasmine rice with a fried egg on top and portioned it into four containers, and he texted me the next day asking if there were seconds. The bean curd sticks held up great in the fridge — honestly better on day two once the sauce soaked in. I used more bird's eye chilies than called for because we don't do mild in this house.

  Oct 21, 2026

• Braised Eggplant红烧茄子

  Made this for my pho-broth freezer crew when they came over for our monthly prep day, and I served it over jasmine rice with extra scallion scattered on top. Everyone went quiet for the first few bites, which is the highest compliment in my house. My friend Minh asked twice how I got the eggplant crispy AND saucy, and I smugly said batter and braise, two techniques. The dish came home empty and the rice cooker did not survive the night.

  Oct 21, 2026

• Microwave Ginger-Scallion Black Cod微波葱姜黑鳕鱼

  Batch-prepped four pouches for me and my roommate's Friday dinner and it came together in under 20 minutes total. Served over jasmine rice with the dressing drizzled and extra scallion greens on top, plus some chili crisp I had in the freezer-adjacent condiment zone. Roommate went quiet, then said 'this is better than the dim sum place.' Checking at 3.5 minutes gave perfectly opaque, flaky cod every time.

  Oct 20, 2026

• Capillary Wormwood and Crucian Carp Soup绵茵陈鲫鱼汤

  The dry-toasting of the coix seed and Gorgon nut before simmering is the move here — it brings out this nutty depth that raw grains never give you in broth, and I'm stealing it for my next pho-style batch. Also, putting the fried fish in a soup bag instead of picking bones out later is genius for anyone who batch-cooks like I do.

  Oct 20, 2026