Meet Katie

About 15 years ago, I was in living in Los Angeles working as a film and television marketing executive and I had completely forgotten how to cook (I could still make 5,000 shrimp toast, no problem, but a dinner party was a whole other thing). My favorite thing to make for dinner was reservations. I was so busy trying to make my mother proud by succeeding in my marketing career, I had actually done the opposite by forgetting how to cook.

I decided to have some clients over for dinner and had a panic attack because I didn’t know what I was doing. I called my mother for advice but instead of giving me advice she jumped on a plane with frozen lemon chicken on dry ice. Once she arrived on my doorstep, she cooked the entire dinner and kept up the illusion that I had cooked the whole thing by myself. That’s just the kind of mom she was. During that trip, my mother opened my refrigerator to find only champagne and yogurt. She was mortified and set out to teach me how to cook again.

Through a series of dinner parties for my friends, my passion for Asian cooking was reignited. Our friends said, "You really make Asian cooking look easy, like I could do it myself." Feeling inspired and back in touch with my culinary roots, I quit my job and my mother and I co-authored a Chinese cookbook together, Everyday Chinese Cooking. From there, we started a Pan-Asian catering business called Double Happiness Catering.

In between our catering gigs, we were lucky enough to travel to China together to co-host a Food Network Special called "My Country My Kitchen" and to New York for our numerous appearances together on The Today Show. The next natural step was to do a cooking show so we co-hosted the national PBS cooking series, "Double Happiness," which was a mother daughter Chinese cooking show shot in Hawaii.

My mother was the toughest boss I’ve ever had (and believe me, I had some tough ones working in Hollywood all those years). She set the same standards for me as she did for herself and I never felt like I was living up to her expectations, "Your eggrolls are not wrapped firmly enough," "You should make double the pleats on that shumei." One time on our cooking show I said, “If you don’t have Asian hot sauce, you could use Mexican hot sauce instead, right mom?" Her deadpan response on camera was, "no." I recognize now that she just wanted me to be the best I could be.

With my mother as commander-in-chief, and I as her willing apprentice, our pan-Asian catering business took off and we were soon doing star-studded parties and high fashion events. She realized I would never be able to handle the cooking alone if she was always there to lead me, so she announced one day out of the blue that she was going to Europe for three months with a friend. I was left to my own devices and a deep fryer and was forced to figure things out on my own. That summer, I finally sprouted my culinary wings and flew from her bird’s nest soup.

I retired from catering when I became pregnant with our own Double Happiness, twins Dylan and Becca, and focused my energy on my blog and cookbooks -- 300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes, Everyday Thai Cooking and Everyday Chinese Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes from My Mother’s Kitchen and the newest “Katie Chin’s Global Family Cookbook” coming in April 2021. You will find a cookbook section on my blog with more information on my books.

A few years ago, I launched a new catering business called Wok Star Catering. Like my blog, Wok Star Catering specializes in all styles of Asian cuisine. Since the start of the Pandemic, I have pivoted and am teaching virtual cooking classes with cook along kits.

My mother unfortunately passed away 11 years ago. I’m so honored to carry her torch by making Asian cuisine accessible and relatable for real people, on real schedules and real budgets through my blog and cookbooks. I try to provide short cuts and substitutions to make you feel as empowered as possible to cook Asian food along with practical ways to purchase the ingredients you’ll need. I personally test all of my recipes (with the help of my twins) to make sure they’re easy to follow with delicious and authentic results.

Since my mother passed away, I’ve been on many extraordinary culinary adventures on my own such as cooking at The White House in 2013 for the Annual Easter Egg Roll to serving as a guest judge on Iron Chef America. I’ve also competed on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen (what a hoot) and Beat Bobby Flay and I’ve appeared on The Real on Fox, The Today Show and The Hallmark Channel on behalf of my last cookbook which honors my mom. You can view my media clips in the media section of my blog. I also went on a six-city tour with Macy’s to promote my new cookbook on behalf of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I always strive to take my blog followers along with me on my cooking adventures and post recipes and anecdotes inspired by my travels and experiences.

In January 2021, I was named the Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. I’m so honored to serve in this role to expand their Cooking Funds the Cure program and encourage all aspects of the culinary industry to rally around children battling cancer.

Since the start of Covid, my daughter Becca and I have been co-hosting a livestream cooking series called “Cooked Up Cooking with Katie & Becca” every Sunday at 3pm pst. Please check us out and cook with us on Facebook or IG Live - @chefkatiechin. We’ve been featured on ABC, NBC and New York Live!!

I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy creating it. If I can do it, you can do it!

Happy Cooking,
Chef Katie Chin