奶奶的厨房宝典 · Nai Nai's Kitchen Bible

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217 kitchen cards, sorted by what went wrong.

Not a recipe book. When the sauce is thin, the stir-fry is watery or a bottle is missing, you look up the problem and the card tells you what to do.

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Thicken a thin sauce one round at a time: 1 teaspoon of cornstarch in 1 teaspoon of cold water.
Swap a missing bottle: dry sherry for Shaoxing wine, one for one. Rice vinegar and balsamic, two to one, for black vinegar.
Stop a stir-fry from filling with water: dry the vegetables, cook in batches, sauce at the end.
Know when leftovers are still safe: fridge at 40 °F (4 °C) or colder, two hours at most on the counter.

How it works

Three steps, and nothing arrives by post.

You pay once

$29 through Gumroad's secure checkout. I never see your card number.

The books open

A download button appears on the very next screen. The same link is sent to your email, so you cannot lose it.

You cook with them

Two PDF books. Read them on your phone, tablet or computer, or print the pages you want near the stove.

No account to make. No subscription. Nothing is posted to you.

Look inside

Three pieces of the book, before you pay.

If this is the kind of answer you have been missing, the Kitchen Bible has 217 cards of it, 51 tables, and an index with 644 ways in.

From Nai Nai's Kitchen Bible · Substitutions

The bottle the recipe wants is not in your cupboard

You are out of	Start with
Shaoxing wine	Dry sherry, one for one
Shaoxing wine, no alcohol	The same volume of stock or water. Rebuild the aroma with ginger.
Chinese black vinegar	2 parts rice vinegar to 1 part balsamic
Rice vinegar	Cider vinegar, one for one. Or distilled white, at ¾ of the volume.
Dark soy sauce	2 tsp light soy + ¼ tsp molasses + 1 tsp water
Oyster sauce	Vegetarian mushroom sauce, one for one
Cornstarch	Potato starch, at 75% of the cornstarch volume
Sichuan peppercorn	No honest one-for-one substitute

Every swap in the book follows four steps: name the job (salt, acid, colour, thickener or aroma), pick the closest tool, check the limits, and adjust to taste only where there is room to.

From Nai Nai's Kitchen Bible · Problem Solver, Leftover Rescue and Pantry

It went wrong. What the card says.

The stir-fry is wateryFirstDry the washed vegetables. Thaw frozen food fully, and dry that too.ThenCook watery ingredients in one layer, in batches. The sauce goes in only at the end.

The sauce is thinRatio1 tsp cornstarch in 1 tsp cold water, one round at a time.HowStir the slurry again just before it goes in. Add it at a gentle simmer, in a slow drizzle.

The soup is too saltyRatioHalf a cup of something unsalted for each round of correction.Not thisA raw potato. It adds unsalted volume, but it does not pull the salt out.

The garlic burns before everything elseMeasure1 to 2 tsp of minced garlic for four servings.Timing10 to 20 seconds, then the next wet ingredient goes in.

The Problem Solver works backwards. You look a thing up by what went wrong, not by the name of the dish.

From Nai Nai's Kitchen Bible · Myths and Bad Advice

Things we were all told, and what the book says instead

"Washing the chicken makes it safer."Washing spreads the germs. Cooking it to 165 °F (74 °C) is what makes it safe.
"If it smells fine, it is fine."Smell does not prove safety. Go by how long it was out, and at what temperature.
"Freezing kills everything."Freezing preserves. It does not sterilise. The time before it went into the freezer still counts.
"Dark soy is just stronger light soy."They are different ingredients. Light soy is for salt and savouriness. Dark soy is only for colour.
"Vinegar and baking soda together are stronger."The bubbles are gas, not strength. Use them one at a time, and rinse in between.

Sixteen myths in all, each one with its correction.

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Meet the Author

A Note from Nai Nai Liu

I grew up watching my grandmother cook without a single recipe written down. She'd taste, adjust, taste again — a pinch of sugar here, a splash of vinegar there. I'd ask "how much?" and she'd say "差不多" — about right.

When she passed, those techniques nearly went with her. I spent years collecting and writing down everything I could remember — and everything the aunties and neighbours still carried in their hands.

"Nobody measured anything. The recipe was in her fingers, in the sound of the wok, in the smell of the oil. I wanted to catch it before it was gone."

This book isn't a recipe collection. It's the reference I wish I'd had — the tricks, the substitutions, the know-how that turns a good dish into the one that tastes like home. 家的味道.

With warmth, Nai Nai Liu 🥢

Before you order

Questions people ask first.

Is this a printed book you post to me? ▼

No, and I want you to know that before you pay. It is two PDF files that you open on your phone, tablet or computer as soon as you pay. Nothing arrives by post. You can print any page at home.

How do I get the books after I pay? ▼

A download button appears on the next screen, and Gumroad sends the same link to your email. You have both PDFs within minutes. No shipping and no waiting.

I'm not great with computers. Will I manage? ▼

If you can open an email and tap a link, you can open these books. They are ordinary PDF files. There is nothing to install and no account to make. If you get stuck, reply to the receipt email and we will walk you through it, step by step.

Is this a recipe book? ▼

No. If you want a collection of recipes, this is not it. The Kitchen Bible is 217 cards sorted by the problem, not by the dish: what to use when a bottle is missing, how to rescue leftovers, how long things keep, what to do when a dish goes wrong, and 16 common kitchen myths corrected. It sits next to the recipes you already have and covers the part they leave out.

Is it a subscription? Will I be charged again? ▼

No. One payment of $29, one time. There is no membership and no monthly charge.

There is no Chinese grocery near me. Is it still useful? ▼

That is what the substitutions section is for. It has twenty cards. Dry sherry stands in for Shaoxing wine, one for one. Two parts rice vinegar and one part balsamic stand in for black vinegar. And where there is no honest swap, as with Sichuan peppercorn, the book says so.

What if it's not for me? ▼

Reply to your receipt email within 14 days and you get a full refund. You can keep the Quick Reference as a thank-you for trying.

Can I share this with my family? ▼

The books are for your own household. Share them with your partner, your children, anyone who cooks in your home. If your sister or a friend wants a copy, they can get their own at the same price.

217 kitchen cards, sorted by what went wrong.

Three steps, and nothing arrives by post.

You pay once

The books open

You cook with them

Three pieces of the book, before you pay.

The bottle the recipe wants is not in your cupboard

It went wrong. What the card says.

Things we were all told, and what the book says instead

The Complete Set

Nai Nai's Kitchen Bible

Nai Nai's Quick Reference

Everything You Get for $29

Use it for one dinner. If it's not worth it, keep your money.

A Note from Nai Nai Liu

Questions people ask first.

The next time dinner goes wrong, have the card.