Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes
Original price was: $35.00.$30.00Current price is: $30.00.
Price: $35.00 - $30.00
(as of Apr 30, 2025 02:27:38 UTC – Details)
New York Times bestseller
Learn Korean cooking alongside social media star Sarah Ahn as her umma passes down 100+ family recipes and decades’ worth of kitchen wisdom.
Sarah Ahn’s viral food videos of her and her mom have captivated millions of viewers with their behind-the-scenes look at Korean cooking and multigenerational home life. This collaboration is now a must-have cookbook blending the emotional intimacy of Crying in H Mart with practical culinary advice from Nam Soon’s lifetime of kitchen experience. The recipes are framed by mother-daughter conversations that are funny, profound, and universally relatable—plus all the food is backed by the recipe-testing power of America’s Test Kitchen.
Thorough ingredient guide: Walk through a Korean grocery store with a Korean umma for in-depth guidance on what pantry ingredients and fresh produce and protein to buy.Recipes both traditional and contemporary: Learn to make everything from simple banchan, a variety of kimchi, and foundational stews to an assortment of yasik (midnight snacks) and inventive desserts.Kitchen wisdom from mother to daughter: Shared confidences open a window onto a level of family intimacy rarely seen in cookbooks.
The Ahns understand that when generations come together in the kitchen, so much is shared: not only food, but also knowledge, advice, family history, and love.
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Publisher : America’s Test Kitchen (April 1, 2025)
Language : English
Hardcover : 384 pages
ISBN-10 : 1954210566
ISBN-13 : 978-1954210561
Item Weight : 3.05 pounds
Dimensions : 8.38 x 1.16 x 10.25 inches
Customers say
Customers find this cookbook heartwarming, with heartfelt stories and easy-to-follow recipes that include great explanations about ingredients. The book is well-organized, and customers appreciate its value, with one noting the generous inclusion of 100 recipes for the price. Customers value the family bond aspect, with one describing it as a mother-daughter duo, and they consider it a great gift option.
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13 reviews for Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes
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Original price was: $35.00.$30.00Current price is: $30.00.
T. Barrett –
Perfect
I am a 68 yo adopted Korean woman (with one visit to Korea 20 years ago) who waited until 6 years ago to really get in touch with my Korean heritage. I’ve been following Sarah and her Umma on YouTube for a while now. Their recipes are wonderful and detailed, as I expected … but it is the poignant stories that go with them that bring me to tears nearly every time I open this book. It will be well used and well loved – Thank you. I will be making my 4th trip to Korea this fall and my love for my people gives joy and peace to my heart.
morningbird123 –
Not your typical Korean cookbook
Hello, so I may already be biased since I am Korean myself and have an amazing umma as a home chef. I originally bought this book not only because I wanted to support the Ahn family but also because I am now married to someone who is not Korean. My husband loves Korean food but how do I share recipes my mother or other Koreans have shared with me and translate it properly into English? This book came in handy. I love how itâs not just a simple recipe book. Itâs so much more than that. We get to read little stories about Umma Ahn, her words of wisdom to make each dish more flavorful, what condiments to use in a Korean kitchen, how to even shop properly for Korean food. I realized wow our cuisine can be so simple yet so complicated at the same time but once you do know the basics itâs very easy to follow along. The biggest plus is that this book does not share only common dishes most Americans know. There are a lot of dishes shared that only Koreans would know but they are just as delicious. I highly recommend! I cannot wait to start making dishes with my husband (who is honestly a better chef than me so yay).
Allison –
An amazing cookbook! â¤ï¸
This book is absolutely beautiful. It arrived a short while ago. Iâve already started reading it and I canât wait to start making some of the beautifully written and wonderful dishes out of here. Iâve already made some of her recipes so I know the recipes in this book will also be very good. The quality of the book itself is durable, thick, and overall a hearty book. The notes that deep dive into how to make these recipes really give you a clearer picture when trying to cook something for the first time.
Amazon Customer –
Recipes from mother to daughter with love.
This book is so much more than just a cookbook. The stories along the recipes makes them so meaningful. As a child of immigrant parents and an immigrant myself food is cultural and a way to pass traditions down. Very well written book, easy to follow with great explanations about ingredients. Really like the fact that things are sorted in sections or chapters. What a wonderful gift from mother to daughter. A piece of her she will have forever, and how wonderful Sarah has shared this with the world.
LKi –
Just be awareâ¦
I love this book. Stories are beautifully told, methods are thoughtfully laid out, explanations are given w photos to make sure that if you are a first timer to Korean food, you will know how to prepare it and what it should look like. It is a solid, hefty book. With a team like Americaâs Test Kitchen behind it, it brings to a new level what to expect in a story rich cookbook.The recipes are made from the motherâs experience as a restaurant owner and reflects extra touches & ingredients one may not use as an in home cook. This is, as the author says, to give it that restaurant taste. I am a Korean and so I do cook it at home. But I will probably be altering some of these recipes or just borrowing some ideas as I have insulin sensitivity and nearly every recipe has added sugar in it, even when there is no need for just that small amount of sugar, to balance the inherent salty nature of some Korean dishes. So IF you have insulin sensitivity or are dealing with diabetes, for some of these recipes that use smaller touches of sugar, corn syrup &/or plum syrup, you might want to try removing it or using an appropriate substitute. There is also a brief explanation of the new views on MSG and how there is no reason to fear it but some of the recipes do offer you the option of not using MSG or its cousin, dashida if you still have a concern/sensitivity to it. Just something to be aware of, going in, especially if you have dietary restrictions around your health or even self imposed restrictions like Keto
Lita –
More Than a CookbookâA Truly Moving Experience
Absolutely gorgeous book. Reading through it was an emotional experienceâsome parts even brought tears to my eyes. The stories, the photos, and the heartfelt way everything is presented really touched me. At the same time, I felt so inspired and excited to try the recipes. Each one feels approachable yet special, and I can tell a lot of love and care went into creating this. Thank you for such an incredible and meaningful book.
Trisha Teall –
Beautiful and insightful
What a treasure this will be in our kitchen. Beautifully put together. My favorite part is Ummaâs kitchen tips for each recipe. It feels like your own mom telling you just what to use- the right brands and how to choose the best pieces of meat. The stories were heartfelt and really connected me to the origins of the recipes. I feel very excited to go on my next shopping trip with all the knowledge shared in preparation for the recipes. Thank you for making this cookbook and for sharing your stories!
Tory –
Wonderful Cookbook! 10/10
Absolutely LOVE this book. Itâs such a wonderful and refreshing look on Korean cuisine, and simplifies recipes for even beginner cooks like me to enjoy. Itâs very organized, and has a great balance of conversation to each recipe. The instructions are clear, easy to follow, and I like how they go in depth about the ingredients and their backgrounds. There are SO MANY recipe options for every category you can think of, and I really enjoy how down to earth it is. I canât wait to try out a lot of these recipes!
robbie –
I have followed this wonderful Mother and daughter for a while, and I have never been so excited for a new cookery book. I’ve been reading it ever since it arrived and I’m only putting it down to go out shopping later for the ingredients for the dishes.Before getting into how wonderful they both are, the book itself is not your average cookery book. It’s about how the food and the culture are one and the same, how the love that goes into the food is a way of expressing love to everyone it’s made for, how that love is passed through generations. It’s moving to be able to feel this and to feel it coming to you from the way the book is constructed – pages of advice on foundational Korean ingredients, how to discern what’s good in produce, and explanations of how a meal is constructed, what the dishes mean. It brought to mind all the times I spent with my Mum when she was teaching me how to cook – explaining what every thing was, where it came from and why we, as a family, ate it.And this at core is what this is – a family cookbook with the notes your Mum and her Mum made. So, the recipes are really well explained with Ummas advice on what you can compromise on and the ingredients you absolutely can’t. I really appreciate that as someone who has never really used some of the ingredients before. All the recipes have step by step instructions and photographs.The relationship between mother and daughter, the way food is an expression of love – I found it very moving to see this because you can’t NOT see it or feel it. It’s in every recipe, every tip, every little piece of advice. And it’s pouring out of the stories that frame who they are and their journeys to get where they are.It’s a wonderful cook book and so much more – I cannot recommend it enough.
JR –
Custa-me perceber alguns ingredientes e técnicas. à um livro fantástico em fotos e comidas de cultura.
jay –
Informative read
Kijo82 –
Ich habe lange auf dieses Kochbuch gewartet (ich folge der Autorin auf TikTok) und bin nicht enttäuscht worden. Das Buch gibt tolle Einblicke in die Geschichte der Autorin sowie der Mutter und die Rezepte sind toll. Ich muss allerdings zugeben, dass ich aktuell noch etwas Probleme mit der Beschaffung einiger Zutaten habe. Aber das hat eher etwas mit dem Angebot in meiner Umgebung als mit dem Buch zu tun.Insgesamt also tolle koreanische Rezepte, die Spaà machen und lecker sind.
Jess –
Itâs really a wonderful cook book!! Itâs made with so much love! You can really feel the love and warmth through the book!! The recipes are all so good and the pictures look all so yummy!! You really want to try everything out 🙂 Thank you so much for this lovely piece of workâ¤ï¸