Henry Moy
Henry Moy

From the Back

Chinese Takeout Classics Made at Home, Restaurant-Style

The cover of From the Back, by Henry Moy

General Tso's, beef and broccoli, fried rice, egg rolls, wonton soup and 39 more, the way American Chinese restaurant kitchens make them, written for your own stove. 285 large-print pages. Instant download. Print at home.

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Launch price

  • The cookbook Later: $33 Now: $29
  • The set Later: $44 Now: $39

On November 24, the prices go up to the crossed-out amounts.

Available soon

Instant download · One payment, no subscription · 7-day money-back guarantee

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What's inside

Part One: What the Kitchen Knows

  1. Heat
  2. Tender Meat
    • Velveting beef, chicken and shrimp
  3. The Sauces Every Kitchen Keeps
    • The 12 sauces every kitchen keeps
  4. The Pantry, and the Truth About MSG
  5. What's Made in the Back, and What Comes in a Box

Part Two: The Classics

  1. Rice and Noodles
    • Takeout-Style Fried Rice
    • House Special Fried Rice
    • Lo Mein
    • Chow Mein
    • Beef Chow Fun
    • Singapore-Style Noodles
  2. Chicken
    • General Tso's Chicken
    • Orange Chicken
    • Sesame Chicken
    • Kung Pao Chicken
    • Chicken with Broccoli
    • Moo Goo Gai Pan
    • Cashew Chicken
    • Lemon Chicken
    • Sweet and Sour Chicken
  3. Beef and Pork
    • Beef and Broccoli
    • Pepper Steak
    • Mongolian Beef
    • Sweet and Sour Pork
    • Char Siu
    • Boneless Spare Ribs
  4. Shrimp
    • Shrimp with Lobster Sauce
    • Honey Walnut Shrimp
    • Salt and Pepper Shrimp
    • Shrimp with Garlic Sauce
  5. Eggs, Tofu and Vegetables
    • Egg Foo Young with Brown Gravy
    • Chop Suey
    • Buddha's Delight
    • Ma Po Tofu
    • Dry-Fried Green Beans
  6. Appetizers
    • Egg Rolls
    • Crab Rangoon
    • Barbecue Spare Ribs
    • Fried Wontons with Sweet and Sour Dip
    • Pot Stickers
    • Scallion Pancakes
  7. Soups
    • Wonton Soup
    • Egg Drop Soup
    • Hot and Sour Soup

Part Three: Henry's Table

  1. What the Cooks Ate in the Back
    • Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry
    • Steamed Egg Custard
    • Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
    • Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallion
    • Congee
  2. Takeout Night at Home (four menus with a cooking order)

Look inside

Tap a page to see it full size.

The book's contents page
The contents
The opening of chapter 6, Rice and Noodles
A chapter opening, with a word from Henry
The first page of Takeout-Style Fried Rice
The first page of Takeout-Style Fried Rice: Henry's note, then a shopping list you can tick off
A page from chapter 4, the truth about MSG
From chapter 4: the truth about MSG

Made for easy reading

  • Large print, about the size of this text.
  • Every recipe starts on a new page, with a tick-box shopping list and short numbered steps.
  • A clickable contents and bookmarks, for cooking from a tablet.
  • Print the whole book, or only the recipes you want.

What the kitchen knows

  • Restaurant beef is tender because of a short rest in a velveting marinade (chapter 2).
  • Takeout fried rice starts with rice cooked the day before (chapter 6).
  • A wok station puts out eight to fifteen times the heat of a home burner, and chapter 1 shows how to get close on yours.

The set: the cookbook and Henry's Sauce & Pantry Cards

The cookbook From the Back and Henry's Sauce & Pantry Cards

Tap a page to see it full size.

The cover of Henry's Sauce & Pantry Cards
The cover of the cards
A sauce card: General Tso's sauce, for one dish and for a jar
A sauce card: the amount for one dish, and a jar for four

Print the cards and keep them by the stove. Mix a jar of sauce on a quiet afternoon, and takeout night is half done. Every amount is the same as in the book.

The cards come only in the set.

Honest about what's American

Some of these dishes were born in America, like chop suey, crab rangoon and the sweet General Tso's. The book tells you which ones, and loves them anyway. No restaurant is named, and nothing here is any restaurant's own recipe: it's how these dishes are made in restaurant kitchens, written for a home stove.

Questions

What's in the set?

The cookbook, plus Henry's Sauce & Pantry Cards: 20 printable large-print cards with the 12 sauces from chapter 3 measured for one dish and for a jar, keeping a jar safely, the pantry by supermarket aisle, a takeout-night shopping list, and heat and timing for a wok or skillet. The cards come only in the set.

Is it a printed book?

No. It's a PDF you download right after you pay. Read it on a tablet or computer, or print it at home or at a print shop. Nothing is shipped.

How many recipes and pages?

44 recipes, plus the velveting method and 12 sauces, in 285 large-print pages.

Do I need a wok?

No. A wok is lovely, but every recipe works in a 12-inch skillet.

Will I find the ingredients?

Almost everything is at a big supermarket. Where something is hard to find, the recipe gives a swap you can buy there.

Are these a restaurant's recipes?

No. They're the way American Chinese restaurant kitchens make these dishes, written for a home stove. No restaurant is named, and none of them is a restaurant's own recipe.

Is there MSG in it?

It's listed as optional where it's used. Chapter 4 explains what the FDA says about it, and you can leave it out.

Food allergies?

Many of these dishes use soy, wheat, eggs, shellfish, peanuts or sesame. Every recipe lists its ingredients, so check them before you cook.

Is there a subscription?

No. You pay once, and there's nothing more to pay.

Can I give it as a gift?

Yes. Buy it with your own email, then forward the download email, or print it for them.

What if it isn't right for me?

Cook from it first. If the book doesn't help you, write to me at [email protected] within 7 days of buying, and I'll refund you in full. A refunded order's download link stops working.

I need help downloading.

Reply to your download email, or write to [email protected].

Henry Moy

Meet Henry

I'm Henry Moy. I grew up in the back of my parents' restaurant, the Jade Moon Café, a fourteen-table chop suey house on the east side of Toledo, Ohio. I peeled shrimp at the prep table when I was eight and worked my first Saturday night on the wok at fourteen. I cooked for fifty-one years after that: a big banquet kitchen in Chicago, my family's kitchen, then a diner grill, a steakhouse line and a hotel banquet kitchen. I retired in 2018. Peg and I have been married since 1979, and these days I cook for our grandchildren.

Why I wrote this book

The beef is tender because of how it was cut and what it rested in before it hit the pan. The fried rice tastes like takeout because the rice was cooked the day before. None of it needs a restaurant. Nearly all of it can be done on your own stove, with what your supermarket sells.

In the spring of 2020, my granddaughter asked me on a video call how to make the Jade Moon's fried rice. I started to answer, and I realized that nothing my father cooked had ever been written down. Peg told me to start writing, so I did.

This book is how I'd show you if you were standing next to me at the stove. I put it in big print so you can read it from across the counter with your hands full. Some of these dishes were born right here in America, and I'll tell you which ones. I love them anyway.

— Henry

7 days to cook from it, and decide

Pick the dish your family orders most and make it this week. If the book doesn't help you, write to me within 7 days for a full refund, no questions asked.

Launch price

  • The cookbook Later: $33 Now: $29
  • The set Later: $44 Now: $39

On November 24, the prices go up to the crossed-out amounts.

Available soon

Instant download · One payment, no subscription · 7-day money-back guarantee

Secure checkout by Stripe: card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.