If you tuned in to season three of the Fox cooking competition MasterChef, you were probably enthralled by the inspiring rise of contestant Christine Ha, a home cook who wowed the judges with her Vietnamese-inspired comfort dishes and some surprising skillz in the kitchen -- despite being legally blind.
As the winner of MasterChef, one of her prizes was a cookbook deal. Christine Ha's book, Recipes from My Home Kitchen: Asian and American Comfort Food, is out on shelves now.
In her kitchen, Christine Ha possesses a rare ingredient that most professionally-trained chefs never learn to use: the ability to cook by sense. After tragically losing her sight in her twenties, this remarkable home cook, who specializes in the mouthwatering, wildly popular Vietnamese comfort foods of her childhood, as well as beloved American standards that she came to love growing up in Texas, re-learned how to cook. Using her heightened senses, she turns out dishes that are remarkably delicious, accessible, luscious, and crave-worthy.I'm not even much of a cook -- I'm kind of a disaster in the kitchen -- but Christine Ha's story is so inspiring, I might just pick up this book. You can get in on Amazon, available in hardcover and Kindle editions.
Millions of viewers tuned in to watch Christine sweep the thrilling Season 3 finale, and here they can find more of her deftly crafted recipes. They’ll discover food that speaks to the best of both the Vietnamese diaspora and American classics, personable tips on how to re-create delicious professional recipes in a home kitchen, and an inspirational personal narrative bolstered by Ha’s background as a gifted writer. Recipes from My Home Kitchen will braid together Christine’s story with her food for a result that is one of the most compelling culinary tales of her generation.