Chinese Books - Page 5

Betty Crocker's Chinese Cookbook

Betty Crocker, Leeann Chin

List Price: $9.95 By: Random House Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

betty crocker's lee ann chin chinese cookbook 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

this is an EXCELLENT cookbook filled with all the most popular chinese dishes. from sesame chicken to hot and sour soup, it gives all the tricks on how to make a delicious chinese dinner! if you aren't familiar with lee ann chin, her recipes produce meals similar to PF chang's and other chinese bistros. good luck and happy cooking!

Crowd Pleaser 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The recipes are outstanding. Taste just like a restaurant made it. You can't go wrong with anything in this book. Food made from recipes in this book go over extremely well at parties!

Amazing Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We love to eat Chinese food. This book offers an array of good recipes that are laid out in such a way as to make it simple for anyone to achieve great, effortless dishes. This is my second copy of this wonderful book, my dog ate the first one - I'm really telling the truth. I guess he realize how good it was too!

Chinese Cooking Betty Crocker - Your Xpression Sellxtion 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Betty Crocker recipes have always been favorites. These recipes for Chinese Cooking are great because America likes Chinese food. The book also includes an introduction to Chinese Cooking and needed utensils and ingredients. There are even suggested menus to review. Book has recipes for appetizers, soups, beef, pork, chicken and duck, seafood, rice, noodles and dumplings, and vegetables. Please get this book and really LEARN the art of Chinese cooking.

Chinese Cuisine: Taiwanese Style

Lee-Hwa Lin, Wei-Chuan Publishing

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wei-Chuan Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $9.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

one of the few good Taiwanese cookbooks around 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 26 people found this review helpful.

This cookbook is about TAIWANESE cuisine not CHINESE. I searched high and low for this book, there have been many books written about Chinese food but not Taiwanese food which has more flavors -- not just salty but sweet, spicy, etc. This is what makes Taiwanese food different and incredibly delicious. The book has beautiful mouthwatering recipes and pictures and are simple enough to make if you can find all the ingredients.

If you are Taiwanese or like Taiwanese food, this is the cookbook to get because sadly, you will not find too many out there.

Authentic Taiwanese Recipes 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I love this cookbook! I'm Taiwanese American and was raised in the US. I thought my mother made up these dishes growing up, but in fact they are classic Taiwanese dishes. I have recently moved from the west coast to the mid-south and missed these dishes very much. I was so ecstatic to find recipes I remember so fondly as a child. Taiwanese cooking is different than Chinese cooking. It relies more on seafood and natural flavors. The recipes are also very easy to make.

Editorial Review:

Bilingual: English and Chinese.

The Shun Lee Cookbook: Recipes from a Chinese Restaurant Dynasty

Michael Tong

Amazon Price: $23.96 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $6.62

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Until the 1960s, nearly all Chinese food served in the United States was Cantonese. Egg Foo Yung. Barbecued Spareribs. Egg Drop Soup. But with the opening of his Shun Lee restaurants more than forty years ago, Michael Tong and his chefs introduced the spicy regional foods of Sichuan and Hunan and the red-cooked dishes of Shanghai to New Yorkers—and eventually to all of the United States. Crispy Orange Beef. Lake Tung Ting Prawns. Crispy Sea Bass. Dry Sautéed String Beans. Hot and Sour Cabbage. Scallion Pancakes. These dishes originated at Shun Lee, and are now on nearly every Chinese restaurant menu across North America.

Now, in his first cookbook, Tong shares his most popular recipes from the Hunan, Sichuan, and Shanghai regions of China. Who says Chinese food is difficult to prepare at home? With The Shun Lee Cookbook, even novices have nothing to worry about. All the recipes have been tested and modified for home kitchens. If adapting a recipe for the home—like Beijing duck—proved to be impossible, Tong omitted it. The result is a collection of easy-to-make but dazzling dishes. And perhaps the best part is that they can all be made with ingredients found in supermarkets everywhere.

Chinese favorites such as Hot and Sour Soup, Sichuan Boiled Dumplings, Dry Sautéed Green Beans, and Kung Pao Shrimp are included. There are also new dishes such as Peppery Dungeness Crab, Singapore-Style Rice Noodles with Curry, Red-Cooked Beef Short Ribs, and Hunan Lamb with Scallions.

In addition to the recipes The Shun Lee Cookbook includes tips for stocking home pantries with Chinese staples, and there are more than fifty color photographs of the finished dishes throughout.

Why order take-out when you can take home The Shun Lee Cookbook?

Dim Sum Made Easy

Lucille Liang

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sterling Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $3.31

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Editorial Review:

Tasty tidbits that make a meal or serve as appetizers: that’s Dim Sum. And it allows diners to sample a wide range of foods, from dumplings to shrimp balls, in bite-sized portions. These simple recipes—which use authentic ingredients such as Shao Shing rice wine—make it easy to create a luscious Chinese banquet. A discussion of equipment (woks, cleavers), followed by information on techniques such as stir-frying and red cooking, will get home chefs started. Each recipe—with its fillings, doughs, marinades, and sauces—is beautifully laid out, along with advice on preparation, variations on each dish, and introductions to unfamiliar ingredients.

The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques and Recipes

Barbara Tropp

List Price: $25.00 By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $23.16

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good Instruction but... 3 out of 5 stars.
11 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This is certainly a fantastic book, which I bought following recommendations from the Amazon reviews and from an internet food community. The strengths of the book are that it contains a level of detail in the recipes, and in the introductions to the various types of cooking styles, ingredient preparation and correct use of cooking utensils.
However, the recipes themselves are not on the whole as appealing as one might expect from a book of this size. Also, in terms of "classical" chinese cuisine (by that I mean what you and I are used to, rather than what someone from Mainland China is used to) this book is not as strong as you may think.
My main gripes emerge when comparing this book with Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook. This book to me contains the same, if not greater levels of detail with regards to frying/steaming and ingredient prep, and also contains many many more appealing recipes, with just as good levels of detail for those that are not familiar with chinese cookery. The section on ingredients and also on the cuisine of Mainland China is also superior in this book.
Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook remains my go-to book for Chinese food, altho I will keep this and use it from time to time, but it is certainly not as useful and doesnt contain as many appealing recipes. If you are interested in smoking chicken and duck however, you will need Barbara Tropp's book.

Editorial Review:

This classic text on Chinese Cooking Technique, now available in paperback, combines an insider's knowledge of authentic Chinese cooking and culture with more than two hundred recipes.

Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook: Szechwan Home Cooking

Jung-Feng Chiang, Ellen Shrecker

List Price: $18.95 By: Harpercollins Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $1.44

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Worn out! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I bought Mrs. Chiang's Szechuan Cookbook when it first came out. It immediately became and remains my favorite Chinese cookbook. In fact, I have used it so much that I have worn it out! I take good care of my books, but years of kitchen use have put numerous stains on the pages and have broken the binding, never mind the total destruction of the dust cover! I have given this book as gifts to several friends who have enjoyed my Chinese meals (based on this book), and they are using it too.
You can also get Szechuan Home Cooking. It is just a later edition of the same book, and the only changes are in the introductory material.
Do yourself a favor and get this fabulous book before it disappears forever.
By the way, I finally replaced my worn-out copy, but have kept the old one stored sentimentally alongside--it's full of notes, like "excellent recipe", "Marc [husband] raves", "fabulous and easy."

I wore my first copy out ! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book when it first came out in 1976...it is simply the best cookbook of its kind ! Whether you are a novice or an expert in "szechwan cooking"...this book has something for you. The "Grand Duke Chicken" is food for the God's...I added green beans to her wonderful "red cooked shrimp". Want a dish that has the delicate flavor of butter (but no butter) try the
"Shrimp with ginger and wine" * if you can get fresh crawfish tails it will be even better !

Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam

Bruce Cost

Amazon Price: $12.24 List Price: $18.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $6.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Buy This Book. Superb Presentation of East Asian Foods! 5 out of 5 stars.
35 of 35 people found this review helpful.

`Asian Ingredients' by Bruce Cost is one of those books like Patience Gray's `Honey from a Weed' and Claudia Roden's `New Book of Middle Eastern Food' which gets cited as THE authority on its subject by culinary heavyweights such as Ruth Reichl and Alice Waters. So, in my quest for the perfect culinary library, I really need to read and review this book. I am very happy to say that the reputation of this book is not overdone. It is one of the finest books on culinary ingredients I have seen on either Oriental or Occidental cuisines. The author states from the outset that his objective was not to give us an encyclopedic work. What we get is much closer to some of the finer books on Mediterranean cuisine such as Nancy Harmon Jenkins `The Essential Mediterranean'. In many ways, Cost's book is far more practical, albeit less analytical than Jenkins' work.

Cost deals with the fairly homogeneous food world of Japan, Korea, China, Viet Nam, and Thailand. He mentions India as an influence on Thai cuisine, but does not deal directly with Indian cuisine, as it is substantially different from the cuisine of China and the rest of the Far East. The book also does not deal with the cuisine of the Philippines or Indonesia, as the cuisines of these two nations are heavily influenced by European colonization beginning in the 16th century.

One of the best things about Cost's book is that it is organized in such a way to make it a pleasure to read for background information. While I have never sat down to read the Larousse Gastronomique for pleasure, I read Cost's book from cover to cover with great pleasure, skipping a very few subjects on which I was very familiar. Costs book is divided into the following seven (7) major chapters:

Fresh Ingredients including Herbs and Seasonings, Vegetables and Fungi, Meat, Poultry and Eggs, Fish
Preserved and Processed Ingredients including Dried Ingredients, Cured Ingredients, and Soy and Coconut
Condiments and Sauces including Soy based condiments, Fish based sauces, Chili based sauces, Vinegar and spirits, and Flavored oils
Spices, Sugars, Nuts, and Seeds, including Spices, Sugar, Nuts and Seeds
Rice
Noodles and Wrappers
Flours and Thickeners
Cooking Fats and Oils

One of the most dramatic lessons to be learned from this book is the fact that like the Mediterranean respect for dried and preserved ingredients such as salted cod, dried pasta, and dry beans, Asian dried ingredients such as seaweed, vegetables, fish, and mushrooms are highly regarded ingredients in their own right. They are not `second best'. By drying and concentrating their flavors, they bring something to the party that is simply beyond their fresh precursors.

Another fairly dramatic discovery is the fact that while so many of the spices prized by Europe and so greatly desired by Renaissance Europe were grown just next door to China and Japan, these spices such as black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon (cassias) really did not and still do not play a big part in East Asian cuisine, except for Thailand, which is influenced by the curries and other spices of India. Northern China and Japan almost totally reject the use of the `cookie spices' except for ginger, which is used heavily throughout the region covered by the book.

It is interesting to see both the harmony and the dissonance created when one lays Mediterranean and Far Eastern cuisine side by side. Some of the biggest parallels are the importance of garlic, pork, mushrooms, cilantro, and New World (capsicum) chilis. Some differences are in the relative importance of drying versus salt curing. As Nancy Harmon Jenkins points out, salt is much more important in the Mediterranean cuisines simply because the Mediterranean is saltier than the oceans, so it is a lot easier to acquire than on the Pacific Rim. There are some salt cured pork products, with hams very similar to Smithfield hams, but nowhere near as much of the Charcuterie / salume culture of Western Europe. The greatest differences between the two areas lies in the use of milk. There is simply no milk culture in East Asia from cows, goats, sheep, or buffalo. The Chinese and Japanese feel the same towards Europe's more aromatic cheeses as westerners may feel about fermented fish sauce, birds nests (dried bird saliva), and seaweed. Where the European uses animals' milk, the Asian uses milk refined from soy or coconut.

An important part of this book, more important than similar samples in most other books of this type, is the recipes, especially for things such as fish and chicken stocks, which are far simpler than comparable French stocks. They are not just simpler; there is a whole rationale in the Chinese cuisine against including vegetables in chicken stock recipes.

Two of the most useful aspects of this book are the recommendations on how to best use Asian markets and which commercial preparations are of a high quality. I had some reservations regarding a local Chinese run farmer's market with a fish counter until I read Cost's description of Asians' regard for freshness in fish. The `Iron Chef' episodes where virtually all seafood ingredients are presented live is not for the sake of show business. These people are SERIOUS about their fresh fish! Note that while this book was originally written and published in 1988, the new paperback edition was revised in 2000, so the numerous comments about which prepared brand name ingredients are the best should be fairly current.

This book is so good you will be remiss if you buy any other book on East Asian ingredients without first reading this new edition. Other books may offer better coverage of selected aspects of this subject, but this book is certainly the gold standard against which other books should be measured!

Very highly recommended, especially if you like to read about food as well as eat it.

Editorial Review:

First published in 1988, Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients was immediately hailed as one of the most comprehensive and fascinating books on Asian foodstuffs ever written. Now fully revised and updated, Asian Ingredients offers a wealth of information on identifying and using the often unfamiliar ingredients in traditional bottled condiments. This book's clear black-and-white photographs make it easy to identify ingredients in your local supermarkets or Asian grocery, while Cost's carefully researched notes explain how to select, store, and cook with these wonderful foods. Cost also includes more than 130 simple recipes for sumptuous Asian specialties. Cooks can create the dramatic flavors of China, Japan, and southeast Asia in their own kitchens with this indispensable resource. 

Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture

Rosemary Gong

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Basic Introduction 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great book that gives a basic overview of Chinese traditions. If you want to know more details,(such as the myths and Gods that relate to every event) there are other books. It is written in an easy format, very assessible to people who are not Chinese. I give it 5 stars for what it is-- an introductory-style book on Chinese traditions.

Editorial Review:

Good Luck Life is the first book to explain the meanings of Chinese rituals and to offer advice on when and how to plan for Chinese holidays and special occasions such as Chinese weddings, the Red Egg and Ginger party to welcome a new baby, significant birthdays, and the inevitable funeral. Packed with practical information, Good Luck Life contains an abundance of facts, legends, foods, old-village recipes, and quick planning guides for Chinese New Year, Clear Brightness, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn, and many other festivals.

Written with warmth and wit, Good Luck Life is beautifully designed as an easily accessible cultural guide that includes an explanation of the Lunar Calendar, tips on Chinese table etiquette for dining with confidence, and dos and don'ts from wise Auntie Lao, who recounts ancient Chinese beliefs and superstitions. This is your map for celebrating a good luck life.

My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen: 100 Family Recipes and Life Lessons

Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 17 people found this review helpful.

This delightful book will transform the way you think about cooking, about food, and likely about life as well.
Tracing her own skills back to the critical lessons she learned at a tender young age from her beloved Grandmother, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo takes you on a journey from simple baby steps (how to make perfect rice) right up to more
exotic Holiday dishes. But more than just helping you to understand how to cook properly, how to respect the ingredients, the Gods of the kitchen and more, she also shares a whole philosophy of life. An insight into how the Chinese look at things.
You could read this book without lifting one spatula, nor steaming one precious fish, and feel enriched and ennobled by the experience.
I can personally strongly recommend this profound tome to all.

Editorial Review:

Award-winning cookbook author and celebrated food expert Eileen Yin-Fei Lo learned how to cook from her talented grandmother. This inspiring and instructive book collects 100 recipes the author learned in her grandmother's kitchen, along with the life lessons, observations, and other gifts she hopes to pass on to readers and future generations.

Cherished holiday recipes include steamed buns and fish congees for birthdays, vegetables prepared during the Lunar New Year, and rice dumplings made for the Dragon Boat Festival. All the essential techniques of the Chinese kitchen are represented, including stir-frying, steaming, roasting, stewing, braising, and more.

A volume to cook from, to share, and to read as a memoir in its own right, My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen celebrates a great culinary tradition by sharing family wisdom and timeless recipes.

Chinese Cuisine: Cantonese Style

Wei-Chuan Publishing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Authentic, delicious, well-tested, no-fail recipes 5 out of 5 stars.
37 of 37 people found this review helpful.

I love this book and highly recommend it. The Chinese cookbooks published by Wei-chuan (a cooking school in Taipei that is essentially the Cordon Bleu of Taiwan) are my bibles, and I don't bother with any other Chinese cookbooks. The recipes in this book are utterly delectable and absolutely authentic, using traditional ingredients and methods -- no shortcuts or substitutions here. For example, you will not find, as in other, less authentic cookbook recipes, peanut butter being substituted for sesame paste. Even though I live in the United States and do not read or speak Chinese, I have not had a problem finding these authentic ingredients in Asian food stores, especially because the ingredients are often pictured in photographs and the text is in both English and Chinese, so that I can even point out the photo or Chinese words for the store clerk if need be. This book is a great addition to any Chinese cookbook library because Cantonese cuisine is so distinctive for its elegantly simple flavors and sauces, a wonderful contrast to the more complex, sophisticated cuisines of Shanghai or Beijing. If you are serious about Chinese cuisine, this book and the others by Wei-chuan are the best you can buy in the English language.

Editorial Review:

Bilingual: English and Chinese.