She's ruined me for all Chinese American cooks
The author was actually born in China hence her authentic recipes. Her books are a treasure and are like having a family friend giving you all their rich culinary history. We are so lucky that she writes in English.
I read that the author's husband lost 20 pounds in one month eating these recipes and 55 pounds by the time she had completed the book.
Best Chinese cookbook I've used
I have made several dishes from this cookbook and all of them have turned out great. My husband is Chinese and has not been impressed with dishes I've tried from other cookbooks, but he has really enjoyed the dishes prepared from this book. The flavors are very authentic, and not overly sweet or oily, like you normally find in restaurants.
The layout of the recipes are very easy to follow. She breaks the ingredient list into separate categories, such as "marinade", "sauce", "to complete the dish", so you can easily prepare the dish in stages.
I also like that the recipes are healthy, and I don't feel that taste is sacrificed to make the dishes healthy. She also uses many of the same ingredients throughout the book, so you'll probably need to stock your pantry with items that you'll need to go to an asian market for, but once it's stocked, you'll be set for a while.
The only modification I normally make is adding about double the meat to the dishes. Her versions are more authentic, being that in China meat is not as central to meals like it is in America, but I like having more meat.
Let's Get Real
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo is an excellent teacher and I have several of her books, and love them all, but to be real honest, this is not a low-fat low-cal cookbook. This is a tiny portion cookbook.At first glance her recipes seem to be low-cal, low-fat, but look again. For instance, tonight I made the pepper steak recipe. Delicious yes, but the recipe called for 4 oz. of meat and 3/4 lb. of peppers and this was supposed to feed 6 people! Maybe that would be satisfactory if you were making several dishes and soup, but for a Sunday night one pot dinner it was just enough for two, tripling the calorie and fat content listed.
Yes buy the book and cook from it, just take a real look at portions and how many a dish is supposed to feed and then ask yourself is this really going to feed my family?
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