Terrific cookbook for the Chinese cooking novice
I'm an experienced western cook, but Chinese food has been my downfall. With the exception of a few reliable recipes, I had almost given up on being able to cook good, simple Chinese food. I've been to Chinatowns all over the world, and never thought I'd be able to duplicate what I ate there. The recipes in my cookbooks either called for too much deep frying, too much equipment or tasted like nothing I had eaten before.
Then I found this great cookbook! Martin Yan is a gifted teacher and cooking writer. I knew his show was entertaining. When I began to use this book I discovered that his show is the least of it. Here is a Chinese chef who genuinely wants to impart his knowledge to others.
What's good about this book? The recipes and techniques are not difficult. The equiptment is easy to find and, in an American kitchen, a deep rounded frying pan will usually serve as well, or better, than a wok. Most ingredients can be found in today's supermarkets. Best of all, many of the recipes can be made quickly. Once you get the hang of it, many of them are far easier and faster than those in western cookbooks.
Our favorite recipes include Broccoli Beef, Beef Stir-Fry Over Golden Pancake and Walnut Chicken.
I Give This Book My Two Chinese Tumbs Up!!
I found this book in the library. After reading it, I decided I got to own it. This is a really great book on Chinese food! I am Chinese, grew up in Hong Kong & Macau. I saw his shows in Hong Kong's English TV channel when I was in highschool. I think he was good on his show and we Chinese back home were very impressed that Martin Yan was able to demonstrate authentic Chinese cooking in such an entertaining and easy to understand format!
Since I moved to America, I had been trying to find a Chinese cookbook that I can cook from to soothe my craving for foods from back home. I brought with me Chinese cookbooks from Hong Kong, written in Chinese. But the measurements and ingredients from those books are difficult for me to follow here in America, mainly because people back home cook with different measuring system and they have different terms for the ingredients, thus creating problems for me when I go shopping. I'm glad I found this book, the recipes are great. They are clear and precise and easy to follow. All the ingredients are readily available in grocery stores here in California, Asian or not, like Trader Joes, Gelson or Wholefood where I usually shop!
Of course, the book can't possibly include all the recipes of all the dishes or dim sums back home. But all the recipes in the book are really good and authentic Chinese classics that we Chinese love! Recipes from Macau and Hong Kong are very authentic, like the Mintzi Beef (from Macau, a chinese dish influenced by Portuguese cooking), or the Hong Kong Wonton Bowl... Also the book got my favorite "Pine Apple Bun" that I always ordered 4 dishes and more whenever I go to Dim Sum. (can't go all the time because dim sum is only good with several friends and in L.A. it's not easy to gather several friends like it was when I was in Hong Kong. I only went 2 times this year versus I went twice every week with either my family or my friends in Hong Kong!) So during days when I crave for my "Pine Apple Buns", I refer to Martin Yan's book, and they all came out just the way they taste in the restaurants, only fresher from my own oven!
The book also helps me teach my American friends about Chinese food. I use the book often whenever I entertain at home so I can share with my friends some of the classics that I ate growing up in Hong Kong and Macau. They all love my "Pineapple Buns!", which was always my favorite, as a kid and now as a grown-up! I'm glad I could share one my childhood goodies with my American friends, thanks to Martin. I'm the only one in my Chinese family who knows how to make these buns now! Because they have no need to learn and it is convenient for them to get them from bakeries, Chinese retaurants and everywhere back home.
For those of you who don't cook but who love to eat Chinese food or are interested in the culture, this book gives you a very good education on Chinese food and dim sum. While you may not want to be cooking Chinese, but you will be ordering like a Chinese person whichever Chinese restaurant you go and you will impress the dim sum ladies and the waiters with the fact that you know what you are ordering and that you are ordering items, very often only Chinese people would order! Like my American bf, he now knows how to order in Cantonese because of Martin's book, and of corurse I taught him the prounciation for the dishes he loves (mostly the dishes that I love too because I got him into them), and the Chinese pepole were always shocked when he ordered, and I enjoyed watching the Chinese people's reaction, so I just let him order every time so he can have fun practicing. The Chinese thought he was fluent and were very impressed, but he only knew how to order the dishes he loved! The waiters always talk to me in Chinese, "Your bf is no typical American, has very good taste in Chinese food, just like a Chinese!" I agree, after what I showed him with Martin's book, he can't go back to "Panda Express" or those crappy Chinese take-outs which he used to love.
Tasty recipes and fairly easy to cook!
First of all, I love how beautiful the cookbook is with many pictures throughout. I also like how Martin Yan explains various ingredients and describes what makes each Chinatown he visisted unique. I agree that some ingredients are more difficult to get and require a trip to the Asian supermarket, but I also figured out how to vary recipes to be more convenient for me. (This is based on the fact that I already have several basic Chinese ingredients around the house.) One reviewer felt that the cookbook didn't include many dishes from Chinatown, but there's such variation in what Chinese food is that it's hard to capture it in one book. Many of the dishes are familiar to me, so I guess Martin Yan's taste is a good fit for me! The dishes are tasty and fairly easy to make -- I think it's important to be flexible and experiment with any recipe you come across, and the recipes are simple enough to allow for you to experiment and still taste good. We use this cookbook a lot more often than other ones we have at home.
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