Chinese Cuisine: The Fabulous Flavors & Innovative Recipes of North America's Finest Chinese Cook [Hardcover]

Susanna Foo (Author), Amy Tan (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1995

Susanna Foo has consistently been acclaimed for serving the best and most exciting Chinese food in North America. Gourmet, Food & Wine, Esquire, Zagat and the James Beard Society have all singled her out as one of America's leading chefs. Now Susanna Foo shares the recipes that established her reputation, and the results are nothing short of revolutionary. The book will open a new world to those who are intimidated by the strange ingredients and complicated techniques of Chinese cooking. Foo's recipes don't call for the usual combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, vinegar and sugar, and they don't rely on complicated stir-frying. Instead, they feature simple techniques and readily available fresh ingredients. With this book, you'll be able to duplicate Foo's elegant yet simple food: --Curried Chicken Dumplings --Crab Sui Mei with Red Bell Pepper Sauce --Cold Beer Shrimp --Seafood Wonton Soup --Fresh Water Chestnut, Arugula and Endive Salad --French Beans and Asparagus with Mu

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While Susanna Foo claims to be "North America's Finest Chinese Cook" on the cover of her cookbook, The Zagat Restaurant Guide gives this claim some support by consistently listing Susanna Foo's as one of the best restaurants in Philadelphia. Foo is known for both the fine quality of her cooking and for her eclectic approach; recipes in her book, Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine, demonstrate why this is so--imagine Pineapple Salsa, to be served with dim sum, and Grilled Tuna with Jalapeño Pepper Puree. Even traditional recipes such as black bean sauce are presented according to Foo's taste. Information about techniques and ingredients can be exceptionally interesting, and Foo's personal reminiscences, which are scattered through the book, add to the pleasure of reading.

From Publishers Weekly

Highly regarded owner/chef of the Philadelphia restaurant Susanna's, the author claims a unique culinary development, from a childhood in Inner Mongolia to her education in Taiwan in eight regional Chinese cuisines and finally to training at the Culinary Institute of America, where she learned to incorporate ingredients like portobello mushrooms and extra virgin olive oil into her repertoire. The recipes?for which "freshness, simplicity, and the preservation of the uniqueness of each ingredient" is always the aim?are organized by course (Soups; Desserts) and ingredients (Vegetables; Fish and Seafood) and preceded by helpful, anecdotal introductions. Opening with "Dim Sum and Other Small Delights," Foo offers meticulous instructions on the surprisingly simple preparation of Chinese dumplings. Innovative, less expected recipes are found throughout, e.g., Jade Green Fried Rice with Crabmeat, which gains its rich color from shredded, diced spinach. Entrees are dazzling and streamlined: Prawns with Poached Pears and Curry Sauce features shrimp marinated in vodka and egg whites with a subtly flavored curry sauce that can be used in a variety of dishes. Sidebars on everything from taro root to lotus describe each ingredient and detail its uses and cultural history. For both novices and aficionados, this is a splendid invitation to make Chinese food at home. Homestyle Book Club selection; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Chapters Publishing; First Edition edition (October 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881527948
• ISBN-13: 978-1881527947
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only chineese cookbook to own and use, January 29, 2001

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Chinese Cuisine: The Fabulous Flavors & Innovative Recipes of North America's Finest Chinese Cook (Hardcover)

I love to eat Chinese food, but don't cook it, that is, until I got this cookbook. Great intro which you have to read to find how she got to Philly and melded Chinese cuisine with French especially.

Recipes are unique, light with usually one or two unusual items which nowadays are easily found. Great helps such as what to buy, how to use them, etc.

Try as an appetizer "One-hundred-corner crab cakes" or "orange Beef with sun-dried tomatoes" (mouthwatering stuff, this is.) Especially representative is an usual fare which has wowed my guests, "Steamed Crabmeat souffle."

This is a delight of a cookbook, to cook, serve and eat!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the most innovative oriental foods cookbooks around, January 8, 2000

By 

Anita Burroughs "Personal Chef" (Glen, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese Cuisine: The Fabulous Flavors & Innovative Recipes of North America's Finest Chinese Cook (Hardcover)

We bought this book after eating at Susannah Foo's restaurant in Philadelphia. I loved the subtle flavors and lightness of the meal, unlike any other oriental meal eaten. Her cookbooks encourages the use of some interesting although sometimes tough to find ingredients, but most of the recipes are memorable and fairly easy to prepare. Foo is a real innovator. I like this book much better than Barbara Tropp's book, as one does not have to spend three weeks preparing eighteen sauces for each dish in order to end up with some wonderful flavors.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fusion plus Tradition, October 23, 2001

By 

"lili_yanghk" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Cuisine: The Fabulous Flavors & Innovative Recipes of North America's Finest Chinese Cook (Hardcover)

So many of my childhood favorites are in this book, which I thought could only be bought and never made by me. Having been to her restaurant several times and college in Philadelphia, I was given her cook book as a present. Being known for fusion cooking, due to her culinary training, I was so suprised at how many traditional chinese recipes are in her book like marbled tea eggs, hot and sour soup, dumplings, various pancakes and really good instructions and diagrams on how to roll the dough, wrap the dumplings, etc. Hats off to Susanna Foo for compiling such a good cook book with interesting antedotes regarding how the various foods invoke her childhood memories, making it an interesting read as well.