Customer Reviews

Chinese Cuisine: Taiwanese Style

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my favorite cookbooks of all time! Like all the Chinese cookbooks published by Wei-chuan, it is a treasury of absolutely authentic, delicious recipes. The recipes are well-written and clear, and they are accompanied by beautiful photographs of not only the finished dish but also the various steps in the preparation or cooking. Most importantly, the recipes let me recreate faithfully the foods of my homeland. I have made about half the dishes presented in this book, and all have been utterly delectable, make-again successes. This book is, moreover, a great addition to any library of Chinese cookbooks, since it presents the distinctive cuisine of the island of Taiwan, with its characteristic emphasis on local seafoods; use of varieties of rice, including rice flours and rice noodles; the influence of Japanese cuisine from 50 years of Japanese colonialism; and the influence of aboriginal foodways. This is, like all the Wei-chuan cookbooks, one of the best Chinese cookbooks available in the English language and a must-have for serious lovers of Chinese cuisine!

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.

I was born and raised in Taiwan. Wei-Chuan was a household name like Kraft Food is here in America. It is as difficult for non-Chinese to diffrentiate Taiwanese cuisine as it is to find a authentic Taiwanese restaurant here in the US. Finding this cookbook not only cures my homesick, but also shows my husband (an italian, with whom, from time to time, I still argue over who invented pasta.)and friends the art and taste of Taiwanese dishes. My husband says that he will refuse to eat out at local Chinese restaurants if I keep making the dishes in the book. Oh by the way, if you have the book, definitely try the "Leek Turnovers". I grew up eating them, totally savory.

This book is both beautifully illustrated and well detailed. Each recipe is accompanied by a color photograph of the finished dish.The recipes are easy to follow, and the ingredients can be found in your local supermarket or in an Asian speciality food store. Recipes range anywhere from seafood to meat to soup dishes. Taiwanese cooking is light in nature with a large emphasis on the use of vegetables. This book will appeal to home cooks who enjoy preparing chinese dishes.

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.

This is a great cookbook...my husband is Norwegian and he likes Chinese food. We dont have many Chinese food here, so I often make food at home. He loves the dishes! He is skepical over some dishes, but he likes most of them. The cookbook makes it easier for both of us since I am a Taiwanese who misses Taiwanese food terribly and my husband who enjoys Asian food. Afterall, this is a nice cookbook and has easy to follow instructions.

The Wei-Chuan Publishing Company (apparently connected with the Taiwanese Wei-Chuan Cooking School), has produced a good number of Cookbooks, mostly dealing with Chinese cookery but also coveing other Asian cuisines as well. I own over a dozen of these now and I like all of them. More importantly, I like all of these books for tmuch he same reasons and, accordingly, I have decided to do a general review that applies to each of them and then provide a few individualized comments where appropriate.

Basically, the Wei-Chuan publications are authored/editored by several different persons but the format is largely the same. Each book is divided into logical sections (Meats, Vegetables, Appetizers, etc.) and nearly every recipe is accompanied by a good photograph of the result with some recipes having additional pictures of the preparation as well. This feature alone makes these books well worth the purchase. Another feature of this cuilinary series is that the books are written in China and, at least as far as the books on Chinese cuisine is concerned, the reader need have no issues with 'authenticity'. I personally also like the fact that all of the books are written in Chinese characters and then translated into English. This has has an added bonus of occasionally providing some unintentional amusement due to a particularly 'unfortunate' translation but I specially like it as I am teaching myself Mandarin and these books are excellent learning tools. I often take one on the plane with me when I travel (along with dictionaries) and can spend hours happily translating passages. It is amazing how often the actual translation of a recipe title bears little resemblance to the English title provided.

Finally, I have to say that the recipes in all of these books are interesting and he ones that I have tried to reproduce have worked out well. Mainly though, I just like reading through these books for inspiration and enjoyment. The money I have spent has been repaid many times over.


The We-Chuan books I currently own are as follows:

Chinese Cuisine - Very good introductory section. Recipes range from simple everyday dishes to exotic banquet style delicacies.
Chinese Dim Sum: Wel-Chuan Cultural and Educational Foundation - Great 'step-by-step' pictures for many recipes. Bit too much emphasis on sweet rather than savoury for my personal taste.
Chinese Snacks - More of the same as in the Dim Sum book. No 'step-by-step' pictures but I actually like this book better.
Chinese Appetizers and Garnishes - I haven't attempted much from this book but I am thankful for the great 'step-by-step' pictures provided.

Favorite Home Dishes Chinese Cooking - As the name suggests, most of the recipes are simple and, thus, easy to prepare.

Chinese Cuisine Beijing Style - Lots of Imperial Banquet dishes and many exotic foreign influenced meals that have been 'Chinesified'.
Chinese Cuisine: Cantonese Style - 75 Cantonese recipes. Good recipes with nice pictures but a sparse introduction.
Chinese Cuisine Shanghai Style - Typically good Wei-Chuan quality but probably my least favorite of the 'regional' Chinese cookbooks.
Chinese Cuisine-Taiwanese Style - Excellent Book. Some truly unique recipes I have never seen elsewhere. I love to browse this volume.
Chinese Cuisine: Szechuan Style - I love Szechuan food especially but I would still treat this book as a favorite anyway.

Indian Cuisine - A nice book but be aware that the recipes Indian dishes for the Chinese palate, not Indian.
Vietnamese Cuisine - Great recipes.
Japanese Cuisine - Nearly as good as many books I have that are written by Japanese chefs.
Korean Cuisine - My favorite of the We-Chuan non-Chinese cookbooks so far,
Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine - My least favorite Wei-Chuan book so far. Somewhat interesting but I don't look at it much.

Finally, I have a new Wei-Chuan book on order and will continue to buy from time to time. I will review separately as I read these new books.

this book has lots of recipes. but some are sort of "weird" to an American. i eat a lot of Taiwanese food (my boyfriend's Taiwanese) but some of these recipes seemed to be for natives, that you'd have to have an acquired taste for them. even my boyfriend thought a lot of them were too weird to be appetizing. i'd recommend the "chinese cooking for beginners" of the same series.

I read so many reviews about the Wei-Chuan cooking school series, I had to buy this one. After reading through the recipes twice, there are so few I think I could actually make. I'm not doubting its authenticity, but I think if I had the money, I would have to attend the Wei-Chuan cooking school in Taiwan to learn how to make these recipes.