Customer Reviews

Chinese Dim Sum: Wel-Chuan Cultural and Educational Foundation (Chinese Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've owned this cookbook for several years and use it as a reference all the time as Japanese Food Host at BellaOnline and as editor of GourMAsia, a newsletter on Asian food. Yet I can't say I've ever made one of the recipes as-is.

Like other cookbooks written by the famed Wei-Chuan Cooking School in Taiwan, the recipes in this book are highly authentic, and illustrated with step-by-step photographs. But be warned, for anyone looking to duplicate a Chinese dim sum experience at home: most are not by any means "easy to make." (Few types of dim sum are easy to make at home--which is precisely why Chinese families usually go out to Chinese restaurants for dim sum!)

Another warning is that the authenticity of these recipes means that not only do they call for specialized Asian ingredients, but for ingredients like lard and pork fat, which many Americans may prefer to avoid.

Measurements are given in metric and in strangely phrased avoirdupois weight (for instance, one dough recipe calls for 2/3 lb. flour, 1-1/3 oz. sugar, and 1/3 lb. water). So unless you have a metric scale, you'll have to do some weird calculations to figure them out (now, how much is 1/3 lb. water in cups?). Compounding the difficulties in following the recipes is their typical Asian format. Ingredients are listed in numbered sub-groups, and a sample of how the directions read is: "Wrap half the pieces of dough (3) in the pieces of dough (1). Wrap remaining pieces of dough (3) in the pieces of dough (2)."

Frankly, I prefer to eat my dim sum out and avoid the headaches of translating these recipes!

i am chinese and i love dimsum. my family would have dim sum every sunday morning in chinatown growing up. now i married and there's no chinatown or good chinese food around where i live. so i decided to learn how ot make them. however i can't read chinese very well. i bought this book because the recipes come in both chinese and english.

Anyway, this book tittle is "Chinese dimsum" but the recipes in there isn't as true to it's title. There are great variety of food in Dim-Sum food. most steamed meat dishes, variety steam dumplings and stuffed rice rolls, and rice cake. However, this book offers only 3 dumpling recipes. those dumpling recipes are definitely NOT the kind you get from a dimsum restaurant. Dim-sum is the heart of southern cantonese cuisine. it's originate from canton china and is a southern style cooking. mostly steamed cooking recipes. However, the dumpling recipes in the book are water dumpling, just like northern style. a lot more blend. Northern style are the dumpling called for boiling method rather than steam cooking. well those aren't dim-sum. northern chinese people eat them as a real meal. the basics such sui-mai, cao ji. ha-cao. si long bao, are not in the book. there great variety of appetizer size meat dishes are also missing. 80% of the books teaches you how to make chinese desserts. quite honestly, chinese desserts are the grossest thing on earth. only old chinese people like stuffs like black sesame past bun, red bean paste cake, red bean past sweet rice soup, peanut paste, and yam paste type desserts. it has 5 or six different king of steam buns recipes, same dough but different meat stuffing. well, i like steam buns, but it's not the main focus of chinese dim-sum.

i am very upset that i can not find a single recipe that i can call dimsum food.

I've been eating dim sum all my life since I live only 10 minutes away from Chinatown. The recipes in this book comes out exactly like the restaurant's and bakeries. It's the best dim sum book I own!

The recipes in this book is easy to follow. The ingredients also very easy to get. But anyone who ever go to a China town and eat Dim Sum there will know that Dim Sum it is not only about dumplings and buns ! They serve more than just that. I hope Wei-Chuan will add more recipes such as chicken feet !

I've said this before- i will say it again- i love the wei-chuan series!!! These books are fabulous and this one is no different!!! I read many of the reviews saying that the book is hard to follow. however i think that the book gives you crystal clear photos of what you basically need to know to get an idea as to what to do! This is a book people- not a video! If you need to watch someone doing this- watch eat,drink,man,woman! I guess i am at an advantage because i am chinese and have helped make this stuff before. My uncle is a dim sum chef in vancouver and it is amazing to watch. if you are making dim sum for the first time- expect it to be difficult, expect it to look like a ball of mush! I usually play around until i find my own rhythm. "Due to the variances of weather conditions, readers should adjust the liquid used in the recipes according to the local humidity. the knack may need a few tries before reaching perfection."

There's a great variety of steamed buns recipes- everything from the sweet bean past to pork and vegetable buns. (yes char siu bao is in there!) Steamed dumplings: pork, seafood, vegetarian ( these are good with spinach and mustard greens I couldn't figure out what ch'ing kang ts'ai meant!). Pot stickers and crepes (yeah- crepes- i didn't really understand the as-you-please crepes whose recipe includes mayonaise- it looks like a salad wrapped up in a crepe). It also has different recipes for congee or jook- the rice porridge.

i love the billingual aspect of the book- and the fact that it converts grams to lbs and oz. ! if you love Chinese food- or have just bought your child dim sum by grace lin- get this book! (you don't even have to cook- just looking at the pictures is enough!)

I have try this book and I really like it. It have step by step instructions and even pictures. If you like dim sum, then this book is for you. Try it, you might like it.

This is my favorite cookbook for dim sum. The recipes are authentic, letting one create the type of Cantonese dim sum treats one finds in Chinatowns or in Hong Kong. (For Taiwanese-style or Peking-style dim sum, my favorite is Wei-Chuan's cookbook in this series, entitled _Chinese Snacks_.) Be advised, though, that many of the recipes in this book specify quantities of ingredients by weight, both in metric and in avoirdupois/imperial/ounces, so a food scale is useful to have when using this book.

I am half Chinese, grew up in Los Angeles, and have been going to dim sum with my Cantonese-speaking family since I was a baby. I've even had dim sum in Hong Kong (which is like a dim sum rite of passage according to one of my uncles, hehe). So, anyway, I know something about dim sum. I bought this book so I could learn how to make my favorite dim sum dishes at home, but ended up disappointed. I agree with other reviewers that this book does not contain many recipes for the standard dim sum dishes served at restaurants. It's not a bad book, but the title is misleading. Although it contains recipes for buns, dumplings, and cakes, they're probably not the recipes you're looking for. The standard dim sum recipes it does contain are:

cha siu bao (roast pork buns)
red bean bao
dan ta (custard tarts)
yu gok (taro puff)
jook (congee)
taro cake/turnip cake
sesame balls (but the recipe in this book uses date paste, not red bean paste)

HOWEVER, KEEP READING! Fortunately, I have found that Wei-Chuan has another cookbook that DOES contain most of the standard dim sum recipes. That book's English name is "Chinese Snacks". (The Chinese title says dim sum, so I'm not sure why they didn't put "dim sum" in the English title.) In any case, if you want to cook dim sum like they do in the restaurants, I would recommend that you buy "Chinese Snacks".

I actually own both of these books, and I find that together they provide me with most of the dim sum recipes I want to cook. (For example, "Chinese Snacks" has all the recipes I listed above, but not the jook and taro/turnip cake recipes, which I consider to be standard dim sum dishes.) They are missing some staples like chicken feet, niu he (beef flat noodles), and a few others.

There are also some recipes in the books that I would use, but don't consider to be dim sum (like sago, taro, and coconut milk soup).

I hope this was helpful! Have fun cooking! :)

I always thought dim sum would be difficult to make at home. Surprisingly, it isn't that tough after all! "Chinese Dim Sum" is one of the two most authentic of the dim sum cookbooks we've gotten. The recipes are written in both Chinese and English (side-by-side). Many use ingredients that people may have a hard time finding (such as leaf lard and red bean paste--some you can buy on line). The recipes are generally short, and laid out simply. Instructions are brief and numbered, and often accompanied by photos that show the processes involved. There are also gorgeous photos of finished recipes, showcasing ways in which you can make these dishes remarkably attractive and elegant.

I occasionally had difficulties with measurements. For example, in the recipe for red bean paste buns, some items are listed in tablespoons or teaspoons in the English version, but yeast was given in grams. Although we have a very good kitchen scale, it measures in 5-gram increments, so we had to guess when it came to measuring out 11 grams of yeast. Most items are given in both grams and ounces, but many kitchen scales can't measure, for example, 1/3 of an ounce. You're best off if you have a very accurate kitchen scale that measures grams, or at least enough experience in the kitchen to feel comfortable approximating.

These are fantastic recipes. Every single one we've made has been delightful. The red bean paste buns we made from this book were every bit as good as the ones I've had in restaurants, if not more so. The coconut buns were stunning as well, and the pork-filled pastries were melt-in-your-mouth delicious. (Their method of making the pastry dough is also surprisingly simple and non-difficult compared to some that I've tried.)

If you're willing to search around for ingredients (or have the right sort of store nearby) and you're interested in trying some truly authentic dim sum, I highly recommend this cookbook. The recipes are fabulous, and with a very sensitive kitchen scale the last few reservations I have would melt away.

I would like to start off by saying that I am Chinese. I grew up eating dim sum on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

This book does not have the classic dim sum that you would find in restraunts. You'll be disappointed finding a few recipes out of the woderful 128 page book. This is far from what you really want to find. If you're trying to find a book that you can call a teacher, look for the chef in the kitchen of your restaurant instead. This book won't help you on your quest to learn how to make dim sum at home.

But if you like some desserts, pick this up.