Customer Reviews

Chinese Village Cookbook: A Practical Guide to Cantonese Country Cooking

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I wasn't expecting much when I borrowed this book from the library. But as soon as I tried one dish, Beef Tomato Curry, I knew I hit a jackpot. Just about every recipe works..and so delicious. The ingredients listed aren't hard to find..especially since I live in the San Francisco area. I ended up going to the copy place and copying the whole cookbook since this book is no longer in print. I did call up the publisher but they have no plans of reprinting. This is the book where I learned proper Chinese cooking techniques. Rhoda Yee explained everything step-by-step. Not only that, but the stories she told of her life and life in the village is so real and heartwarming. These are bonafide authentic Chinese cuisine. To this day, everybody asks me how I make my stir-fried broccoli. They said it's the best broccoli they ever tasted. My husband is so proud of my cooking and embarrassingly tell everyone about it. This little book ranks with my copies of Hazan's Essential of Italian Cooking, Kennedy's Essentials of Mexican cuisine, McDermott's Real Thai and Roden's New Book of middle Eastern Book. If a fire breaks out in my house, God forbid, these books are the ones I'm going to grab first.

This hard to find book is the best Chinese cook book you will ever find.

I originally purchased this cookbook in 1976. We lived in an area devoid of Chinese Restaurants and several friends were craving Chinese food. The receipes were easy to follow and the food turned out great. Several friends purchased the book as the result of our dinners. The food took quite a bit of preparation time but the outcome was well worth it. I've lost my original copy and wish it was available now.

The recipes are authentic. The tastes are great and the recipes are generally easy to follow. If I wanted to be critical, I'd say I don't need the basic cooking techniques nor the ingredient descriptions. But being Cantonese (born is the US) I've been around Cantonese cooking all my life. So I can understand these chapters are important to those not born into a Cantonese family. I just bought my third copy recently. My first one was given to me in the 70's which disappeared. I bought a second one and again it disappeared... I think members in my family must have been "borrowing" mine... So, now I'm on my 3rd one...

With all of the books popping up trying to create fusians of every type of food on this planet, it is really nice to get back to basics, and Rhoda Yee's books are just that, basic traditional chinese cuisine. I am very happy that I purchased this book, now I can make a dinner for the entire family myself. Isn't cooking so much more personal and better for you? This book nicely compliments her Dim Sum book. There are soup recipes, rice and noodle recipes, chicken, beef and Pork recipes and a few vegetarian dishes. This is a really nicely rounded book. Not too much of one thing.

I had purchased this book in the 1970's and used it so much that one of the pages had become loose and fell out. It happened to be the page for the barbequed pork. I recently found these on Amazon and ordered the book to replace my old one. I have copied that missing page and glued it in my old book which I will pass onto my daughter. This is the best pork receipe I have ever found, very easy and tasty. The seven flavored rice is exceptional also.

I purchased this book over 30 years ago and used it until it fell apart. My large family loved the recipes. I recently bought a used copy for a very reasonable price and had it bound with a comb spine at my local printer. Now the pages lie flat and hopefully will last another 30+ years.

Great directions. My husband asked for this because we have a dim sum book by the same author. Marvelous writing and everything turns out perfectly every time.

I love Chinese food and find it hard to find recipes and take out from local restaurants that are consistent in taste and quality. This book & Rhonda's Dim Sum book are a treasure of no fail delicious recipes. If I had not had a chance to read the reviews on this book I never would have picked it out thinking that it was outdated. Let me tell you, the recipes are wonderful. I especially love the Ginger Beef, there is never anything left after I cook this recipe. This book is easy to read, not overwhelming filled with great recipes that taste authentic.

Just a note for the beef recipes that call for flank steak, our local Target Stores now have a grocery department that has the best beef and skirt steak in my opinion works better than the flank called for in the recipes. Target carries the skirt steak and is so tasty vs. the flank, I haven't been able to find it in my local grocery stores. Do yourself a favor and get this book.

This is the most authentic Cantonese cookbook we have found. It really is just like the way mom cooked.