Cooking with Chinese Herbs [Paperback]

Terry Tan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2004

Cooking with Chinese Herbs brings the rich and life-enhancing legacy of Chinese herbs to your table. Prized for thousands of years by the Chinese for their health-giving properties, these natural ingredients are at the centre of growing interest and research around the world today. The range of Chinese herbs extend beyond the putrid poultices used on festering sores and evil smelling brews from a culinary cauldron frothing with medicinal mixes that some of us are wont to believe.

This book is an indispensable guide to a time-honoured cuisine that fathoms the efficiency of a multitude of barks, roots, seeds and herbs cherished for centuries by the Chinese for their flavour and restorative powers. The full range of Chinese herbs is presented here in detail, with explanations of their qualities, benefits and use.

A wide variety of recipes is featured, from nourishing herbal stews to convenient one-pot meals. Easy-to-follow instructions make inspirational and informative reading, even for the novice. Discover for yourself the ancient philosophy of Yin and Yang, unravel herbal myths, and learn about traditional cooking utensils and the finer points of storing Chinese herbs in this fascinating culinary journey into the world of Chinese herbs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Terry Tan was born to an Indonesian Hokkien Baba father and a Teochew Nonya mother. Of mixed Straits Chinese(Peranakan) heritage, his familial roots can be traced back to the Fujian province of China, Indonesia and the Malayan towns of Penang and Malacca, and it is from this diverse cultural and culinary heritage that he has culled his cooking skills. He is equally at home with Chinese, Nonya, Indonesian and other Asian cuisines.

The author of 14 cookbooks, the most recent is a collaboration with his son Christopher, who is also a well-known food writer and chef. Terry Tan has hosted several television programmes in Singapore and appears frequently on British and European television. His book 'Asian Cook' (Aurum Press 2003, UK) won the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook award (2003)for Best Asian Cuisine Book. As a food development consultant in the UK for the past 20 years, he continues to work in this capacity, teaches at various colleges and writes on food and travel matters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Times Editions (September 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9812329609
• ISBN-13: 978-9812329608
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,704,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moderately interesting, April 17, 2011

By 

C. J. Thompson "Arctic John" (Pond Inlet, Nunavut Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cooking with Chinese Herbs (Paperback)

I don't put much stock in medicinal 'herbology' (whether Chinese or otherwise) and I have to say that very few of the recipes appealed to me as something that I would enjoy. However, I have always been curious as to the uses of those exotic packages of herbs one sees in Chinese shops and this book was a pretty good introduction. I say 'introduction' because the book is far from being an encyclopedic examination of herbs in Chinese food and medicine. Rather it introduce a few dozen interesting representatives and gives a broad overview of their uses. The recipes provided through the book are largely the same thing over and over again (for example, the recipes for 'Chicken with Ginseng Shreds' and 'Chicken with White fungus' are exactly the same except for the herb substitution) but I would not dismiss the book for that reason. The pictures are decent, the text quite interesting, and, all in all, I am glad I purchased it.