The Essential Asian Cookbook [Hardcover]

Whitecap Books (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

The Essential Asian Cookbook is the ultimate guide to the fresh, fragrant and colourful cooking of Asia. Ten years ago, only Chinese and Indian cooking were familiar to most of us, but today, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese food are moving into our everyday cuisine. This book celebrates and demystifies the flavours of the East. With traditional and new recipes side-by-side and practical hints on buying and using Asian ingredients, this is the perfect reference book for cooking Asian food at home.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Founded in 1977, Whitecap Books has grown to become one of the top ten Canadian-owned book publishing and distribution companies. During the 1970s and early 1980s Whitecap made a name for itself as Canada's foremost producer of full-color gift and coffee table books on Canadian provinces, cities, and natural wonders. The company continues to publish in this area and has launched a 27-book series on Canada and 36 books in the America Series.

Whitecap's list of titles currently consists of more than 300 Canadian-originated titles and more than 1,000 agency listed titles. Whitecap is known for its expertise in the cookbook market. Since 1984, Whitecap has been responsible for some of the most innovative and familiar titles that can be found in kitchens across North America today. In addition to cookery, Whitecap publishes and distributes books on gardening and crafts, photo-scenic, history, arts and entertainment, children's fiction and non-fiction, travel, sports and transportation books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Whitecap Books (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551106531
• ISBN-13: 978-1551106533
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,231 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 Easy to follow, beautiful pictures, delicious recipes, August 20, 2001

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Essential Asian Cookbook (Paperback)

I prefer cookbooks with pictures of the food so that I have a better idea of what I am actually making. This cookbook has lots of beautiful pictures, the recipes are easy to follow, and they also give a timeframe for preparation and cooking so you don't wind out starting something a little more difficult on a weeknight. I followed most of the recipes exactly, with a few exceptions. Since my husband is allergic to fish, I do not use fish oil and I substitute chicken for fish in some cases. I also do not have a mortor and pestle so I cheat and use a spice grinder. Still, the recipes came out just delicious, and I love the different regional dishes available. This book gives excellent examples from many different asian regions. Well worth the money in my opinion.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Odd Combinations - Excellent Results, August 15, 2000

By 

Rodolfo Tarelli (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Asian Cookbook (Paperback)

As all "the Essential ..." cookbooks, this one has superb photography. The recipes start in China and cover most of Asia. The book starts with a brief introduction describing all the ingredients, their characteristics, where to get them, along with a very helpful picture of most of them.

Recipes are classified in three levels of expertese, most of them are for begginers. The book is perfect for a cook that wishes to start out in asian food. It teaches you how to combine the ingredients to achieve an authentic asian taste.

I confess, at first, I thought that the recipes could not turn out that good with the combination of these strange ingredients, but to my surprise, they blended into a perfect dish.

Perfect for begginers and old-timers.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book of excellent recipes from all over Asia, February 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Essential Asian Cookbook (Paperback)

This is a beautiful book both to look at and cook with. It contains recipes from all over Asia, including Laos & Cambodia, India & Pakistan, Korea... A friend from Singapore confirms that the Singaporean recipes are authentic. These are local recipes not Americanised dishes. I've cooked about thirty five of the recipes from the book since it was given me, and all have been good. The Thai and Indian recipes in particular were superb. The book *looks* beautiful, too: wonderful photographs of the dishes (that look like the real thing, not some art director's dream!); lovely illustrations of ingredients. Many explanations of local ingredients (kaffir lime leaves, galangal, Balti paste). All in all, this is a delightful and very reliable cookbook and one I highly recommend.