Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen: With a Consumer's Guide to Essential Ingredients [Hardcover]

Ken Hom (Author), Graham Kirk (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1995

The celebrated star of the PBS series offers a guide to the essentials of Chinese cuisine that features his trademark blend of Eastern and Western cooking styles, information on nutritional values, recipes, and tips on cookware. 17,500 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No one has done more than Ken Hom to make good Chinese cooking accessible to Western cooks. Author of Easy Family Recipes from a Chinese-American Childhood and Asian Vegetarian Feasts, among others, Hom's books meld outstanding taste and straightforward, approachable recipes. Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen, published in 1994 in England and now available in the United States, excels not only in its recipes, but also as a concise exploration of the ingredients and fundamental methods of Chinese cooking. Old hands and those new to Chinese food preparation will find the book invaluable.

Half of the book is devoted to a consumer's guide of essential ingredients illustrated with color photos. Ranging from bamboo shoots to wonton wrappers, each entry includes shopping tips with brand-name preferences, storage notes, and useful hints. (Hom tells us, for example, to save and use the peel from fresh ginger to flavor oil before stir-frying with it). The 100 recipes, divided into chapters for soups, fish and shellfish, meat, eggs, vegetables, and rice and noodles, balance old favorites--like Mu Shu Pork with Chinese Pancakes--with uncommon dishes, such as Red-Cooked Oxtail Stew, Steamed Egg Custard with Clams, and Bean Curd-Chicken-Salt Fish casserole (a delectably homey clay-pot specialty that takes about 30 minutes to prepare). Braised Noodles with Crab Meat and Bean Sauce Noodles are two exceptionally simple and exceptionally good noodle dishes. A reference and recipe book in one, Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen deserves a place in every Asian cooking library. --Arthur Boehm --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Hom is the author of a number of Chinese and Asian cookbooks, including The Taste of China (LJ 2/15/90). His latest title includes more of his always good and reliable recipes, but it's the guide to ingredients that makes the book particularly special. This reference section, which is half the book, succeeds in demystifying the range of ingredients used in Chinese cooking, from exotics such as shark's fin and lotus root to the more mundane noodles and rice. Hom's descriptions could stand alone-each entry includes shipping tips, storage notes, and useful hints-but there are color photographs of every ingredient as well, making this an eminently user-friendly and practical reference. The more than 100 recipes, for both classic dishes and stylish innovations, seem almost a bonus. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; First Edition edition (February 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786860553
• ISBN-13: 978-0786860555
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,337,427 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

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book if you want to learn to cook Chinese, November 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen: With a Consumer's Guide to Essential Ingredients (Paperback)

Unlike the reviewer that hated this book, I found Ken Hom's guide to Chinese ingredients extremely helpful in navigating the unfamiliar world of Chinese cooking. Mr. Hom lists all of the essential ingredients, and tips on what brands to buy. If you want to step away from the gooey Sweet-n-Sour glop of Americanized Chinese cuisine and into the THE REAL THING, buy this book.

It appears the book was first published in the UK, where Mr. Hom has a BBC TV cooking show, and some of the ingredients are listed in metric with English names for ingredients (i.e., corn flour instead of corn starch).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Chinese cook book in the U.S.A.!, April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen: With a Consumer's Guide to Essential Ingredients (Paperback)

Hey have you ever wondered how do they do it? Look no further when you have tried the rest now try the best! Of all the chinese cook books I have read i never could get what you find at the good resturants. This is the one to buy. Frist of all he tells you where you can find all those so foriegn ingrediants. Heck who knows or what for that matter where you can get black bean sauce. If you ever tried to make a dish from some other chinese cook book and thought this doesn't tastes so good maybe it's because you couldn't find the right stuff! I say get this one you will be happy there's no other chinese cook book in the world that will give what this one can!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Chinese Cookbook, October 25, 2001

By 

Richard Haver (Vershire, Vermont USA

Vershire, VT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ken Hom's Chinese Kitchen: With a Consumer's Guide to Essential Ingredients (Paperback)

I pride myself on authentic tasting Chinese food and I used to think Hom was too 'white bread' for my tastes. This book changed my mind about him. I bought this book for its first half which gives extensive information on Chinese cooking ingredients likely to be unfamiliar to non-Chinese Americans. However, I've come to value it more for its recipes. Hom's meals run to the slighty dry but very tasty side. You won't find thick, syrupy, sweet concoctions here. I've since also bought his book "Easy Family Recipes from a Chinese-American Childhood" and find it consistent with this one (which means I recommend it nearly as highly).