Customer Reviews

Ken Hom's Foolproof Chinese Cooking

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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I started cooking Chinese food in college, when a wok and a handful of inexpensive ingredients made the perfect student's dinner - cheap, fast, and tasty. Since that time I have extended my repertoire as one regional style or another became popular. There are an embarrassing number of Chinese cookbooks on my shelves, and most have countless stains and injuries from their kitchen adventures.

Chinese cookbooks are often either too complicated or too simple. Since it is a cookery that is much more than following recipes, it takes some time before the theory sinks in and confidence builds. Books that are too simple make reaching this level impossible. Those that are too complex require too much study when, after all, what we really want to do is cook and eat. When a friend gave me the simple volume I first suspected that this was one of the simple variety, but as I read through it I realized that this slim book was something else entirely - a perfect balance.

The sections of the book are typical for the genre, ingredients and equipment, soups and first courses, fish and shellfish, meat and poultry, vegetables and side dishes, menus, and a good index. Each section takes you through recipes both simple (fried wonton, caramel walnuts) to moderately complex (hot and sour soup, spring rolls). For the adventurous there is Peking duck and Cantonese crab with black bean sauce. The instructions are clear as a bell, and the presentations and photography are gorgeous.

Ken Hom has a remarkable set of credentials as a popularizer of Chinese and other Asian cooking. I count four cookbooks in addition to this one, several BBC TV series, and other, similar credentials. If the cover is to be believed, he has sold something over a million cookbooks. His writing style is crisp and clear, the recipes are precise, and the book's production standards are absolutely top notch. "Foolproof Chinese Cooking" was written as a companion book to the PBS television series GREAT FOOD. It is the perfect gift for the cook who is interested in branching out beyond the basic stir fry.

This cookbook is really one of my favorites. There are pictures that show you step by step instructions and what your finished dish will look like. The instructions are super easy to follow and are not lengthy so that you can quickly read it as you go. The recipes are what I think what I think the "most often" ordered by people at Chinese restaurants. Not major authentic you can buy most of the ingredients at your local grocer, none the less these recipes are very good!!!!

If this were the average large format, small page count introductory book on some cooking subject, I would not give it a second look, even with the blurb on the front stating that the author has had over a million copies sold. But, I ran across the author's name cited in `Pot on the Fire' by John Thorne, who cited him, Ken Hom, as quite an authority on Chinese cooking. Hom has published quite a few longer, presumably deeper books on Chinese cooking, but most of these appear from Amazon.com to be out of print or otherwise not immediately available. So, I am check out this very presumptuously titled book, `Foolproof Chinese Cooking'.

The first clue that this book has much to offer is the fact that the author is not your average restaurant chef or journalist who happens to specialize in writing about Chinese food. His dust jacket biography states that he is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest authorities on Chinese and other Asian cooking. I have read his book and I am entirely willing to believe the publisher's buildup.

Hom appears to be the BBC counterpart to Martin Yan on PBS, as this book is the companion to a BBC food series and he has done several other such books / TV series.

If you have any interest in the techniques of Chinese cooking, this book is for you, especially if you do not have a lot of experience with Chinese techniques. I say this not only because this book is so good, but also because many other highly regarded Chinese cookbooks are not that accessible to newbie Chinese cooks. I don't say this because important books on, for example, French cuisine are so accessible, but because the average American simply has no exposure to this style of cooking outside of the occasional Food Network show and Martin Yan's shows which, I confess, do not show up on my local PBS station.

The current volume succeeds primarily because it does not try to do too much, and what it does, it does very well. It is not limited to stir-frying and it is not limited to Cantonese or Sichuan cuisine. What it does is give you the Jaques Pepin step by step, picture by picture presentation of a goodly number of basic techniques. It starts with a basic chicken stock which, based on my just having made a French style chicken stock, I can say is right on target, without being too fussy. It avoids, for example, the step which recommends that you blanche the chicken before cooking, while being very careful to have you not bring the preparation to a boil to maintain a clear stock. By the way, the Chinese chicken stock is different from a French stock in that it includes ginger and garlic and excludes the French mirepoix. The book follows up with several recipes for soups before getting into the details of stir-frying.

The book includes many classic Chinese dishes, including Peking duck, chow mein, fried wontons, lemon chicken, and sweet and sour pork.

I think this cannot be the only Chinese cookbook you will need, but it should certainly be your first. Highly recommended.

This is an excellent book. You start out with a few simple (but delicious) dishes, and smoothly progress to complex and daring meals. You can stop anywhere you between these points, the food will still be wonderful. The food is great, but the best part is the introduction, where each ingredient is described in detail, with pictures and selection tips. Once you've enjoyed your new found skills, you'll never again eat the slop that most resturants churn out. TIP: Use the ingredients he recommends. It makes a huge difference, and it's fun to poke around in a dim and dusty Chinese grocery finding what you need. Make some dishes, have some friends over, be a wok hero in their eyes.

This is one of the two cookbooks I got just a month ago (I never cooked before then...). I am 22 and was moving into my own apt, and had to cook for myself, how scary huh?

This book made it all so simple. I mean, with chinese cooking, every dish is so similar that you don't need to buy ingredients specific to every single dish (unlike the american cuisine book I got). All the dishes in here are simple, fast, and best yet, tasty! Great book to start on.

My only complaint is that it leaves you wanting more... there is only one recipe for beef and, not counting the roasted pork, one dish for pork, not enough at all.

If you are a first time cooker and interested in chinese food, knock yourself out with this book, and this comment has some merits because I'm chinese and have been eating chinese food all my life, AUTHENTICATE chinese food too!

This is a good cookbook for beginners, or those who do not have access to a wide variety of Chinese ingredients. However, it doesn't have enough going on to hold the attention of more experienced cooks. Most dishes are flavored with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and rice wine--and not much else. Like many other British-published cookbooks I've had, it is stripped to the minimum. Still, it's a good primer, with clear instructions and good pictures.

This was one of the first few cookbooks that I every bought. I am pretty familiar with cooking Chinese food. I felt this book had good pictures and easy to follow instructions. However, I felt that it lacked any sort of variety in the receipes. Many of them were very similar in taste and there weren't many to choose from. I think there are many other books that have a greater number of receipes to choose from for the price.

I received my copy of this and have spent a delightful lunch hour browsing through it. I was amazed at the straight-forward instructions for recipes I had always thought were incredibly difficult. There is a wonderful section in the beginning that explains different ingredients and equipment that is a nice primer for beginners. This will become dog-eared very quickly. A must for anyone embarking on learning how to cook Chinese cuisine.

The book is perfectly titled - the recipes are foolproof. Without exception, every dish that I have made following the step-by-step directions and photo illustrations has been delicious. My wok is now my most used kitchen pan, followed closely by the pressure cooker.

If you love eating out for Chinese and have always wondered how they prepared some of those wonderful dishes, this is the book for you. Ken Hom offers some great lessons for the novice on Chinese cooking in this cookbook. Every recipe I've tried has been a guaranteed mouthwatering success. The Sichuan braised fish is out of this world!

Give it a go!