Customer Reviews

Korean Home Cooking: Quick, Easy, Delicious Recipes to Make at Home (Essential Asian Kitchen Series)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Growing up in Korea for 17 years got me cooking Korean Food at least once a week. I even make my own Kimchee. Hard things for me to cook Korean Food are not knowing English names for certain ingredients and following Korean Cookbook Recipes that usually don't represent the taste I grew up with. Craving the food, and not living near Korean community got me to purchase many Korean Cookbooks both in Korean and English. One of the book I own that has high review in amazon.com, "Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen: A Cookbook", doesn't even compare to this book. This book has great Korean Food history, and correct representation of Korean words..which lacks in "Growing..". Being a proud Korean, I was a little frustrated with "Growin.." book. "Korean Home Cooking" has beautiful pictures of food, great instructions..and for a change, recipe works! (I usually ommit some minor ingredients that I can't find in regular grocery stores..still successful) I am proud to own and recommend this book to my friends and family. I thought this book deserved my 1st review on amazon.com. I just wish the book was much thicker with many more great Korean food!!!!!

There seems to be two kinds of books out there when it comes to Korean Cuisine - those written by westerners that have no clue and get the ingredients wrong and those written by natives that use too many obscure ingredients and use strange recipes (like the book that has you boil apples to get the sweetness for bulgoki). This book is great because it is neither. It explains the basics in layperson's terms and has easy to follow recipes and good photos of the finished product. Finally - authentic korean cooking like mom used to make!

I'm not Korean, but I love spicy food, and I've visited Korea 20 years ago. This book is the best. I have purchased about 5 Korean cookbooks from Amazon, and this book runs circles around them. If you want to cook Korean at home, buy this book. If you need Korean ingredients and you don't have a store nearby, there are a few websites you can order from: kgrocer.com, ikoreaplaza.com and koamart.com. Try it, it is so delicious!

i got this book along with 6 other TERRIFIC korean cookbooks- and luckily this one was just as good! I'm not korean so i can't vouch for authenticity. but my taste buds give a big thumbs up! it has all the standard recipes that other cookbooks have kimchi, bulgogi, chapchae various porridges. (i like the marinated spinach in this book's version of chapchae (japchae)) I did find some new recipes though! stuffed black mushrooms with beef. seasoned whole chicken with carrots potatoes and onions- savory goodness. grilled chicken drumsticks. the names aren't out of this world- but the photos and the recipes are! i am curious to try the seobsanjeok- a type of meat patty that you grill. and the fried pork with green onions.

the photography is very similar to american cookbooks- meaning the food stylist probably works on a lot of american cookbooks- because i feel like i've seen these same pictures before only with hamburgers and apple pies in them! (if that makes any sense) i'm incredibly grateful for the conversion table in the back of the book- that even converts heating temperatures. i also like that the ingredient list has photographs as well.

as a cookbook collector- i love this book both visually and mouthwateringly! PLENTY of photographs and easy to follow instructions!

This book is a great INTRODUCTION to Korean food. The book provides a history of Korean cooking, excellent pictures, and a brief glossary. However, I did find some problems:

- As far as diversity or recipes, I suggest buying this book and perhaps another as recommended by other reviewers. I live in California and therfore have access to Korean grocery stores as large as American grocery stores. I bought this book hoping to find recipes for the many items I see at the condiment bar as well as the selection of soups sold at the food court. I was disappointed to find this book did not have such varied selection.
- Don't buy this book if you are looking for vegetarian, fish, or shrimp recipes. Out of the 57 dishes (excluding desserts and drinks) there are only 6 vegetarian, 1 fish, and 1 shrimp recipe. The rest are mostly beef, chicken, and squid.
- Also, be careful about the measurements for salt. Aside from the kimchi recipes, most of the other recipes require almost twice too much salt. I suggest adding less than half the amount stated, then adding additional to taste.

I am an avid cook but have only tried Korean cooking in the past three years. I love this book! The introduction is great for those new to Korean cooking, especially the photos and Korean and English names of various ingredients. I have made about eight things from this book and all were wonderful except for the miyeokguk (seaweed soup), which called for "12 ounces dried seaweed, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes" -- this quantity is absurdly large, but being unfamiliar with dried seaweed I didn't realize this... kind of a fiasco. But do try the bibimbap, bibimmyeon, japchae, pyogojeon, dakgaseum gui... I am salivating just thinking about these. Enjoy!

This is a great cookbook! The recipes are easy to understand and the pictures encourage you to make the dish. I highly recommend this book.

Good intro to Korean cooking with nice pictures for those of us who are not Korean and know what we are making. Ingredients are easy to find and the flavors are appeal to most people.

This book is okay. It's got a short list of recipes... But the photography is beautiful. The most useful recipe for me was the dessert drink... Outside of that I wasn't really inspired by the dishes they selected. But to each their own. It'd be worth adding to your collection, if you want every Korean cook book out there, I guess.