Customer Reviews

Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This cookbook, like most of Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's cookbooks, is focused on authentic Chinese cuisine and is not a Chinese takeout cookbook. As the book does not cut corners, it includes the presence of some Chinese ingredients which may be difficult to find outside an Asian supermarket. For example, the cookbook includes a number of recipes which would be considered banquet or special occasion foods and include ingredients such as Shark's Fin and Bird's Nest. Nevertheless, this book does include a number of everyday recipes such as Ma Po Tofu and Hunan Hot and Spicy Shrimp, which can be made after a trip to the Asian foods aisle of most supermarkets, and provides useful recipes for Chinese sauces, such as XO sauce, which are usually purchased prepared. This cookbook is definitely geared toward people who are more accustomed to traditional Chinese cooking or are interested in how Chinese food is outside the local takeout place. Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking includes a number of beautiful pictures of the prepared food and provides a taste of what Chinese home cooking can really be like.

I've been using this book for a month now, and I really enjoy it. Asian food in general can be intimidating because it requires ingredients that are almost impossible to find if you don't have access to an ethnic grocery or aren't willing to order some of the staples off the internet. I live in San Francisco and have access to both great Chinese stores and a lot of live produce both in italian markets and in Chinatown and this book has really helped me use obscure ingredients that otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with. And the receipes are REALLY GOOD.

First, she had me at shark's fin soup. I ordered this book and expecting elaborate chinese dishes and the author delivered. There were dishes that I was so excited to see and just cannot put the book down. The author does not take short cuts in any of her dishes. Though you may find some recipes that you can make on a typical weekday, there are also recipes that you may want to make on special occasions as well, such as Chinese New Year. For example, she shares the techniques on how to cook abalone, bird's nest, and she even shares recipes on the most popular dim sum dishes - the shrimp dumpling! I would say that if you enjoy cooking, you should want to at least have the knowledge of how to start from scratch. This book shares many recipes that I've always dreamed of learning. I'm glad I found this book!!!

I am enjoying this book and anticipate that I will continue to do so for a long time.It is not a complete Chinese cooking book in itself but supplements my collection. Of particular interest to me are many recipes for condiments and the boxes of additional information about a product or a method. It provides background information and history about cooking methods and specific dishes. The information about raw ingredients and equipment is detailed and helpful. The recipes are easy to follow with well set out lists of ingredients and clear methodologies. They are also delicious. The book is a large one. It is attractive and has many interesting photos.

Much is good about this book but I do have reservations. I find it frustrating that the photos of markets were not labeled with their location. I like to know where these places are. The author describes taking students to Chinese markets to familiarize then with products and buying in this way. While this no doubt works well in her cooking classes, I find her constant apparent praising of her own methods irritating and unhelpful, although a reader unfamiliar with these markets may gain valuable information. My final niggle is the inclusion of shark's fin recipes. The harvesting of shark's fins is unsustainable and cruel. Chinese cooking can stand tall without this exploitation.

This book is wonderful. I live in a small to medium city with no China town area. We do have one asian supermarket which is confusing to navagate. This book describes each ingredient, has the traditional Chinese spelling and its romanized equivalent for each item. I can now go into the store and find what I need. I've used other Chinese cookbooks before, but none have been so thorough in teaching about the ingredients or the techniques. And its absolutely beautiful.

Bought this book for my husband after he heard about it on NPR's best books of 2009 list. It's a great book that breaks Chinese cooking down into steps with lots of explanations. Everything he's made from it has been spectactular. However, keep in mind that it involves a lot of steps - many of the recipes call for several homemade stocks, oils, etc. It's worth it, just know what you're getting into.

I write this review as one who has been stir frying for many years, but never had a real Chinese cookbook, nor ever learned from anyone how to cook Chinese in an authentic way. I heard about this book on The Splendid Table podcast as a recommendation for the book to get to really learn how to cook authentic Chinese. I ordered it immediately, and holy cow, the lady on the show was right!

I have no idea how it compares to other books about learning to cook Chinese, but this is exactly what I've been wanting for years but never bothered to look for.

It's not just recipes - it's the philosophy of various kinds of Chinese cooking set in the cultural context from which it came, with lucid, informative, and fun reasonings and descriptions of what individual ingredients do, why they're used, and how they are working with the other ingredients to bring out flavors, textures, and aromas.

From the basics of how to make broth and cook rice to highly advanced dishes, she covers a huge range of styles from different geographies, and makes it all sing with her word pictures and personal stories and observations.

It's also beautifully made - this is a seriously heavy hardback book with glorious full-color photographs. A work of art by itself.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn how to cook in a Chinese style, or who just wants to know more about the hows and whys of Chinese food.

Having used several previous books by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, I had a pretty good idea of what was in store for this one. While there is some recycling of previous recipes, there are several new ones that have not appeared in any of her previous books.
I found her recommendation of specific brands particularly helpful, given that I'm not inclined to try all the different soy sauces at my Asian grocery. Even if it doesn't make much practical difference, at least I THINK I'm using the best, which makes me happy (although her recommendation on Mason jar brand might have been a bit too far). These aren't Americanized Chinese recipes, and if you want to make everything in the book some of the ingredients will be hard to come by, but really with a few relatively easy-to-find pantry items you will be set to cook most of what's in this or any Chinese cooking book.
While there are several delicious recipes in here, I don't feel it's "mastering the art" so much as it is learning several excellent Chinese dishes. I don't come away from this book feeling I know the theory behind Chinese cooking, like I've done with some of James Peterson's books on other subjects, for instance. Still, this book has plenty in it to keep me busy for quite some time.
The recipe for XO sauce deserves special mention. I've had it before but have had trouble coming across a version I could make on my own. The one in here was excellent (I don't think you're supposed to grind the peppers if you use the number she recommends, which I thought was a little unclear) and I try to make sure I have a big container of it in the fridge most of the time.

I have a problem with books by this author because they tend to be similar. I have bought this and another book (see below).

In this book we get recipes and colour pictures of 150 dishes from all around China. This book is organised like a cooking school. You start with simple dishes and then migrate to more advanced. This makes the book very disorganised from a standard cookbook perspective. As a cooking school we do get to learn different aspects of Chinese cooking, but in no way is it as comprehensive (and good) as Julia Child for instance. It is understandable since the Chinese cuisine is much more diverse than the French cuisine described by Child. Child did not really focus on regional French cuisine. So the broad scope of the current book works to its disadvantage.

I also bought The Chinese Kitchen: Recipes, Techniques, Ingredients, History, and Memories from America's Leading Authority on Chinese Cooking, which is a ten year old book by the same author. This older book contains 250 recipes of Chinese dishes so in that regards it is superior. The author repeats many of the recipes in the later book, which is something that is very irritating. The older book contains more of the classic dishes which is good. The key drawback with the older book is the lack of pictures throughout. However, the book has a colour insert section with several colour photos. An additional drawback is that even with 250 recipes you can only scratch the surface of Chinese cooking.

I have given the current book only two stars because (1) the large overlap in recipes between the two books, (2) very unconventional organisation of the book and (3) the small number of recipes. Get her old book instead!

Finally, if you're not convinced, the top reviewer of this book states that the food described in the book is different from the normal Chinese takeaway. Duh. So much for sophisticated reviewers.

This cookbook has it all for those wishing to prepare truly authentic Chinese dishes. The design of the book is eye pleasing with gorgeous photos and easy to follow step by step instructions that work. Each Chapter or Lesson in the book builds on the previous lesson, giving the learner a solid foundation in Chinese cooking. The layers of flavor and multiple textures in each recipe produce results to be truly savored. I've ventured out to my local Asian supermarket, discovered new ingredients I never would have tried before, and received great satisfaction upon completion of each dish. Even if you don't have access to all of the fresh Asian ingredients, I've found that the recipes still turn out well using substitutions. If you have plenty of time, a love of cooking, and a sense of adventure, this book will guide you well.