Customer Reviews

Noodles: Over 70 Enticing, Aromatic Dishes - New Influences from the East (Creative Cooking Library Series)

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This is one of those oversized yet overly-skinny photo-laden cookbooks that are forever piled high on the discount rack of major bookstores. The sort of books you can buy for 1/4 (or less) of the cover price, and shove into your shelf for whenever you're in a culinary funk and need some ideas to stoke your creative juices.

STRENGTHS:

* Lots of helpful full color photos to help the reader 'window shop' for recipes, and to re-assure them of what the finished dish is supposed to look like.

* Clear and easy instructions, and decent explanations of ingredients.

* Tasty results.

WEAKNESSES:

* It's waaaay too short ... only 70 recipes ? C'mon ! That's barely a scratch on the surface on this particular theme.

* Despite being a book that's primarily about stir-fried noodle dishes, the author doesnt spend nearly enough time on things like (a) how to evaluate/buy/care for a high-quality wok, (b) different knife/chopping techniques, along with why certain cuts are used and why you add them to the pan in a given order, (c) and how to make your own noodles (of various types) from scratch, and (d) how to improvise your own noodle recipes based on whatever you have on hand [i.e., the usual 'give a man a fish, and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats forever' problem]

Bottom line - it's way too short, but what it DOES cover is useful and tasty.

Leftover pasta is a regular staple in my house, and oriental style stir fry (be it chinese, thai or japanese) is a fast and easy way to clean out one's fridge of leftover starch (be it pasta or rice), herbs & veggies that are getting a bit long in the tooth, and ditto for protein (eggs, leftover fish or meat, etc.) ... and once you've chopped everything up, you can have have a 1-dish dinner on the table in under 5 minutes.

The other I love about oriental stir-fry is that it's a good excuse to play with sharp knives and FIRE ... always a plus for guys like me.

This is one of those rare gems of a cookbook that meets just about all the requirements to become a "most used" item in your kitchen.
The book is full of wonderfully tasty recipes for a wide variety of noodle dishes, prepared, flavored, and presented in pretty-authentic Asian style.
Included are recipes for Japanese, Chinese and Thai dishes, among others.

The recipes are brief, clearly written, and easy to follow. All unusual ingredients are described at the end of the book, and suggestions are given on where to find them, or what substitutes may be acceptable.

Most of the dishes are very easy to make, and beautiful color photographs are provided to show the final result for each one.

Strongly recommended for refreshing and savory summer dishes.