Patricia Yeo: Cooking from A to Z [Hardcover]

Patricia Yeo (Author), Julia Moskin (Author), Bobby Flay (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002

Think fusion cooking is something you shouldn't try at home?

Think being a three-star chef is a man's job?

Think spicy Buffalo wings, streetside potato knishes, and comforting chicken soup are only for the uninspired palate?

Think again.


When it comes to world-class chefs, Patricia Yeo breaks the mold. Growing up in a Chinese family in Malaysia, she was raised on the big, bold flavors of Indian, Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, and Thai cooking that wafted through her grandmother's kitchen and the streets of Kuala Lumpur. It wasn't until she was a grad student in biochemistry at Princeton that Yeo turned her creativity and passion to the kitchen -- where she's been dazzling critics and diners ever since, earning a rare three stars from the New York Times for her food at restaurant AZ.

In her cookbook debut, Yeo lets us into her three-star kitchen - and in on the secrets of her delicious "fusion home cooking." Layering flavors, playing with contrasts, paying tribute to beloved comfort foods, and bringing the world's boldest ingredients together with ease, these light, appealing recipes are at once daringly new and reassuringly familiar.

Forget everything you thought you knew about "serious food" and discover the joys of playful, flavorful cooking in this extraordinary cookbook from a new talent who's got the whole food world talking.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In his glowing foreword to her cookbook Patricia Yeo: Cooking from A to Z, Bobby Flay describes his first impression of Yeo as a "tiny, soft-spoken female scientist with glasses, an English accent, and perfect manners." But just try to match that description with this biochemist turned celebrated chef who boldly combines cultures, spices, and cooking styles to come up with dishes such as Miso-Braised Short Ribs with Sherry-Caramel-Glazed Onions and Braised Broccoli Rabe, and Lapsang Souchong-Marinated Chicken with Fig Chutney and Scallion Pancakes.

Yeo was born in Malaysia, so her particular style combines the wide variety of bold Asian and Indian flavors she grew up with and exciting American ones, including those fiery, pungent Southwest flavors she picked up from Flay. Potato Springroll Knishes with Crème Fraîche and Caviar are elegant and delicate, full of flavor, and full of fun. Cauliflower Couscous is redolent with the nutty, toasted flavor of browned butter. And Double-Lime and Ginger Crème Brulee is light, creamy, barely sweet, and wonderfully refreshing. But what's truly remarkable is that Yeo's recipes are well explained, not at all complicated, and use readily available ingredients, making even the most elegant Lemongrass Gravlax with Rice Blini perfectly manageable for anyone, from the novice to the most accomplished chef. --Leora Y. Bloom

From Publishers Weekly

Executive chef Yeo pairs up with Moskin to deliver her take on fusion cuisine. Drawing on influences from her Malaysian upbringing and from new American cuisine styles, Yeo, who trained under Flay, plays on her New York restaurant name AZ for the title to the volume. Starting with her food philosophy of layering flavors "sweet and sour, spicy and tangy, smoky and pungent," she leads off with the ingredients she uses and basic recipes, such as Sticky Rice and Chicken Stock, which she incorporates in subsequent recipes. While many of the dishes have long ingredient lists, the methodology is often simple, as with the tasty Cold Spicy Sesame Noodles with Crisp Vegetables and the Yuzu-Basil Salad. However, many recipes involve several steps and rely on other recipes for a single dish (such as the Boneless Chicken Dhansak with Lentils and Pistachio-Golden Raisin Pilaf). Still, flavorsome results can be had for little effort as with the Onion-Sesame Sticky Rice, the Spicy-Sweet Mango Salad and the Wasabi Cucumber Salad. As a restaurant-based cookbook, the resulting volume provides tastes and ideas for the more experienced cook who wants to produce at home the flavors of the modern fusion eating place.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312290233
• ISBN-13: 978-0312290238
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Nice Asian / American Fusion Cuisine, January 19, 2006

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Patricia Yeo: Cooking from A to Z (Hardcover)

`Cooking From A to Z' by Bobby Flay protégé, Patricia Yeo is an average first cookbook by a near-celebrity chef whose primary claim to popular exposure is in her appearance as a sous chef on Bobby Flay's Iron Chef America, Master Series TV show where she was probably instrumental in Flay's victory.

While this is an `average' offering in its category of first cookbooks from Asian / American fusion cookbooks, it is in very good company, being almost, but not quite as good as Ming Tsai's first book, `Blue Ginger'. With Tsai's book, this volume shares a knack for presenting interesting dishes with simple recipes.

Ms. Yeo claims to have given us recipes with few inaccessible ingredients and to supply substitutions for any ingredients we may have trouble finding back here in the hinterland. I think she is pretty successful in this. The only ingredients I have real trouble finding are Aleppo pepper, fresh galangal and kaffir lime leaves. Unfortunately, everyone I read says there is really no good substitute for galangal, not even ginger.

Otherwise, this book is totally engaging, especially if you can get it at significantly reduced price below its $35 list. Ms. Yeo's elfin visage on the cover is at least worth keeping a copy around to lift your spirits once and a while.

Not surprisingly, her dishes are just a bit spicier than Ming Tsai's cuisine, since her primary Asian influence is Thai and Malaysia, reinforced by Bobby Flay's very strong flavors. If you are a big fan of Ming Tsai and Bobby Flay's recipes, you will like Miss Patricia's offerings.

8 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How did this get out?, January 14, 2004

By 

peederj (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Patricia Yeo: Cooking from A to Z (Hardcover)

The lack of reviews here doesn't surprise me; more surprising will be if my review actually survives the intense lobbying effort The Conspiracy will make to remove this. In fact, they would already have removed the book entirely but for the possibility that might arouse attention.

You see, without a shadow of a doubt, Yeo mistakenly published the recipes intended for her staff in this book. The recipes that were intended for mass consumption had already been made indicipherable, with unobtainable ingredients, opaque prose, misleading illustrations and the like, consistent with all cookbooks approved for public use by The Conspiracy.

Yet we have irrefutable evidence here that the Rules were not obeyed; these recipes are very easy to follow, clearly and accurately illustrated, with lots of ingredient substitutions clearly explained. In fact an ordinary cook can produce delicious, tasty restaurant meals with little trouble from this work!

The threat the escape of such information poses to The Conspiracy is manifest: people could realize how easy it is to cook at home without sacrificing quality at all, indeed, often improving quality. This would undermine the very fabric of the restaurant industry, based on maintaining widespread culinary ignorance at all costs.

I imagine the book will be unceremoniously removed from print at some pre-determined date, and all extant copies immediately destroyed. However, those lucky enough to obtain a copy now will have their eyes and palettes opened, and should consider hiding any copy they do have in a safe, undisclosed location. Produce these delectable meals only for trusted confidants!

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I say NO!, March 19, 2008

By 

L. Wong "Miss. Wong" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Patricia Yeo: Cooking from A to Z (Hardcover)

I first saw Patricia as a guest chef on Ming Tsai's PBS show Simply Ming. Together, the chefs made a deep fried fish dish. Patricia sounded interesting so I decided to give her cookbook a try. After searching long and hard for a copy, I was very disappointed with her book. I'm a pretty simple girl, but her dishes were way too fancy! This is not recommended for the beginning cook. It was overly complicated, hard to follow, and none of her dishes really jumped out to me. I ended up giving the cookbook to my boyfriend...haha, SUCKER! I say no to this cookbook! No!