Customer Reviews

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed her first cookbook on Sichuan cookery, Land of Plenty, and I like this second book on Hunan cookery even more, with even more helpful beautiful photos. As far as portion sizes, she states "all recipes serve two people with one or two other dishes and rice, or four people, with 3 or 4 other dishes and rice".

The Sichuan and Hunan cuisines differ from each other as New Orleans Southern food differs from South Carolina Southern cuisine, and yet both of Dunlop's cuisines are clearly hotter and spicier "Chinese" to our tastes. Hunan folks are said to like food with chilies "fire-hot-hot" whereas Sichuan's dominant style is a mix of chili hot and the peculiar "mouth numbing", from the Sichuan "peppercorns".

The Hunan recipes in this Revolutionary Cookbook are straightforward, nearly all ingredients can be obtained from a local Chinese or Asian grocery store. The only one I can't find is "purple perilla", for which Asian basil is not quite a substitute. Not a problem.

The 120 recipe instructions are for preparing simple, straightforward "comfort food", and the food comes out tasting very good. It's lighter, and not gooey, like the cornstarch-laden Americanized Chinese food.

Delights include: Spicy steamed pork buns, BBQ'd lamb chops, Changde Clay-bowl chicken, yellow cooked salt cod in chili sauce, with most fish dishes steamed. Try Chairman Mao's red braised pork, or one of it's 7 supplied variations. I think Ms. Dunlop overdoes the Chairman Mao bit, putting his cheery face on many, many pages for no good reason; it contributes little to understanding of him, or of the Hunan cookery. I'd rather have had more beautiful photos of food and other aspects of Chinese culture and people, instead of so many of Mao's images.

Have you had the traditional Hunan dish- "General Tso's Chicken"? Guess again! FYI, She met the accepted creator of this NON-Hunan dish, with added sugar for US tastes, created in the 1970's in New York by Hunan chef Peng Chang-Kuei! And yes, most Hunanese have never tasted this bogus, yet popular dish that is known in the USA as the "quintessential Hunan dish"! To adjust for tastes, she has both a Hunan version, and a USA version of Gerneral Tso's to choose from.

From her first book being shown to a Chinese friend of mine from Chengdu,who cooked from it and proclaimed it "the real thing" I know that Ms. Dunlop's current book is gonna be just as accurate. No, I do not currently have an authentic Hunan friend to vouch for the recipes, and I do not mind, I like what spicy hot things I have cooked so far!

Just as an aside- Her photo is only somewhat kind to her, it is an oldie, and she looks better than that in person. She clearly "knows her stuff"; I recommend meeting/hearing her on her book tour.

Buy this, and buy the Sichuan book, Land of Plenty, and cook and taste authentic Chinese "comfort food" as it tastes in China... It's a lot better than the cornstarch-laden "Chinese" food served in most US restaurants.

I look forward to her next books.

I am originally from Hunan and loved its food when I was there. The recipes here are (brace for cliche) AUTHENTIC, insofar as reading these pages brings me to these very dishes experientially.

I cherish my copy of Dunlop's _Land of Plenty_, and had eagerly awaited this new book. I've cooked 15 or so recipes from this book so far, and all of them have been perfectly successful. My favorite so far is her rendition of red-cooked pork (Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork), and some others I've made which were wonderful were her Tiger-Skin Steamed Pork, Beef Slivers with Coriander, her unctuous & delectable Steamed Eggs, and a delicious dish of stir-fried baby greens & shrimp. Ooh, and another extraordinarily delicious dish: Stir-fried Zucchini with Salty Duck Egg Yolks. Yum!

I think that _Land of Plenty_ is still her best book, but this is a close second. The essays in _Land of Plenty_, for instance, are just superb, particularly the one about tea.

I'm wishing this cook & author a LONG life so she can continue to explore the food & food culture of China, and write many more books to share her learning with us.

I own both of her cookbooks now. The first one was merely great, but this one is fantastic. Perhaps I just like the Hunan region more? I especially like how this cookbook is loosely tied to the theme of Mao's revolution. The book is well written, seems well researched, and, most importantly, well laid out. There are a few gratutious pictures of food, but the emphasis is definately on the content and not the eye candy. (A general rule I have is that the quantity of color photographs in a cookbook is inversely proportional to the quality of the cookbook.)

There are two recipes for General Tso's Chicken in this book, and a good deal of text about the history of the dish. By far it seems to be more researched and (hopefully) more accurate than it is available on the man "fan pages" for the dish that the internet offers up. One recipe is for a Hunan-style General Tso's, and the other is for an American-style General Tso's.

There is also a recipe for pock marked grandmothers tofu. Another favorite, and it comes with a suprise. In this book, pork is substituted for the more traditional beef in the dish. I've never even seen the dish made with beef.

All in all, I'm already getting impatient for her next book to come out. There is lots more of China to explore culinarily, and I hope she manages to explore it all.

Like Dunlop's previous cookbook, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook offers a vast collection of authentic recipes, this time with a focus on Hunan cooking. The dishes I have cooked from this book taste true to the food I enjoyed in Hunanese restaurants in China. The book contains sections for street food, appetizers, meat, poultry, vegetables, tofu, and soups, with classics like nongjia("farmhouse style") stir-fried pork and Mao's red-braised pork. Hunan cooking involves less difficult-to-find ingredients than Sichuan cooking, and thus might be more accessible to the typical Western cook.

Together with Dunlop's previous book on Sichuanese cooking, it is a refreshing change from the typical "Chinese" cookbook offering sticky-sweet Americanized versions of the real thing.

Dunlop provides interesting commentary on the origins of particular recipes and Hunan cuisine throughout the book, making it enjoyable to read in itself, especially for those of us who love food. In addition, the book is printed on glossy paper and has many more photos than Dunlop's previous book. Highly recommended.

Readers of Dunlop's first book on Schezuan food, LAND OF PLENTY, know that she provides a wonderful mixture of historical/social context for the cuisine, plus plenty of practial kitchen savvy in her recipes. This new volume on Hunan cooking is equally essential for both armchair cooks and those of us ready to gain more hands-on experience with a kind of food many home chefs have never tackled. Hunan dishes are often diluted and debased in American neighborhood restaurants; Dunlop gives you the real deal. Here's one Chinese cookbook that had me (and, likely, will have you) heading straight for the wok!

I bought Fuchsia Dunlop's first book about Sichuan cooking. I loved that, and I love this! Very different from the Chinese food I grew up with that my family got at the restaurants in America!

There are a few differences between the first and the second book. This cookbook is also filled with many more pictures than the first. Honestly, I never worry about the pictures. I tend not to try to cook food I know nothing about. The paper is also different. The first book has the darker, off-white more textured pages. I like that. Because the second is filled with color photos, the paper is the bright white semi-glossy type. If you are like me, I spend long hours reading through cookbooks. My eyes tend to tire out when looking at the glossy white paper. For someone who like anecdotes about her experiences in China, will love both. I'm not very concerned about having those stories in there myself, but they do make it quite easy to imagine the dishes!

More on the personal side, from my experience with her recipies in this second book, I seem to prefer Sichuan cooking over Hunan. For example, the Sichuan recipe for red braised pork I like much better then the Hunan version. The Hunan version calls for more spices which makes it much more aromatic. It's a bit too much for me, but that's just me. In neither of the books are there any menu planning guides. She does recommend dishes to go with the one your preparing. I would like to be able to see more of what a meal is like.

I recomend this book to anyone who is familiar with Chinese cooking and or anyone who like adventure. I don't think that it is a good beginner's book. I have ruined many a recipe in my day and I relaize that it takes a whole lot of advice to avoid the common mistakes. However, I don't think anyone would be diappointed in this book.

This is a wonderful companion to Fuchsia Dunlop's superb book on Sichuan cooking, Land of Plenty. As a graphic artist, this book is beautifully prepared. The page layout and graphics are first rate. There are a few reviewers here that make a point of deploring the Chairman Mao images. Why? He came from this province, known for it's revolutionaries, cooking, and commanders. It genuinely fits the book! I love the calligraphy, the sensitive color pallets, the images, and the general look and feel of this book. It's a genuine inspiration, graphically speaking. The book is printed in China - where they never forgot excellence in printing.

The recipes are straight forward and easily made. The taste is superb! You can't go wrong with this book - and be sure to get a copy of Land of Plenty, also. Mine is thoroughly worn out already from constant use.

Once you've tasted authentic Hunan and Sichuan cooking, you won't like American Chinese restaurant food ever again! This is the real stuff, and it's inexpensive to make once you get the basic vinegars, soy sauces, fish sauces, etc. Find a good Asian market and do some research. Spend some time in the isles, take your book with you, and enjoy the learning experience.

This is some of the best food you'll ever eat!

I lived in Hunan Province for one year and returned to the states missing all the delicious Hunan food since it's so hard to come by in restaurants. Now my stomach is happy once again. It has so many of my old favorites and english language explanations for the ingredients and directions. I'm thrilled to have this book and to be able to use the recipies. Thank you Fuschia!

I own both this book and her other title, "Land of Plenty," and couldn't be happier. I am at the University of Arizona studying Mandarin, and as my Chinese friends and teachers can attest, this is the real thing. Hearty, sustaining, and warm, this is the wisdom of the Middle Kingdom at its culinary best. Unlike most Chinese cookbooks, which pander to Westerners and Americanize the flavors, this book is uncompromising in its use of authentic flavors and ingredients, and thorough in its description of the more exotic varieties. As a former caterer, I can say that this book is able to stand alone as your number one companion to Chinese cooking. From a lowly dinner costing you five dollars that can feed four, to a banquet for fifteen of your favorite friends for the Mid-Autumn Festival, this book can guide you through it all. Like Shizuo Tsuji's, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art and Larousse Gastronomique this book is the gold standard of its cooking style. If you have ever been to China, or if you have ever wanted to cook Chinese food the way it was meant to be, then this book is for you. Five stars.