Chinese Cooking for Dummies (Paperback)

~ (Author) "If your idea of Chinese cooking is egg rolls, wonton soup, and fortune cookies, you're about to get quite a wake-up call..." (more)
Key Phrases: add the cornstarch solution, tofu yourself, chile garlic sauce, Martin Says, North America, Hong Kong (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Won Ton Soup, Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Fried Rice, Mu Shu Pork--Chinese takeout again? Not with Chinese Cooking for Dummies, which brings the experience of the Chinese restaurant to your home, including everything but the big, exotic fish tank. Author Martin Yan, an award-winning celebrity chef, has put together everyone's favorite Chinese recipes all in the comfortable, familiar Dummies format, including his own signature brand of humor.

To get the full experience, the book requires an up-front time investment of reading before cooking, and includes background on Chinese history and its influence on Chinese cooking. It is long, but if you have the time, it is worth the read. Yan provides a window to the Chinese philosophy on cooking--the delicate balance of complementing flavors, textures, shapes, and cooking techniques--which makes it easier for the Westerner to better understand that what they're doing is more than frying rice.

The book is filled with more than 100 recipes as well as excellent preparation and handling tips for seafood, poultry, pork, and beef. Much of this information easily transcends cuisine borders to foods of all nationalities. As for presentation, Yan has provided fascinating instructions for easy-to-make garnishes that enhance the appearance of a traditional Chinese meal but don't require an art degree. The Chinese may boast of 3,000 varieties of rice but he recognizes that his reader is probably only going to use a couple of these. Another staple of Chinese cuisine, the sauces, are included, with recipes for sweet and sour sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese mustard, and black bean sauce. He recommends making sauces in batches, and offers storage instructions that make it possible to keep the various concoctions for weeks. This allows for a quick Chinese stir-fry, or other favorite dish, in a matter of minutes.

Practical and easy aren't often associated with Chinese food, but Martin Yan makes it seem so simple you may never order takeout again. --Teresa Simanton

Product Description

TV chef Martin Yan demystifies the art of Chinese cooking!

In this cookbook fromt he bestselling cookbook author and star of PBS-TV's Yan Can Cook," Martin Yan puts a contemporary spin on traditional Chinese cuisine for today's home cooks. Chock-full of tips on ingredients, cookware, and techniques, this basic handbook shows how to cleave vegetables with precision, stir-fry like a pro, and prepare a full menu with ease. In this fun and friendly cookbook, readers will find:

• 100 taste-tested recipes, including classic dishes, regional specialties, and modern adaptations
• Easy-to-understand instructions for cooking with or without a wok, as well as other techniques such as steaming
• Step-by-step line drawings that illustrate the foods and techniques essential to Chinese cooking
• Boxed features on Chinese customs and culture
• Shopping guidelines for ingredients and tools

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (October 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764552473
• ISBN-13: 978-0764552472
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #265,382 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Begin Your Journey Here, December 4, 2001

By	D. Schaefer (Joliet, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Martin Yan...funny guy, and king of PBS cooking shows, is a definite draw for getting this book. Who better to write and explain what is one of the world's most complex and rich cuisines for those of us who have never even touched a wok?

This book helps shatter the image that Asian/Oriental cuisine is one huge homogenous mass of countries wound together. For people first learning about Chinese cooking, and the food culture, this book helps to get you into the sea and your feet wet. As mentioned before, the advanced chef would likely find this repetitive. There is lots of useful, practical advice as well. The sections on shopping in Chinese or Asian grocery stores is helpful, as is the history lesson in the beginning.

One of the things which I loved, was that for his common ingredients list, he said how long things will last in your home under storage. Since some of them to the every-day American cook border upon the mystical and arcane and likely won't be used up quickly, this is invaluable for the person wishing to experiment once a week or less infrequently and doesn't want to waste money on food and spices that won't be used.

This is to say, nothing of Martin Yan's personality, which was also mentioned before, is great! He makes the book worth reading even if you're never going to cook. with it. Out of his 20+ cookbooks, this is one I'm glad I picked up first.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for first-timers, only wish there were more pictures, June 17, 2003

By	Chris B. (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Four main things to comment on:

1) You definitely feel Martin Yan's personality in these pages. Great broad yet brief background on regional influences on Chinese cooking.
2) Equally good broad yet brief explanation of basic ingredients and also the prep and cooking techniques.
3) Recipes are pretty easy and you are welcome to buy most of the basic sauces rather than make them from scratch.
4) Only wish there were pictures with each recipe.

On to the details.

On the first point, if you like his PBS shows, you'll enjoy reading this book. It has his wit and its easy to imagine him speaking to you, cleaver in hand. The background info about different regions is brief yet insightful. For example, you will not learn the history of each region, but you will have some insight about the differences between menus at The Canton Cafe versus Larry's Peking Palace.

On the second point, if you're a complete novice to cooking (let alone Chinese cooking), there's enough info about equipment, technique, and ingredients to get you going. He also provides lots of pragmatic advice - substitute ingredients and make-shift cooking supplies when you have limited options.

On the third point, recipes are easy AS LONG AS YOU'RE PATIENT. Unlike some other cuisines, most of this book involves stir frying and that means you MUST have your ingredients prepped before you start throwing things into the wok. There's no time to measure and chop once you start because the "cooking" stage only takes 2-3 minutes :) I found cooking, in general, to be much easier if I have everything premeasured and ready-to-go in little dishes, just like on the TV shows.

On the fourth point, like most "Dummies" books, this one is printed with very few color pictures. And the ones that are provided are bunched together in an insert in the middle of the book - several glossy pages showing finished dishes. Where some areas, such as explanation of techniques, are adequately accompanied by illustrations, I really prefer to have pictures with each recipe. And if not step-by-step, then at least one showing the finished dish. Alas, that is the one area I found lacking.

In summary, great book and more pictures would've made it even better.

Also, one bit of advice - don't expect to get stir-frying right the first few times. It does get a lot easier after a few tries though.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good first chinese cooking book, October 2, 2001

By A Customer

This isn't the most extensive chinese cooking book. And if you are an experienced asian cook this will not be helpful. But it has been very useful to me in getting me started. There are lists of things to buy, and advice on ingredients and utensils. There is not a lot in the way of illustration.

The recipes are items that I have eaten in a lot of Chinese restaurants, which is why it is so useful. I already know how the dish is supposed to taste, so I can judge the outcome against a taste I already know. It also helps to familiarize myself with what the various ingredients bring to a dish so that I can modify it to make it more pungent or spicy or bland depending on what I feel like eating. That's what makes it such a good beginning book. It gives you a base to expand from.

The book is written in a light hearted manner, Martin Yan likes puns and makes a lot of them. I like this book and will probably use it for a while to come until I am ready for more exotic recipes.