Dim Sum: Delicious Finger Food for Parties (Hardcover)

by Fiona Smith (Author), William Lingwood (Photographer) "Dim sum means "heart's delight" and these heart's delights are the tiny dishes that make up the great yum cha lunches served in Chinese restaurants..." (more)
Key Phrases: Shao Hsing

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Food stylist Fiona Smith dishes out 30 manageable recipes for party food in Dim Sum: Delicious Asian Finger Food. Innovating on classic dishes, Smith tells lay chefs how to whip up wonders like Pea Shoot and Shrimp Dumplings, Peking-style Duck Pancake Wraps, and Jicama and Lime Salad. With mouthwatering photographs by William Lingwood and suggestions for presentational flourishes, this attractive little hardcover will appeal to established and aspiring gourmands. ( Mar.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Fiona Smith shows you how to make some of the best dim sum -- and lots of modern variations. She has included dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Japan, as well as from China -- all ready for you to recreate when you entertain. Fiona's ideas are based on tried-and-true, easy-to-prepare recipes that she uses in her own catering business. The emphasis is on lots of flavor, finger-food-sized morsels, and cooking methods that are simple enough for home cooks to manage. Just one or two of these recipes will make all the difference to your next party.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 62 pages
• Publisher: Ryland Peters & Small (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841721492
• ISBN-13: 978-1841721491
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #795,830 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Dim sum?" Hardly., July 20, 2006

By	Yohan Pamudji - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

From the title of this book one would expect to find real dim sum recipes inside. Instead, most of the recipes are Asian-inspired finger food, which is not at all the same thing. Dim sum is a Chinese food, not a general Asian-ish type of cuisine. To call these recipes "dim sum" is almost as inaccurate as calling French hor d'oevres "dim sum" simply because they are small, bite-sized treats.

I might come across as a bit pedantic here, but this is not simply a matter of semantics. If the author had used a more accurate title such as "Asian Finger Food" I would not have lowered my rating by 2 stars. The actual recipes are good and certainly creative, but they do not fit the title of the book.

Bottom line: if you are looking for true, traditional dim sum recipes, look elsewhere. There are better books on the topic. If you are thinking of getting this book, know ahead of time what you are getting and you will not be disappointed, because this is a good recipe book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Large Chinese Appetizer Treasure in Small Package, January 5, 2005

By	rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Truly a beautiful collection of Dim Sum in a small book, only 64 pages. Don't let the small size bother you, though this is serious great food.

30 recipes of asian inspired snacks from potstickers to egg rolls to wraps to soup to custard tarts, this is just beautifully done photographed and step-by-step instructions.

Feast your tastebuds on such as: Steamed Dumplings with Kaffir Lime and Lemongrass; Fish Balls with Shredded Wonton Coating; Salmon and Asian Pesto Packages; Jicama and Lime Salad; Shrimp and Scallion Fritters; Peking-style Duck Pancake Wraps; Orange and Almond Fortune Cookies; Five-Spice Custard Tarts; Steamed Pear and Ginger Puddings.

There are five great dipping sauces recipes included.

Great gift idea for party giving friends or for yourself to throw that casual finger food party.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fusion cuisine at its most delicious, August 30, 2007

By	H. Grove "owling6683" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Every recipe comes with an artfully arranged photo as background, showing what the recipe will (ideally) look like when you're done with it. The photos are gorgeous and wonderful to look at, and sometimes aid you in figuring out exactly what the author means when she gives an instruction on how to put something together. (Not that her instructions are confusing, but sometimes pictures can say things that are difficult to get across through words.)

The recipes are fairly simple and short, and simply arranged. Ingredients are nicely separated from directions, and directions are divided into short paragraphs. Each recipe comes with a brief paragraph commenting on some aspect of the recipe or the tradition behind it.

The book includes a very brief introduction to the idea of dim sum-this really isn't an introductory text, and would not be best as a first dim sum book unless the cook using it is experienced and confident in the kitchen in general. (Ellen Leong Blonder's Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch makes a great starting text.)

Recipes range from "crisp vegetables with roasted salt and pepper dip" (read: tempura), to sweet and sour pickled vegetables, wilted bean sprout and peanut salad, salmon and Asian pesto packages, mussels with egg noodles and black bean sauce, shrimp and scallion fritters (which are "based on a Mexican original" with "a Chinese twist"), little Szechuan chicken steamed buns, steamed dumplings with kaffir lime and lemongrass, peking-style duck pancake wraps, and a decent spread of dips and sauces-as well as other dishes.

The recipes don't call for a lot of unusual ingredients. We can find many of them at our local generic grocery store (and it doesn't have a lot of odd stuff), and sometimes substitutions are suggested. For example, when making sticky rice in banana leaves with chicken skewers, it's suggested that you could use foil instead of banana leaves.[...]can be a good source of some harder-to-find ingredients such as lemongrass.

The recipes come out uniformly delicious and delightful in our experience. The chile beef wontons are, so far, our favorite of the various fried wonton recipes we've made. The tiny pork, tofu, and broccoli spring rolls are delicious. The mango wontons with lime sauce were to die for. And this book is one of the best sources, among the dim sum books we have, for sauces and dips. There are only four of them (technically there are a few additional ones to be found among the other recipes), but they're perfect: a sweet chile sauce that goes well with almost anything, plum sauce, soy and ginger sauce, and a sweet and sour sesame sauce that's even better than the sweet chile sauce (and beats every other "sweet and sour" sauce we've tried so far, hands down).

Fiona Smith's approach to dim sum may be slightly unorthodox, but if you enjoy dim sum in specific or small appetizer foods in general, it's well worth a look. The recipes are fresh and creative, fairly easy, and absolutely delicious!