The Chinese Cookbook
May 15, 2011 by admin
Filed under Chinese food cookbooks
The Chinese Cookbook
Over 240 recipes from every region.
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A genuine classic,
Normally, I wouldn’t write a review for a book that is almost 40 years old. This, however, is a special case because the book is, or at least deserves to be, one of the great classics in cookery. If you go back and look at Chinese cookbooks published in North America before 1972 you will find most are very heavy on Americanized Chinese food such as sweet and sour chicken and chop suey and very few distinguish between, or even recognize the various schools of cuisine in China.
The authors of this book have, for western writers, broken new ground. There is a good foreword which introduces the reader to the fact that Chinese food is regionally very diverse, as well as an extensive glossary of Chinese ingredients that lists the names of the items in Chinese Characters and includes quite a few things that would have seemed very exotic indeed when the book was first published. The recipes are excellent and there are a remarkable number of dishes which, certainly until recently, would only have been found in books by Chinese authors. It is clear that this book was extensively researched.
I very much love this book but I should add a couple of caveats: First, this is not a book for beginners. There are no pictures (except for a few color plates in the middle of the book( and some of the recipes are quite difficult. Also, I think it also fair to say that, now at 40 years old, the recipes and information in provided can be easily found elsewhere in scores of other publications so it is not quite as unique as it once was. That being said though, this is a great item for serious collectors.
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