An Encyclopedia of Chinese Food and Cooking

by Wonona W. Chang and Irving B. Chang

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: B000KELZ0A
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Crown Publishers
• Length: 534 Pages
• Weight: 2.38 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great authentic food

If you already have some idea of authentic Chinese cooking and are looking to get away from Americanized dishes, this book is a great resource. One of the main things I like about it (and use it for), is that it includes recipes for a lot of ingredients that you might only find in a Chinese market and that are not included in a lot of English Chinese cookbooks, even the authentic ones. E.g. there are recipes for red cooked pigs feet, pork stuffed fuzzy melon, lotus root, etc, as well as the standard lion's head and so on. It is not a book to really teach beginners how to cook authentic Chinese food, especially as there is minimal, though precise, instructions. For that (for English readers), I would recommend Angela Chang's "Chinese Home Cooking" as a good introduction. But this is a great resource. I do sort of prefer cookbooks with pictures, but I actually am glad this one doesn't have them as it contains so much information instead. The index covers Chinese (pinyin) and English, though i only can use the English part, I think some might find that helpful. Another plus is the recipes don't use MSG. My one complaint with the book is that the recipes do sometimes come out too salty. I would recommend halving the salt and using low sodium soy sauce, as well as being aware of the salt content if soy sauce and salt are included in the same recipe.

Excellent and Indispensible reference

I have the original 1970 edition of this work and was looking for a copy for a friend. It's worth giving to those who appreciate real Chinese food. It's a very stark book - not much text at all, and the recipes are of the "Add A to B to C" type, but if you are competant in the kitchen, then you only need the ingredient list, anyway. It's truly an encyclopedia - its collection of dishes are complete, and the regional information is given for each. This book makes it criminally easy to plan a Cantonese dinner party or a Mandarin luncheon and to be assured of doing it right. All in all, my copy is perhaps the most well worn kitchen reference I own.

Indispensable tool! A foundation book for the dedicated

This book is the most complete and interesting book of authentic Chinese cooking I have read in years. The first step are the photographs and information of Chinese foodstuffs. Including the pronunciation of the chinese form of the namme and how and where to find them. This gives the timid a flying chance at getting things right. Then on to the recipes. While there is a distinct lack of photos in this book, the assembly and cooking instructions are quite precise. The tastes are very good. Although they do not do much with Americanized meals, you can put one together once you are familiar with the book. They include diatetic recipes as well as vegetarian. I have bought all the copies I could get my hands on last time I got to the bookstore and gave them as presents. It is worth the effort to hunt it down.