5 comments about Essentials of Asian Cuisine : Fundamentals and Favorite Recipes.

1. I checked out this cookbook from the library and tonight I made the chicken adobo, which was incredible. The sauce chapter was particularly compelling as well as the soups and...really, every single chapter contained many recipes that I am anxious to try. I tend to check out cookbooks and type out particularly interesting recipes before returning them. With this cookbook, I found myself overwhelmed with the task and I finally had to give up. I never heard of Corinne Trang but every single recipe made sense, sounded utterly delicious and is very doable. I expect to use this cookbook with full confidence the next time I put together an Asian dinner. What a find.



2. I think this might be a good book for individuals who are not very familiar with Asian cuisine and would like just a light touch of Asian flavors and spices in their dishes. But for someone like me who grew up eating down right bona fide home-cooked Asian foods, the recipes are very unauthentic and the ingredients and cooking methods are greatly downplayed. If I used these recipes to cook for my parents, who are Vietnamese, I woud probably get disowned. But again, I think it might be a good book for starters. The instructions to the recipes are very easy to follow. The author did take time to thouroughly explain each ingredient to the readers. GOOD LUCK!



3. bordering on exhaustively in-depth, this is a very well written cookbook/encyclopedia for asian cooking.



4. Once again Ms. Trang has put out a cookbook that leaves much to be desired. The recipes are boring and uninspired and I feel that there are many better cookbooks of this type out there. Ms. Trang continues to pump out cookbooks instead of spending some time really learning the intricacies of food and working on her taste level.



5. 
   
   This is a book for the beginning student of Asian Cuisines. It removes the mystery and introduces the real life mechanics and aesthetics of constructing delicious food using ingredients that are new to many Euro- and Afro-Americans.
   Trang manages a very light touch in these recipes-the instructions are easy to follow and indeed sometimes you feel like you knew this stuff all along. Perhaps it's her unique background as a French-Cambodian child of the restaurant business that gives her this special sympathy to both the student and the thing explained.
   
   There are a few must-do recipes here. The Lumpia dipping sauce (brown sugar, garlic) is one of those why-didn't-I-think-of-that accompaniments. In my house, it's been used to lend some interest to a variety of prepared foods bought to please the children. Indonesian Peanut Sauce is a perfect salad dressing in the delightful gado-gado mix of vegetables and it's also a way to get fussy eaters (children and Americans) to eat their veggies.
   
   Trang is also adept at explaining the basics. Her instructions for making stock and her encouragement to do so are masterful and blissfully simple.
   
   
   "The kitchens of the East were my nursery." Corinne Trang says, but this is a much better cookbook than one that might have been written about one's native cuisine. It's Trang's good fortune in having been a translator of traditions for herself that pays off for the reader.
   
   
   Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and the essential novel bang BANG: A Novel

3 comments about Flavors of Burma: Myanmar : Cuisine and Culture from the Land of Golden Pagodas.

1. I bought this sight unseen, and without the benefit of any other user reviews to guide me. I'm not dissappointed.

   It only has "76 enticing recipes" in it, but they are well laid out. The first 48 pages are background information, and I like having those things in cookbooks.

   I feel that the two best features this cookback has are its hardback cover, and its lack of color photos. Hardback books are always better than paperbacks, and to me color photos in a cookbook always seem to imply that they are trying to cover up other defecienies with flashy pictures that will distract people. There are a few pictures, but they are B&W, and not the major focus of the book.

   I haven't made any recipes yet, but the recipe layout is one I have never seen before. It appeals to me typographically because of its interesting approach. It looks clean, and easy to read, and I hope more cookbooks emulate the style.




2. Great book. Great recipes. My wife and I cooked the double fish curry last night. Its great. The recipe was easy to follow and quick to cook. We already had everything needed - although we used red fish fillets instead of the mackerel or king fish suggested. It tasted really good - smooth and tasty but without that "after curry burp" you get with some of the traditional Indian curries. It looked really good when cooked too - its nice to cook something without knowing in advance how it should look like after the experts have cooked it!
   We will definitly give the other recipes a go too.
   The information on Burmese (Myanmar?) life is interesting too - obviously written with some compassion.



3. I bought this book because my boyfriend is from Burma. I want to learn to make more dishes for him that will appeal to his taste buds. When he saw the book, he wouldn't put it down and kept saying that the recipes were very authentic. He remembers eating some of these dishes/recipes mentioned in the book. Thank you Susan Chan for writing this book.

5 comments about Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and a History of the Iraqi Cuisine.

1. Thanks to Nawal for writting this excellent cookbook which includes almost all the iraqi recipes in such nice order.
   
   As a kurd I found many recipes that brought back memories from my childhood, even the terms/words used!
   
   I looked through the whole book briefly, the recipes look easy and well written, not many pictures but I doubt they are needed. Can't wait to try more recipes.
   
   I know I will treasure this book for life..



2. A great cookbook. Easy to follow for those not familiar with Arabic/Middle Eastern Cooking. Good back stories and illustrations. A true one of a kind work. Be sure to buy this treasure before it goes out of print. A delight as the title suggests.



3. I received this cookbook as a birthday gift two years ago. When I opened it, I was excited to find a Middle Eastern cookbook, but was not expecting it to 'measure up' to the 10 or so Middle Eastern/North African cookbooks in my collection, as the author is not well known as are the authors of many of the other books. After all this time, I have made quite a few recipes from this book, and all were fantastic. That being said, I feel that I haven't even scratched the surface of this book. The number of good recipes in the book is astounding, and the history portion of the book is very interesting. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in learning more about cooking Middle Eastern food, and learning about its roots.



4. My wife is a first class Chef and needed information abiout Iraqi Cooking
   to prepare and serve at Master classes
   On the WWW there was only 11 recipies
   So doing a search on AMazon.com walla a book. The book has many recipies and information about Iraqi Culture it is easily to read and is very informative, it is pity that the Americans went in on a false premise and are surely destroying a vibrant culture.



5. I can't stop flipping through the pages of this book. Each page sparks a different memory from Iraq. The recipes are so easy to follow and turn out so well. The best cook book EVER.

4 comments about Beyond Bok Choy: A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables.

1. This is a beautifully crafted book with wonderful photographs. It's an excellent book even for Chinese. My only complaint is that I wish Lo San would have included more vegetables in her book. There are a lot more other Chinese vegetables she hasn't included. Some of those absent are from the fungi family (if that's a vegetable!) and other Chinese green leafy/root vegetable.



2. This book is a great introduction to Asian vegetables. The photographs are very useful and the general presentation is very good. Information is given as to how to prepare and cook with these vegetables, and there are many recipes to that effect. My only disappointment was that there weren't more vegetarian recipes, although many are adaptable.



3. This is good for someone just becoming interested in Asian cuisine. The photographs are large and beautiful, the recipes simple in the respect that they will bring out the best of the vegetable being highlighted. It's not a book for vegetarians and never claimed to be. It's an introduction to Asian vegetables, what to look for when buying them, general uses, storage and care, and censored cultivation tips on some of the vegetables. I say censored because as a gardener who has grown Asian vegetables for years, Ross gives cultivation information for only a few select vegetables (and brief at that) for the easiest to grow. This is not for the Asian gardener's library unless you like the other information. This would make a great gift.



4. I bought this book after I left school and had to start cooking on my own. As an ABC, the first time I went to an Asian grocery store was very intimidating; my first impression of the vegetable aisle was a huge wall of leafy greens. Although, I haven't tried any of the recipes, I find the book useful for identification, storage and preparation of the vegetables. More importantly, each page includes a picture and the name of the vegetable in English and Chinese (both character and the popular English phonetic name
   form - usually Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciations).

3 comments about Tibetan Cooking: Recipes for Daily Living, Celebration, and Ceremony.

1. Really great Momo's and other dishes we made to celebrate with friends our slide show of Tibet. Nepalese and other traditional regional influences make for unusual culinary experiences for Westerners. Even more fun, we found excellent yak for sale in the U.S., making the dishes even more authentic.
   
   A rare find...



2. An exceptional book on Tibetan cooking with easy to follow recipes. I recently came back from Tibet and needed an easy recipe for Tibetan noodle soup and found a great one in here. This is an invaluable addition to my cookbook collection.



3. TIBETAN CUISINE is the first book of Tibetan cuisine to offer a range of dishes from traditional home cooking to celebratory recipes for religious ceremonies. From a Jalapeno and Blue Cheese condiment dish to easy Egg Soup and Steamed Greens, dishes are accompanied by discussions of Tibetan culture and ceremonies.

No comments about The Complete Book of Korean Cooking.

5 comments about The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques and Recipes.

1. Totally spellbinding and exciting book! Barbara recognized that great outcomes require more than simply great recipes, and that great execution requires more than superficial knowledge.

   In The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, Barbara prepares the reader for virtually all of the conditions and eventualities that home cooks face. She then provides the in-depth knowledge and nuance necessary to consistently achieve world-class perfection. And she does it in an easy-to-read, entertaining style.

   Thanks to Barbara's book, the fine recipes from David Hom and Irene Kuo have reached even greater heights.




2. I'm an avid cookbook reader and recipe-try-outer and this is one of the best cookbooks in general that I have come across. Instructions are crystal clear, which is great for beginning cooks, and because of the careful instructions, each recipe turns out exactly like it's supposed to. She has a lot of home-cooking type recipes that are easy, like the Master Sauce Eggs and chicken. It's true that some recipes do take time, but most of them you can do parts ahead of time or are hands-off sorts.



3. This is certainly a fantastic book, which I bought following recommendations from the Amazon reviews and from an internet food community. The strengths of the book are that it contains a level of detail in the recipes, and in the introductions to the various types of cooking styles, ingredient preparation and correct use of cooking utensils.
   However, the recipes themselves are not on the whole as appealing as one might expect from a book of this size. Also, in terms of "classical" chinese cuisine (by that I mean what you and I are used to, rather than what someone from Mainland China is used to) this book is not as strong as you may think.
   My main gripes emerge when comparing this book with Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook. This book to me contains the same, if not greater levels of detail with regards to frying/steaming and ingredient prep, and also contains many many more appealing recipes, with just as good levels of detail for those that are not familiar with chinese cookery. The section on ingredients and also on the cuisine of Mainland China is also superior in this book.
   Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook remains my go-to book for Chinese food, altho I will keep this and use it from time to time, but it is certainly not as useful and doesnt contain as many appealing recipes. If you are interested in smoking chicken and duck however, you will need Barbara Tropp's book.



4. This book isn't really what I was looking for. It is filled with informative recipes, ingredient lists, and anecdotes. Like Julia Child or Marcella Hazan, Tropp is a purist. I've got a large Chinese market nearby, but I'm still intimidated by the ingredients she insists on. (They're not necessarily exotic, it is just finding the best soy sauce, for example, that is daunting.) I like this style of cookbook, and I'm convinced that if I cooked my way through it I'd be an accomplished Chinese cook, ultimately this book has much loftier aspirations than I do.



5. I wanted one Chinese cookbook that would teach me all the basics of cooking.
   
   This is it! (And I'm still learning.)
   
   Ok, it's very time consuming. But it's worth it! I've even learned little hints that have helped me in all of my cooking! For instance, now I can bread and lightly fry or bake any item without it falling apart!

2 comments about Quick & Easy Sushi Cookbook.

1. Great details on how to slice the parts of the fish and how to distinguish fish.



2. I bought this book in a bookshop here in Tokyo actually after reading through it, I worked in Japanese resturants both in Australia and Japan for about 4 years and after making a change in my line of work I wanted a reference book on some of the areas that I didn't get time to learn in full. I'd made Sushi professionally but wasn't doing it long enough to rotate through all of the different areas of prep
   
   There are very good step by step picture (glossy photos) instructions for how to cut fish and prepare different types of fish plus there are some great novelty chirashi items for kids too.
   
   The proof in the pudding for me though was the part on Shari (sushi rice), if that more fundumental part isn't good then it calls the quality of the whole book into question. It was certainly not lacking!
   
   In the end, with the sushi rice in this book so good the fact that there are lots of imaginative recipes in here that you might get in a japanese home but never in a resturant on top of the standard stuff really makes this book worth while. All the fundamentals are here, plus a lot of fun stuff so you get to involve yourself to a level that suits you.

No comments about The Book of Sake: A Connoisseurs Guide.

2 comments about Martin Yan's Asia: Favorite Recipes from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Japan.

1. Even if you find his television show to be over the top, you have to admit that Martin Yan always presents very tasty recipes. This book is an introduction to a variety of Asian cuisines with recipes and helpful hints not just on preparation, but on eating as well.

   I've prepared roughly 40% of the dishes included in this book and have yet to find one that wasn't delicious. I was sufficiently impressed to buy his other books as well.




2. Excellent introduction to a variety of asian cooking. Helpfully explains some of the more esoteric foodstuffs, et al. Based on the straightforward presentation I intend to buy more of his books. Also, I found the written forum a much more direct way to learn from Yan than his cooking show.