Product Description

Authentic Chinese ingredients are now available all year round, not only from the "China towns" in our major cities, but also from our local supermarkets. In this title the renowned expert on Chinese food, Deh-Ta Hsiung, introduces and describes over 100 ingredients in great detail and provides at least two recipes for each ingredient to demonstrate its versatility. Each page is illustrated with cut-outs of each ingredient in its many forms, cultural pictures of China and recipe photography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #472730 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Chinese Kitchen is a magnificent book, like no other on Chinese food. The sheer range of substances--animal, vegetable and occasionally mineral-- that are incorporated into Chinese cooking can be daunting to the Western cook. The underlying philosophy, too, can be elusive. In this engrossing volume, Deh-Ta Hsiung has compiled a survey of the principal characteristic ingredients of this great cuisine, in all its regional variants. This is really an encyclopaedia of Chinese food, a magisterial study of 100 key foodstuffs and their place not so much in cooking as in Chinese life and culture as a whole. Beginning with fan, the rice or wheaten flour breads, noodles and dumplings that form the starch staple, and moving through the main food categories, Deh-Ta Hsiung gives an account of the item's history, varieties, means of production, appearance and taste. He offers invaluable advice on buying and storage, on its role in Chinese and western medicine and health, and, most importantly, outlines its culinary uses. Among the most difficult to assimilate into any Western notions are the "texture" foods: largely tasteless, gelatinous substances such as bird's nest, shark's fin and sea cucumber, these include some of the most sought-after delicacies and can command extraordinary prices. The Chinese Kitchen gives the clearest possible explanation of why these foods are so prized. Some 200 recipes, many of them classics, adorn the book, illuminating the character and versatility of the ingredients. This is a most exciting volume, at once a reference work that deserves to become a standard and an introduction to the intricacies of Chinese food and cooking. --Robin Davidson

Ken Hom
'I trust this major culinary work from the masterchef himself will be a proud companion to your Chinese Cookery Books...'

The Independent, 11th September 1999, 'Cook Book of the Week' by Sybil Kapoor
He dispels the timidity of an inexperienced cook, yet he offers much to tempt a proficient chef.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic. Essential for people who want to cook Chinese food
This is a fantastic book. A wealth of information on many many ingredients used in Chinese cooking such as, how it grows, appearance and taste, buying and storing, culinary uses and medicinal uses. Colour pictures and the Chinese name for the ingredient too. The recipes are wonderful and taste delicious. My Dad was Chinese. He was a very good cook and I remember his cooking very well. This book contains over 200 authentic recipes. Not the usual dishes you would find at a typical local Chinese takeaway, which to me, is not a true representation of Chinese food. Has a section on essential equipment and also on drinks which gives information on tea, rice wine and distilled spirits. The only other cook book besides this one which I have found to be excellent is called "The Food Of China" (Murdoch Books) which is a large hardback. The recipes in this have also been written by Deh-Ta Hsiung along with Nina Simonds Definately a book to have as well, although you will find a few of the recipes will be in both books. In no way a problem though. There is no authors name on the cover, just the names of who wrote the recipes on the inside of the sleeve at the back. Anyway, if you want an excellent reference book with fantastic authentic recipes, "The Chinese Kitchen" is highly recommended. A cook book like no other.

Perfect for anybody wanting to cook Chinese food
It can be intimidating going to an Asian supermarket for the first time, but this book does a fabulous job of taking away the mystery. It is clearly divided into different ingredients and explains the origins and what to look for when purchasing it, as well as many other useful bits of information. Each ingredient also has a few recipes so that you can sample various ways of cooking with that ingredient.

This is my primary resource when cooking Chinese food. I couldn't live without this, and I wouldn't have become familiar with so many wonderful ingredients.

There are some other "Kitchen" books in the same format which I would also suggest: The Middle Eastern Kitchen, The Latin American Kitchen, and the Indian Kitchen.

a fantastic read
what a fantastic read this is. Explains all the essential ingredients needed for truly auhtentic chinese food. Can't wait to start cooking.