Top 8 Best Chinese Cookbooks Reviews
Table of Contents
Our Top Picks 8 Best Chinese Cookbooks
A quote reads “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” Yes, some people really love books and they cannot imagine spending days without books. When this is the case of some people, some are highly particular about reading books that belong to a specific genre. If you are a person interested in cooking and wish to try Chinese cuisine, you know that a Chinese cookbook can come as a handy tool for you. As you wish to learn Chinese recipe, here are the top 10 books of our choice:
#1 The Food of Sichuan
This book has been written by Fuchsia Dunlop with 200 Chinese recipes and stunning photographs to entice the cook in you.
This book is a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Award in 2020, which is an international recognition for this book. Further, the book has got many honors.
The same author wrote a book on Sichuanese Cooking around a couple of decades ago. It was a great hit. Now, she has written this book following her revisit to the region with new twists. So, you should give it a try.
From this book, home cooks like you will learn how to re-create classics like Gong Bao Chicken, Twice-Cooked Pork and Mapo Tofu.
Most readers of this book feel that this is a book that is meant for both novice and expert cooks.
#2 Easy Chinese Cookbook: Restaurant Favorites Made Simple
Nowadays, Chinese restaurants are present across the world. If you have tried in a few of them, you might be interested in making some of these dishes right in your kitchen. This book from Chris Toy can help you with this:
In addition to providing you with authentic recipes, this book will also help you with finding the ingredients easily from the supermarket near you. Also, the combination platters will help you make the choice of ingredients as per your taste in different occasions.
To make sure that you will learn to cook faster, the book will provide you with cooking shortcuts. Easy and delicious recipes will help you create lingering dishes in your home.
You will learn how to make staples like Egg rolls, crab Rangoon and General Tso’s Chicken with step-by-step instructions. The way the book has been written makes it suitable even for beginners. This Chinese recipe book will walk you through a typical Chinese American pantry.
Many readers feel this to be a compact and colorful cookbook with instructions that are really easy to follow and understand.
#3 Essential Wok Cookbook
From the author Naomi Imatome-Yun, this book has all the recipes that you need to prepare a Chinese food right from the comfort of your home.
Without those extra salt, MSG or oil used in Chinese restaurants, you can prepare those traditional Chinese dishes by learning the recipes from this book.
We should eat to live healthy. So, this book suggests the best tips to swap ingredients to make every dish healthy for your family. So, you can try this Chinese food book with confidence.
The author has given step-by-step instructions on how to fold a wonton, egg roll and dumping. Even, she has written some fun features about the origin of each dish she has shared. Recipe labels in this book will help you with Selecting the recipe based on the available time and budget.
Many readers feel that this is a book to get delicious and authentic recipes. Others feel that this book introduces people to the world of healthy work cooking.
#4 Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge
You know that stir-frying is a method of cooking that can make the ingredients not just delicious but also tender. It is also the key to tasty and quick meals.
If you wish to serve more people with fewer ingredients, then this book from Grace Young will teach you how to do it. This book has been created by the author as an authentic guide to stir-frying. This is a popular cooking method that helps with making delicious dishes.
For being an authoritative guide to stir-frying, this book has won the James Beard Foundation Award for International Cooking in the year 2011. So, you should get a copy and read it.
The author of this book Grace Young is an award-winning author. She has shared more than 100 classic stir-frying recipes. The book mainly teaches Cantonese stir-fry recipes.
Many readers of this Chinese cookbook claim that this is a complete guide to stir-frying offered in a single package.
#5 Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking
Again, this book is from the award-winning author Fuchsia Dunlop. The author being a trained chef in one of the leading Sichuan Cooking Schools has written this book with clear cooking instructions.
Again, the author of this book has a great ability to write each recipe clearly. She has written this book after her two popular books on Sichuan and Hunan Cooking. Like earlier, she has never disappointed her readers.
Most recipes given in this book are easy-to-make. So, you need not have to feel concerned about more time-consuming recipes.
The recipes in this book are more focused on including more vegetables in the diet. The emergency late-night noodles from this book will help you to keep hunger pranks at bay.
Most users feel that the author Fuchsia has a unique ability to share an encyclopedia knowledge of Chinese cuisine in a totally delicious and compelling way. They feel that the same trend has been followed by the author in this book as well.
#6 Chinese Takeout Cookbook
This book from author Lina Chang will make your cooking for Chinese takeout dishes with ease.
With many different options available when it comes to Chinese takeout dishes, you might be wondering why this is the right book for you. Here are some reasons to consider:
You need not have to go in search for Chinese restaurants near you. You can just use this book to prepare delicious Chinese takeout dishes right at the comfort of your home.
You will get to know the following things from this book:
- Fulfilling rice dishes and Chinese noodles like Yang Chow Fried Rice and Pork Chow Mein.
- Desserts including the Mango Pudding or the classic fortune cookies
- Traditional Chinese soups like Sour or hot soup and Wonton Soup
These are just a few examples as you will become an expert in Chinese recipes with this book handy.
Many readers feel that this book from Lina Chang is not just fun to read, but also the recipes easy to cook.
#7 Myers+Chang at Home
The good thing about this book is that it has been written by two authors. It means that from this cookbook, you will get to see and learn recipes from author Joanne Chang and Karen Akunowicz.
If you are in Boston, you might have visited Myers+Chang for sure. This book is a must-have if you wish to taste those delicious foods served in this restaurant right from the comfort of your home.
You might be aware that the award-winning chef Joanna Chang is popular for her sticky buns at the Boston’s Flour Bakery. However, her talents nearly doubled when she married the most popular restaurateur Christopher Myers. They together tried different dishes in their home. Soon they realized that no one is serving foods like those dishes that they prepare in their home. So, they created the Myers +Chang restaurant. With more than a decade, this restaurants has been serving successfully. From this book, you can learn the dishes that are served in this restaurant.
Many readers of this book state that after they got this book, they are no more ordering Chinese takeout dishes. They are just making them in their home more hygienically.
#8 The Healthy Wok Chinese Cookbook
If you are interested in making tasty and healthy Chinese food yourself? The Healthy Wok Chinese Cookbook from author Charmaine Ferrara is a must-have.
The recipes in this book use low sugar and sodium. Further, without any MSG and deep fryer recipes, you will also get heart-healthy oil recipes. In the present situation, most of us wish to have tasty and healthy foods. You can learn such dishes from this book.
You will get a complete wok walk-through. Also, the 88 favorite recipes will help you make innovation in your cooking every day. You will learn recipes, where you stir-fry ingredients, and do not deep-fry.
Every reader of this book feels that it should turn out to be a kitchen staple for any person trying to make a Chinese recipe.
Conclusion
Cooking can turn out to be a real fun when we make things in order. From our review of the books stated above, we feel that the book “The Food of Sichuan” written by the award-winning author Fuchsia Dunlop is the best in many ways. Right from how the recipe is explained to the availability of ingredients in the local supermarket, this is a book to try.
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