I like chinese soups and I am always looking at cook books.
I like spending time at the bookshops or the library browsing. I find myself ending up looking at 2 kinds of books: cook books and craft books. When I come across a good chinese cooking book I am tempted to buy it. But I have very good self-control and Singapore has great public libraries.*wink*.
After I started working on this website on homemade chinese soups, I gravitate towards soup books, especially chinese soups. I like asian cook books that have good pictures and step-by-step instructions. It really is "a picture paints a thousand words".
When it comes to chinese cooking and if you are not familiar with it, it is good to buy a cook book geared towards beginners and contains lots of pictures of raw ingredients, techniques, cooking tools and final products. They may be more expensive but they make better guides.
I have a couple of favourites and I selected a few titles that I thought are worth the time and money to write about here.
Cooking with Chinese Herbs
Terry Tan
Times Editions; New Ed edition (September 30, 2004)
With 20 cookbooks and 40 over years in the culinary scene under his belt, Terry Tan knows ALOT about chinese cooking.
Not only is this book published so close to home, it is REALLY a very good book for beginners to chinese herbal cooking. It includes:
- a comprehensive list of chinese herbs, described in detail
- an impressive assortment of recipes with simple instructions
- storage suggestions for different chinese herbs (how many cookbooks cover this?)
- mouthwatering photos
Floyd's China
Keith Floyd
Collins (November 2005)
I have always enjoyed watching Floyd on TV, cooking up a storm in someone else's backyard, vineyard, barnyard ...
I didn't catch Floyd's China
The thing going for Floyd in this book was his effort to be as authentic as possible with his chinese dishes. Unlike many chinese cookbooks written by caucasians, he doesn't try to "westernise" the dishes. So, he is forgiven for mistaking Beijing as the representative of China's cuisine.
The second thing going for Floyd's China is a generous list of soup recipes:
- Duck and cabbage soup
- Thick spicy and sour soup
- Pork and tomato soup
- Chicken and ginseng soup
- Fragrant soup with spinach and meatballs
- Bamboo shoot and meatball soup
- Thick mackerel and spinach soup
- Thick beef chinese soup
- Fish noodle soup
- Delicate string noodle soup
- Fillet of beef noodle soup
- Noodle soup with garlic spare ribs
- Noodle soup with beef sate
Last but not least, I find Floyd very endearing in this book.
Swallowing Clouds: A Playful Journey Through Chinese Culture, Language, and Cuisines
Anthony Zee
University of Washington Press; 1 edition (March 2002)
While gathering some facts on wontons, I came across this delightful book titled Swallowing Clouds: A Playful Journey Through Chinese Culture, Language, and Cuisine
It is written by Anthony Zee, a professor of physics at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California. Before you start to think ... how boring (no offence to physics buffs), this book is actually very readable. It was so well received that it was nominated for the James Beard Award and the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award.
The springboard for the book is a chinese restaurant menu. Professor Zee used the entries in the menu to kick off his discussion about chinese cuisine, chinese language and chinese culture. It is chock full of family anecdotes, the epistemology (i.e. origin) of certain chinese characters and of course, the history of chinese food. As I rightly guessed, it includes an entire chapter on wontons (page 67 to 78):
- his family secret recipe for wontons and the wonton soup
- an explanation of the chinese characters making up wonton
- his musings about a saying involving the wontons
Although the book is over 300 pages long, it is a very easy read because Professor Zee's writing is lively and humourous. I only wish that it has more photos. The rather plain cover and use of simple illustrations does not do justice to the fantastic content.
The Asian Cook
Terry Tan
Aurum Press (June 2006)
Okay, the Asian Cook is another Terry Tan's book. But his books are good.
It focuses on cooking tools and techniques. There are handsome photos of tools and food. Representative recipes included. I like the fact that the recipes include the different types of tools used. It is a nice touch. Covers 5 regions in Asia:
- China
- Japan & Korea
- India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka
- IndoChina (Thailand, Vietman, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia)
- Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia & Malaysia)
It covers traditional utensils as well as modern versions. It also include a list of suppliers of these tools in UK, US & Asia.
An extra star for The Asian Cook
This book ends off with a short bibliography and an index. Librarians always see books with indexes and bibliographies in more favourable light because they take effort to compile.
In short, this is a good introduction to the asian kitchen. Not exhaustive but a very good start. Too bad, not many chinese soups recipes are featured here.
Asian Greens: A Full-Color Guide, Featuring 75 Recipes
Anita Loh-Yien Lau
St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition (November 2001)
Anita Loh is a Hong Kong-born food writer and critic currently living in San Francisco.
Asian Greens: A Full-Color Guide, Featuring 75 Recipes
I think it is great for anyone who wants to try chinese cooking. Bring it along to an asian grocery shop and play a game of "spot the vegetable". The asian greens are divided into:
- Leafy & flowering greens
- herbs
- fruit vegetables
- tubers
- beans, fruits & seeds
Recipes included cater to a more western than asian audience.
Because Anita hails from Hong Kong, many of the chinese names of the greens are derived from the cantonese dialect rather than the chinese vernacular which is mandarin. But ample photos of the asian greens and completed dishes compensate for that.
The Shun Lee Cookbook: Recipes from a Chinese Restaurant Dynasty
Michael Tong
William Morrow (2007)
Michael Tong is the owner and executive chef of Shun Lee West and Shun Lee Palace in New York City. The Shun Lee Cookbook is a collection of dishes served at his restaurants.
There are 8 soup recipes such as Hot and sour soup, Shanghai wonton soup, Steamed egg custard soup with clams, Westlake duck soup and Velvet chicken and corn soup. More than 50 color photos of the finished dishes for your reference with an index and suggested stockists where you can get your oriental supplies and kitchenware in the US.
A Spoonful of Ginger : Irresistible Health-Giving Recipes from Asian Kitchens
Nina Simonds
Knopf; 1 edition (April 1999)
A Spoonful of Ginger : Irresistible Health-Giving Recipes from Asian Kitchens won the IACP Julia Child Book Award and the James Beard Foundation Book Award for health in 1999.
In this book, Nina Simonds relates her story about seeing a chinese herbalist in Singapore who diagnosed her as being too yin and ordering 2 warming dishes for her: baked lamb with Chinese wolfberries and a pot of double boiled chicken soup.
Chinese herbal soups can be too different for people who are new to it so Nina Simonds adapted the recipes a bit. This is a good introductory approach.
There are about 200 recipes in this book with a good collection of herbal soups.
That is all I have time for. If there are other great cook books out there, do share them here.
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