Simple Chinese Cooking

This really is Simple Chinese Cooking and the recipes work for me.

Book arrived promptly and well packaged. Recipes look inviting and looking forward to trying them. Great price

Although I am a fairly proficient home cook, Chinese cooking was a mystery to me. I adored eating it and lamented that I didn't know how to make it. I found Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking at the library and tried it out, risk free. Things I loved:1) Kylie suggests specific brands when it comes to each sauce in the glossary (oyster, hoisin, etc.) These sauces are essential to the recipes, and it's so great having someone to navigate the aisles of the Chinese market with.2) If you follow the recipes to the word, you will create a wonderful dish. Meaning, her recipes work. They are tried and true!3) Consistency. This book uses several of the same ingredients with slight variations. You will feel like you're creating something totally different every time, but in the process you'll see how the flavors work together and get an understanding of the chemistry of flavors behind Chinese cooking. That's why this book was great for a beginner like me.My favorites include the steamed fish with Szechuan peppercorn and sesame oil, the fish poached in soy broth, the Szechuan chicken salad, the prawn wontons in soup, stir-fried omelette with ginger and scallions, and the Mongolian beef. I can't tell you how satisfying it was to create incredibly satisfying Chinese food at home with grass fed beef and free range chicken.

Great cook book as intro to Chinese cooking

I found this book to be very well written indeed. As a Chinese I am pretty fussy about Chinese food and I find myself very happy with Kylie's recipes and approach. The stress on fresh ingredients and fresh preparation is the cornerstone to great tasting Asian food, and Kylie imposes that discipline throughout the book. You might want to experiment with sauce proportions- some might want to tweak degree of saltiness and taste. Remember, Chinese food ingredients do not scale up or down linearly, so you need to experiment when scaling up or down a meal. For American readers, you will notice differences in naming cuts of meats and some ingredients- not a big deal, just look it up on the internet. On the whole, a great book and it will continually be a useful reference for me.Jan 16 2009 Update: Still using it and loving it! We've tried many recipes and have our favorites.