Chinese food does not have to appear in little white boxes. Learning to cook Chinese can bring a bit of the exotic to a home kitchen. When cooked at home, the quality of ingredients is not only superior, but can reflect a family's taste preferences. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo is the best guide a student could ask for when it comes to Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking.
Chinese Food at Home – Techniques
Mastering a few cooking techniques, or at least becoming comfortable with them, is key to producing restaurant-quality Chinese food at home. Ms. Lo teaches the basics, such as stir-frying, steaming, poaching, and barbecue. With these skills in tow, there is no Chinese dish a home cook could not reproduce.
The Chinese Market – Shopping for Ingredients
Chinese Cooking is divided into chapters that are based on a Chinese Market. Shopping for the best ingredients is key to getting a good start in producing restaurant-quality Chinese food at home. Learn how to recognize the best products, and become familiar with the ingredients necessary for a quality meal.
Summary
Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking is an impressively-sized book. While the mildly-interested might be discouraged, anyone taking Asian food seriously will appreciate the depth of content offered. Anything tasted in a Chinese restaurant is offered here in recipe form. If that weren't tempting enough, the photographs are absolutely enticing. An excellent, all-encompassing book for a hopeful Chinese cook.
Title: Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking
Author: Eileen Yin-Fei Lo
Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2009, 384 pps., $50.00
ISBN: 978-0-8118-5933-2
Recipe Excerpt:
Shrimp and Ginger Soup
6 Servings
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces extra-large shrimp, 18 shrimp (24 count)
- 5 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup water
- 2 1/2 inch-long piece ginger, peeled and lightly smashed
- 2 scallions, cut on the diagonal into 1/4-inch thick pieces
Directions:
- Peel and de-vein the shrimp, leaving the tail segments intact, then clean them.
- To clean, place in a bowl. Add salt, in a ratio of 2 teaspoons salt per 1 pound shrimp. Using your hands, mix the salt into the shrimp for 1 minute. A bubbly foam will appear on the shellfish. Pour cold water into the bowl, and rub the shrimp to rinse the salt off them. Pour off the water. Repeat the rinsing step twice, to ensure the salt is completely rinsed off. Drain the shrimp in a large strainer placed over a bowl, and then dry them with paper towels. They are now ready to use. Transfer the shrimp to a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of the wine and the white pepper, and toss to coat the shrimp evenly. Allow the shrimp to marinate for 30 minutes.
- While the shrimp are marinating, place the stock, water, and ginger in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium, cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly cracked, and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to high, add the remaining 3 tablespoons wine, and allow the soup to return to a boil. Add the shrimp and their marinade and stir well, then stir in the scallions. When the shrimp turn pink and begin to curl, after 1 minute or less, the soup is ready.
- Turn off the heat, transfer to a heated tureen, and serve.
Further Reading:
Crazy For Crab
A Flash in the Pan Cookbook
Trevy Thomas - After more than a decade of food writing, Trevy Thomas joined Suite 101 as Feature Writer for the Home Décor and Cookbooks ...
