How to Cook and Eat in Chinese

by Yang Chao Buwei, Buwei Yang Chao, Pu-wei Yang Chao

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394717031
• Release Date: April 1972
• Publisher: Vintage Books, A Division of Random House
• Length: 249 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

I have used this cookbook for 35+ years - it's the best one out there !

I have used this book from the beginning of my Chinese cooking adventure and it's the only one I own. I have looked through others and nothing comes close to it's thoroughness in techniques and recipes. Not much else to say, makes Chinese cooking a breeze and fun.

A classic, one of the best for new cooks

I can't believe this classic cookbook is no longer in print. I've replaced mine at least once and it is now literally disintegrating. I might buy an older hardcover instead of another mass market paperback in the hopes of preserving it. This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever come across. I was an overweight "starving student" with no cooking skills when someone gave this to me, and I taught myself to cook *and* lost weight with it in hand. The recipes are utterly non-intimidating. It was written in the 1940's, when Chinese food in the US meant chop suey, so the ingredients and equipment are generally simple, accessible, and economical. The results are healthier and taste better than some of the glop dished out in many a Chinese restaurant. The dishes tend to be presented as a theme and variations--a basic stir fry (Dr. Chao introduced this term into English) is followed by the same recipe with slightly different ingredients. There is no food porn whatsoever--no styled photos, no line drawings, no nothing. Just words. The words are pretty amusing, though. I can't praise this book enough. I've loved it to death a couple of times, and hope to continue.

Delicious Simple Food, Great Insight, Clever Writing

This is by far the best Chinese cook book, still. The recipes are extremely simple and delicious, real home cooking. You just add your knowledge of additional vegetables which have become available since 1963. Along with the recipes comes deep insight into "how to eat in Chinese", and you will understand a great deal more about Chinese meals and Chinese restaurant etiquette after absorbing what Mrs. Chao has to say. The author was the wife of Yuen Ren Chao, the legendary professor of linguistics and mathematics at Berkeley noted for such feats as translating Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" into Chinese, who contributes wry footnotes to the cookbook; the linguistic banter at the Chao dinner table must have been fabulous.

The Real Deal

I had (and well used) this book for years and then lost it in during a series of moves I had to make a couple years ago. Can't wait to have it back on my shelf again. I love Chinese food, and have read and sampled from dozens of Chinese cookbooks over the years, but this is still my favorite. How To Cook And Eat In Chinese is the real deal. It is chock full of simple, no nonsense, homestyle Chinese cooking with the most basic of ingredients you can find anywhere. Almost all the recipes have variations noted, where different vegetables or ingredients can be substituted in the technique. Results have been invariably superb. Forget the fancy, restaurant or holiday banquet style stuff other cookbooks seem addicted to. Simplify your Chinese cooking, and your life. Your pocketbook, taste buds and your stomach will thank you for it.

Just great...

For anyone who wants to learn how to cook Chinese food, this is one of the classics. Written in the late 40's by a Chinese woman doctor, this is the home-style cooking of Anhui province (near Shanghai) adapted for the American home cook. Anhui food is considered "oily but generous in portions", and the protein-based nature of the recipes may seem a bit excessive for those who've gotten used to the spartan usages of contemporary America. Also Ms. Chao's puckishly imperfect English and frequent coinages sometimes get in the way -- I puzzled over the term "leaking ladle" until I found out it meant "slotted spoon", which is what I had been using. Still, she coined the term "stir-fry"...what more do you want? I hope this book comes back into print...I've almost worn out my current copy!