Chinese Snacks

I LOVE the wei-chuan series of cookbooks. They are billingual and in my opinion the best Chinese cookbooks! I collect cookbooks and have american printed Chinese cookbooks from the 1970's to the present. Even the ones written by Chinese are adapted to suit the American palate in most cases. These cookbooks are terrific though! The recipes are all very close to my auntie's and grandmother's recipes and techniques. I love the photos guiding you through difficult steps. In this book- you'll find all the goodies you get in chinatown. i've tried out a lot of the recipes and they TASTE like the ones in chinatown! (uh- that would be a good thing!) I love the variety in this book; buns savory and sweet, moon cakes, egg tarts (dontots- the best thing in the world straight out of the oven!), dim sum- shui mai- har gao (that shrimp dumpling that everyone always orders) , jung taes- the Chinese burrito, sesame balls (I've burned my both of my hands entirely with hot oil- trying to make these puff so be CAREFUL!), you tiau those sticks of greasy bread that my mom refers to as a chinese donut for some reason, those gorgeous pastry flowers that look impossible to make but are surprisingly simple... okay this is just an amazing book and you will amaze yourself when you make your first snack. (so what if it looks completely different from the picture- the taste is still the same!!!)

Many of the snacks in here are simply delicious and the recipes include large full-color photo of the results as well as photos of any complex procedure. The instructions are clear and in both Chinese and English. The only down-fall is that many recipes are very time-consuming or include ingredients that aren't found in a regular supermarket. Also a few recipes in here could be considered full-fledged main dish items, which is not bad, but could be confusing because of the title.All of the recipes are authentic and incredibly fantastic. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to start cooking authentic Chinese food.

A fantastic selection of sweet and savory recipes and easily my favorite new cookbook.Ingredients are generally easy to find and the author's instructions are clear, except when the process is inherently complex (e.g., pleating dumplings), but this has more to do with aesthetics than the success of the recipes. I've made several of the steamed dumplings and a few of the deep fried recipes with great success. The nice thing about having solid recipes such as these is that you can then experiment with whatever is in the fridge, e.g., making shau mai using fresh corn instead of wonton wrappers.The book cover is coated in thick plastic for easy cleanup, the large pictures show how the dish should look, and the smaller pictures along the book's spine are helpful, although I wish there was a video that showed the entire process.I actually bought this book for just one recipe: xiao loong bao (translated as "Little Juicy Steamed Buns" in the book), which burst with broth in your mouth and are especially nice with chinkiang vinegar. The problem is that for a klutz like me, perfectly pleating 1" dumplings is no easy task (if you want to see this done by a master, watch the title sequence of the film "Eat Drink Man Woman").

This is one of my most cherished cookbooks! Just leafing through and seeing all the glorious photographs sets my mouth watering and inspires me to cook up one of these wonderful comfort foods, many of which I grew up with. The number and variety of Chinese snacks presented here is astounding, and the recipes are so absolutely authentic and well-tested, you cannot go wrong. Everything I have made has been utterly delectable.The recipe selection is amazingly comprehensive. Included, of course, are the myriad varieties of buns and dumplings served at Cantonese dim sum or sold at Chinese bakeries in Chinatown. But the recipes go beyond that to present the whole gamut of comfort foods traditionally eaten at meals and as snacks in various regions of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Included are the famous eight-treasure rice pudding and other molded puddings; Beijing-style crullers and sesame flatbreads eaten dunked in soy milk; steamed wheat-flour cakes and rice-flour cakes; deep-fried wheat-flour and rice-flour fritters and dumplings; baked, filled pies and turnovers, both savory and sweet; the famous won ton soup and other savory soups; sweet soups of rice dumplings, beans, taro, tapioca, almonds, etc., served hot or cold; varieties of egg rolls and bean-curd rolls; different regional varieties of moon cakes; steamed bread puddings; steamed bamboo-leaf-wrapped packages of savory meat, vegetables, and rice; the famed egg tarts and coconut tarts; cookies traditionally made for festivals and celebrations. . . . I could go on and on. In short, this cookbook is simply the best collection of favorite comfort foods out there and well worth owning!

A Chinese friend recommended this book and the Chinese Cuisine companion. We have tried a number of the recipes and they come out tasting just like a good Dim Sum "snack" in San Francisco.The recipes are especially well organized: the sets of ingredients are grouped and numbered, so it is easy to follow them. Good color pictures show exactly what you would see on a Dim Sum cart, so you don't have to know the name for sure. Every cookbook should be this well designed!The text is in both English and Chinese.