Everything You Want to Know about Chinese Cooking

As a Hong Kong Chinese who just moved to the US, I'd say most of the recipes are just like what I had back in Hong Kong, with the exception of the dishes that are "American Chinese". This book was targeted for US readers, so the ingredients and instructions are more in line with Americans. While you may get more authentic ingredients if you can visit Asian markets, say Chinese cooking wine instead of dry Sherry as suggested on the recipes. The details that the author went into are also remarkable.

This book is loaded with outstanding recipe after outstanding recipe (the cover claims it has 243). Many of these recipes are fairly complex to make, but they come out unbelievably tasty. This is the only collection of Chinese recipes I've ever seen that match the taste of similar dishes in the better Chinese restaurants.

Although I have found other books which are nearly as good, this one has been my favorite for several years. The recipes inside mainly have a southern Chinese cooking style and require a fair amount of preparation time (at least if you follow the recipes to the letter). However, I have yet to find a recipe which did not end up in a delicious meal.Like most good Chinese recipe books, the initial sections describe Chinese ingredients (this one lacks pictures) and food preparation techniques (this book contains very nice photo illustrations).The subsequent chapters are organized by entree type (poultry, beef, etc.). Each recipe has a cooking difficulty rating, number served, total preparation/cooking time, and well organized ingredient lists and preparation/cooking instructions.Although this book has been out of print for over five years, it's still available used.