Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook

It has so many recipes and in good shape but it was not the updated version as advertised. I was disappointed.

I love this cookbook.has alot of great Asian recipe's in it from all over.

It is hard to be more complementary than the previous reviewers. Before I bought this book I searched for the most comprehensive asian cook book. It was better than I expected. There are not only over 800 recipes, but there are an incredible amount of full color pictures that show many of the recipes... very helpful for the cook that likes experimenting with new and authentic foods! Also, the recipes are explicit and have ingredients that you can find in the local chinese grocer (or indian, etc.) Excellent explanations of cooking techniques and ingredients. If you could get just one book on asian cooking (which includes chinese, indian, sri lankan, vietnamese, etc.) this would be it!I highly recommend this book.

I received this cookbook over the holidays, after noticing it in a bookstore and making it expressly clear I really wanted it. It's sheer size got my attention when sitting on the shelf, and simply looking at the table of contents, and the huge list of types of cuisine covered in the book, made me realize this was definitely something that I would love to have, as it would be a wonderful chance to try new types of food, and expand my cooking horizons. Each country is divided into a seperate section, with the exception of Indian and Pakistani cuisine being grouped together, as she states they are too similar to really be able to seperate. The beginning of each section takes a little time to describe the country, and to show the author's connection to the cuisine from that area - she's spent time working with people from every area, watching and talking to them, to learn their ingredients and cooking methods. And it shows, as after the description, she gets into information on those methods of cooking, how the food is presented, and how it is eaten. She'll also give a list of ingredients very common to the cuisines from that area, things you'll want to keep on hand if you make that type of cuisine often. Each recipe is presented in both it's native name (or English transliteration), along with the English equivalent underneath. The instructions are also nice and clear, making it less likely that there will be confusion during cooking. As Ms Solomon lives in Australia, and the book originates there, there are a number of minor differences in names of ingredients, utensils, and other items. There is a handly little chart in the back of the book to give a "translation" between American and Australian names. Usually this can be figured out quickly, as most of them are not that different. She also states substitutions for certain ingredients. The book tries to balance out the ingredients used in the dishes, sticking as much as possible to authentic ingredients, but listing others for some hard to find items. Those are listed in the book, so if you are able to find them, you can use them instead - and if you're in an area where some of the other ingredients are not available, you'll also see other choices to approximate the flavor and texture of the missing ingredients.