The Essential Wok Cookbook

This is absoultely one cookbook that everyone should own. We own the entire series and there is no other cookbook like it. There are beautiful pictures for every recipe and the recipes are very unique, interesting, and delicious. Several recipes will suggest ingredients that may be difficult or expensive to find but the recipes can also be simplified. My husband loves to cook and looooves this entire series of cookbooks. This cookbook will help any chef tap into their creativity and explore their passion for cooking and take it to a new level.

This is a fantastic cookbook. Period. While many of the recipes in this book are not truly authentic, there is a good mix of true authentic and "Americanized" recipes. What's great about this book are details and the quality of recipes in this book. Kor example, the Kung-Pao recipe calls for the chicken to be marninated in a solution on corn flour, eggs, seasame oil, and Shaozing Wine. This is exactly how a true Chinese Chef would make this dish. I know this, because I am an Asian-American chef/restaurant owner. The book covers various recipes styles of cuisine ranging from Japanese to Indian, each style with its own chapter. This book has also a great deal of usable recipes which are very applicable in a restaurant exvironment, since everything is easy to make. The book also has great photographs and goes into good detail about specific ingredients used for each recipe. Too many books fail to mention specific brands of sauces and spices used to make each dish. There is a big difference between "Sweet Soy Sauce" and "Kepcap Manis Brand ABC Sweet Soy." This can make all of the difference when you want your dishes to taste not only authentic, but good. Great Cookbook.

Having lived in Southeast Asia for six years, I am able to recognize authentic Southeast Asian flavor, but until I received this book as a gift, I did not know how to cook any of the meals I remember. Though this book has great-tasting authentic dishes, it explains the various ingredients and cooking methods so well that anyone can cook like a true Southeast Asian!

I am not really a cook but I tried wok cooking just to try it. After a couple of wok books, I found The Essential of Wok Cookbook. Now this is the only one I use. It has everything you need. The recepts are very clear for even a novice like me. There are a lot of very different spices, sauces, and other things needed in Asian wok cooking. This book has great sections to explain all of them. The pictures of the receipts are wonderfull, you can almost taste the food. The book takes you from how to buy wok and the other tools needed through more complicated receipts. It has a star system to show how easy or hard the recepts are. It gives the total prep and cook time for each receipt and they are pretty accurate. I have tried about 20 receipts so far and they all have been great. It is also just beauitifully printed book with lots of pictures. If you need a wok cookbook this is the only one you will need.