Chinese Cooking for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: A good first chinese cooking book
Review: This isn't the most extensive chinese cooking book. And if you are an experienced asian cook this will not be helpful. But it has been very useful to me in getting me started. There are lists of things to buy, and advice on ingredients and utensils. There is not a lot in the way of illustration.

The recipes are items that I have eaten in a lot of Chinese restaurants, which is why it is so useful. I already know how the dish is supposed to taste, so I can judge the outcome against a taste I already know. It also helps to familiarize myself with what the various ingredients bring to a dish so that I can modify it to make it more pungent or spicy or bland depending on what I feel like eating. That's what makes it such a good beginning book. It gives you a base to expand from.

The book is written in a light hearted manner, Martin Yan likes puns and makes a lot of them. I like this book and will probably use it for a while to come until I am ready for more exotic recipes.