Rating: 
Summary: Tradition and Cooking in One
Review: I am humbled by the eleoquence of some of the reviews already in the database. I am particularly comforted by those written by the Chinese that have been born and raised in America who are sympathetic with her desire to preserve her hustory as well as record good recipes. I am ready to start cooking.
Rating:
Summary: The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen: Classic Family Recipes
Review: I bought this cookbook about 6 months ago. When I finished reading the book, I immediately sent an e-mail to the author thanking her for her work in this book. I also watched the CBS Sunday Morning Special about this cookbook. I ,too,was a Chinese immigrant and learning cooking from watching my dad and mom without any measurement of the "stuff" you put in a dish. Often as I cook, I do not measure the ingredients. Many of my American friends want the reciepes of the dishes I cook and too often I am too lazy to write them down. Now, I have Ms. Young to thank you for writing this cookbok. Many of the fine reciepes in this cookbook I shared with my Amercian friends. They too have read and said they enjoy the history and the philosophy of the Chinese cooking. I would recommended this book for anybody who is learning about Chinese cooking. This cookbook by far are on my number one list of the chinese cookbook of this decade. Oh, by other way(Ms. Young), the most frequent reciepes that I shared with American friends is "Tomato Beef." Your brother was right! (You should not omit this receipe.)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Philosophy, Traditions and Recipes
Review: I feel that Grace Young have put together an excellent cook book with history of cooking recipes from her large families. Its a great reading book, with all its old traditions. She has captured all the generations, and generations of our ancestors very unique and techniques in preparations of the Chinese meal. Cooking a Chinese meal means to put in a lot of time and preparations. This brings back lots of old memories of myself helping and cooking with my mother. We learned at a very young age to mainly help prepared if not the actual cooking, which sometimes its more important than the actual cooking the meal. For this is the art of preparing that Grace Young have actually describe in her book. I aso enjoyed the selected topics of each chapter of the book, especially the one on chapter 3, "The Meaning Of Rice" is very interesting and to the point of what is important in a Chinese meal. Its a great book to have and to keep with all its philosophy, traditions and great and simple recipes that I think anyone can follow. "The Wisdon Of The Chinese Kitchen" have been very well written and put together for easy and enjoyable reading, and of course the simplicity of her recipes. Great job Grace.
Rating:
Summary: Traditions revisited
Review: I have just received this book from Amazon and am enjoying it. It is such a pity that old recipes are lost in time and never recorded. One oftens hears someone say that they wish that they had a certain family recipe.I think that the author has done an excellent job. In time when we go back to good old fashion healthy cooking instead of fast foods these books will be there for us. The author must be congratulated!
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Summary: Growing up Chinese
Review: I just read the book and it brings back a lot of memories. All the smells from my grandparents kitchen reminds of how it use to be. Like Grace Young, I was an ABC or toe zhou in the chinese language. I was taught the chinese way and remember it. Even though I moved to a different part of the state, I would call my mom long distance for help when cooking a traditional chinese meal. She would tell me in chinese and I had to understand what she was saying or else the dish will not turn out right. Since then I got married and my husband who is part chinese and filipino, we combine our cooking skills and let our family members try our cooking. We get great reviews. So thank you Grace Young for writing a book about chinese cooking and how important family is.
Rating:
Summary: Best cookbook of the year
Review: I own over 300 cookbooks and this one has vaulted into my "top 10 of all time" due to Ms. Young's lovely balance of well-written memoir, in-depth cultural, technique & ingredient information, and wonderful, no-compromise recipes. _The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen_ ranks with the best works by Wolfert, Field, Kaspar, Thorne, etc. - books that are more than mere "cookbooks" but reveal some of the soul of the cuisine/culture in question. And did I mention that the recipes actually *work*? ;-) Thank you Ms. Young!
Rating:
Summary: A treasure for the Chinese
Review: I read through the whole cookbooks and enjoyed finding truth about cookign which I had never known. My father is an excellent cook himself. However, he passed away before he could ever taught me the "how". I owned a lot of Chinese cookbooks plus over 10 years of recipes clips from Chinese Newspaper. The hardest things to find in the Chinese food's recipes are the secrets to cook a perfect dish. Every bits of information are usually given approximately without actual measurements and the explainations of how and why a dish will fail. I learned a lot of valuable cooking techniques from this book and quite a bit of the art of cooking. This book is for the Chinese who grow up in the United States and people who love cooking!
Rating:
Summary: A delicious tribute to the author's Chinese heritage
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The recipes were very clear. I particularly liked the thoroughness of the definitions & explanations of ingredients for the Western cook. It makes finding the ingredients in an Asian market easy & accessible. The author's memoirs were charming & I loved the way she spoke about her parents' honoring & celebrating the process of cooking. There is so much emphasis on speed & results in America today, we forget about honoring the processes of life. All in all a lovely read & very refreshing.
Rating: 
Summary: Singapore WHAT????
Review: I was thoroughly enjoying this generally delightful book - while forgiving the author her slightly flowery homage to the roots she herself confesses she can't quite reach. Until I reached Page 32, that is! The recipe there is for a dish known in Hong Kong as Singapore Noodles that is neither Singaporean nor truly Chinese but a Hong Kong concoction that probably originated from a need to give the British colonials something to eat that looked Chinese but satisfied their Raj-inspired craving for curry. Despite the author's assertion that it is sold in almost every restaurant in Singapore, it is sold in NO restaurant in Singapore and in fact is a standing joke among Singaporeans in Hong Kong. As far as I can tell it is found nowhere outside Hong Kong and enclaves of Hong Kong emigres. Has Grace Young ever been to Singapore? If so, someone of her culinary expertise would know that few if any of the enormous variety of dishes known there in English as curries are made with Madras Curry Powder - another colonial invention - but with a lovingly blended rempah of herbs and spices that is unique for almost every dish. I refuse to believe that "Singapore Noodles" was ever a staple of a three-generation American-Chinese family with its roots in mainland Guangdong. Its inclusion in a volume with the pretensions of this one is an appalling gaffe that calls into question the authenticity of the entire book, and which I suspect does it an injustice. Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen? Classic Family Recipes? Singapore Noodles? What a joke! The author and publishers should ensure the item is withdrawn from future editions, to avoid becoming a laughing-stock.
Rating:
Summary: Singapore WHAT????
Review: I was thoroughly enjoying this generally delightful book - while forgiving the author her slightly flowery homage to the roots she herself confesses she can't quite reach. Until I reached Page 32, that is! The recipe there is for a dish known in Hong Kong as Singapore Noodles that is neither Singaporean nor truly Chinese but a Hong Kong concoction that probably originated from a need to give the British colonials something to eat that looked Chinese but satisfied their Raj-inspired craving for curry. Despite the author's assertion that it is sold in almost every restaurant in Singapore, it is sold in NO restaurant in Singapore and in fact is a standing joke among Singaporeans in Hong Kong. As far as I can tell it is found nowhere outside Hong Kong and enclaves of Hong Kong emigres. Has Grace Young ever been to Singapore? If so, someone of her culinary expertise would know that few if any of the enormous variety of dishes known there in English as curries are made with Madras Curry Powder - another colonial invention - but with a lovingly blended rempah of herbs and spices that is unique for almost every dish. I refuse to believe that "Singapore Noodles" was ever a staple of a three-generation American-Chinese family with its roots in mainland Guangdong. Its inclusion in a volume with the pretensions of this one is an appalling gaffe that calls into question the authenticity of the entire book, and which I suspect does it an injustice. Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen? Classic Family Recipes? Singapore Noodles? What a joke! The author and publishers should ensure the item is withdrawn from future editions, to avoid becoming a laughing-stock.
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