Rating: 
Summary: A couple of lengthy comments on this book.
Review: A couple of points.
I dug this book out again because I needed some inspiration on what to do with a $17 pork loin roast. Score! In the 'marinades' chapter, there are 13 pork marinade recipes. But. There are eight marinades for barbecued spareribs. And four for roast chicken. AND THAT'S IT. There are no marinades for seafood, none for vegetables, and none for just 'beef'. There is one brief paragraph on p. 704 (five lines!) about the 'large and important part' that marinades play in Chinese cooking, but no comment on whether the marinade recipes she gives might be successfully interchanged, or how they might be modified for vegetables, other meats or tofu. A little more information here would have been tremendously helpful, given how 'important' the author purports marinades to be.
The thing that really motivated me to post this little review-let, though, is the fact that the author or her editors did something pretty sloppy. She lists an ingredient with no discussion of what it is! In the recipe for 'Sugar-Soy Marinade', which is on p. 717 of the 1984 Fireside Edition, she notes at the end of the recipe: "variation: add 2 tablespoons of catsup ..." In the Asian cuisines 'catsup' means something different everywhere one goes. So I check the index for 'catsup'. Nothing. Then I check the ingredient glossary. Nothing. I look under 'Sauces'. Nothing.
So. In 1966, when the book first came out, were cooks reaching for the bottle of Heinz? In 2005, is the 16-year-old wanting to impress his or her friends reaching for the bottle of Heinz? Is that ok in this context? The author never mentions it one way or the other. The author also invokes 'chili sauce' in some of her recipes, without emphasizing the distinction between the Chinese varieties and the American variety. Chili sauce is explained in the ingredient glossary, and is listed in the index. But if the cook doesn't ask the question, he or she really could reach for the tomato product in the pantry. This book was intended to be an introductory text for a 1966 American audience (x). It falls short of this goal for *any* audience.
I will be exploring this book further so that I might benefit from its merits (it cost me twenty bucks!). It certainly helped me out with the pork roast. However, I *cannot* recommend it to the complete beginner *as a purchase*, even in today's world where Asian cuisine is so much more familiar than it was in 1966. And if you need a recipe for a pork marinade, go ahead and check the book out of the library!
Rating: 
Summary: An invaluable classic!
Review: As another reviewer noted, this book is a sort of "Chinese Joy of Cooking." For years, those two books were the only two cookbooks I owned--and I owned this one before the Joy. The recipes are very simple to prepare, and are uniformly delicious. Try the recipe for Almond Cookies--a world apart from the dried-out ones you'll get after a meal in some Chinese restaurants! Between the Joy of Cooking, The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook, and Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, you could eat well for the rest of a very long life.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning achievement, Gloria got it all in one book!
Review: Gloria Bley Miller shows her love of Chinese cuisene and its techniques throughout every page of this book. There are examples of every type of cooking along with many examples of substitutions so that you learn the art of Chinese cooking as you progress through the many recipes. I have been using this book as the mainstay of my Chinese kitchen and library. P My family and neighbors have all developed a taste for Chinese food now that I mainly cook in that tradition. Some of our Asian friends wouldn't believe at first that an American had cooked these dishes; they wanted to know who really cooked them. P So a tip of the hat and profound thanks to Gloria for introducing me to living to eat in a never ending adventure of the wonderful tastes awaiting in every menu new and old of this fascinating art of cooking that has spanned centuries in development. P If I could only keep one book in my cooking library, this would be it. Not just for all the valuable information in the book, but also for the fact that Gloria is a great teacher , in that the information and experience end up in your own cooking. P This is the only one out of many Chinese cookbooks I now have where all the pages are falling out from heavy use. I almost hate to buy a new one, this one is like an old friend and has notes on many of the pages
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference book of the most common dishes
Review: I am a first generation chinese-american and love cooking. I bought the book hoping to get a good reference book. I do most of the cooking and was hoping there would be some of the more exotic dishes. The book provides a solid basis for beginners, but it doesn't contain regional dishes that one can find in china town in SF or monterey park in CA. If you're looking for taiwanese, cantonese or schzwan favorites, they're not in this book.
But then again, those dishes (dan dan mien, da bien, wonton noodle soup) are not typically served at your local chinese restaurant outside of CA or NY. If you're looking for an introduction to chinese cooking and don't particularly care to adventure into the exotic regional dishes, this book will serve you well. If you're a food nut like me, it will serve as a nice reference. If you want cookbooks that cover regional recipes, look at your local asian marke, they may have chinese cookbooks which also have english.
Rating:
Summary: This is a very good cookbook
Review: I am not chinese or oriental in any form; however, I do cook Chinese food all the time, as my children obviously think they are from China (smile). As I own several Chinese cookbooks, this is by far the best Chinese cookbook that I own, and I am the 'Chinese Chef' for my church, as anything that we do with a Chinese flair, I am the chief person that is over the whole banquet, as we can serve anywhere from 50-500 people at a time. I have even been approached to open up a catering business specializing in the cuisine, but have thought against it, primairly because I am not Chinese, as it looks perculiar for an African-American to own a Chinese restaurant 'tsk. Be it as it may, some of the recipes can be 'tailored' to your taste, but for someone that knows NOTHING about the art at all, this is a wonderful book to start with, and customize and 'add to' as you desire.
Rating:
Summary: This is a very good cookbook
Review: I am not chinese or oriental in any form; however, I do cook Chinese food all the time, as my children obviously think they are from China (smile). As I own several Chinese cookbooks, this is by far the best Chinese cookbook that I own, and I am the 'Chinese Chef' for my church, as anything that we do with a Chinese flair, I am the chief person that is over the whole banquet, as we can serve anywhere from 50-500 people at a time. I have even been approached to open up a catering business specializing in the cuisine, but have thought against it, primairly because I am not Chinese, as it looks perculiar for an African-American to own a Chinese restaurant 'tsk. Be it as it may, some of the recipes can be 'tailored' to your taste, but for someone that knows NOTHING about the art at all, this is a wonderful book to start with, and customize and 'add to' as you desire.
Rating:
Summary: 1000 Reasons to Own 1000 Recipes!
Review: I can remember very clearly the evening I fell in love with Chinese cuisine. I was about 6 years old and my father was graduating from law school. Our whole family gathered at a fancy Chinese restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, for a feast such as my young eyes had never seen before. I was thrilled with the unusual dishes that arrived at our table in a steaming, colorful stream of aroma and artistry. I drank endless cups of hot, black tea loaded with sugar that I was allowed to pour myself(!) and watched with glee as wontons were heaped into my bowl and long, lacquered chopsticks were handed to me to attack my plate with...the main course for me was a beef and tomato delight that I can still smell...when I close my eyes and try... Many years later, in 1984, I was overjoyed when the first wonderful printing of 'The 1000 Recipe Chinese Cookbook' took place. Finally, I had found a much-needed guide on how to capture the perfection of Chinese sauces, techniques, and menus with ease. Up to that time, all that seemed available were anemic, predictable books on the most basic of Chinese dishes (sweet & sour soup, etc.), and even then, the ingredients had been so 'westernized' that the resulting dishes never tasted quite right---just not authentic. Until Gloria Miller authored her impressive cookbook, no one seemed to understand the real needs of a cook when preparing Chinese dishes. Gloria dispels the mystery and confusion surrounding this traditional cuisine and gives us very easy approaches to mastering simple techniques and using ordinary kitchen tools to achieve perfect results. Gloria aims for delicious, distinctive results--whether you are a beginning cook, or a student of the culinary arts, your results will be the same, as were mine--magnificent! This book is so much more than a volume of tremendous recipes--it is a Bible of Chinese cuisine, made visually excellent with Earl Tollander's illustrations. They add a charm that only pen and ink sketches can provide. You will also appreciate the concise organization of its contents; the recipes are separated from the books' second section about the background of the Chinese diet and its regional variations. Finally, just like a good meal ending with a great dessert, the third and last section covers supplementary information such as setting a Chinese table, stir-frying tips, Chinese teas, using chopsticks and much, much more. The 1000 Recipe Chinese Cookbook is essential to all who love Chinese food and can do a little something in the kitchen. It would make a terrific housewarming or wedding gift--and it will never become outdated. When you buy it, try the recipe on page 474--'Deep Fried Lobster and Vegetables.' It's my favorite!
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive variations and superb illustrations
Review: I cherish my stained and battered early edition from 1970. The author has an unusual and very useful presentation of recipes: first the basic version and then a list of multiple suggestions for variations. The intimate and affectionate line drawings by Earl Thollander of tools, ingredients and people make this an exceptional book.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and excellent
Review: I have a few Chinese cookbooks and if I had to choose just one this would be it. Most impressive is the breadth of recipes - about every combination of beef, chicken, seafood, vegetables, etc. Also, it's got very good and complete info on ingredients and techniques. I highly recommend this cookbook.
Rating:
Summary: GET THIS BOOK!
Review: I knew very little about Chinese Cookery; however, the information that I learned from this book is priceless and I have since become pretty good at it, to the point that whenever there is a dinner at our church, everybody wants 'Ms Pam' to make enough Chinese food for 300 people, as EVERYONE likes it. I must say; however, that some of the recipes I modified slightly to fit taste and style; nevertheless, if the only thing you know about Chinese is how to spell the word, then by all means, this book is definitely worth every penny as a good place to start. I recommend it highly.
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