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Rating: 
Summary: Turn your kitchen into a Chinese restaurant!
Review: At last, here are recipes for some of our favorite dishes from every-day, non-gourmet Chinese restaurants! Among these are Lemon Chicken, Chicken Chow Mein, Sweet & Sour Pork, Kung-Pao Chicken, Twice-cooked Pork, and Hot & Sour Soup. You won't find every dish on your favorite restaurant's menu, but there are several good mainstays. On the down side, there are also some recipes for items I've never seen in a Chinese restaurant, like squid and lamb dishes. Also, in a few recipes, the measurements are difficult to translate, like "1/3 pint of chicken stock (200 ml)"...how much is that in cups? But most recipes are fairly simple and easy to follow. Overall the book is very thorough, covering specialty Chinese ingredients, cooking equipment & methods, and even authentic Chinese serving and drinking customs. I bought the book hoping to be able to re-create my favorite Chinese take-out dishes at home, and there are enough recipes for these that I am satisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful insight but lacking otherwise
Review: I've been looking for a cookbook on american chinese restaurant cooking. I had thought this was the one. It's not. HOWEVER, if you tweak the recipes a bit you can get good results.
Their chow mein is made with pan fried noodles, which would make it a lo mein. Their sweet and sour is immensely more sour than sweet. My brother who can handle just about anything didn't like it. And there were only about ten recipes out of at least seventy that were truly something as a main entree in an american chinese restaurant, but they weren't exact.
The good side of this book; it teaches the basic format of how to cook chinese correctly, so you can go through any recipe you find else where and change it to fit. There's a seasoned oil, a basic stock, an egg/flour batter for deep frying and how to marinate meat correctly. These make a big difference in the flavor of what you get.
It's worth it to learn how to cook correctly. But don't trust the ingredients if you're use to the chinese restaurant that serves bright red sweet and sour and chow mein that has more vegetables than meat.
Rating: 
Summary: Get it now!
Review: This is an essential book - don't let the unknown author and the low price fool you.This book is the only book I've found to have the proper marinades. That is a good part of the battle of Chinese cooking. The book also contains the correct cutting instructions. If you are just starting out, or an advanced Chinese cook, you need this book on your shelf. The recipes are reliable and consistent. The technique that this teaches you is just as indispensible as La Methode! My only regret is that the publisher cheaped out on illustrations - a few good colour plates would be a welcome addition.
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