Chinese Cooking For Dummies

by Martin Yan

Forget about takeout!

Have you ever had a craving for fried dumplings or hot and sour soup at midnight? Ever wonder how your local Chinese takeout makes their food taste so good―and look so easy to make? Still don’t know the difference between Sichuan, Cantonese, and Mandarin cooking? Discovering how to cook the Chinese way will leave you steaming, stir-frying, and food-styling like crazy! The indescribably delicious cuisine of a fascinating country can finally be yours. And in Chinese Cooking For Dummies, your guide to the wonders and magic of the Chinese kitchen is none other than Martin Yan, host of the award-winning TV show Yan Can Cook . In no time at all, you’ll be up to speed on what cooking tools to use, how to stock your pantry and fridge, and the methods, centuries old, that have made dim sum, Egg Fu Young, Kung Pao Chicken, and fried rice universal favorites. You’ll also be able to: And with over 100 recipes, arranged conveniently like a Chinese menu, Chinese Cooking For Dummies  lets you select from any column in the comfort of your own kitchen...which is when the fun really begins. Imagine putting together your ideal meal from the book’s rich offering of recipes: Chinese Cooking For Dummies gives you all of the basics you’ll need, letting you experience the rich culinary landscape of China, one delicious dish at a time―and all, without leaving a tip!

Genres: Cooking, Cookbooks, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2000

About the author

Martin Yan (Chinese: 甄文達) is a Chinese-born Hong Kong-American chef and food writer. He has hosted his award-winning PBS-TV cooking show Yan Can Cook since 1982.

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Dutch took me to Chinatown to pick up a wok, I noticed that the Wok Shop featured a whole shelf of Martin Yan cookbooks. I thought that they had those out just for the tourists. When I went to the library to research Asian cookbooks, after a few kitchen trials, the Yan recipes stood out by far. They usually require a reasonable number of ingredients and all the particularly Asian things I picked up for them I still use regularly. I am even a fan of fish sauce now. Its smells like armpits, but a little splash in a sauce or broth and voila, it has that j'ne'sais chinese qua.

[Katrinka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still my go-to cookbook for Chinese food. Learning from this book has inspired me to venture to cook from other, more complicated Chinese cook books. When I first married my husband five years ago, I had no experience cooking Asian foods at all and when he asked me to make a stir-fry I had no idea how to proceed. Unfortunately I did not yet have a copy of this book and my stir fry was a soggy mess. I had cooked all the ingredients to death! I decided I needed help and this book did just that--the clear instructions enabled me to cook stir fries that tasted stir fried and not boiled, to make tasty soups and fried rice, but most of all it gave me confidence.

[CountZeroOr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the most informative and most helpful cookbook I've found on how to make Chinese food for someone who had never made Chinese food before.

[Ietrio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book because it does not stop at listing the ingredients and throwing in the mixing instructions. This also gives you some background on the basic techniques.

[Stephanie Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the recipes in this book. They are really easy and most definitely delicious.

[Matthew Goebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't read a lot of the Dummies books, but I found some of the recipes I was looking for in this book so I think it works out pretty well. Doesn't hurt that I picked it up used for like $3

[Paige Etheridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first cookbooks I ever dove into. Chance had me find it, on a book shelf of a friend that left me to go to a DND event. Honey Garlic Chicken proved to be an amazing dish I return to again and again. As well as fried rice. I'm grateful for all the skills this book taught me at the beginning of me becoming the cook I am today.