China Modern: 100 Cutting-edge, Fusion-style Recipes for the 21st Century

by Ching-He Huang

Modern Chinese food has come a long way from the traditional favourites that we order by rote from our local takeaway. As China opens up to the West as well as the rest of the East, its culinary traditions have evolved to create a new and exciting cuisine that can best be described as fusion. In China Modern, Ching-He Huang explores these new influences and challenges conventional perceptions of Chinese food. She looks at how dishes have been reinvented, drawing on inspiration from Japan, Thailand and Vietnam as well as Europe. Ching's 'Peking Duck Sushi', for example, fuses a traditional Chinese dish with classic Japanese presentation, while her 'Steamed Seabass with Stir Fried Spring Onions and Chillies' demonstrates the breadth of cooking style in regional China. Healthy eating has also become more important and cooking techniques are moving away from deep-frying to steaming, pan frying, boiling, grilling and even baking! Ching also looks at home cooking from the less well-known provinces in China such as Hunan and Sichuan (most of the food we know as Chinese originated in Hong Kong) as well as how those takeaway favourites should really be cooked.China Modern will trace an exciting culinary journey, one that Ching will show you with warmth, humour and style. This is cutting-edge Chinese at its best.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, China

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Taiwan-born British food writer and TV chef.

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must if you love Asian cooking.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have made Vietnamese and Japanese food at home, but honestly Chinese food is pretty intimidating with the complicated recipes and ingredients I've never really tried. However, Ching makes the recipes easy to understand and most of them look really tasty. She has some traditional Chinese recipes, East/West fusion and Chinese mixed with other Asian cultures. Easy recipes like Chili and Pepper Squid, Lychee and Vanilla Ice Cream; to more complicated ones like Vegetable Bao (steamed buns) or Once-a-month Savory-Sour Vegetarian Noodle Soup.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fresh and exciting, this is a stunning book to look at and great to cook from too.
Her recipe for hot and cool chicken noodle salad (a version of "bang bang" chicken), for example, is just fabulous but all the recipes have a funky modern flair that makes a change from Chinese food that often can be oily and overly reliant on salty seasoning.
Love the way she categorises the different dishes, there are some very interesting fusion recipes.

[Djien · Rating 5 out of 5]

With this book I really started cooking Chinese a few years ago. Several recipes are now family favorites.