What do you think?
Rate this book
Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking
A James Beard Award Winner
"A must-have for anyone who wants to cook Chinese food at home, home cooks and professionals alike." ―David Chang, Momofuku Fuchsia Dunlop trained as a chef in China’s leading Sichuan cooking school and possesses the rare ability to write recipes for authentic Chinese food that you can make at home. Following her two seminal volumes on Sichuan and Hunan cooking, Every Grain of Rice is inspired by the vibrant everyday cooking of southern China, in which vegetables play the starring role, with small portions of meat and fish. Try your hand at stir-fried potato slivers with chili pepper, vegetarian "Gong Bao Chicken," sour-and-hot mushroom soup, or, if you’re ever in need of a quick fix, Fuchsia’s emergency late-night noodles. Many of the recipes require few ingredients and are ridiculously easy to make. Fuchsia also includes a comprehensive introduction to the key seasonings and techniques of the Chinese kitchen. With stunning photography and clear instructions, this is an essential cookbook for everyone, beginner and connoisseur alike, eager to introduce Chinese dishes into their daily cooking repertoire. 150 color photographs
"A must-have for anyone who wants to cook Chinese food at home, home cooks and professionals alike." ―David Chang, Momofuku Fuchsia Dunlop trained as a chef in China’s leading Sichuan cooking school and possesses the rare ability to write recipes for authentic Chinese food that you can make at home. Following her two seminal volumes on Sichuan and Hunan cooking, Every Grain of Rice is inspired by the vibrant everyday cooking of southern China, in which vegetables play the starring role, with small portions of meat and fish. Try your hand at stir-fried potato slivers with chili pepper, vegetarian "Gong Bao Chicken," sour-and-hot mushroom soup, or, if you’re ever in need of a quick fix, Fuchsia’s emergency late-night noodles. Many of the recipes require few ingredients and are ridiculously easy to make. Fuchsia also includes a comprehensive introduction to the key seasonings and techniques of the Chinese kitchen. With stunning photography and clear instructions, this is an essential cookbook for everyone, beginner and connoisseur alike, eager to introduce Chinese dishes into their daily cooking repertoire. 150 color photographs
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
534 people are currently reading
7824 people want to read
About the author
Fuchsia Dunlop
13 books402 followersFuchsia Dunlop is a cook and food-writer specialising in Chinese cuisine. She is the author of Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, an account of her adventures in exploring Chinese food culture, and two critically-acclaimed Chinese cookery books, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, and Sichuan Cookery (published in the US as Land of Plenty).
Fuchsia writes for publications including Gourmet, Saveur, and The Financial Times. She is a regular guest on radio and television, and has appeared on shows including Gordon Ramsay’s The F-Word, NPR’s All Things Considered and The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4. She was named ‘Food Journalist of the Year’ by the British Guild of Food Writers in 2006, and has been shortlisted for three James Beard Awards. Her first book, Sichuan Cookery, won the Jeremy Round Award for best first book.
Fuchsia writes for publications including Gourmet, Saveur, and The Financial Times. She is a regular guest on radio and television, and has appeared on shows including Gordon Ramsay’s The F-Word, NPR’s All Things Considered and The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4. She was named ‘Food Journalist of the Year’ by the British Guild of Food Writers in 2006, and has been shortlisted for three James Beard Awards. Her first book, Sichuan Cookery, won the Jeremy Round Award for best first book.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
April 5, 2023
I distinctly remember my first taste of real Sichuan food during my first visit to the provincial captial city of Chengdu. The heat of the chiles was accompanied by a pleasant, numbing sensation that tingled throughout my mouth. The hot and numbing sensations were perfectly balanced, bringing together a unique combination of flavors that is the trademark of Sichuan cuisine.
I had previously been to many Sichuan restaurants around the world, including in other parts of China and also here in the United States. But none of these restaurants could faithfully reproduce this real Sichuan flavor that I experienced in Chengdu. My taste buds had opened to an entirely new flavor, and I just had to figure out how to reproduce this cuisine back home.
Enter Fuchsia Dunlop and her excellent Sichuanese cookbook, Every Grain of Rice, which provides a thorough compendium of homestyle Sichuanese recipes. If you have one Sichuan cookbook, this should be it. There are too many highlights to list here. In this book, you will find delicious, authentic recipes for all your favorite Sichuanese dishes.
The secret to Sichuan cuisine is in the balance of flavors. The key ingredient to many of these dishes is the Sichuan peppercorn, which provides the unique "numbing" spiciness to balance the "hot" spiciness of the chiles. Sichuan peppercorns were illegal in the United States until 2005, as they were falsely suspected of carrying disease. This may be why Sichuan restaurants in America fail to capture genuine Sichuan flavors.
There are two types of Sichuan peppercorns (red and green) which have different and complementary flavors. I recommend mixing both with a 1:1 ratio to incease the complexity of the flavor profile. The peppercorns should be lightly toasted and then finely ground using a mortar and pestle before incorporating into the dishes.
If you ever have the opportunity to visit Sichuan province in China, please take it. In addition to the amazing cuisine, you will also see beautiful mountainous scenery and (best of all) pandas! Chengdu is home to China's Panda Research Center. When my family and I visited, we saw over 40 pandas of all different ages, constituting about 2% of the world's panda population. (Baby pandas are so cute!!)
I had previously been to many Sichuan restaurants around the world, including in other parts of China and also here in the United States. But none of these restaurants could faithfully reproduce this real Sichuan flavor that I experienced in Chengdu. My taste buds had opened to an entirely new flavor, and I just had to figure out how to reproduce this cuisine back home.
Enter Fuchsia Dunlop and her excellent Sichuanese cookbook, Every Grain of Rice, which provides a thorough compendium of homestyle Sichuanese recipes. If you have one Sichuan cookbook, this should be it. There are too many highlights to list here. In this book, you will find delicious, authentic recipes for all your favorite Sichuanese dishes.
The secret to Sichuan cuisine is in the balance of flavors. The key ingredient to many of these dishes is the Sichuan peppercorn, which provides the unique "numbing" spiciness to balance the "hot" spiciness of the chiles. Sichuan peppercorns were illegal in the United States until 2005, as they were falsely suspected of carrying disease. This may be why Sichuan restaurants in America fail to capture genuine Sichuan flavors.
There are two types of Sichuan peppercorns (red and green) which have different and complementary flavors. I recommend mixing both with a 1:1 ratio to incease the complexity of the flavor profile. The peppercorns should be lightly toasted and then finely ground using a mortar and pestle before incorporating into the dishes.
If you ever have the opportunity to visit Sichuan province in China, please take it. In addition to the amazing cuisine, you will also see beautiful mountainous scenery and (best of all) pandas! Chengdu is home to China's Panda Research Center. When my family and I visited, we saw over 40 pandas of all different ages, constituting about 2% of the world's panda population. (Baby pandas are so cute!!)
May 4, 2014
I'm a Chinese living abroad and was never allowed in the kitchen while in China. When I get home-food sick, I find most recipe books, especially those written in Chinese, unpractical for beginners like me who already know what authentic food should taste like, until I found out "Every Grain of Rice"! Not only the title reminds me of the Tang dynasty poem I was forced to recite whenever I have left even one grain of rice in the bowl,the food in it are exactly what my family cook at home. It has a great introduction of Chinese cookwares and how to use them, plus at the back, a glossary of all the important sauces and spices in English and Chinese! Every recipe comes with a story, making it a journey we share with Fuchsia. The recipes are also precise, with no terms like "appropriate amount of soy sauce" or things like that to confuse me. It has been the ultimate Chinese food recipe book since we bought it a year ago, and still, every time I flip through it, I got impressed by how comprehensive and authentic it is. Fuchsia knows the stuff!
July 3, 2024
There's plenty to sink one's teeth into here (waka waka) and so far the dishes I've tried have been quite yummers. This is a welcome addition to my cookbook collection!
4 Stir Fried Stars
4 Stir Fried Stars
March 4, 2021
This is all about authentic Chinese home cooking, not the Western style of Chinese cooking some other books may be about. That said, you won't find anything odd in the recipes (the one recipe with liver, and some other with the possibility of using sea cucumber being about as far as things go). Nearly all recipes have photos (some dishes appear in other dishes' pictures). Some recipes are vegetarian, or can be made pretty easily so. The author trained as a chef in China, and did research on Chinese cuisine, and has written food columns and other cookbooks.
The introduction has the basic ingredients (with more in the back), equipment (yeah, like other Chinese cookbooks she recommends getting a proper Chinese wok, but I'll stick my Western-style wok), cutting styles, preparation tips, cutting techniques, meal planning, menus (for 2, 4, or 6, with vegetarian variations). Recipes are grouped (some bigger than others), and each recipes comes with an introduction plus the occasional variations suggestions. Some favoring of Southern Chinese cooking exists, but I don't mind. Regarding tools, the mandolin slicer is included in cutting styles section, not equipment. And I noticed the odd-feeling word: 'specializt'; had to check if it really was a true spelling! *lol*
I found plenty of foods I would like to try, and that tells me often how much a cookbook is for me. Nearly every section had at least one I would want to taste (except the fish and seafood one because I just don't like fish and seafood). Many foods are made with wok, but the number of tools you need for each recipe is surprisingly small – I like that. So if you like Chinese food, and want to eat more authentic kind of that, this is a great book to have.
The introduction has the basic ingredients (with more in the back), equipment (yeah, like other Chinese cookbooks she recommends getting a proper Chinese wok, but I'll stick my Western-style wok), cutting styles, preparation tips, cutting techniques, meal planning, menus (for 2, 4, or 6, with vegetarian variations). Recipes are grouped (some bigger than others), and each recipes comes with an introduction plus the occasional variations suggestions. Some favoring of Southern Chinese cooking exists, but I don't mind. Regarding tools, the mandolin slicer is included in cutting styles section, not equipment. And I noticed the odd-feeling word: 'specializt'; had to check if it really was a true spelling! *lol*
I found plenty of foods I would like to try, and that tells me often how much a cookbook is for me. Nearly every section had at least one I would want to taste (except the fish and seafood one because I just don't like fish and seafood). Many foods are made with wok, but the number of tools you need for each recipe is surprisingly small – I like that. So if you like Chinese food, and want to eat more authentic kind of that, this is a great book to have.
January 7, 2014
I've been recommending this book even since before it came out, and overall, it's really good. The illustrations and glossary are great (some really appetizing photos!), and she includes lots of handy reference pictures, which should really help people who are trying to find the right ingredients, or who want a reference of how certain cuts should look.
As a vegetarian, I love how vegetarian friendly the book is, and also the fact that she includes so many home cooking style recipes where meat is part of the dish, but not necessarily an essential part - I think it will be helpful to people who are trying to eat less meat, or just use it as an accent.
I definitely see lots of familiar Chinese home cooking dishes - the kinds of cold appetizers, side dishes, etc. that you might not order at a restaurant often, but that you would find on the table of Chinese friends or family members. The recipes for things like tomato and eggs (yes, she knows you need to add a pinch of sugar), potato strips, garlic stems or jiucai (garlic chives) with dry tofu or bacon, etc. are things I could imagine, or have seen, on my in-laws' dinner table.
For the most part, she keeps slight variations together, instead of making separate recipes, but there are a few exceptions (the section with (garlic chives of various types, and fresh garlic stem) paired with (eggs / smoked meat / dry tofu) really could have just said "take one from column A, and one from column B"), but there are a few recipes where you really wonder if they needed to be a recipe (green soy beans, served in the pod, is basically what the name says, though she does have you boil the frozen soybeans with a piece of ginger and some Sichuan peppercorn).
There is quite a bit of overlap with her other two cookbooks, but not in a bad way, and she does make some slight changes (for example, 'bear's claw' tofu instead of regular home-style tofu (the difference is mostly in the shape). While it hews mostly towards traditional recipes, there are some recipes featuring (western style) radish, western broccoli, and other (relatively) "new" ingredients. It's definitely clear that she's aiming for a broader audience with this one, but I think die-hard fans of her earlier books will still find a lot of new stuff to play with.
If you're interested in making Chinese food at home (no matter your level of experience), or if you're interested in what kind of food Chinese people eat at home, or how a Chinese meal should be put together, this book is a really good place to start.
[I never know when to mark a cookbook as "currently-reading" or "read", since you rarely read a cookbook cover to cover]
As a vegetarian, I love how vegetarian friendly the book is, and also the fact that she includes so many home cooking style recipes where meat is part of the dish, but not necessarily an essential part - I think it will be helpful to people who are trying to eat less meat, or just use it as an accent.
I definitely see lots of familiar Chinese home cooking dishes - the kinds of cold appetizers, side dishes, etc. that you might not order at a restaurant often, but that you would find on the table of Chinese friends or family members. The recipes for things like tomato and eggs (yes, she knows you need to add a pinch of sugar), potato strips, garlic stems or jiucai (garlic chives) with dry tofu or bacon, etc. are things I could imagine, or have seen, on my in-laws' dinner table.
For the most part, she keeps slight variations together, instead of making separate recipes, but there are a few exceptions (the section with (garlic chives of various types, and fresh garlic stem) paired with (eggs / smoked meat / dry tofu) really could have just said "take one from column A, and one from column B"), but there are a few recipes where you really wonder if they needed to be a recipe (green soy beans, served in the pod, is basically what the name says, though she does have you boil the frozen soybeans with a piece of ginger and some Sichuan peppercorn).
There is quite a bit of overlap with her other two cookbooks, but not in a bad way, and she does make some slight changes (for example, 'bear's claw' tofu instead of regular home-style tofu (the difference is mostly in the shape). While it hews mostly towards traditional recipes, there are some recipes featuring (western style) radish, western broccoli, and other (relatively) "new" ingredients. It's definitely clear that she's aiming for a broader audience with this one, but I think die-hard fans of her earlier books will still find a lot of new stuff to play with.
If you're interested in making Chinese food at home (no matter your level of experience), or if you're interested in what kind of food Chinese people eat at home, or how a Chinese meal should be put together, this book is a really good place to start.
[I never know when to mark a cookbook as "currently-reading" or "read", since you rarely read a cookbook cover to cover]
June 26, 2013
I get the impression that if this had been written by a TV chef then it would have been called 'How to Cook Chinese' or, perhaps, 'Easy Chinese Cooking'. It wasn't though and the title is one of the best I've seen for a cookbook in recent years -
The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook
was another great title and that, too, was by Fuchsia Dunlop. That book focussed on Hunan cuisine, just as her first, the far more simply titled
Sichuan Cookery
had also focussed on a region she knew well. Highly educated, Dunlop attended Sichuan University as well as Cambridge and SOAS and was the first Westerner to train as a chef at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. Her knowledge of her subject is encyclopaedic but it's her passion and her writing skills that really make her books shine.
After the critical praise lavished on her first two books it was with some anticipation that that her pan-Chinese book was greeted. Inevitably, it recycles some recipes from her other books but these do not dominate, the rest of the recipes are from a wide variety of, principally southern, Chinese regions and they are beautifully illustrated with photographs. Each recipe is also accompanied by some text explaining its cultural context, what it means to the author and how you might adapt it if you wish. For the most part, access to a good oriental market is essential for these recipes, even if only for the occasional stocking up on store-cupboard ingredients. They aren't the meat-rich, banqueting dishes familiar to most Westerners from Chinese restaurant menus but are, instead, mostly vegetable based dishes that are simple and quick to cook.
Those short bits of text only offer glimpses of the author's writing talent though, which is a shame, and that isn't afforded room in a lengthy introduction either. As I suggested at the start of this review, this is a book which is very much aimed at people unfamiliar with Chinese cookery, even if it has much to offer those with more experience by way of the sumptuous recipes. The introduction, then, is a brief affair outlining Chinese kitchen basics - equipment, store-cupboard staples, etc. and the last of these is also elaborated on in a further chapter at the end.
Overall, this is to be heartily recommended to anyone interested in cooking more Chinese food, regardless of their experience (although it's perhaps not for the completely novice cook), and it fully deserves to break Fuchsia Dunlop into the mainstream consciousness. Lack of TV tie-ins, however, (photogenicness?) mean that that's unlikely to happen.
After the critical praise lavished on her first two books it was with some anticipation that that her pan-Chinese book was greeted. Inevitably, it recycles some recipes from her other books but these do not dominate, the rest of the recipes are from a wide variety of, principally southern, Chinese regions and they are beautifully illustrated with photographs. Each recipe is also accompanied by some text explaining its cultural context, what it means to the author and how you might adapt it if you wish. For the most part, access to a good oriental market is essential for these recipes, even if only for the occasional stocking up on store-cupboard ingredients. They aren't the meat-rich, banqueting dishes familiar to most Westerners from Chinese restaurant menus but are, instead, mostly vegetable based dishes that are simple and quick to cook.
Those short bits of text only offer glimpses of the author's writing talent though, which is a shame, and that isn't afforded room in a lengthy introduction either. As I suggested at the start of this review, this is a book which is very much aimed at people unfamiliar with Chinese cookery, even if it has much to offer those with more experience by way of the sumptuous recipes. The introduction, then, is a brief affair outlining Chinese kitchen basics - equipment, store-cupboard staples, etc. and the last of these is also elaborated on in a further chapter at the end.
Overall, this is to be heartily recommended to anyone interested in cooking more Chinese food, regardless of their experience (although it's perhaps not for the completely novice cook), and it fully deserves to break Fuchsia Dunlop into the mainstream consciousness. Lack of TV tie-ins, however, (photogenicness?) mean that that's unlikely to happen.
June 17, 2012
A fantastic look into Chinese cooking. This book provides clear and concise instructions on Chinese style meals. However, not only though does it provide the recipes, it lists the tools, cutting styles and even basic stock recipes to keep a full Chinese kitchen in your house.
I have a Chinese girlfriend and normally she views Western Chinese books as too simple or full of western style recipes. I showed her this and she has read it from cover to cover (quite a feat for a cookbook!). She remarks on the accuracy of the recipes and the traditional style of the foods, she even recognises local recipes from her city.
Overall I would highly recommend this book. As a Western man who wants to get into 'proper' Chinese style cooking, this book breaks down all the barriers to Eastern style food with stylish pictures and easy to understand recipes and notes.
I have a Chinese girlfriend and normally she views Western Chinese books as too simple or full of western style recipes. I showed her this and she has read it from cover to cover (quite a feat for a cookbook!). She remarks on the accuracy of the recipes and the traditional style of the foods, she even recognises local recipes from her city.
Overall I would highly recommend this book. As a Western man who wants to get into 'proper' Chinese style cooking, this book breaks down all the barriers to Eastern style food with stylish pictures and easy to understand recipes and notes.
August 29, 2018
Found my way to this book this summer after looking for a recipe for eggplant and happening upon fish-fragrant eggplant. The name so intrigued me I read up on it and found out that fish-fragrant derives not from the inclusion of fish in the recipe, but rather from one of the seven categories of flavor in Sichuan cooking. The idea of categories of flavor made my mouth water and I decided then and there I needed to learn more about Chinese cooking and its extensive list of sauces and various fermented products integral to its cuisine, and this book delivers the goods.
June 11, 2022
4,25 sterren- Nederlandse hardcover
Was al een tijdje op zoek naar een goed boek met echte authentieke Chinese recepten, maar wel van deze tijd. En dat is het!
Je vindt in dit boek een breed scala aan recepten, van vlees, vis, tofu tot vegetarische recepten. De Chinese keuken is verassend gezond met veel verse groente. Een gegeven dat vaak niet zo bekend is. Veel wordt er ook in bouillon gekookt. Heerlijk.
Veel lekkere gerechten die je zó kan maken, zonder eerst te mediteren en twee dagen vrij te nemen. Een hele grote duim: de recepten zijn nergens "verhollandst".
Een Goede toko of supermarkt met uitgebreide oosterse product- schappen lijken mij wel een voorwaarde.
Was al een tijdje op zoek naar een goed boek met echte authentieke Chinese recepten, maar wel van deze tijd. En dat is het!
Je vindt in dit boek een breed scala aan recepten, van vlees, vis, tofu tot vegetarische recepten. De Chinese keuken is verassend gezond met veel verse groente. Een gegeven dat vaak niet zo bekend is. Veel wordt er ook in bouillon gekookt. Heerlijk.
Veel lekkere gerechten die je zó kan maken, zonder eerst te mediteren en twee dagen vrij te nemen. Een hele grote duim: de recepten zijn nergens "verhollandst".
Een Goede toko of supermarkt met uitgebreide oosterse product- schappen lijken mij wel een voorwaarde.
June 20, 2013
I never buy cookbooks--recipes are readily available online and a survey can usually give you a number of ideas as to how you might prepare any given dish--but this is a singular exception (outside of the staples).
The visuals are very helpful, esp for learning or reviewing the variety of cuts or ingredient reference. This might be unfair, but it might have been nice to provide substitutions or alternatives to the hard to find food stuffs. Otherwise a tremendous introduction to Sichuan cooking!
The visuals are very helpful, esp for learning or reviewing the variety of cuts or ingredient reference. This might be unfair, but it might have been nice to provide substitutions or alternatives to the hard to find food stuffs. Otherwise a tremendous introduction to Sichuan cooking!
August 26, 2013
Like many others, I borrow recipe books from the library on a trial basis. I will definitely be buying this one. This is exactly what I was looking for in a Chinese cookbook: something below the restaurant-level recipes with 20+ ingredients - just the stuff home cooks make and serve.
There was a bit of head-scratching in the Asian supermarket involved on my part, but Dunlop provides plenty of information to help those of us who are shopping in a foreign language.
There was a bit of head-scratching in the Asian supermarket involved on my part, but Dunlop provides plenty of information to help those of us who are shopping in a foreign language.
August 2, 2016
Really excellent and works in practice.
March 3, 2021
absolutely one of the best cookbooks i've used - easy to use recipes, an introduction and explanation of chinese (mostly szechuan) spices, oils, and vinegars - everything i've cooked from this book has been delicious.
December 28, 2016
This is the simpler Chinese cooking that you would eat at home or in a cafeteria setting and not as elaborate as earlier cookbooks tended to be. Very good basic instructions and ingredients list. Includes some modern fusion recipes. I need to check and see what other books are out there but this might replace my copy of Encyclopedia of Chinese Food and Cooking, which a mere 40 years old or so.
I also have another issue, recipes are not included in the table of contents which makes them difficult to find.
I also have another issue, recipes are not included in the table of contents which makes them difficult to find.
November 3, 2015
drool.....drool....drool... Trying the short rib and one of the noodle recipes this weekend. Can't wait! ....tried about 5 recipes... All keepers....instructions are very easy to follow and quick to make... Some of the ingredients are hard to source so I just used alternatives... The red braised pork belly was amazing and I was so glad to find a radish recipe that converted my family of radish haters to radish lovers.
March 7, 2018
This is my already favorite cookbook, and I've made only a small share of the recipes in the book. Delicious recipes, great tips, many different styles of Chinese cuisine and beautiful photos to show me what my dishes were supposed to look like...
August 21, 2018
A fascinating book on Chinese cooking - recipes you can actually tackle at home. The recipe for sizzling greens is alone worth the purchase price.
November 4, 2020
So, I hate to review a cookbook when I haven't tried out any of the recipes yet, but I also want to return it to the library & will forget to do a review once it's out of the house. (But I really did read it from cover to cover!)
There are definitely several recipes that I want to try. The descriptions & ingredients sound wonderful and the gorgeous photos certainly help! For the most part, the directions are clear and Dunlop put together a comprehensive glossary of ingredients in the back that is incredibly helpful...also accompanied by photos. She also has a solid introduction that explains the different ingredients, helpful kitchen equipment, descriptions of styles of cutting, as well as food prep & cooking techniques.
I did find one recipe for dumplings that wrapped up the directions with a vague "if you can't get the hang of it, just have a Chinese friend show you"....which doesn't seem the most helpful.
I'm definitely looking forward to trying some of these out! Chinese reviewers give it good marks, so I guess I'll have the opportunity to see if I enjoy authentic Chinese cooking, or if my palate is more attuned to American-Chinese. I don't think I would buy a copy for myself, because I tend not to work out of cookbooks. I collect recipes from here & there & put them together in a folder. I highly recommend borrowing it from the library, to see if you'd like to have your own copy on-hand in your kitchen.
There are definitely several recipes that I want to try. The descriptions & ingredients sound wonderful and the gorgeous photos certainly help! For the most part, the directions are clear and Dunlop put together a comprehensive glossary of ingredients in the back that is incredibly helpful...also accompanied by photos. She also has a solid introduction that explains the different ingredients, helpful kitchen equipment, descriptions of styles of cutting, as well as food prep & cooking techniques.
I did find one recipe for dumplings that wrapped up the directions with a vague "if you can't get the hang of it, just have a Chinese friend show you"....which doesn't seem the most helpful.
I'm definitely looking forward to trying some of these out! Chinese reviewers give it good marks, so I guess I'll have the opportunity to see if I enjoy authentic Chinese cooking, or if my palate is more attuned to American-Chinese. I don't think I would buy a copy for myself, because I tend not to work out of cookbooks. I collect recipes from here & there & put them together in a folder. I highly recommend borrowing it from the library, to see if you'd like to have your own copy on-hand in your kitchen.
October 5, 2020
Ive been cooking chinese food all my life and this is my go to cookbook for chinese food in english. Has all the basics and some fancier dishes too. I grew up in Beijing and the zhajiangmian recipe checks out. Its very easy to follow along for non-chinese cooks too--I've had friends in both the US and Sweden use this book with no trouble.
partial
September 10, 2022Perused this cookbook -- we're making a few recipes
Read
September 1, 2025^-^
November 4, 2020
Sale todo tan rico que cuando termine de hacer todas las recetas, me comeré el libro. Mucho más fácil de usar que Land of Plenty.
Read
January 20, 2021Reference in spring for veg recipes.
September 20, 2016
As a *serious* cookbook collector, there is a serious gap in my collection - I have no books on Chinese cooking, simply because good ones are strangely rare. I live in a North American city with a huge Chinese influence and have grown up eating not just old fashioned, westernized dishes like chow mein and fried rice but more "authentic" dishes like duck eggs and rice cooked in earthen pots and gratuitous amounts of congee.
But whenever I get back from the Chinese supermarket and try to recreate those spectacular dishes my resulting meals are... Lacking... something. Clearly, I needed to address the glaring gap in my cookbook collection.
Finally, I read about this book, and it sounded like just the thing.
Fuscia Dunlop extensively studied cooking in China, but writes with a chatty but brisk British snap that effortlessly demystifies the cuisine for a western audience.
Her thesis is simple: Authentic Chinese cooking doesn't need to be complicated! One simply needs to be educated on proper ingredients and the right techniques, and you will find it surprisingly quick and easy to cook at home. How reassuring!
In it you will indeed find recipes for dishes we are used to seeing delivered to us here in the west in little red and white boxes - like spring rolls and fried rice, but you will also find such surprises as mashed potatoes with Sichuan preserved vegetables, along with simple traditional recipes for things like whole fish.
Most gratifying to me though was the thorough noodle section - honestly I could eat only Chinese noodles for the rest of my life and be quite happy - if fat!
The only caveat I have is that you WILL have trouble sourcing many of the ingredients if you are not lucky enough to live, as I do, in a community with a large Asian grocery store. Dunlop does her best to offer substitutes, but there are still many places in the world where bok choi is impossible, and even a ok soy sauce is tricky. I don't think this is a mark off the book however, as I'd rather have the authentic recipes than paler imitations.
All in all, just the remedy my collection needed! A perfect introductory text to Chinese cooking - even for those already familiar with the cuisine.
But whenever I get back from the Chinese supermarket and try to recreate those spectacular dishes my resulting meals are... Lacking... something. Clearly, I needed to address the glaring gap in my cookbook collection.
Finally, I read about this book, and it sounded like just the thing.
Fuscia Dunlop extensively studied cooking in China, but writes with a chatty but brisk British snap that effortlessly demystifies the cuisine for a western audience.
Her thesis is simple: Authentic Chinese cooking doesn't need to be complicated! One simply needs to be educated on proper ingredients and the right techniques, and you will find it surprisingly quick and easy to cook at home. How reassuring!
In it you will indeed find recipes for dishes we are used to seeing delivered to us here in the west in little red and white boxes - like spring rolls and fried rice, but you will also find such surprises as mashed potatoes with Sichuan preserved vegetables, along with simple traditional recipes for things like whole fish.
Most gratifying to me though was the thorough noodle section - honestly I could eat only Chinese noodles for the rest of my life and be quite happy - if fat!
The only caveat I have is that you WILL have trouble sourcing many of the ingredients if you are not lucky enough to live, as I do, in a community with a large Asian grocery store. Dunlop does her best to offer substitutes, but there are still many places in the world where bok choi is impossible, and even a ok soy sauce is tricky. I don't think this is a mark off the book however, as I'd rather have the authentic recipes than paler imitations.
All in all, just the remedy my collection needed! A perfect introductory text to Chinese cooking - even for those already familiar with the cuisine.
January 1, 2017
This is the other cookbook that I read, literally, from cover to cover. I'm not sure that I've ever done that with a cookbook before.
I've read other books about Chinese cooking, my culinary school curriculum included a class on China and I've read various things about Chinese cooking online. None were even close to this book. I used to think that the learning curve for cooking Chinese food was sky high; now I know I can do this.
Part of the latter, of course, is because Dunlop focuses on Sichuan and Hunan cooking. I have no doubt that the list of necessary ingredients and the learning curve for all Chinese cooking would still be intimidating. But focusing on one or two regions that are very similar? That's something I can do.
I'm pretty sure that the physical layout of the book helps a lot with the intimidation factor as well. For example, while Thailand: The Cookbook by Jean-Pierre Gabriel has been on my Wish List for quite some time, it's a very intimidating book. Each two-column formatted page has at least two or three recipes squeezed onto it and, with 527 large pages containing 500 recipes (plus some photos), that's a lot of recipes. And, frankly, it should be -- Gabriel includes recipes from each region of Thailand and, as those of you familiar with the regionality of Thai food know, those regions use very different ingredients, spices and cooking methods. So while this is a highest-priority Wish List item, I'm not sure that it's a book that I'll cook from very often just because of the intimidation factor.
I suspect that other Chinese cookbooks have put me off because, even if they're not as exhaustive as Gabriel's book on Thailand, they include dishes and ingredients from all across the country. That's a big ingredient list. And so my Chinese cookbooks have sat on my shelf, unused, for decades (literally). As for general cookbooks that include "Chinese" recipes, the product of a recipe that's been made "easier" for "western cooks" is something that, for the most part, I'd rather not waste my time cooking.
So, in short, if you like spicy Chinese food and don't mind cooking, go out and find a copy of Every Grain of Rice. It's worth it.
I've read other books about Chinese cooking, my culinary school curriculum included a class on China and I've read various things about Chinese cooking online. None were even close to this book. I used to think that the learning curve for cooking Chinese food was sky high; now I know I can do this.
Part of the latter, of course, is because Dunlop focuses on Sichuan and Hunan cooking. I have no doubt that the list of necessary ingredients and the learning curve for all Chinese cooking would still be intimidating. But focusing on one or two regions that are very similar? That's something I can do.
I'm pretty sure that the physical layout of the book helps a lot with the intimidation factor as well. For example, while Thailand: The Cookbook by Jean-Pierre Gabriel has been on my Wish List for quite some time, it's a very intimidating book. Each two-column formatted page has at least two or three recipes squeezed onto it and, with 527 large pages containing 500 recipes (plus some photos), that's a lot of recipes. And, frankly, it should be -- Gabriel includes recipes from each region of Thailand and, as those of you familiar with the regionality of Thai food know, those regions use very different ingredients, spices and cooking methods. So while this is a highest-priority Wish List item, I'm not sure that it's a book that I'll cook from very often just because of the intimidation factor.
I suspect that other Chinese cookbooks have put me off because, even if they're not as exhaustive as Gabriel's book on Thailand, they include dishes and ingredients from all across the country. That's a big ingredient list. And so my Chinese cookbooks have sat on my shelf, unused, for decades (literally). As for general cookbooks that include "Chinese" recipes, the product of a recipe that's been made "easier" for "western cooks" is something that, for the most part, I'd rather not waste my time cooking.
So, in short, if you like spicy Chinese food and don't mind cooking, go out and find a copy of Every Grain of Rice. It's worth it.
March 20, 2015
Dunlop's first love, if I can be so bold to claim, is Sichuanese cuisine, and the recipes in this cookbook have a fair bit of overlap with her excellent Sichuan cookbook, but there's also enough new dishes to keep it interesting. I have all three of her cookbooks, and I love them all, but if I was going to give just one to a friend it would be this one. Her Sichuan cookbook is a close second, but with fewer photos it's perhaps not as welcoming to less experienced cooks.
It's a great introduction to Chinese cuisine with fabulous visual guide to ingredients for beginners. The recipes are delicious. I've been cooking Chinese food for over two decades now (self-taught), and it's been very exciting to see both the ingredient availability and quality of Chinese cookbooks (in English) improve. With Dunlop's books and the improved accessibility of ingredients, I can recreate the flavors that I enjoyed in China.
It's a great introduction to Chinese cuisine with fabulous visual guide to ingredients for beginners. The recipes are delicious. I've been cooking Chinese food for over two decades now (self-taught), and it's been very exciting to see both the ingredient availability and quality of Chinese cookbooks (in English) improve. With Dunlop's books and the improved accessibility of ingredients, I can recreate the flavors that I enjoyed in China.
August 2, 2014
Having now stocked up my kitchen with a few basics, and cooked several recipes from this book I'm very happy with it.
I've always been wary of Chinese cooking after ending up with dishes that don't really resemble the textures or flavours of food I've had in more authentic restaurants. I think my problem was overthinking it.
Yes the recipes in this book are often quite simple but that was not a bad thing in my view as it helped me move past the idea that authentic flavours demand complex recipes. Most of the dishes in this book only use a handful of ingredients and don't take too long to make, but they taste good.
The book itself is beautiful and most of the recipes are pictured. I've also bought a copy of the author's Sichuan cookbook, and I'm on the lookout for her other book on Hunan style food.
I've always been wary of Chinese cooking after ending up with dishes that don't really resemble the textures or flavours of food I've had in more authentic restaurants. I think my problem was overthinking it.
Yes the recipes in this book are often quite simple but that was not a bad thing in my view as it helped me move past the idea that authentic flavours demand complex recipes. Most of the dishes in this book only use a handful of ingredients and don't take too long to make, but they taste good.
The book itself is beautiful and most of the recipes are pictured. I've also bought a copy of the author's Sichuan cookbook, and I'm on the lookout for her other book on Hunan style food.
March 28, 2021
We haven’t made any recipes yet, so four stars for now. This is another cookbook to help us feel like we’re traveling a bit during the pandemic. It is filled with tips and information about Chinese culture and cooking. It’s interesting to see the smaller meat quantities and the larger rice quantities - but as a carb lover, I’m here for it!
Update: We’ve made 2 recipes. One was easy and tasty. For the other, we had to substitute 2 ingredients that sounded basic enough but were unavailable at 2 nearby supermarkets. It was good, but we’re a bit put off because those ingredients are in a lot of the recipes. Keeping it at 4 stars for now.
Update 2: We’ve made a couple more recipes and they were really good. Since the last update, we found one of the two hard-to-find ingredients mentioned. Bumping it up to five stars.
Update: We’ve made 2 recipes. One was easy and tasty. For the other, we had to substitute 2 ingredients that sounded basic enough but were unavailable at 2 nearby supermarkets. It was good, but we’re a bit put off because those ingredients are in a lot of the recipes. Keeping it at 4 stars for now.
Update 2: We’ve made a couple more recipes and they were really good. Since the last update, we found one of the two hard-to-find ingredients mentioned. Bumping it up to five stars.
April 1, 2014
A knowledgeable, inviting and passionate book of Chinese cuisine, this tome offers recipes from the simplest to the more complex, and explains the context both historical and specific for each. It's an educational and entertaining cookbook. Two things struck me in the negative: one, there were more overly basic recipes than I would have liked; and two, like so many of the books I've investigated for Asian region cuisines, it overestimates the ease of finding rare specialty ingredients. Still, there's definitely a great taste of Chinese here for everyone, from the beginning cook with limited ingredient access to the ambitious with a specialty market next door.
July 13, 2013
Having lived in Shanghai for a year doesn't make me an expert on Chinese food, but it does mean I have a taste memory for the food I ate on a daily basis (not banquet food), how it was presented to me, etc. This book hits those memories perfectly.
I usually keep library cookbooks for a while, cook from them, see how they will work into my regular eating repertoire. I've had this book out of the library for a week. It took me one day to decide to buy it.
Happy, happy, happy eating with this book.
I usually keep library cookbooks for a while, cook from them, see how they will work into my regular eating repertoire. I've had this book out of the library for a week. It took me one day to decide to buy it.
Happy, happy, happy eating with this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews