Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure: 100 Recipes from Our Journey

by Ken Hom, Ching-He Huang

Ken and Ching cooked their way across China, searching for exciting new flavors and culinary ideas as well as the ultimate recipes for standard favorites—this book is the result Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang teamed up for a once in a lifetime culinary journey to explore the food of their homeland, looking for the old, the new, and the unexpected. They arrive in Beijing to examine the influences of the West on traditional Imperial cuisine and talk to cutting-edge chefs about their take on Peking Duck. They cook with local families, en route to discovering the influence of Buddhism on vegetarian food and whether the Chinese did actually invent tortellini in remote Kashgar, before traveling to Sichuan Province, China's gastronomic capital. But this is more than a culinary journey; this is a homecoming for Ken and Ching, and they make their own pilgrimages to Guangdong and Fujian to discover their personal and culinary roots. Ching admires Ken's experience and knowledge, while Ken respects Ching's modern influences. Together they bring a unique and authoritative perspective on Chinese food that will surprise and inform. Includes dual measurements.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Asia, Reference

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Ken Hom (譚榮輝) is an American-born Chinese chef, author and television-show presenter for the BBC.

Reviews

[Thibaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting for the large list of duck recipes.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good recipes. The sections discussing each region of China are interesting, although those attributed to Huang can be irritatingly naive. At one point she describes Uighur people as not looking at all Chinese - I wonder how she would feel if told she didn't look at all American?

[Nicola Whelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was quite a good cooking book. I read most of it. Some of the recipes are quite nice, although I haven’t actually tried any unless you count adapting one of them to how you Chinese cook food! I took quite a while to read this book as I have been reading other books, physical and on line too!!