INVITATION TO CHINESE COOKING - Hardcover

MARTIN YAN

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1862050899 ISBN 13: 9781862050891

Publisher: Pavilion, 1999

Synopsis

This cookery book includes 150 delicious recipes reflecting the way Chinese people in Hong Kong and the West cook today. Yan provides straightforward instructions and hints and tips throughout making each of the healthy recipes easy to prepare.'

About this title

Review

Martin Yan may be unfamiliar to readers in the UK but in the US he is known as a celebrated and successful TV chef, author and entrepreneur, with a mission to bring Chinese cooking to millions. Although a classically trained chef (he was born in Guangzhou and trained in Hong Kong), he enthusiastically incorporates into his cooking many flavours and elements not traditionally found in Chinese food but which are being adopted by Chinese cooks. Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cookery contains some surprises, therefore: "Velvet Prawns with Caramelised Nuts" tosses the ingredients in a sauce of soy, honey and mayonnaise; while what Martin Yan calls a "contemporary touch" is added to skewers of grilled lamb by a seasoning of mint. Similarly, a reminiscence of a French-wilted spinach salad with lardons of bacon appears but with sliced Chinese sausage as the meat and a dressing dominated by ginger and chilli garlic sauce.

Despite such eclecticism, the recipes are governed by rigour and economy--the overriding principle always being the Cantonese rule, "Let the ingredients shine through". And most of the recipes are correct enough to delight the most demanding purist. This is a most tempting collection, imaginative, sophisticated and wide-ranging. It's also leavened by Martin Yan's predilection for jokes so terrible they become rather appealing. --Robin Davidson

Edition details

• Publisher: Pavilion
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1862050899
• ISBN 13: 9781862050891
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240