by Jim Lee and Illustrated by Isabella Lee
[FROM THE PUBLISHERS] Jim Lee's Chinese Cookbook tells you not only what to do and how to do it but why you're doing it. It breaks down Chinese cooking into a logical sequence of simple steps so that the fundamental techniques emerge clearly. As a result, you can master authentic Chinese cooking methods, varying the basic recipes in this book so as to invent or re-create dishes of your own. In fact, you can apply many of Jim Lee's suggestions not only to Chinese cooking but to your cooking in general.
The recipes in each section advance from simple dishes such as "Pure-Cut Chicken," served with a salt dip, and "Puff Shrimp, to more complex examples from the Chinese haute cuisine. Many of the simpler recipes call only for ingredients available in any supermarket, and all the ingredients needed for all the recipes are readily obtainable, or else a satisfactory substitute is suggested. In addition to providing lucid and well-organized cooking directions, the book tells you how to plan a Chinese meal and gives complete information on buying, storage, advance preparation, and hints on garnishing and serving food. The practical advice is garnished with bits of historical lore, anecdotes about Jim Lee's boyhood in China, and snippets of odd and out-of-the-way information (ketchup is a Chinese invention ).
Jim Lee has selected the dishes in this book from his enormous personal repertoire and has tested them in collaboration with a professional Chinese chef, Lee Lum. The author's wife, Isabella Lee, has provided the beautiful and useful two-color illustrations in the book.
VINTAGE HARDCOVER -VERY GOOD CONDITION