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Phil's Cookbook Reads of 2021

30K views 177 replies 9 participants last post by  chrislehrer 
#1 ·
I've amassed a backlog of cookbooks--mostly of Asian influence--to read. I thought a thread might be of interest and if nothing else is a shared catalog of what I'm reading and thinking of these books. I'd be interested in seeing such lists from other members in their own threads as well.

  1. Cooking South of the Clouds by Georgia Freedman. I heard of this book through a marketing email I get from Mala Market last year. They're a good source of specialty Chinese ingredients and share interesting recipes, They spoke highly of the book and so I added it to my list. It languished there for quite a while particularly as it was slow to come to market in the US. I got motivated to read it because of another Yunnan regional cookbook I'll talk about below. Overall, I liked this one better for it's greater variety of flavoring approaches. Yunnan is known for it's air cured hams and includes the region we call Tibet in the rise to the Himalayas. Thus the South and Clouds. Seasonings seem to focus more on preserved/pickled foods and chilies though the common soy sauce and oyster sauce do make appearances, just less than you might expect. Fried and boiled squash leaves dishes stuck out to me. I'd not seen those cooked before. I didn't know they were edible. I've eaten the blossom, which are just a specialized leaf so it makes sense. This is the better of the two Yunnan focused books in my opinion.
  2. The Yunnan Cookbook by Anabel Jackson. I get weekly cooking emails from the South China Morning Post as well. One of those emails included an interview with Anabel Jackson who has written more on the food of Macao than most anyone else and how that cuisine is fading away. So I've been looking for her books on Macau and she's written some on Vietnamese food and a few on China. And so now I had two Yunnan focused books to read and contrast each other. This is a pretty and elegant book and is missing page numbers on pages with recipes. Where she's talking about a region or category of food, those pages get numbers. This is annoying to me. I usually write notes in the front end-papers with a recipe name and page number that I'm interested in trying out. Couldn't really do that here. And no index either, but without page numbers I suppose that is reasonable. The recipes are very simple and short for what you may have come to expect for a Chinese recipe. Not as much caught my eye as in Cooking South of the Clouds. A zucchini and dried shrimp dish stood out to me and a pumpkin soup. I've seen hard squashes steamed but not made into soup in Chinese cuisine.
  3. Chinese Cooking: The Food and the Lifestyle by Anabel Jackson. This one sat strangely with me. She covers most of what you'd expect, usually with a bit more exotic content. However there are dishes overly simplified--Hot and Sour Soup-- for a non-Asian reader, but others that were surprisingly unadapted. The Egg Fu Yung, Fu Yung just means eggs, is a fried rice dish and not an omelet in gravy as Westerners might expect. Considering its publication in 2004, I think it runs behind the times even when published for sticking closer to traditional ingredients. This feels like it was from 10 years earlier or more. I found her vegetable section the most interesting with some dressed cold vegetable dishes (cabbage and cucumber one looks good) and even a stir fried potato and cilantro one. There's a scallion pancake recipe that just reads wrong to me. This isn't the flour based one (she includes one of those too) but the more rolled eggy style. The picture shows what I think to be an 8 inch non-stick skillet rolling up a pancake. The instructions say to put in 1 tablespoon of batter, cook it, roll it up and cut in three pieces. I just don't see the pancake shown coming from 1 T of batter. Based on the volume of ingredients and suggested yield, it must be more. Not a must have unless you're an Anabel Jackson completist.
On Tuesday 1/19, Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food is released. The original Chinese Soul Food is a good Chinese cookbook and is worth trying out. I don't think this new one will land right on top of my reading pile though.

Expect updates.
 
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#105 ·
Olives, Lemons and Za'atar by Rawia Bishara

While ostensibly about Middle Eastern cooking, and it is, its' more focused on three things.
Her growing up in Nazareth and what they ate
Her restaurant In New York, Tanoreen which is reflective of her own preferences and customer demands.
Her preference for bolder than traditional flavors, especially cinnamon and allspice.

She does pull in some Morrocan and Lebanese and other things here and there, but things that have already drifted across borders in contemporary times as things do.

So it's not strictly traditional or authentic if those words have a specific meaning and value to you in ethnic cuisine.

She's a bit heavy with oil for my preferences--eggs in bread for 6 made with half cup of oil total--though eggs in olive oil with sumac is a worthy dish.

Sweet spices in savory applications especially cinnamon is not my preference. I find cinnamon very powerful and it often overwhelms a dish. So I struggled with this book in ways that are unfair to the content on its own.

For the most part, the ingredients are easy to come by. Mastic is probably the trickiest and it's used rarely.

Because I recently made Hainanese Chicken Rice, the Seasoned Chicken with Stock struck me with its similarities. It's a spice poached chicken with the meat and broth used separately. The main differences are the chicken is in parts, it gets an initial sear, and the spices are different. She doesn't serve this on its own though, just for use in other dishes.

There's a lot of stuffing of various foods. I appreciated her note in the Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage about doing these kinds of dishes "lasagne" style in alternating layers of wrapper and filling. It does simplify the assembly and cooking.

I picked up a few pointers and saw some new things, but her approach and preferences in flavor just really aren't a good match to my preferences. If you enjoy the sweet warm spices in savory applications, you'll likely enjoy her food.

Next up, Hunan: A Lifetime of Secrets from Mr. Peng's Chinese Kitchen. Another restaurant cookbook, this time tilted to a stream of small dishes.
 
#106 ·
I neglected to comment on two red lentil dishes that caught my eye. One a pureed soup, the other a "stew" of lentils and butternut squash or sweet potato. The latter is likely a winner with my daughter who likes lentils and sweet potatoes.

Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Stew
If you make this stew once, there is no going back. The butternut squash adds a mellow sweetness but it is also delicious with chunks of yams, carrots or even pumpkin. Use one of these vegetables or a mix to make this stew, and serve it piping hot, warm (my preference), or chilled.

SERVES 6-8


120ml olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
4 shallots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
8 garlic cloves, crushed
2 chillies, such as jalapeños or poblanos
a large handful of chopped fresh coriander
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 butternut squash, peeled and diced
340g red lentils, picked over

Heat 6 tablespoons olive oil in a large casserole dish over medium-high heat. When hot, sauté the shallots and onion until soft and golden, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then the chillies, coriander, cumin, black pepper, about 1 minute. Add the squash and stir to incorporate, then reduce the heat and cook, covered, about 10 minutes.

Tip in the lentils and 1 litre water, then cover and cook for about 12 minutes. If the squash has not softened, add 250ml additional water, cover and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Ladle the stew into serving bowls, drizzle with olive oil and serve.
 
#107 ·
Added Mooncakes & Milkbread by Kristina Cho--release Oct 12. It's about Chinese baking, sweet and savory items.

Sambal Shiok The Malaysian Cookbook by Mandy Yin, 11/2 another UK restauranteur.

These might not make it into my 2021 reading. We'll see.
 
#108 ·
Hunan: A Lifetime of Secrets From Mr. Peng's Chinese Kitchen by Mr Y. S. Peng

Really interesting cooking, very frustrating scale. The restaurant, Hunan, at the heart of this cookbook has a somewhat different method of operation. There is no set menu. And the food comes as a stream of small servings, diners often sharing 15-16 different dishes. The recipes reflect that small serving size.

He writes about using vinegar is an uncharacteristic way. He calls for white wine and red wine vinegar. I'm pretty sure he means regular rice vinegar and red rice vinegar. But I'm not positive.

He uses the term "slaked cornflour" for a paste of cornflour 3 parts water to 1 part flour. That's a strange usage of slaked to me.

I was introduced to a few new ingredients, mostly various pickled. dried, fermented vegetables. Mei cai for example is used in a particular pork belly dish. He talks about it in the intro. He talks about it in the directions. It never shows up with amounts in the ingredients list. So I'm assuming its intended to use a whole jar? And Dong Cai from Taiwan is something I'll have to keep an eye out for.

Oddities aside, the instructions are clear and well presented and the food appealing.

A sample recipe, Egg-wrapped Soup
pg113.jpg


Egg-wrapped soup
This dish is beautiful to look at; the way the crêpe opens up is like a flower, especially when you add the stock and the leaves float up like the petals in a water lily. It's really quite stunning and serene.

Makes 8 portions

2 eggs, beaten
6 quail's eggs, hard boiled and halved
400g minced pork
3 water chestnuts, finely chopped
80g shredded meat from ham hock
6 dried Chinese mushrooms, reconstituted and finely chopped
12 mooli balls, made with melon baller
2 tbsp minced crab meat
1 slice ginger
1 spring onion stalk
pinch of salt
stock to cover

For the seasoning:
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
pinch salt
½ tbsp cornflour

To serve:
½ cherry tomato

Start by making a thin crêpe with just the eggs. Put a little oil into a frying pan and heat until nearly smoking. Put a thin layer of the beaten egg into the bottom of your frying pan and fry until set.

Mix all of the seasoning together in a bowl and adjust for flavour.

In a bowl, mix the finely chopped mushroom with the ham hock.

Put the minced pork in the bowl with the seasoning.

Line a large bowl, around 20 cm in diameter, with the crêpe. Place the crab meat in the centre at the bottom of the bowl on the crepe.

Arrange the quail's eggs in a circle around the crab meat, white side down.

Arrange the ham hock mix to the outer edges of the quail's eggs, without covering the eggs.

Put the seasoned minced pork on top of the crab meat, quail's eggs and ham hock in one uniform layer.

In the centre, you should have a void. Put the mooli balls into the centre and press down so that it's even.

If there's excess crêpe left, fold over the middle.

In the middle, add a pinch of salt, the ginger and spring onion.

Cover loosely with cling film and steam for 20 minutes.

Leave the parcel to rest for 30 minutes and then turn the pork mince parcel into a bigger bowl. You should now have an upturned dome.

Carefully cut the crêpe into eight equal portions, as you might divide a cake, without cutting through the whole parcel, and pull back the crêpe to reveal a flower.

Add warmed stock to the bowl until the crêpe leaves begin to float like a flower.

Garnish with the cherry tomato in the middle and serve.
Beautiful dishes abound with appealing flavors. For me, it's more about how does this kind of cooking fit into my life.

I'd like to see him write a family style cookbook. But as it is, I'll have to experiment with scaling these ideas up if I'm to cook as much from this book as I'd like.
 
#110 ·
Hunan: A Lifetime of Secrets From Mr. Peng's Chinese Kitchen by Mr Y. S. Peng

Really interesting cooking, very frustrating scale. The restaurant, Hunan, at the heart of this cookbook has a somewhat different method of operation. There is no set menu. And the food comes as a stream of small servings, diners often sharing 15-16 different dishes. The recipes reflect that small serving size.

He writes about using vinegar is an uncharacteristic way. He calls for white wine and red wine vinegar. I'm pretty sure he means regular rice vinegar and red rice vinegar. But I'm not positive.

He uses the term "slaked cornflour" for a paste of cornflour 3 parts water to 1 part flour. That's a strange usage of slaked to me.

I was introduced to a few new ingredients, mostly various pickled. dried, fermented vegetables. Mei cai for example is used in a particular pork belly dish. He talks about it in the intro. He talks about it in the directions. It never shows up with amounts in the ingredients list. So I'm assuming its intended to use a whole jar? And Dong Cai from Taiwan is something I'll have to keep an eye out for.

Oddities aside, the instructions are clear and well presented and the food appealing.

A sample recipe, Egg-wrapped Soup
View attachment 70868

Beautiful dishes abound with appealing flavors. For me, it's more about how does this kind of cooking fit into my life.

I'd like to see him write a family style cookbook. But as it is, I'll have to experiment with scaling these ideas up if I'm to cook as much from this book as I'd like.
Could red vinegar be Zhejiang vinegar, and white be plain rice vinegar?
 
#111 ·
I agree that he's talking about rice vinegar most likely. The red vinegar is I think an actual red rice vinegar rather than black/chinkiang/zhejiang vinegar. He does use black vinegar and calls it as such.


I suspect his usage is a carryover of westerners calling rice ferment products wine. It may also be an artifact of older UK usage that is less prevalent among younger UK writers.

This particular fungus that produces red yeast rice produces lovastatin at low levels and is used in the traditional medicine of China. A few of the popular mushrooms do as well.
 
#112 ·
Chicken & Rice by Shu Han Lee

The author is again a Singapore expat in the UK though she's not as strictly focused on Singapore/Malaysia. She also delves into some of her favorite Thai, Filipino, Vietnamese dishes. Additionally I would characterize her approach as diaspora cooking with local substitution for traditional cuisine. While this can be construed as fusion, this is more of an economic make-do home approach than a structured culinary effort.

There's some re-tread ground here of course. What stood out to me were the fish balls and fish cake recipes. I do have versions of these in my notes from a website some time back, I like having a book reference for them now as well. Additionally, my notes encouraged the use of commercial fish paste from the freezer case, so I could just as well have bought fish balls/cakes as the paste...

I was put off by her spring vegetable pho. If I become vegetarian, maybe I'll give it a go. but asparagus just doesn't sit right in my internalized expectation of pho.

She refers to the laksa leaf as Hot Mint, which I'm used to seeing as rau ram in my grocers.

I think it'a a pretty good book for a westerner approaching the cuisine(s) and I expect to refer back to it again.

Additionally, I did some skimming of The Curry Guy Bible. I stumbled across his blog, https://greatcurryrecipes.net/ while looking up info on the curry base to individual curry technique. He offers some ideas there. And the ... Bible has a section on British Indian Restaurant food that is where he discusses his approach to a curry base that you then convert quickly into various restaurant curries, in the manner restaurants actually use. 20 or so curries, 5 base recipes and seasoning mixes. Interesting stuff. Haven't tried any of it, but it looks like a good method for quick curry weeknight meals if you've already made the base.
 
#113 ·
I have the chicken & rice book as well (it was 0.99 £ as a daily kindle deal :) ).
I haven't cooked from it yet, but it looks pretty OK to me.
Laksa leaf seems to go by a lot of different names. I am trying to get some to grow here as I think it will do well. It's not coriander (cilantro) at all, but it has a slight taste similarity and coriander doesn't want to grow here. It bolts when it is about 5-10 cm high!

As for "the curry guy", I've checked the books, but they do not really appeal to me. I do have another book that focusses on British Indian Restaurant curry and starts of with a curry base. "the curry secret" by Kris Dhillon Maybe check that one as well:
 
#114 ·
I'll have to take a look at The Curry Secret.

You might try to grow culantro, Mexican Coriander. I was mistaken that it was the same as laksa.

Next is Nom Wah. This was one I was excited about at the beginning of the year. It looks like a pretty serious Dim Sum cookbook.

The Human Interest story on the radio news today was about Brai Day in South Africa. It made me think about your usage of the term.
 
#115 ·
I tried culantro.
I know it as sawtooth herb and pakchi farang ;)
It grows for a little while and then fizzles out. I have to try get seeds again.

Didn't know it was braai-day. Luckily I am going to throw some pork chops on it, so I am not losing out ;) :)
 
#118 ·
Another thing about Chicken & Rice, she uses shallot/garlic oil quite a bit. This is something I first picked up insight into with Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Eileen Yin Fei Lo. There she makes four oils as part of her idea of a basic Chinese Pantry, Hot Pepper oil, Scallion oil (see the review of My Shanghai for more on that), Onion Oil and Garlic Oil. Shu Han Lee gives instructions for her oils, and uses the crispy shallots and garlic bits in dishes as well. I'm glad to see this use of seasoned oil come out more.

On Youtube, I follow Taste Show. "Chef John" makes frequent use of his custom Aroma Oil--a custom sesame oil.



One thing none of them ever talk about is food safety. If not consumed "quickly" and stored cold, most of these are at some risk for botulism. --Most of the chile oils based in all dried ingredients have a long safe storage. But beware if you add fresh garlic. Make amounts you'll use in a few weeks.
 
#119 ·
The Nom Wah Cookbook by Wilson Tang

Some of the books this year had some pretty glowing press. This is one of those. Mr. Jiu's had a lot, Rodney Scott's World of BBQ got quite a bit. Bress 'n' Nyam (which I've still to acquire), Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food--my next read.

Nom Wah didn't measure up. At least a third of it is just stories: growing up Chinese in the US, the prior owner, the tea vendor... And the dumplings were of limited variety.

Oddities

The rice wrapper for the Cheung Fun is not just rice flour and water but a blend of rice, tapioca starch, wheat starch and potato starch without any real explanation of why. At least help me understand why you make the deviations so I can learn.

A sweet and sour beef filet of sliced flank steak.

The Chinese Chopped Cheese dumplings,--basically a hacked up cheeseburger dumpling with a sauce of may ond ketchup. It sounds fine, but what does it really accomplish over eating a cheeseburger?

Arrancini--This is just leftover fried rice bound with eggs and potato starch, sort of like you would make a potato patty from leftover mashed potatoes. I get why he calls it arrancin being a fried rice ball, but it has no stretchy filling or any separate filling at all. I think the name doesn't really apply. Just call it a fried rice ball.

Good things
I like the simple way he handles the master filings and even supports blending them for different results. Pork Master Filling, Shrimp Master Filling, No Pork No Shrimp Master Filling (vegies) Very flexibly used throughout the book.

The Soup Dumpling is not too complex and uses fairly easy ingredients.

It may be a good dim sum joint, but the cookbook is just average at best. There's little explanation of why they do what they for particular results. Just do this. There are better and deeper dim sum books available.
 
#121 ·
I'm starting to see the shipping problems crop up in the Asian sections of mainstream grocers and some of the smaller ethnic grocers. Bare shelves, selection and quantity limits. Produces seems pretty good still. I suppose a lot of that comes from US and Central American farms that aren't so cargo container constrained. Vietnamese things seems less impacted so far.
 
#123 ·
Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food by Hsiao-Ching Chou

Leading contender for my favorite cookbook of the year by a good margin.

Excellent instructions on cooking, preparation and equipment. I learned a few new things. There were some helpful photos with a tape measure next to dried ingredients so that you can learn to properly scale what is available to you locally to what the recipes call for. Helpful labeled photos so you know what differentiates various similar vegetables.

A pretty good explanation of various tofu products available, and also more rice cake info than I've encountered before.

Good dumpling wrapping instructions, bao instructions, even a vegetarian soup dumpling.

A section dedicated to steaming, such a rare topic. A dish of steamed cucumber and mushroom reminded me of the ubiquitous smashed cucumbers and garlic, just now a steamed variation. Also a section on making some simple pickles and using them. I had naively wondered why she was talking about canning jars and lids in the equipment section. I appreciated her discusions of mixing vegetables and seasoning them free-style. Any theoretical approach to cooking is something I appreciate. She also gave a section on adding meat to the various stir fries if you so choose.

I was surprised that soup dishes extended into the Rice and Noodles section and not the Soups section. I can see the reasoning. I think a note listing (or linking in an ebook) the extra recipes and their location would have been a good step for completeness.

Seasonings seems a bit heavy on black bean garlic sauce and prepared sauce at that. I think it's better made for each dish, plus you get more control over the seasonings as you may prefer. The Hot and Sour Soup reached for white vinegar, a disappointment to me.

But a major win for sharing cooking knowledge and technique for all fans of Chinese cooking, whether omnivorous or herbivorous.
 
#124 ·
I had a look at it on amazon. To me, her other book looks more interesting. Very interesting actually!
Unfortunately, you can't "see inside" the book. Just some pics but they are really small.
What measurements is she using?
I really dislike cups/spoons and ounces/pints etc.
I am seriously imperially challenged!
 
#129 ·
I've been eying that book for a while ;)
Some other good ones (a bit older)
Cradle of flavor by James Oselund and Indonesian regional food and cookery by Sri Owen

Fire island by Eleanor Ford looks interesting as well
 
#130 ·
I encountered Cradle of Flavor once and wrote it in my list. But I've not found it at a library or bookstore for a better deeper look to decide about. I suppose that your recommendation will suffice to put it in the acquire category.
 
#131 ·
:)

My main (go to) Indonesian cookbooks are in Dutch, and I get a lot of my recipes from the internet as well. There are a couple of sites I trust. Again, the main ones are in Dutch, but a couple in English as well.
I don't want to hijack your thread (as it is about cookbooks, not websites), so just let me know if you want the links
 
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