Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking

387 Pages·2012·19.93 MB·English

MASTERING THE ART OF CHINESE COOKING
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T E R I NG TH
A S E
A
M
R
T
of
EILEEN YIN-FEI LO
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SUSIE CUSHNER
BRUSH CALLIGRAPHY BY SAN YAN WONG
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Text copyright © 2009 by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo.
Photographs copyright © 2009 by Susie Cushner.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without written permission
from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data available.
eISBN 978-0-8118-7870-8
Designed by Katie Heit
Illustrations by Steven Noble
Prop styling by Helen Crowther
Food styling by Jee Levin
Typesetting by Janis Reed
Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com
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BOOKS BY EILEEN YIN-FEI LO
The Dim Sum Book
The Chinese Banquet Cookbook
China’s Food, coauthor
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’s New Cantonese Cooking
From the Earth
The Dim Sum Dumpling Book
The Chinese Way
The Chinese Kitchen
The Chinese Chicken Cookbook
My Grandmother’s Chinese Kitchen
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In all the world there are only two really great cuisines: the Chinese and the
French. China’s was created first, untold centuries ago, and is judged to be
the greater—when executed by superb chefs. It is the most complicated cuisine;
it uses ingredients no other employs; and it is distinctive in that, for the most
part, it is cuisine à la minute.
— James Beard, 1973
DEDICATIONS
This book is dedicated, as have been all of my books, to my husband, Fred, my
careful reader and critic of first, and last, resort, and my love. It is for my chil-
dren as well, Christopher the Chef, he of the fine palate; Elena the Producer,
whose careful list of eating strictures is put on hold when she enters my house;
Stephen the Coach, a walking appetite, who adores eating the cooking of others;
and my daughter-in-law, Cristina, the Voracious Taster. To them, I add my
granddaughter, Elliott Antonia, my “Siu Siu,” who sat on my kitchen table and
stirred and mixed with me as I wrote. Finally, I give my thanks, my deepest
thanks, to Carla Glasser, my agent for many years, who cares about my work.
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A S T E R ING THE
M AR
T
of
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION The Chinese Market page 11
{
PART
1

}
THE MARKET AS CLASSROOM
page 17
LESSON 1 Creating a Chinese Pantry page 27
LESSON 2 A Collection of Basics page 49
LESSON 3 Stir-frying page 60
LESSON 4 Steaming page 79
LESSON 5 Poaching in a Wok page 86
LESSON 6 Chinese Cooking in a Pot page 91
LESSON 7 The Barbecue page 102
LESSON 8 Good Soups page 106
LESSON 9 Making Sense of Noodles page 113
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{
PART
2

}
THE MARKET BECOMES REGIONAL
page 129
LESSON 1 More Ingredients and the Sand Clay Pot page 137
LESSON 2 A New Collection of Basics page 144
LESSON 3 A Discussion of Breads page 160
LESSON 4 Cooking in the Sand Clay Pot page 173
LESSON 5 Rice without Limits page 181
LESSON 6 Chinese Cooking, North to South page 200
{
PART
3

}
THE MARKET PARTICULAR
page 235
LESSON 1 A Final Collection of Basics page 240
LESSON 2 Taming the Wild Exotics page 244
LESSON 3 A Taste of Tea page 257
LESSON 4 Vegetables as the Way page 290
LESSON 5 A Second Cooking Tour, North to South page 299
LESSON 6 A Discussion of Sweets page 344
LESSON 7 Creating Menus in the Chinese Manner page 358
LESSON 8 Serving Wines, East and West,
with Chinese Food page 364
INDEX page 369
TABLE OF EQUIVALENTS page 384
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