Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking | Fuchsia Dunlop

Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking | Fuchsia Dunlop | Update

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Land of Plenty: A ...

	Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking Fuchsia Dunlop W. W. Norton & Company, 2003 - 395 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The best Sichuan cookbook I've come across

I was very surprised when I found this book in this library, because authentic Chinese cookbooks are difficult enough to find, and anything regional and non-Cantonese even rarer. I myself had never been to Sichuan, though my family did often dined at excellent Sichuan restaurants in Taiwan.
Before I proceed to the recipes, let me state that having read the book several times already (!), this is by far the best regional cookbook on Chinese cooking I've read in English. The author has a talent for combining the precise instruction needed for writing a cookbook and a poetic flair for capturing the local attitude to food. Knowing that most of her audience would likely be unfamiliar with daily life in Sichuan, often a mystery even to outside Chinese, she details the street life there. One of my favorite part is that consequently, her cooking is mostly based on home style and street food rather than haute banquet cuisine (though there are a few recipes of those too). I find this a prudent choice, as banquet food are almost always too elaborate for home cooks, and few things reflect regional cuisine as well as street food.
Most of the recipes are pretty straight forward, and addictively delicious. I've made some from the noodles section are my favorite, as I'm a big fan of snack food. Most of these food do not require more than a good cleaver, wok, and standard kitchen equipment to make. However, the Sichuan peppercorn is an absolute essential. Regarding to another review's warning, I believe the ban on fagara has been lifted, given that the pepper be subjected to high heat before import. Simple googling will turn up the sources.
Another caveat, though it's not the really the author's fault, is that there were surprisingly few vegetable dishes, and even fewer vegetarian. This may be surprisingly given that most of China subside on primarily vegetable-based diets. However, there are actually not that many famous Sichuan vegetarian dishes, probably because they are seen as peasant affair. For vegetarians, I'd recommend borrowing this from the library or friend and copying down the dozen or so relevant recipes (after reading the entire book of course).
Lastly, there are very few sweet dishes. This may bother some people, but sweets really are not part of daily traditional meals anyways, save for the complicated holiday specialities, so in a way I'm glad she left them out.
I really am glad this book come to being. I don't have much actual complaints except that I wish there were more pictures. There are some here but not many, and given the unfamiliarity of most people to these cuisine I think photos would help. But otherwise, a new favorite and a real standout.

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Update

I have not yet read this book but wish to update the previous review.
Szechuan Pepercorn is avalible in the States again. I bought my first batch in Aug 2005.

Great book...thank you to the earlier reviewers!

We bought this book because we love Sichuan food and because
this book had so many excellent reviews. The reviews were right
on...great recipes, interesting reading. We have tried several
recipes already for our favorite classic Sichuan dishes and they
all turned out great and authentic...and the directions were very
clear.

Great book !

This is a great book. I have used a few of the recipies and I was amazed how similar they were to my own family Sichuan recipies. I was also impressed by how the author included a lot of history behind the recipies. Great book if you want to learn about Sichuan cooking !

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Land of Plenty

An excellent book. Probably the only truly authentic book in English devoted to Sichuan cuisine. I have followed several of the recipes and all worked well

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7

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