The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore

The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore | Grace Young | Comprehensive Guide to Your Wok

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The Breath of a Wo...

	The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore Grace Young Simon & Schuster, 2004 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

If I could have only one Chinese cook book...

...this might just be it. This book was clearly a labor of love for Grace. It was written with the home cook in mind. From reading this book, along with her earlier volume, "Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen," it is clear that Grace's family and mine have a lot in common--namely a love and reverence for traditional, home-style Chinese cooking. The recipes are clear, simple, and easy to follow. I love the fact that so many of them are gleaned from her aunties and uncles--just as they are in my family. And it's so much fun reading about the history and production of the wok--I'll never look at the 30-year old specimen handed down to me from my mom the same way again!

I have a good collection of Chinese cookbooks, including volumes by Barbara Tropp, Ken Hom, Yan Kit, and my own family (I come from a family of restauranteurs and chefs), and over the years gleaned pearls of wisdom from each, but like I said, if I had to choose only one, "Breath" might just be it. But please, don't ask me to actually do it...

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Comprehensive Guide to Your Wok

I have taken this book out of the library so many times that I finally broke down and bought the book. I am an avid stir-fry cook and this book has some great wok stir-fry recipes, but it has so much more. It is a comprehensive guide to wok history, culture, maintenance and cooking techniques-- and demonstrates how a wok can be used for so much more than stir-fry. The recipes are great and pretty foolproof. I also own The Chinese Kitchen, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. I like that book and use it often, but especially on busy weeknights, I appreciate that the recipes in Breath of a Wok generally call for far fewer ingredients and taste just as good.

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What do we know about Chinise Cusine

After reading this book I think that the stuff we get in most Asian restaurants is really just the prefab grocery store stuff they sell at Asian markets. So now I have been left asking a lot of questions. So I purchased a cast iron wok from China like the books suggests and have come up with wonderful results. I followed the seasoning techniques and now have a wok that is better than any I could purchase. One has to remember anyone can assemble the ingredients for a dish and measure to perfect portions. It's really the technique that makes the dish. This is probably the first Chinese cookbook to do so. From that point you can really understand the cuisine start to create real Chinese Cuisine.

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Breath of a Wok

I consider myself somewhat of a gourmet (at least that's what my friends tell me) and I own a fair number of books on cooking, food and traveling. I cannot say enough about the Breath of the Wok which touches on all three subjects.
The stories of different regions, different dishes, and different methods all explained with the wok as the centerpiece, is nothing less than masterful. And if that isn't enough the photography is breathtaking.
After reading the book and trying many of the dishes, I truly feel like I have visited China and have a fair understanding of the culture as it relates to their cuisine. I now cook with my new wok on a weekly basis and I appreciate what I am doing and how I am doing it (the Zen if you will) in context of the country it all began in. We even use chopsticks!
This book is so much more than a cookbook - you must really see it to appreciate it. Do NOT loan it out to friends. We have had to ask twice to get it back!

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The Breath of a Wok, a very special cookbook!

Grace Young's latest cookbook is a wonderful cookbook, filled with many excellent wok recipes, care instructions, myths and wok lore. I highly reccomend getting this book. I use it constantly, and make some wonderful meals from it.

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

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