Chinese Soul Food: A Friendly Guide for Homemade Dumplings, Stir-Fries, Soups, and More - Hardcover

Chou, Hsiao-Ching

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1632171236 ISBN 13: 9781632171238

Publisher: Sasquatch Books, 2018

Synopsis

Chinese soul food is classic comfort food you can't resist, and in this cookbook you'll find 80 recipes for favorites you can easily make any night of the week.

Chinese food is more popular than any other cuisine and yet it often intimidates North American home cooks. Chinese Soul Food draws cooks into the kitchen with recipes that include sizzling potstickers, stir-fries that are
unbelievably easy to make, saucy braises, and soups that bring comfort with a sip. These are dishes that feed the belly and speak the universal language of "mmm!" You'll find approachable recipes and plenty of tips for favorite homestyle Chinese dishes, such as red-braised pork belly, dry-fried green beans, braised-beef noodle soup, green onion pancakes, garlic eggplant, and the author's famous potstickers, which consistently sell out her cooking classes in Seattle. You will also find helpful tips and techniques, such as caring for and using a wok and how to cook rice properly, as well as a basic Chinese pantry list that also includes acceptable substitutions, making it even simpler for the busiest among us to cook their favorite Chinese dishes at home. Recipes are streamlined to minimize the fear factor of unfamiliar ingredients and techniques, and home cooks are gently guided toward becoming comfortable cooking satisfying Chinese meals. Any kitchen can be a Chinese kitchen!

About this title

About the Author

Hsiao-Ching Chou is an award-winning food journalist, a cooking instructor, and communications consultant. She is a member of the James Beard Foundation cookbook committee and Les Dames d'Escoffier. Chou has been a guest on local and national shows, including Public Radio's The Splendid Table, the PBS documentary The Meaning of Food, and the Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. In her spare time, she teaches popular everyday Chinese home cooking classes at the Hot Stove Society. She lives with her family in Seattle.

Review

“Hsiao-Ching Chou delves into the heart of Chinese cooking, understanding its power to provide sustenance and comfort. This unique collection of recipes will inspire lovers of Chinese cuisine to fire up their woks. Chou expertly teaches popular classics such as Soup Dumplings and Mu Shu Pork, as well as less familiar dishes, like Beef with Pickled Chinese Mustard Greens and Spicy Clams with Chinese Sausage, showcasing the remarkable range of Chinese home cooking.”
—Grace Young, James Beard Award-winning author of Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge

“I love this book. It’s a warm invitation to home cooks to get comfortable with Chinese home cooking through stir-frying, braising, and steaming--and with easily available Chinese ingredients. The fried egg recipe alone (a wok is by far the best place to fry an egg) makes this an essential book, but there are many more, including Dry-Fried Green Beans, Hot and Sour Soup, Red-Braised Pork Belly, a selection of dim sum dumplings, and that guilty restaurant pleasure, General Tso’s Chicken. They’re all here. No restaurant needed!”
—Naomi Duguid, author of Taste of Persia: A Cook's Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan and Burma: Rivers of Flavor

“When I first met Hsiao-Ching Chou and she told me about making wontons and dumplings and other dishes, I was startled for I never had thought of these foods being made, and here was someone who actually made them. And that’s just one reason why I’m so glad to see Chinese Soul Food coming into print. Another is Hsiao-Ching’s personal comments about life in her parents’ restaurant that run through the book; they shed light on so many lives. As for the food, when I thumb through this book I want to make everything--it sounds so good and so comforting. Congratulations on a fine book!”
—Deborah Madison, author of In My Kitchen and Vegetable Literacy

“Soulful. Smart. And hunger inducing. This is the sort of food you eat if you’re lucky enough to have a Chinese grandmother cook for you.”  
—Steven Raichlen, author of the Barbecue Bible cookbook series and host of Project Smoke on PBS

“I made the mistake of reading Chinese Soul Food before making dinner. I got so hungry reading over such appetite-inducing recipes as Baby Bok Choy with Chicken and Spicy Clams with Chinese Sausage that I simply had to run to the store to buy the ingredients. Dinner was a little later than usual but oh-so satisfying, and the recipes were simple and quick to make.”
—Bruce Aidells, author of The Great Meat Cookbook

"A fun guide to creating favorite restaurant recipes at home."
—Publishers Weekly

"Chinese home cooking isn’t as scary as it seems."
—The Seattle Times

"The definitive primer on Chinese home cooking." 
—Seattle Magazine

"Chinese Soul Food is a primer of authentic meals that trace [Chou's] family’s background and movements throughout the provinces of China, Manchuria and Taiwan.... In its conception and execution, Chinese Soul Food embodies not only mastering the journey, but the destination as well. It’s a stellar choice for anyone’s cookbook shelf!"
—International Examiner 

"Add it to your collection and expand your cooking repertoire for the better."
—Simple Bites

"If you are new to Chinese cooking, Hsiao-Ching’s Chinese Soul Foodis the perfect starting place and Hsiao-Ching the perfect teacher."
—Books for Better Living

“Chinese Soul Food is definitely a friendly guide to cooking your favorite Chinese dishes at home...[an] abundance of [recipes]...gorgeous photos and clear descriptions... a testimony to family, food and tradition.”
—Third Coast Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Sasquatch Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1632171236
• ISBN 13: 9781632171238
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256