China: The Cookbook

Despite their deep knowledge of Chinese cuisine, the Chans at first feared they might not have enough recipes to represent the country’s culinary breadth. That fear was quickly put to rest as the married duo packed over 650 recipes into this hefty and vital resource. Similar to other titles in Phaidon’s immersive national cuisine series (Mexico: The Cookbook, India: The Cookbook, etc), this is a text-heavy tome dedicated to showcasing the country’s most iconic regional dishes as well as tasty variations. Organized by course, the book offers dozens of recipes for familiar recipes (hot and sour soup, vegetable rolls, drunken chicken, etc.) as well as riffs such as deep-fried chicken patties, sweet and sour spare ribs, and duck with onions. This is a book dedicated to practicality: complex, hard-to-source dishes such as pork lungs and apricot kernel soup, goose intestines in soy sauce, and chicken with snow fungus are in the minority. Readers will be surprised that the majority of the book’s recipes are succinct and easy to shop for. Less experienced cooks interested in expanding their repertoires may be intimidated by the book’s lack of descriptions of the finished dishes or recommendations for accompaniments, but those comfortable with Chinese cuisine will find this immersive collection indispensable. (Sept.)