Chinese Snacks [Paperback]

 

 

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This is one of my most cherished cookbooks! Just leafing through and seeing all the glorious photographs sets my mouth watering and inspires me to cook up one of these wonderful comfort foods, many of which I grew up with. The number and variety of Chinese snacks presented here is astounding, and the recipes are so absolutely authentic and well-tested, you cannot go wrong. Everything I have made has been utterly delectable.

The recipe selection is amazingly comprehensive. Included, of course, are the myriad varieties of buns and dumplings served at Cantonese dim sum or sold at Chinese bakeries in Chinatown. But the recipes go beyond that to present the whole gamut of comfort foods traditionally eaten at meals and as snacks in various regions of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Included are the famous eight-treasure rice pudding and other molded puddings; Beijing-style crullers and sesame flatbreads eaten dunked in soy milk; steamed wheat-flour cakes and rice-flour cakes; deep-fried wheat-flour and rice-flour fritters and dumplings; baked, filled pies and turnovers, both savory and sweet; the famous won ton soup and other savory soups; sweet soups of rice dumplings, beans, taro, tapioca, almonds, etc., served hot or cold; varieties of egg rolls and bean-curd rolls; different regional varieties of moon cakes; steamed bread puddings; steamed bamboo-leaf-wrapped packages of savory meat, vegetables, and rice; the famed egg tarts and coconut tarts; cookies traditionally made for festivals and celebrations. . . . I could go on and on.

In short, this cookbook is simply the best collection of favorite comfort foods out there and well worth owning!

The Wei-Chuan Publishing Company (apparently connected with the Taiwanese Wei-Chuan Cooking School), has produced a good number of Cookbooks, mostly dealing with Chinese cookery but also coveing other Asian cuisines as well. I own over a dozen of these now and I like all of them. More importantly, I like all of these books for tmuch he same reasons and, accordingly, I have decided to do a general review that applies to each of them and then provide a few individualized comments where appropriate.

Basically, the Wei-Chuan publications are authored/editored by several different persons but the format is largely the same. Each book is divided into logical sections (Meats, Vegetables, Appetizers, etc.) and nearly every recipe is accompanied by a good photograph of the result with some recipes having additional pictures of the preparation as well. This feature alone makes these books well worth the purchase. Another feature of this cuilinary series is that the books are written in China and, at least as far as the books on Chinese cuisine is concerned, the reader need have no issues with 'authenticity'. I personally also like the fact that all of the books are written in Chinese characters and then translated into English. This has has an added bonus of occasionally providing some unintentional amusement due to a particularly 'unfortunate' translation but I specially like it as I am teaching myself Mandarin and these books are excellent learning tools. I often take one on the plane with me when I travel (along with dictionaries) and can spend hours happily translating passages. It is amazing how often the actual translation of a recipe title bears little resemblance to the English title provided.

Finally, I have to say that the recipes in all of these books are interesting and he ones that I have tried to reproduce have worked out well. Mainly though, I just like reading through these books for inspiration and enjoyment. The money I have spent has been repaid many times over.

The We-Chuan books I currently own are as follows:

Chinese Cuisine - Very good introductory section. Recipes range from simple everyday dishes to exotic banquet style delicacies.
Chinese Dim Sum: Wel-Chuan Cultural and Educational Foundation - Great 'step-by-step' pictures for many recipes. Bit too much emphasis on sweet rather than savoury for my personal taste.
Chinese Snacks - More of the same as in the Dim Sum book. No 'step-by-step' pictures but I actually like this book better.
Chinese Appetizers and Garnishes - I haven't attempted much from this book but I am thankful for the great 'step-by-step' pictures provided.

Favorite Home Dishes Chinese Cooking - As the name suggests, most of the recipes are simple and, thus, easy to prepare.

Chinese Cuisine Beijing Style - Lots of Imperial Banquet dishes and many exotic foreign influenced meals that have been 'Chinesified'.
Chinese Cuisine: Cantonese Style - 75 Cantonese recipes. Good recipes with nice pictures but a sparse introduction.
Chinese Cuisine Shanghai Style - Typically good Wei-Chuan quality but probably my least favorite of the 'regional' Chinese cookbooks.
Chinese Cuisine-Taiwanese Style - Excellent Book. Some truly unique recipes I have never seen elsewhere. I love to browse this volume.
Chinese Cuisine: Szechuan Style - I love Szechuan food especially but I would still treat this book as a favorite anyway.

Indian Cuisine - A nice book but be aware that the recipes Indian dishes for the Chinese palate, not Indian.
Vietnamese Cuisine - Great recipes.
Japanese Cuisine - Nearly as good as many books I have that are written by Japanese chefs.
Korean Cuisine - My favorite of the We-Chuan non-Chinese cookbooks so far,
Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine - My least favorite Wei-Chuan book so far. Somewhat interesting but I don't look at it much.

Finally, I have a new Wei-Chuan book on order and will continue to buy from time to time. I will review separately as I read these new books.

I LOVE the wei-chuan series of cookbooks. They are billingual and in my opinion the best Chinese cookbooks! I collect cookbooks and have american printed Chinese cookbooks from the 1970's to the present. Even the ones written by Chinese are adapted to suit the American palate in most cases. These cookbooks are terrific though! The recipes are all very close to my auntie's and grandmother's recipes and techniques. I love the photos guiding you through difficult steps. In this book- you'll find all the goodies you get in chinatown. i've tried out a lot of the recipes and they TASTE like the ones in chinatown! (uh- that would be a good thing!) I love the variety in this book; buns savory and sweet, moon cakes, egg tarts (dontots- the best thing in the world straight out of the oven!), dim sum- shui mai- har gao (that shrimp dumpling that everyone always orders) , jung taes- the Chinese burrito, sesame balls (I've burned my both of my hands entirely with hot oil- trying to make these puff so be CAREFUL!), you tiau those sticks of greasy bread that my mom refers to as a chinese donut for some reason, those gorgeous pastry flowers that look impossible to make but are surprisingly simple... okay this is just an amazing book and you will amaze yourself when you make your first snack. (so what if it looks completely different from the picture- the taste is still the same!!!)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Not a Reliable Cook Books
I tried to make some snack on this book and follow the instruction, but turn out not what I expected and not look like the result on the picture.

Published on Dec 11 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, if time-consuming, food!
Many of the snacks in here are simply delicious and the recipes include large full-color photo of the results as well as photos of any complex procedure. Read more

Published on Sep 18 2002 by Diane E. Lowe

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful cookbook
This is a wonderful cookbook. It has easy to follow instructions and wonderful photos. I have tried to make most of the snacks and they all turned out great. Read more

Published on July 24 2002 by SnowStar

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent dim sum book for Chinese or Americans
This is very good book for cooking Dim Sum or other Chinese snacks. The instructions are clear and accurate. Read more

Published on July 4 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Great recipe selection, wish there was a video
A fantastic selection of sweet and savory recipes and easily my favorite new cookbook.

Ingredients are generally easy to find and the author's instructions are clear, except... Read more

Published on May 11 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Snack Recipes!
I found the recipe for Lotus bulbs just like I was looking for. I had them in China and they were delicious! I'm trying all the other snacks too. Read more

Published on July 17 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars More general than dim sum
This book is not meant to be exclusively a dim sum cookbook. It covers snacks from various regions of the Chinese-speaking world. Read more

Published on Jun 7 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars not bad if you're new to dim sum cooking
the recipes in this book are quite accurate, although most fall into two categories - dumplings and buns. Read more

Published on Dec 27 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Even if you're not Chinese, this is a great Dim Sum guide
A Chinese friend recommended this book and the Chinese Cuisine companion. We have tried a number of the recipes and they come out tasting just like a good Dim Sum... Read more

Published on Jun 5 1999

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