Saveur

I'm still undecided about the fate of this book. I was excited to find a recipe for Major Grey's Chutney, a bit less excited to find that among many other ingredients it requires a full kilo (2 and a quarter pounds because this is a relentlessly American book) of mangos and half a cup (!!) of minced ginger, and completely appalled that after the extensive input of materials and time producing FIVE CUPS (over a litre) it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Only. How to eat five cups of chutney in two weeks is left as an exercise for the student.

I'm interested in the cha siu bao (pork buns) recipe but the recipe for the pork filling itself is questionable (you just don't make these with "roasted pork", you need to start with pork tenderloin and oven-BBQ it, Canadian Living magazine knows that) so that throws the dough, which surprisingly contains both yeast and baking powder and supposedly can be baked or steamed, into question. Then I see that the hot sour soup contains potatoes (!!) but no bamboo shoots -- is it supposed to be a substitution? And making congee (jouk) by boiling the rice in salted water, just no.

The xiao lung bao (little steamer-basket dumplings -- not little dragon dumplings as I mistakenly thought for years) look worth trying. The recipe carefully explains how to get the soup into the insides, which is always a mystery to diners and much less obvious than getting the caramel into the Caramilk.

Some of the Amazon reviewers mention a plethora of errors in the recipes, whether from typos, proofreading issues, or lack of actual testing. Eg. a cup of oil to fry a few scallions when a tablespoon would probably give better results. So it might be well to have a second cookbook close at hand to compare.… (meer)

A beautiful book with gorgeous photographs of every dish, this cookbook was intimidating in being both authentic (recipe names are in Italian with English sub-titles) and complex. However, I took the time to tackle Ragu alla Bolognese (meat sauce) and Balsamella (bechamel sauce), both key ingredients in creating Lasagne Verdi al Forno (baked spinach lasagne), for a Christmas dinner party. It involved three days of cooking, but yielded STUNNING results. I cannot believe I was able to make such an amazing dish, and will undertake the effort again enthusiastically when I have time for serious cooking.… (meer)