Ming TsaiBesprekingen

Instructive and entertaining, though the sheer number of steps and ingredients involved (including many we don't usually have in our kitchen) means this will be mostly an aspirational cookbook. But to me it was still worth the read to learn about Ming Tsai's East-West style and to get ideas of different flavor/texture combinations. Plus, if I ever get back to Blue Ginger I might be able to even sound smart about what I'm eating. :)

These are not one-pot recipes. Ming cheats by reusing a pot, not counting prep work, etc., etc. That said, they are pretty good recipes — the shrimp "bouillabaisse" is excellent, and the crisp tofu with miso butter is a brilliant idea.

But the (gorgeous) photographs are utterly unrealistic -- no Israeli couscous I have ever made looked remotely like the image here -- and the "affordable" of the title is just risible.

I'm looking forward to going to Blue Ginger in a few months, and will continue to make the recipes praised above, and try his ginger-poached chicken, but this is not a book I would keep on my shelf.

This is a good selection of dishes from a well known celebrity chef. Some of his other cookbooks are simply too complicated for the average person. But these recipes aren't too complicated, and of course are rather tasty.

Some interesting recipes that are doable for the homecook.

Not as definitive a statement of Chinese-Western fusion as one might have hoped. The party pieces from the "Over The Top" chapter are good though.