General

Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China

A bold and eye-opening new cookbook with magnificent photos and unforgettable stories.

In the West, when we think about food in China, what usually comes to mind are the signature dishes of Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai. But beyond the urbanized eastern third of China lie the high open spaces and sacred places of Tibet, the Silk Road oases of Xinjiang, the steppelands of Inner Mongolia, and the steeply terraced hills of Yunnan and Guizhou. The peoples who live in these regions are culturally distinct, with their own history and their own unique culinary traditions. In Beyond the Great Wall, the inimitable duo of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid—who first met as young travelers in Tibet—bring home the enticing flavors of this other China.

For more than twenty-five years, both separately and together, Duguid and Alford have journeyed all over the outlying regions of China, sampling local home cooking and street food, making friends and taking lustrous photographs. Beyond the Great Wall shares the experience in a rich mosaic of recipes—from Central Asian cumin-scented kebabs and flatbreads to Tibetan stews and Mongolian hot pots—photos, and stories. A must-have for every food lover, and an inspiration for cooks and armchair travelers alike.

Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking

Morimoto's cooking has distinctive Japanese roots, yet it's actually, as the chef calls it, "global cooking for the 21st century." Morimoto's unique cuisine is characterized by beautiful Japanese color combinations and aromas, while the preparation infuses multicultural influences such as traditional Chinese spices and simple Italian ingredients, presented in a refined French style. Bringing all these elements home, with helpful step-by-step instructions and gorgeous photography, this accessible book explains Chef Morimoto's cooking techniques and plating philosophies and brings Japanese cooking to your own home. AUTHOR BIO: Chef Morimoto has been the Japanese iron chef on the Food Network's weekly show, "Iron Chef," and its spinoff "Iron Chef America," since 1999. The show airs in the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, and Hong Kong. Formerly the Executive Chef of the Sony Club and Nobu, Chef Morimoto now has his own restaurants in New York, Philadelphia, Tokyo, and Mumbai, and also created his own brand of sake and beer.

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province

Authentic recipes and fascinating tales from one of China's most vibrant culinary regions.

Fuchsia Dunlop is the author of the much-loved and critically acclaimed Sichuanese cookbook Land of Plenty, which won the British Guild of Food Writers' Jeremy Round Award for best first book and which critic John Thorne called "a seminal exploration of one of China's great regional cuisines." Now, with Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, she introduces us to the delicious tastes of Hunan, Chairman Mao's home province.

Hunan is renowned for the fiery spirit of its people, its beautiful scenery, and its hearty peasant cooking. In a selection of classic recipes interwoven with a wealth of history, legend, and anecdote, Dunlop brings to life this vibrant culinary region. Look for late imperial recipes like Numbing-and-Hot Chicken, Chairman Mao's favorite Red-Braised Pork, soothing stews, and a myriad of colorful vegetable stir-fries. 65 color illustrations.

Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles

The MediterrAsian Way: A Cookbook and Guide to Health, Weight Loss, and Longevity, Combining the Best Features of Mediterranean and Asian Diets and Lifestyles

Indulge yourself with tasty and satisfying foods like pasta dishes, stir-fries, curries, risottos, noodle dishes, and sushi, all washed down with a glass of wine or beer. Stay active but don't bother with a formal exercise regimen, and set aside time every day to relax and unwind. You may find it hard to believe, but eating and living this way can help you stay lean and healthy, substantially reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer, and increase your chances of living longer. People from Mediterranean and Asian cultures have been living like this-and reaping the rewards-for more than 5,000 years.

Now, in this unique cookbook and guide, Ric Watson and his wife, Trudy Thelander, demonstrate just how easy it is to realize the benefits of the MediterrAsian way-benefits that numerous scientific studies have documented over the last half century. They explain the common features of Mediterranean and Asian lifestyles-abundant amounts of plant foods and fish, small amounts of red meat, moderate alcohol consumption, physical activity, and time set aside to relax-and show you step by step how to make them part of your life. When you eat the MediterrAsian way, there's no skimping on taste-or satisfaction. You'll feast on more than 150 delicious recipes, including favorites like Pasta Primavera, Thai Chicken Stir-Fry, and Ham, Mushroom, and Tomato Pizza. You'll savor the intriguing flavors of Vietnamese Shrimp and Vegetable Rice Paper Rolls, Moroccan Stew with Couscous, and Teriyaki Chicken Noodles. And if you're in the mood for a burger or hot dog, Watson and Thelander offer several deliciously healthy versions.

The book walks you through MediterrAsian food basics, shows you how to substitute daily activities for time at the gym, and explains how to take time out to enjoy life and relax. To help you plan your meals, it provides an easy-to-follow five-step MediterrAsian Balanced Meal System. There's even a fourteen-day MediterrAsian plan as well as example lifestyle scenarios to help you get into the swing of things. Complete with 50 tempting color food photographs, The MediterrAsian Way is all you need to enjoy the benefits of MediterrAsian living-starting today!

Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges

Jean-Georges Vongerichten, chef and owner of 18 restaurants around the world, pioneered Asian-fusion cuisine and cooks this food better than anyone on the planet. In Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges, he presents dozens of recipes for reproducing the dishes that have made his restaurants--Vong, Spice Market, and 66--the hottest dining destinations in New York City.

Jean-Georges began his love affair with Asian food when he became the chef de cuisine at the renowned Oriental Hotel in Bangkok at the age of twenty-three. His trips to the markets of Bangkok sparked a lifelong obsession with ingredients like ginger, lemongrass, curry pastes and powders, and all kinds of exotic fruits and vegetables. In 1992, when he came to New York to cook at Lafayette in the Drake Hotel, he was the first to combine the flavors of Thailand with French technique. The restaurant was a sensation, immediately earning four stars from the New York Times, and launching his dazzling career in the United States.

In 1997, he opened an outpost of Vong in Hong Kong and discovered the world of authentic and refined Chinese cooking and ingredients. As he says, “Every meal in Hong Kong contain[s] a thousand flavors.” He opened 66 in New York to showcase his newfound passion for the Chinese kitchen.

And then in 2003 he opened Spice Market, his homage to Asian street food, after five years of research and extensive travels through Southeast Asia (documented in the photos in this book). Once again, he translated Asian cuisine through a French sensibility for American diners. Spice Market instantly became his most popular restaurant and remains one of New York’s most sought-after reservations.

Now Jean-Georges has brought together the best of his pan-Asian recipes in one exciting cookbook. The recipes reflect Jean-Georges’s extraordinary talent for creating intensely flavorful dishes inspired by simple home cooking and street food. The secret is his subtle and surprising combinations, which, as in his restaurants, introduce Asian flavors to traditional Western-style dishes and cooking techniques. His special approach comes deliciously to life in such main courses as Grilled Chicken with Kumquat Lemongrass Dressing, Black Pepper Shrimp with “Sun-Dried” Pineapple, Cod with Malaysian Chili Sauce, and Lamb Shank Braised with Green Curry and Vegetables. Unusual side dishes include Steamed Spicy Eggplant and Coconut Sticky Rice. For dessert, there are treats like Chocolate and Vietnamese Coffee Tart or a Seasonal Fruit Plate with Lime-Spiced Salt. Each recipe is laid out in a clear, easy-to-follow style, and throughout the book invaluable tips are offered for streamlining preparation and cooking.

From taste-tempting appetizers, soups, and salads, to irresistible fish, meat, poultry, and vegetable dishes, to special sauces and one-of-a-kind sweets, the recipes in Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges promise to make dining at home as exciting as an evening out at one of Jean-Georges's fabulous restaurants.

Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia

The Mekong region, which extends south from China through Laos and Thailand to Cambodia and Vietnam, offers extraordinary food. Hot Sour Salty Sweet, which takes its name from the principal taste sensations of the region's cooking, provides an unparalleled culinary journey through this fertile land. Though the book contains a wealth of anecdotal material, its great strength lies in its 175 recipes, explicit formulas for the likes of Shrimp in Hot Lime Leaf Broth, Lao Yellow Rice and Duck, and Hui Beef Stew with Chick Peas and Anise. The breadth and substance of this authentic yet approachable collection is truly exciting; readers who cook from the book (not difficult to do once ingredients are assembled and techniques understood), as well as those searching for the best kind of armchair travel, will be delighted.

Beginning with a discussion of the Mekong region, its people (a complicated mix, among them the Kai, Akha, and Cham), and their characteristic foods, the book then provides recipes organized by ingredients, dish types, and topics such as "Everyday Dependable," "One-Dish Meals," "Kids Like It," and "Vegetarian Options." This latter style of division helps define and "domesticate" a vast array of cooking, often enjoyed at times and places foreign to Westerners. Chapters devoted to such sweets as Tapioca and Corn Pudding with Coconut Cream, grilled specialties, and fare for adventurous cooks, such as Aromatic Steamed Fish Curry (more painstaking technically, though not truly difficult) further widen the book's scope. Illustrated throughout with 150 color photos and containing a comprehensive ingredient glossary, the book is a definitive point of entry to a mostly unexplored culinary port of call. --Arthur Boehm

Luminous at dawn and dusk, the Mekong is a river road, a vibrant artery that defines a vast and fascinating region. Here, along the world's tenth largest river, which rises in Tibet and joins the sea in Vietnam, traditions mingle and exquisite food prevails.

Award-winning authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid followed the river south, as it flows through the mountain gorges of southern China, to Burma and into Laos and Thailand. For a while the right bank of the river is in Thailand, but then it becomes solely Lao on its way to Cambodia. Only after three thousand miles does it finally enter Vietnam and then the South China Sea.

It was during their travels that Alford and Duguid—who ate traditional foods in villages and small towns and learned techniques and ingredients from cooks and market vendors—came to realize that the local cuisines, like those of the Mediterranean, share a distinctive culinary approach: Each cuisine balances, with grace and style, the regional flavor quartet of hot, sour, salty, and sweet. This book, aptly titled, is the result of their journeys.

Like Alford and Duguid's two previous works, Flatbreads and Flavors ("a certifiable publishing event" —Vogue) and Seductions of Rice ("simply stunning"—The New York Times), this book is a glorious combination of travel and taste, presenting enticing recipes in "an odyssey rich in travel anecdote" (National Geographic Traveler).

The book's more than 175 recipes for spicy salsas, welcoming soups, grilled meat salads, and exotic desserts are accompanied by evocative stories about places and people. The recipes and stories are gorgeously illustrated throughout with more than 150 full-color food and travel photographs.

In each chapter, from Salsas to Street Foods, Noodles to Desserts, dishes from different cuisines within the region appear side by side: A hearty Lao chicken soup is next to a Vietnamese ginger-chicken soup; a Thai vegetable stir-fry comes after spicy stir-fried potatoes from southwest China.

The book invites a flexible approach to cooking and eating, for dishes from different places can be happily served and eaten together: Thai Grilled Chicken with Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce pairs beautifully with Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad and Lao sticky rice.

North Americans have come to love Southeast Asian food for its bright, fresh flavors. But beyond the dishes themselves, one of the most attractive aspects of Southeast Asian food is the life that surrounds it. In Southeast Asia, people eat for joy. The palate is wildly eclectic, proudly unrestrained. In Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, at last this great culinary region is celebrated with all the passion, color, and life that it deserves.

The culinary map of Southeast Asia is about to change, if award-winning cookbook authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid have their way. Realizing that the wonderful flavors of Southeast Asia spill over national borders, Alford and Duguid set out to eat their way through the region's towns and villages, all the while collecting recipes, cooking techniques, stories, and photographs.

In Hot Sour Salty Sweet, dishes like Spicy Grilled Beef Salad and Vietnamese Chicken with Fresh Herbs appear side by side with more exotic treats like Jungle Curry from Thailand and Pomelo Salad from Cambodia. There are simple warming soups, easy stir-fries, brilliant, hot salsas, and cooling desserts. Evocative stories and photographs of their travels also appear throughout.

The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore

When Grace Young was a child, her father instilled in her a lasting appreciation of wok hay, the highly prized but elusive taste that food achieves when properly stir-fried in a wok. As an adult, Young aspired to create that taste in her own kitchen. Her quest to master wok cooking led her throughout the United States, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Along with award-winning photographer Alan Richardson, Young sought the advice of home cooks, professional chefs, and esteemed culinary teachers like Cecilia Chiang, Florence Lin, and Ken Hom. Their instructions, stories, and recipes, gathered in this richly designed and illustrated volume, offer not only expert lessons in the art of wok cooking, but also capture a beautiful and timeless way of life.

With its emphasis on cooking with all the senses, The Breath of a Wok brings the techniques and flavors of old-world wok cooking into today's kitchen, enabling anyone to stir-fry with wok hay. IACP award-winner Young details the fundamentals of selecting, seasoning, and caring for a wok, as well as the range of the wok's uses; this surprisingly inexpensive utensil serves as the ultimate multipurpose kitchen tool. The 125 recipes are a testament to the versatility of the wok, with stir-fried, smoked, pan-fried, braised, boiled, poached, steamed, and deep-fried dishes that include not only the classics of wok cooking, like Kung Pao Chicken and Moo Shoo Pork, but also unusual dishes like Sizzling Pepper and Salt Shrimp, Three Teacup Chicken, and Scallion and Ginger Lo Mein. Young's elegant prose and Richardson's extraordinary photographs create a unique and unforgettable picture of artisan wok makers in mainland China, street markets in Hong Kong, and a "wok-a-thon" in which Young's family of aunties, uncles, and cousins cooks together in a lively exchange of recipes and stories. A visit with author Amy Tan also becomes a family event when Tan and her sisters prepare New Year's dumplings. Additionally, there are menus for family-style meals and for Chinese New Year festivities, an illustrated glossary, and a source guide to purchasing ingredients, woks, and accessories.

Written with the intimacy of a memoir and the immediacy of a travelogue, this recipe-rich volume is a celebration of cultural and culinary delights.

The Complete Asian Cookbook

Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent

For this companion volume to the award-winning Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid travel west from Southeast Asia to that vast landmass the colonial British called the Indian Subcontinent. It includes not just India, but extends north to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal and as far south as Sri Lanka, the island nation so devastated by the recent tsunami. For people who love food and cooking, this vast region is a source of infinite variety and eye-opening flavors.

Home cooks discover the Tibetan-influenced food of Nepal, the Southeast Asian tastes of Sri Lanka, the central Asian grilled meats and clay-oven breads of the northwest frontier, the vegetarian cooking of the Hindus of southern India and of the Jain people of Gujarat. It was just twenty years ago that cooks began to understand the relationships between the multifaceted cuisines of the Mediterranean; now we can begin to do the same with the foods of the Subcontinent.