Hsiao-Ching Chou

Hsiao-Ching Chou was one of my all-time favorites when she was the food editor and columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Unfortunately, the PI discontinued its print edition, but, over the years, I recalled her columns fondly. Imagine my delight when I saw a brief reference to Chinese Soul Food.

Chou begins with a brief but thorough 37-page overview of ingredients, techniques, and equipment. A nice assortment of 80+ recipes follows. These are grouped into seven sections: Dumplings, little eats, rice and
noodles, stir-fries, soups and braises, celebration, and guilty pleasures. Striking photographs by Clare Barboza illustrate the book throughout. An index and table of conversions provide useful information to conclude the volume. The production values of the book are excellent.

One shortcoming that mars many cookbooks is the failure to identify suitable substitutes for esoteric ingredients (i.e., the kind of thing that sets on your shelf for years without use after you bought it for a recipe in a cookbook). Chou suggests substitutes for ingredients you don’t typically use, and she identifies acceptable substitute in some recipes. Her emphasis is on making Chinese cooking accessible to the average cook.

I like a broad range of Chinese dishes, but fried rice is my favorite. I imagine many will roll their eyes at my plebian tastes. The first sections of Chinese Soul Food I turned to were on rice and noodles and stir-fries. I was delighted to see that my approach to preparing fried rice parallels Chou’s, but the differences gave me ideas for experimentation. I was pleased to learn about the role of high heat in making great fried rice. I often despaired that my fried rice wasn’t as hot and flavorful as that served in good Chinese restaurants. The woks used in restaurants hit more than 150 thousand BTUs. At home, the temperature of the average burner is 7 thousand. At least I know why.

Another feature of Chinese cooking I appreciate is the use of optional ingredients. Chou’s recipes direct readers to the optimal approach for each dish. However, many of the recipes provide a starting point for experimentation.

The picture Chou draws in Chinese Soul Food is one of flexibility, simplicity, and variety. This cookbook is a delight.… (plus d'informations)

Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food by Hsiao-Ching Chou
Deliciously Doable Ways to Cook Greens, Tofu, and Other Plant-Based Ingredients

This cookbook appealed to me because I am moving toward a plant based whole foods way of eating that leans more and more often to vegan fare. These are my thoughts after looking through this cookbook:

What I liked:
* The photographs were gorgeous
* Ingredients, techniques and equipment were listed and explained well
* There were charts with interesting information to refer to (soaking dry ingredients & soy sauce comparison)
* Recipes were easy to read and follow…I think
* The chapters included: dumplings (beautiful), dim sum and small bites, soups and braises, stir-fries, steamed dishes, rice and noodles, tofu (intrigued me), eggs, salad and pickles
* being able to mentally “taste” the dishes as I read
* The sweet and sour sauce recipe is one I could easily make at home
* The information about all of the vegetables

Downside for me:
* Living where I do in the Middle East during this pandemic…I won’t be able to buy many of the items necessary to make the recipes
* I believe that some of these recipes, like the dumplings, would be easier to make in with someone skilled to assist
* I would have liked to have labels on the photo pages indicating what the vegetables and cooking items were

Did I enjoy this book? Yes, it was interesting
Would I be likely to buy it? Probably not where I live now since I can’t find many of the essential ingredients.

Thank you to NetGalley and SasquatchBooks for the ARC – This is my honest review

4 Stars… (plus d'informations)