The best
Chinese Cooking, Food & Wine books:
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The best of Chinese Cooking, Food & Wine books by number of unique Reddit comments:
![Korean BBQ: Master Your Grill in Seven Sauces [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ZNf9Gyh+L._SL500_.jpg)
![All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/411b3SrrTHL._SL500_.jpg)
![All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41U51o-A-kL._SL500_.jpg)
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Chinese Cooking, Food & Wine books:
There's really no such thing as a "traditional sichuan sauce" in the sense of a hot sauce since that's not how sichuan peppercorns are typically used in traditional Sichuan cooking. Typically, the peppercorns would be fried in the cooking oil to infuse the flavor and numbing qualities and then the peppercorns would be removed from the oil (though you can find instances that call for them being left in).
You're going to want to stick to cookbooks and/or YouTube (though I've found it can be difficult to find a variety of Sichuan chefs on YouTube). /u/HaggarShoes mentioned Fushia Dunlop, here's a great book of her's on Amazon:
If you’re interested in Sichuan cooking, I just came across this cooking book...it’s supposed to be one of the best for Sichuan recipes and it’s much more reasonably priced than a lot of others.
Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees is a good book about the techniques and fundamentals of Chinese cooking.
Other than that, I think /u/spire88's comment is excellent. I can vouch for Chinese Cooking Demystified, and the author of those videos posts on Reddit from time to time (/u/mthmchris)
A Chinese-american friend recommended this cookbook to me and I’ve really enjoyed cooking from it. Lots of recipes do not call for sesame. My favorite so far is the sweet chili shrimp.
The Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Quick and Easy Dishes to Prepare at Home https://www.amazon.com/dp/034552912X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_syykFbH8ZFX7D
Not OP, but I have this book and just substitue with Bob’s Redmill 1-to-1 GF flour
The Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Quick and Easy Dishes to Prepare at Home https://www.amazon.com/dp/034552912X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4WQZ0NQBB4RF1XQTVFDK
Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice is an accessable book for Sichuan cooking. I've learned a lot from it myself.
Fuchsia Dunlop writes has some of the most startlingly authentic yet approachable English language cookbooks on Chinese food.
I’d highly recommend something like this for your library.
“Wok” by Kenji Lopez Alt is very good and has lots of info and recipes Amazon Book Link
Can't comment on Japanese but I really love Every Grain of Rice for Chinese cooking. Definitely learned a lot from that.
Can you tell the difference between the taste of Rice Bran and Vegetable (Rapeseed) Oil?
I've been following a fantastic Wok cookbook a couple of times a week and I've learnt so much from it, one of the major things I haven't tried yet is he says to cook stir fries with Rice Bran or Peanut oil but they're really expensive, like 5x the price of bog standard veg oil at my local supermarket.
The book "The Wok" by Kenji Lopez-Alt is great for learning some recipes, ingredients to keep on hand, and some wok/frying pan technique. It's a big book, and it's an incredible resource. I checked it out from the library and loved it so much that I bought a copy.
The Kung Pao Chicken recipe at the beginning of the book was a game changer for me.
https://www.amazon.com/Wok-Techniques-J-Kenji-L%C3%B3pez-Alt/dp/0393541215
If you haven't done tomato & eggs yet, I'd heartily recommend giving that one a try. Stupidly easy to make, but very tasty.
In general, this book is a good resource for both technique and recipes, well worth picking up:
https://www.amazon.com/Wok-Techniques-J-Kenji-López-Alt/dp/0393541215
Have you tried the one at taste of chungdu? Even better in my book. I've cooked the version from Fuchsia Dunlop's sichuan cookbook and was pleased.
I think the ethos of the sub recommends that you buy the book. The Wok.
It's obviously pretty specific in its scope, and I don't think I'd call it "professional leaning", but I think it could scale well as it covers techniques in detail, but The Wok by Kenji. Pretty recent book, too.
China: The Cookbook is the best English language cookbook on the market.
Source: Actual Chinese people
How do you use them? so for something like the mala spice mix whole spices are fairly cheap and most sichuan recipes call for whole spices anyways even if you toast them and grind them.
If you want something for lazy cooking you could make a spice blend by toasting then grinding dried chilies and sichuan peppercorn then adding however much salt, msg and whatever other spices you want so you could use it like a taco seasoning pack.
If you're interested in learning to cook sichuan food I would check out The Food of Sichuan
May not be specifically for just banchan recipes, but this may be of interest to you. I requested it for a birthday gift coming up soon after hearing a lot of good things. Korean Home Cooking
You won't be able to get this one for Valentine's Day, but Kenji Lopez-Alt is releasing a new book soon and it's all about cooking with a wok. He is an insanely good cookbook author/chef. Stash this one away as a future gift idea!
https://www.amazon.com/Wok-Techniques-J-Kenji-L%C3%B3pez-Alt/dp/0393541215
Maybe get her a book focused on a technique or cuisine she is interested in. For example Kenji Lopez has a new book coming out in early March called "The Wok: Recipes and Techniques" that would be a great gift for a cook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393541215/
The best cookbook for you I think is <em>Phoenix claws and Jade Trees</em> by Kian Lam Kho. Almost half the book focuses on proper techniques and even the recipes are organized accordingly as opposed to the traditional, unhelpful, Western "appetizers, mains, etc."
What /u/eobanb said.
I'm reading through the updated version of Fuschia Dunlop's (who is sort of like the Julia Child for Chinese and particularly Sichuan food) book now where she talks about the spread of popularity of dishes from Sichuan and a lot of the development of those dishes and flavors that define the culinary style about a century ago, when there was a large population influx into the region.
The book is here if you're interested in the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Food-Sichuan-Fuchsia-Dunlop/dp/1324004835
As a hobby, I like to try to recreate dishes I've had while traveling or from restaurants, and I have been focusing on Sichuan lately.
My understanding is also that most of the people who wound up in America were from those coastal provinces. I had heard (and never confirmed) though that the original owner of Chow Bar was from the northern interior area, and might have been a famous singer/performer back home.
Always end up making a big batch whenever I read one. It's kind of a PITA to make the cha-siu from scratch, though. The recipe I use is in this cookbook, but woksoflife's recipe is pretty good, too, and gives you more step-by-step. :)
If anyone wants a good Korean cookbook, I've really enjoyed Korean Home Cooking by Sohui Kim, it's got a lot of delicious recipes and really tries to present Korean cuisine as it is cooked and enjoyed in Korea by regular Koreans, rather than what Americans think of when they hear "Korean". For example, there are KBBQ recipes, but they are far from the focus and she describes how KBBQ is like a special-occasion thing there, not what people eat on a regular basis. I particularly like the soups and stews
I love the cookbook Korean Home Cooking and Maangchi’s cookbook as well. Those have both been good. Korean Home Cooking Maangchi’s Cookbook
Links are to Amazon but buy from your local bookstore if you can!
I'll second this one. We're a group of Chinese friends and one of our acquaintances had purchased the book and we had the chance to look it over. It was pretty nice! The recipes were pretty legit.
There's not much teaching or explaining them though, but I always thought about purchasing this eventually.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/China-Cookbook-Kei-Lum-Chan/dp/0714872245
I’m Chineses so I’m speaking primarily about Chinese dishes... virtually any dish that doesn’t already have rice or noodles in the dish itself can be paired with rice. I usually start by looking for recipes for a specific dish, something I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant or seen on a menu.
I also love Fuchsia Dunlop’s cookbook Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking. It has a lot of recipes that I grew up with.
I highly recommend you this book if you already have sound basics.
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https://www.amazon.com/Land-Plenty-Treasury-Authentic-Sichuan/dp/0393051773
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Were i for you i would go to Chinese markets and restaurants and talk to the chefs there if i like their food.