nwasianweekly.com
Dec. 15, 2007

Cookbooks for Christmas

By Pat Tanumihardja
Northwest Asian Weekly

Whether they’re relegated to a dazzling display on the coffee table, absorbed as fascinating fodder for bedtime reading, or used as a silent and systematic guide in the kitchen, cookbooks and culinary tales always make wonderful Christmas gifts. Here are some inspiring hardbacks that rise above and would make a great surprise for the avid home cook or the beginning gourmet.

“The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey From Beijing to San Francisco”
Cecilia Chiang with Lisa Weiss
Ten Speed Press, 2007
$35

Cecilia Chiang, who opened the now legendary San Francisco restaurant the Mandarin in 1961, is known to many as the doyen of Chinese cuisine in the U.S. She is widely credited with introducing Americans to genuine northern Chinese cooking. In this earnest and heartfelt volume chock-full of authentic recipes, cultural stories and food memories from her life, Chiang shares her gripping life story, juxtaposed with a classic collection of recipes. In the beginning chapters, “The Seventh Daughter” and “Red Envelopes,” Chiang relates her privileged childhood in 1920s and ’30s Beijing, where she had the run of a palatial home that took up an entire city block.

Ironically, she was never allowed in the kitchen. The middle and later chapters, “The Too-Long Walk” and “A Fortunate Cookie,” chronicle her and her sister Teresa’s 1,000-mile trek on foot during the Japanese occupation, her marriage to husband Chiang Liang, and her arrival in San Francisco. Interspersed among the delightful, heart-wrenching tales and archival photographs are more than 80 delicious, doable recipes.

The book features cherished childhood recipes including her mother’s red-cooked pork, congee, green-onion oil-tossed noodles; definitive Mandarin classics like Sichuan dry-fried green beans, pot stickers, Sichuan spicy eggplant and beggar’s chicken; as well as “Quick Recipes for Busy Cooks,” a chapter comprising a few favorites Chiang turns to when she’s short on time.

Complete with detailed notes on sourcing ingredients and tips on simplifying the recipes, anyone who loves Chinese food and culinary history will relish the journey through this book and the life of a remarkable restaurateur.

“The Sweet Spot: Asian-inspired Desserts”
Pichet Ong and Genevieve Ko
William Morrow, 2007
$29.95

In a culinary landscape dominated by tiramisu and New York cheesecake, Asian desserts have always been hiding in the wings. Not so in Pichet Ong’s tome of Asian-inspired desserts. Ong, owner of New York City’s P*ong, brings us “The Sweet Spot,” in which Asian ingredients and techniques take center stage among the 100 or so recipes of pies, cookies, cakes and frozen treats.

Raiding the Asian larder from South Asia to Southeast Asia, Ong draws inspiration from countries such as Japan (green tea cream, fresh fruitcake and yuzu jellyroll), China (almond steamed cake and sesame balls with drunken fig filling) and Thailand (mango sticky rice and Thai tea white chocolate tart).

Childhood favorites take on new sophistication as he transforms my favorite morning drink, Ovaltine, into a dessert fit for dinner guests (Ovaltine and milk chocolate Kulfi with caramelized banana), and does his own rendition of chocolate-covered Pocky Sticks.

Instead of the heavy use of dairy and sugar found in many Western desserts, this book highlights light and bright Asian fruits and flavors: jasmine, lychee, rose water, yuzu, mangosteen and sesame, among others. Easy to follow, step-by-step instructions and numerous full-color photographs, plus a comprehensive glossary explaining unusual ingredients from sweet glutinous rice to pandan leaves and palm seeds, make the book accessible to the most inexperienced of Asian food novices.

“Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking: Simple, Elegant Recipes for Contemporary Tastes”
Harumi Kurihara
HP Trade, 2007
$27.95

If Martha Stewart is America’s domestic goddess, Harumi Kurihara is Japan’s empress of domesticity. With her television cooking shows, kitchenware and tableware lines, cookbooks and food magazines, Kurihara is a cult figure in her native Japan.

Following the success of her English-language debut, “Harumi’s Japanese Cooking” (it won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2004), comes a second, more personal collection.

Incorporating modern and global flavors, yet espousing easy-to-follow techniques, Kurihara’s “Japanese Home Cooking” was written specifically with the Western palate in mind. Across 160 pages, Kurihara presents 70 new recipes — with gorgeous photographs in all their Technicolor glory to match — in her practical, down-to-earth style.

The straightforward chapters range from “Rice and Noodles” and “Meat and Poultry” to “Fish and Seafood” and “Vegetables,” and include must-makes such as Harumi’s baked cheesecake, Japanese green tea risotto, pork in crispy breadcrumbs, grilled salmon “Yuan” style, sukiyaki donburi, and peppers and crab mixed rice.

Kurihara’s clear and concise writing style will guide even the most inexperienced of Japanese cooks in authentic preparation techniques and serving suggestions. In addition, the book contains supplemental chapters with menu planning tips, as well as a glossary and a brief section on bento, or ready-to-eat lunch boxes.

With Kurihara’s gentle, coaxing voice shining through every written word on the page, you’ll soon be creating tasty, beautifully presented Japanese meals confidently in your own home.

Pat Tanumihardja can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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