10 replies to this topic

[mamster]

Ed, what Chinese cookbooks do you like? What is your book going to cover?

[eatingwitheddie]

What is your book going to cover?

The idea behind the book I'm writing is that the table of contents will primarily be the lengthy menu from your local Chinese take-out establishment. It will give precise and accessible instructions on how your favorite items can be made at home. It will have the 'A' version of these recipes. There will also be a section on my own personal cooking which has a classical yet modern and evolved point of view

[eatingwitheddie]

Ed, what Chinese cookbooks do you like?

I'd suggest any titles by:

Eileen Yin-Fei Lo
Nina Simonds
Barbara Tropp
Ken Hom
Bruce Cost
Florence Lin

For a sleeper try: Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking - Knopf 1977 - by far my most worn out Chinese cookbook!

[SteveW]

Ed, I recently heard about Bruce Cost through Gourmet magazine. I think he's also based in NYC. Could you elaborate on his Chinese food background?

A good friend recently recommended books by Florence Lin, in particular her noodle book(very hard to find nowadays). She's also from NYC. Don't know anything more about her.

I'll try to find the Irene Kuo book you recommended here.

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Steve

Edited by SteveW, 03 December 2002 - 09:01 AM.

[helenas]

There is a chapter about Bruce Cost in Ruth Reichl's book "Comfort me with apples": this is how i learn about him.

[eatingwitheddie]

Ed, I recently heard about Bruce Cost through Gourmet magazine. I think he's also based in NYC. Could you elaborate on his Chinese food background?

A good friend recently recommended books by Florence Lin, in particular her noodle book(very hard to find nowadays). She's also from NYC. Don't know anything more about her.



---------------------
Steve

I first knew of Bruce Cost in the early 70's when he was a cooking student of fabled Virginia Lee who collaborated with Craig Claiborne on a Chinese cookbook. Virginia didn't have many students, but by reputation she was very knowledgeable and an excellent cook. Sometime after that period Bruce moved out to the west coast, the bay area I believe, and in the early/mid 90's (I think) opened his own Chinese restaurant called Monsoon. It was quite good and caught on for a while but after a couple of years closed. The next time I heard aobut Bruce he had moved to Chicago and helped to create the Big Bowl group of casual/fast Chinese restaurants. That restaurant group was sold (for a big profit I believe) and I can only guess and hope the Bruce benefited greatly. That must have been a year or two ago. I don't have any more current information.

As for Florence Lin, she has been the dean of NYC Chinese cooking teachers and taught primarlily at NYC's China Institute. I don't know if she is still currently teaching or has retired. It has been some years since we have run into one another.

[mamster]

Thanks for the reply, Ed. Your book sounds great--I can't wait.

[Toby]

Bruce Cost wrote a column on Asian ingredients for the San Francisco Chronicle food section for quite a while back in the 80s and earlier 90s -- many of the recipes appeared in his Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients (1988, reprint 2000); both editions are very helpful in identifying ingredients; Cantonese names are given for Chinese ingredients. I used to eat in his restaurant Monsoon in San Francisco -- the food was very fresh, with more western-type desserts that were great.

[awbrig]

Bruce Cost put Big Bowl on the map! It is awesome restaurant with amazing fresh food! We eat there once a week - it helps that Big Bowl on Cedar is on the same street where we live!

[Priscilla]

What is your book going to cover?

The idea behind the book I'm writing is that the table of contents will primarily be the lengthy menu from your local Chinese take-out establishment. It will give precise and accessible instructions on how your favorite items can be made at home. It will have the 'A' version of these recipes. There will also be a section on my own personal cooking which has a classical yet modern and evolved point of view

What a stupendously perfect format for a Chinese cookbook. Seems almost too good to be true. Can't wait!

[eatingwitheddie]

What is your book going to cover?

The idea behind the book I'm writing is that the table of contents will primarily be the lengthy menu from your local Chinese take-out establishment. It will give precise and accessible instructions on how your favorite items can be made at home. It will have the 'A' version of these recipes. There will also be a section on my own personal cooking which has a classical yet modern and evolved point of view

What a stupendously perfect format for a Chinese cookbook. Seems almost too good to be true. Can't wait!

Thanks. I can't wait too!


Ed