Customer Reviews
Not so easy - By: F. M. Muse, 25 Sep 2008 
I entirely agree with the first reviewer,in that these recipes are among the tastiest food I've ever eaten - & I've been cooking for over 30 years, including Chinese food. The only criticism I would make is thatin some places the text is somewhat light on detail. Anyone tackling the "Spicy dofu & edamame beans" needs to be aware that you will need a non-stick saucepan to fry the dofu. Since I cook with cast iron saucepans, & stainless steel is widely used, the injunction "careful not to break the bean curd" needs to be supported by this information. There are a number of other lacunae of this sortin the text which give rise to doubts & ambiguities regarding timing & technique. In case anyone thinks that this somewhat petty, I should note that I'm currently using these recipes four days out of seven. More importantly there will be those coming to this kind of cooking for the first time, so that a little extra detail would not go amiss.
Bland and Samey - By: M. G. Chisholm, 15 Sep 2008 
There must be some easily pleased folks around judging by the reviews. Well, I'm not one of them. I've seen the series & bought my wife the book & we both agree that it's, to say the least uninspired. Most of the recipes use the same basic ingredients regardless of the meat or fish content & generally end up tasting like a rough amalgam of far eastern food. I've travelled extensively woorldwide through my work & there's not a shred of doubt that most of these rather bland same tasting dishes do not do justice to the real thing. I will admit happily that oncein while when you fancy a generic Chinese style dish, this book provides something quick & easy. And as the only things required are garlic, ginger, sherry & a bit of soy sauce it doesn't really matter what page you open - they are all the same. So even chosing a meal doesn't require any thought. To round up, bland, uninspired but quick & easy.
Excellent chinese recipes with the Ching twist - By: hypercat, 14 Sep 2008 
I already had & liked Ching's China Modern but this is easily the better book. I've got a library of chinese cookery books, but if you bought only one I'd recommend this one. It's even replacing my trusty, bespattered & dog eared Ken Hom. I find the most appealing thing about Ching's recipes is that they offer a very personal, modern 'take' on many traditional recipes. I also find that hers tend to be punchier with more flavour & pizzazz than many other versions. Maybe it's my despoiled western palate but I prefer her flavoursome approach. The Chili Chicken sauce will become a mainstay of my repertoire (and yes it can be distinctly lively); ditto the Dan Dan noodles & our favourite the Gong Bao. Her approach gives you confidence to take ownership of these recipes & even add your own twist. There's a good range as well, this book is equally useful as a everyday weekly reference with many recipes that fitin easily with a busy workaday lifestyle & aalso as a resource for entertaining friends, special occasions & for party food. I can't think of many books that are so down to earth useful & can take much repeated traditional recipes & yet reflect the author's personality & tastes. The errors cited in the Singapore Noodles are well pointed out though, it should definitely be 2 teaspoons of tumeric (not tablespoons). I'd go one further though & substitute a mild or medium curry powder. Allin all I'd rate Ching as the new Ken Hom for the modern cook.
I love this book!! - By: D. Croft, 07 Sep 2008 I always thought that chinese food would be difficult to make, but this book proved me wrong as these recipies are easy & quick & also the best chinese food i have ever had. After buying this book, you will never want takeaway again when it is so much better to make it yourself. It is also good that Ching explains that history behind some of the dishes & also gives valuable informationin the back for people who are not acquainted with chinese cooking or ingridents. The only problem is that some of the ingridents are not avalialein most supermarkets such as wonton wrappers, however that does not change the fact that this book is great & also a must have for any cook.
Chinese Food Made Difficult!! - By: P. GAMBLE, 07 Sep 2008 
As a keen amateur cook, well versedin other genres, I thought I'd branch out into Chinese cooking. The first disappointment was that half the recipes that featured on the BBC programme weren'tin the book. The other major disappointment is that the instructions are so basic that nothing is explained properly & half the recipes don't work.
I have since bought a Ken Hom book & found that not only has she stolen half his recipes, he explains everything a lot better.
Don't waste your money on this book.
