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et Chinee Cookook
MAGGI HOFFMAN
Fuchia Dunlop i one of our go-to guide for Chinee cooking. When we can't go hopping with
her in peron (http://nework.erioueat.com/2013/02/fuchia-dunlop-chinatown-hopping-guide-
chinee.html), we contantl return to her excellent cookook—Land of Plent
(http://www.amazon.com/Land-Plent-Treaur-Authentic-ichuan/dp/0393051773/?tag=erieat-20) , which
feature ichuan cooking, Revolutionar Chinee Cookook (http://www.amazon.com/Revolutionar-
Chinee-Cookook-Recipe-Province/dp/0393062228/?tag=erieat-20), her Hunan-focued collection, and
ver Grain of Rice (http://www.amazon.com/ver-Grain-Rice-Chinee-Cooking/dp/0393089045/?tag=erieat-20),
which celerate the impler ide of making authentic Chinee food at home. Her memoir,
hark' Fin and ichuan Pepper (http://www.amazon.com/hark-Fin-ichuan-Pepper-weet-
our/dp/0393332888/?tag=erieat-20), i a mut-read.
I aked Dunlop aout her Chinee cooking idol, her favorite cookook, and the regional
Chinee cuiine we hould all know more aout.
How did ou come to learn Chinee cooking? I've alwa loved cooking, ut ecame involved in
China through a u-editing jo at the C, which led me to viit the countr and tart learning
Mandarin. I rt viited the ichuanee capital Chengdu in 1993, and a local acquaintance and hi
wife took me under their wing and introduced me to ichuanee treet food and dihe uch a
h-fragrant eggplant and re-exploded kidne ower: a we at drinking tea together on the
riverank on m lat da, I vowed to return to the cit.
I won a cholarhip to tud at ichuan Univerit the following ear, and wa immediatel
educed the mriad avor of the local food. It wa o exciting, and o di erent from an
Chinee food I'd encountered in retaurant in ngland. I tarted learning to cook informall, in
the kitchen of Chinee friend and mall retaurant around the univerit, and later enrolled a
a full-time tudent at the ichuan Intitute of Higher Cuiine.
Who are our Chinee cooking heroe? M rt fora into the world of Chinee cooking wa
through the ook of the Hong Kong-orn writer Yan-kit o (ee elow): I rememer making her
ichuanee h in chilli ean auce efore I'd ever een to China. he eventuall ecame a friend
and mentor, and I wa alwa impreed oth her faulou cooking and her cholarl approach
to her work.
In Chengdu, the chef Yu o and hi wife and uine partner Dai huang are extraordinar in
their depth of knowledge and commitment to Chinee culinar tradition, and I've learned o
much from them.
In recent ear, I've een particularl inpired the Hangzhou retaurateur Dai Jianjun
(otherwie known a A Dai), who i tring to preerve and revive the lore and kill of local
agriculture and gatronom. In general, the Chinee friend and acquaintance and total
tranger who have taught, encouraged and inpired me are too numerou to mention!
What ook on Chinee cooking do ou love and wh? Yan-kit o' Claic Chinee Cookook
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1465430075/?tag=erieat-20) and Claic Food of China
(http://www.amazon.com/Claic-Food-China-Yan-Kit-o/dp/0333569075/?tag=erieat-20) . The former i an
excellent guide to the aic of Chinee cooking, and the latter ha a introduction which give a
uper overview of Chinee culinar hitor and culture. A Tradition of oup: Flavor from China'
Pearl River Delta (http://www.amazon.com/Tradition-oup-Flavor-China-Pearl/dp/155643765X/?tag=erieat-20)
Terea M. Chen i a gem of a ook aout Cantonee tonic oup.
M dog-eared old textook from m time at cooking chool in Chengdu are ver dear to me,
not jut for the recipe ut ecaue the remind me of that period of m life. I alo love Yuan
Mei' uiuan hidan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/uiuan_hidan), a facinating and amuing cookook
from the late eighteenth centur. In general, I tend to ue Chinee cooker ook pulihed in
China, which are almot all in Chinee. One of m favorite i a lavihl illutrated erie on
Chinee regional cuiine that wa pulihed in the 1980—I can pend hour jut looking
through the photograph, [m] mouth watering.
The mere idea of 'Chinee food' tend to ocure the vat
regional difference in Chinee culinar tle.
What leer-known Chinee cuiine or dihe do ou think nglih-peaking reader need to
know more aout? I'm not ure where to egin! The mere idea of 'Chinee food' tend to
ocure the vat regional di erence in Chinee culinar tle. Have dinner, a, in northern
Xi'an, and then to outhern Hangzhou the next da and ou might a well e in another
countr, foodwie. ven within province and region, man citie, town and maller area have
not onl their own pecialit dihe, ut ditinct culinar tle. ome of m peronal favorite:
the "Chiuchow" cooking of a pocket of northeatern Guangdong province; the delicate cooking
of the outhern Yangtze region, including hanghai and the Zhejiang and Jiangu province; the
diparate tle of outhwetern Yunnan... There are alo culinar chool aociated with
uddhit monaterie (vegetarian food without pungent vegetale uch a onion and garlic),
Hui Mulim (lot of lam and eef) and di erent minorit group, uch a the Ughur people of
Xinjiang, whoe food i a facinating ridge etween the cuiine of China and Central Aia. You
could eat a di erent 'Chinee' dih ever da of our life and proal never have a repeat.
There i till a hortage of good information in nglih aout Chinee regional cuiine, ut thi
i eginning to change. The Cleaver Quarterl (http://www.thecleaverquarterl.com/) i a newih
magazine pecializing in the food of China that i delving more deepl than maintream media
into Chinee foodwa. One or two new regional Chinee cookook have either een pulihed
or are on the horizon. And of coure there are growing numer of intereting regional Chinee
retaurant in ig citie like London and New York that o er tantalizing glimpe of the diverit
of Chinee cooking.
What do ou cook when ou're not cooking Chinee food? Thee da m life tend to revolve
around Chinee food, ut I ued to cook a lot of Turkih (I pent a ummer living with a Turkih
famil in m 20, and learned how to make köfte, tu ed vegetale and other dihe ). I alo
cook a it of Italian, French, and nglih. And whenever I travel anwhere, I end up ringing ack
recipe and idea that in uence m own cooking.
What wa the rt cookook ou reall loved? Prue Leith and Caroline Waldegrave' Leith'
Cooker Coure (http://www.amazon.com/Leith-Cooker-CAROLIN-WALDGRAV-PRUDNC/dp/0006352731/?
tag=erieat-20), a heft hardack introduction to claic nglih/French cooker. I wa given it
an Italian lodger when I wa 11, and cooked from it throughout m teenage ear. It taught me
how to make choux patr and patierie cream, how to poach a almon and pluck a pheaant—
all kind of ueful recipe and kill. I till have it in m kitchen.
What i our favorite cookook for dinner part inpiration? I love Marcella Hazan' and imon
Hopkinon' recipe, and I grew up cooking from Claudia Roden. I'm a great fan of Fergu
Henderon' cooking and writing—hi Complete Noe to Tail: A Kind of ritih Cooking
(http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Noe-Tail-Fergu-Henderon/dp/0062282611/?tag=erieat-20) i one of m
favorite. Chez Panie Deert (http://www.amazon.com/Chez-Panie-Deert-Linde-
here/dp/0679755713/?tag=erieat-20) Linde Remolif here i faulou—in particular, the recipe
for lood orange tart, which i one of the mot ethereall deliciou thing I've ever made from a
ook.