|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 53 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
159 of 162 found the following review helpful:
 Asian Dumplings Sep 12, 2009
By Lucy Dashwood
"Lucy Dashwood"
I have no idea what made me buy this book as I had taken out several books on dumplings from the library last year and they were completely inadequate, confusing, uninspiring and poorly conceived. I couldn't even look inside this one to see what was in there, right? But, overcome with a desire for dumplings, I splurged.
The dumplings I have made from Andrea Nguyen's book have been frighteningly delicious. The information is clearly presented with good line drawings to show you how and lovely photos to show what you're supposed to end up with. The ingredient lists are all minimal and easily obtained. You will make no large investments in items you will use once. (Don't you hate that about some cookbooks?) There are so many to chose from, the only problem will be making up your mind which one tonight. The door to delectable dumplings is now open.
This is a wonderful book. Thank you, Ms Nguyen.
34 of 34 found the following review helpful:
A fantastic overview of delicious dumplings! Oct 19, 2009
By R. Backus
This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to know all there is to know about Asian dumplings! Andrea Nguyen has clearly spent many hundreds of hours on research, testing, and eating her delicious recipes. There is an excellent introduction with ingredient lists and descriptions, as well as appetizing photos throughout the book. The recipes are organized by type of casing - eg. yeast dough, rice, wheat and tapioca starch, etc. The dumplings are achievable both in skill level and in ingredients. Even in Switzerland, a browse through a couple Asian stores yielded almost all the ingredients I needed to get started. I especially liked the chapter on sweet dumplings at the end of the book! Definitely recommended to anyone looking to cook their way though a complete Asian dumpling repertoire.
53 of 56 found the following review helpful:
Guide to Asian Comfort Food Making Oct 06, 2009
By rodboomboom
Nguyen has taken most of the risk out of preparing dumplings, those Asian comfort food we all like) from all the Asian cuisines (Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.) by over quite a number of years experimenting with all these dumpling types and ingredients and techniques. The result is this focused volume on this specific Dim Sun favorite.
What I find exceptional about her approach is that she provides excellent aids in choosing such things as ingredients, e.g. stores or restaurants to search for to provide ingredients and samples of the cooking, as well as purchased wrappers or hand made. The line drawings of the dumpling assembly process are outstanding and the written instructions are thorough and clear, showing again that there has been much testing for us home cooks before publication. The four color photos of the results are outstanding, keeping the high standard of TenSpeed Press in tack. At the beginning is a most extensive writeup on key ingredients, with such fine details as possible substitutes and suggested brands, and where to look for them. With this style of cooking, this is most helpful.
Some good friends of mine lived in China and Hong Kong for years, so have experienced many types of Asian dumplings at their house. This motivated me to purchase this book, and bring more of this cuisine into my recipe array. I started with her recommendation, Filled Pastas, and so my voyage recipe was a great success: Japanese Pork and Shrimp Pot Stickers. From there I have barely ventured into all the types, but so far I sampled Panfried Pork and Scallion Mini Buns as well as Sweet Potato and Lemongrass Dumplings. The author's suggestion to not care at first too much about how they look, but just enjoy is pertinent for me and inspirational.
A superb reference and guide for this wonderful Asian comfort food: dumplings. Buy it and enjoy it.
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
 wonderful book Jan 20, 2010
By Brenda Pink
"snorkelgeek"
Growing up in an Asian background, I'd become disappointed in some of the asian cookbooks showing how to make dumplings. Even knowing how to make some of the dumplings, I couldn't figure out what the books were trying to get me to do. This book is different. The instructions are great and I like the idea that the author gives recipes for the wrappers themselves. If one wants to use commercial wrappers to make things easier, they certainly can. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was that some of the diagrams could have been better, or better yet, photos of the formation of the dumplings would have helped. Also, although there are some great photographs of the finished products, there are no captions so you don't know exactly what you are looking at. As well, a photo does not accompany each recipe. This book will help me to figure out recipes that I've been testing for years with no luck. Missing secret ingredients (from my cooking) are revealed in this book. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to try these exotic dumplings and has a basic knowledge of what the end point dumplings look like.
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
exceptional cookbook - how cookbooks ought to be Jan 26, 2010
By M. De Klepper
"cookbook fanatic"
I wish there were more cookbooks like this....because this is not just a delicious collection of comfort food recipes, above all it is a very good cookbook. It is written clearly, and the recipe descriptions are foolproof. What makes it excellent is that recipes go beyond explaining which steps have to be taken; the recipes also include clear indications for when steps are succesfully executed.
For instance, the recipe for shanghai spring rolls (thin doughsheets for deep-frying) explains (p. 81): "stir [the dough mixture] for 4-5 minutes, about 200 strokes. Strands of glutinous, pasty dough will form, attaching themselves to the rim of the bowl as you stir, and become longer as you progress.[...] When done, the thick pasty dough should be elastic enough for you to lift and stretch it 12 to 14 inches from the bottom of the bowl. [...] Gather the finished dough together; it should hold a slightly mounded shape for a few minutes before spreading to touch the walls of the bowl." Wow!...I have never encountered such clear, and spot on, recipe decriptions.
These descriptions may seem over the top, but for the difficult preparations (spring roll skins; glutinous rice dough; rice sheets; translucent dough) there certainly are not. I've tried all the difficult preparations and they all turned out great, after the first try!
See all 53 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
| |
|
|
|
