Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom (2015-08-14) Paperback – 1 Jan. 1773

Ken Hom introduced me to making Chinese food at home in the 1970s. It’s difficult to look back and realise that many ethnic meals and cooking styles we now take for granted weren’t understood or available for home cooks. I loved the exciting spices and flavours of Chinese food, experienced via restaurants and take always. I soon realised that a Cantonese restaurant differed from a Peking restaurant. Totally different flavours and some different cooking styles.Ken Hom brings traditional Chinese cooking within the grasp of those of us unfamiliar with style, ingredients and methods. If you’re new to Chinese cooking, this book explains all the differences between the regions. Some sweet, some hot, some veg based, others relying on meat. There’s a very useful intro to ingredients and explanation of wok cooking, steaming, braising etc. Plus a basics list of ingredients, I believe most available easily from supermarket or Chinese supermarket.A great variety of recipes for meat and vegetarian meals, the majority are easy to prepare and taste authentic. Lots of tips along the way. I bought this as a 99p deal ebook; incredible value and it’s easy to flit between pages or recipes. Great for novice or experienced cooks.

I wish I'd bought this years ago. Received the book just over a week ago and have already cooked 4 different meals from this book - I can honestly say I've surprised myself with how good the food I've cooked tastes! I'd seen that Gok's book was currently the best seller in Chinese cookbooks and really considered getting that instead (I've resorted to recording his show to get his versions of Ken's recipes instead). Decided to go for Ken in the end as you get over 200 recipes in his book compared to 70 odd from Gok and just wanted the variety to start of with really. A week in and I'm so happy I went with this choice. The book has already opened my eyes as to just how easy, healthy and tasty traditional Chinese food is. My boyfriend actually commented that he prefers this food to high street Chinese takeaways. Having said that there are some of the takeaway favourites included in this book such as chow mein, Singapore noodles, sichuan duck and the best recipe for egg fried rice I've ever experienced.I know some other reviewers have commented that Ken occasionally throws instructions into his recipes that are not then fully broken down. This has only occurred once to me and a simple search on google told me how to prepare the food - not rocket science really. Also there's a comprehensive section at the beginning of the book that explains a lot more about the history of Chinese food, ingredients and cooking methods if people bother to read that - definitely recommend it.The only change I would wish is that every recipe came with a picture (over half do but by no means all). This is more just because I like perusing through the book when planning for meals and would appreciate more pictures but that's hardly a quibble when the food tastes so good regardless of pictures. Would definitely recommend this book for anyone that wants to begin a venture into Chinese cooking at home :)

A useful addition to the collection

Super recipes

None of the celebrity-chef padding, just plenty of clear instructions and explainations, along with appetising photographs. Highly recommended.

I was looking for a cookbook that was complete and authentically 'chinese', and this one failed on both counts.Although it boasted a variety of dishes, its selection was far from complete. Many chinese dishes that may require specialty ingredients have been omitted, maybe for good reason, but this degrades its selection and you're better off getting variety from a takeaway. But more importantly, the author fails to describe the details involved in each of the preparation steps, for instance, how firm should the meat be when it is cooked, how hot should the water be, how can we tell if the ingredients have simmered for long enough. It is the subtle intricacies that distinguish a good and great dish and similarly a great cookbook from a mediocre one.What was more worrying was that the dishes did not taste entirely authentic. Despite going to great lengths to buy the sauces and seasoning recommended by the author and going through a series of tedious preparation steps, the taste of the dishes prepared can only be describe as being a little off. I am Chinese myself and although I am not an expert on chinese cooing, I know when something does not taste chinese. For an author who writes cookbooks in a variety of Asian styles, ie Chinese, Thai etc. it is questionable if he is an expert on any one of them. If you to cook chinese food that substitutes your everyday takeaway, this book may be adequate, but fails to deliver otherwise.

Easy to follow recipes, great pictures, good value. My son cannot wait to use it.

Full of information, ideas, recipes & hints. Excellent book!

I love the fact that all the instructions are simple and straightforward. I did have to look up some of the ingredients because I am far from cooking savy when it comes to Asian cooking but the preparations as well as the actual cooking are really thought out and well put together. So far my girlfriend and I love everything I’ve managed to whip up using these recipes and she has a sort of silver tongue having taken multiple culinary classes. I give this book two thumbs way up!

Shame about lack of photos but the content us great

Excellent and easy to follow and easily available ingredients.

Yes..good.

Awesome book.