Spice Bible or Breath of a Wok

Spice Bible: Essential Information and More than 250 Recipes Using Spice, Spice Mixes, and Spice Pastes

Author: Jane Lawson

The only book on spices that any chef or aspiring cook will ever need, The Spice Bible is a fully comprehensive guide to the fascinating history and enticing culinary uses of 45 fiery foods from around the world. Each entry—from ajowan through wolfberry—includes a description of the spice’s origin and uses, guidelines on how to integrate it into your own cooking, and a trove of other helpful information. (Which are the best spices to pair with saffron? When is the right time to throw away that leftover ginger?)

Like its companion volume, The Produce Bible, this must-have book also features more than 250 recipes—for appetizers, soups, entrees, side dishes, breads, desserts, and more—that highlight each ingredient’s distinctive taste and character. Carrot soup with caraway butter, seared salmon with sesame and cucumber, and beef filet poached in Asian-spiced broth are among the delectable dishes presented here, all created with flavorful spices and easily mastered by any cook.

The book also includes tips on purchasing and storing spices, along with sections on spice mixes and pastes such as curry, zaatar, and chermoula. Filled with evocative photographs throughout, The Spice Bible is an invaluable resource for anyone looking for a pinch of personality in their cooking—or a dash of inspiration.

Book review: Flatbreads and Flavors or Big Book of Casseroles

Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore

Author: Grace Young

When Grace Young was a child, her father instilled in her a lasting appreciation of wok hay, the highly prized but elusive taste that food achieves when properly stir-fried in a wok. As an adult, Young aspired to create that taste in her own kitchen. Her quest to master wok cooking led her throughout the United States, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Along with award-winning photographer Alan Richardson, Young sought the advice of home cooks, professional chefs, and esteemed culinary teachers like Cecilia Chiang, Florence Lin, and Ken Hom. Their instructions, stories, and recipes, gathered in this richly designed and illustrated volume, offer not only expert lessons in the art of wok cooking, but also capture a beautiful and timeless way of life.

With its emphasis on cooking with all the senses, The Breath of a Wok brings the techniques and flavors of old-world wok cooking into today's kitchen, enabling anyone to stir-fry with wok hay. IACP award-winner Young details the fundamentals of selecting, seasoning, and caring for a wok, as well as the range of the wok's uses; this surprisingly inexpensive utensil serves as the ultimate multipurpose kitchen tool. The 125 recipes are a testament to the versatility of the wok, with stir-fried, smoked, pan-fried, braised, boiled, poached, steamed, and deep-fried dishes that include not only the classics of wok cooking, like Kung Pao Chicken and Moo Shoo Pork, but also unusual dishes like Sizzling Pepper and Salt Shrimp, Three Teacup Chicken, and Scallion and Ginger Lo Mein. Young's elegant prose and Richardson's extraordinary photographs create a unique and unforgettable picture of artisan wok makers in mainland China,street markets in Hong Kong, and a "wok-a-thon" in which Young's family of aunties, uncles, and cousins cooks together in a lively exchange of recipes and stories. A visit with author Amy Tan also becomes a family event when Tan and her sisters prepare New Year's dumplings. Additionally, there are menus for family-style meals and for Chinese New Year festivities, an illustrated glossary, and a source guide to purchasing ingredients, woks, and accessories.

Written with the intimacy of a memoir and the immediacy of a travelogue, this recipe-rich volume is a celebration of cultural and culinary delights.

Publishers Weekly

Among Chinese cookbooks, this one is unusual. It doesn't strive for comprehensiveness or focus on a regional cuisine. Instead, it analyzes that sacred object of the Chinese kitchen: the wok. The wok's "breath" is the heat rising from the sizzling instrument as a dish is finished, but also much more, according to Young (The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen). She offers a profound meditation on the wok's spiritual place, as well as its history and uses. As such, the book may be appreciated as a work of food scholarship as well as a cookbook. Nearly half of it concerns wok arcana, from an assessment of the best wok for a home kitchen to half a dozen "recipes" for seasoning a new wok (like Mr. Wen's Chinese Chive Rub). Naturally, the majority of the recipes are for stir-fries, such as the familiar Kung Pao Chicken. Usually, Young takes great care to attribute her recipes to her sources (e.g., Mary Chau's Shanghai-Style Snow Cabbage and Edamame). Those sources are refreshingly varied, including home cooks, like the author's many female relations, and well-known names like Martin Yan and writer Amy Tan. Although this is by no means a definitive Chinese cookbook, its elegance and meditative outlook make it a welcome gift. Photos. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Young (The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen) grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown and vividly remembers the restaurant dinners that were part of the culinary education instilled in her by her father, particularly the search for wok hay, "the prized, elusive, seared taste" that comes from stir-frying in a wok. Years later, unsatisfied with her own efforts at achieving wok hay, she endeavored to discover the techniques required for perfection, which results in this fascinating "written and visual document of wok cooking and old world wok culture." Every aspect of cooking with a wok is covered, with the largest recipe section devoted to stir-frying, followed by other methods of wok cookery, from smoking to deep-frying. Young describes learning to make New Year's dumplings with Amy Tan and her sisters and "a family wok-a-thon," which brought together generations of her own family. Richardson's striking photographs record their travels and show off many of the recipes. This chronicle of a disappearing tradition is highly recommended. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction
	One wok runs to the sky's edge	3
	Notes to the Reader	8
	In Search of a Wok	11
	Selection, Seasoning, and Care
	Reverence for a Wok	32
	Acquiring a Virtuous Wok	34
	Wok Buying Guide	38
	Opening a Wok	42
	Recipes for Seasoning a Wok	48
	The Face of a Wok	52
	The Art of Stir-Frying
	Wok Hay: The Breath of a Wok	60
	Stir-Frying Poultry	67
	Stir-Frying Meat	80
	The Wok Warriors	96
	Stir-Frying Fish and Shellfish	103
	Stir-Frying Rice and Noodles	117
	The Wok as a Musical Instrument	128
	Stir-Frying Vegetables	131
	Eight Treasured Tastes
	The Master Lesson	152
	Smoking	156
	Pan-Frying	160
	The Family Wok-a-thon	166
	Braising	172
	Amy Tan and the New Year's Dumplings	190
	Boiling and Poaching	194
	Steaming	198
	Deep-Frying	210
	Essentials
	Menus	218
	New Year's Menus	218
	Seasonal Family-Style Menus	219
	Glossary	220
	Metric Equivalencies	229
	Sources	230
	Selected Bibliography	232
	Index	233