Dim Sum: A Pocket Guide

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Summary: Yummy Dim Sum Recipes!..
Review: ..................I got this cookbook for Christmas along with a bamboo steamer (a must for making dims sum) from my sister and so far I've made several delectable recipes. This cookbook also makes cooking dim sum for the first time easy. There are sections devoted to: serving dim sum, making tea, common equipment and utensils, ingredients, and step by step dim sum cooking methods. There is also a handy glossary. I had never made dim sum before, but my husband and I have had marvelous success from the start.

The recipe section of the cookbook is divided into: classic dim sum; dumplings; buns; pancakes, parcels and wraps; seafood; pork; vegetables; desserts and dipping sauces. All and all this cookbook contains about forty-five recipes. So far we've tried, and enjoyed: Shanghai Dumplings, Wok-fried Money Bags, Flower Dumplings, Shrimp Toasts, Red Bean Paste Buns and the Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce.

The photos in this cookbook are attractive and will really make you want to start cooking right away. I only have one negative comment about this cookbook, which another reviewer has already mentioned. The recipes are Americanized and this was not evident to me until I actually tasted my first batch of dim sum. They were very good, but the flavors weren't bold enough. Now I simply make sure to add about double the amount of ginger, oyster sauce, soy sauce and garlic.

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Summary: Pretty pictures, but...
Review: A friend of mine has given me this book as a gift because she knew I love dim sum and eat it every week with my Chinese family every single Sunday. It is a Chinese tradition to have dim sum frequently with friends and family, especially in a city like Vancouver that is so filled with so many excellent dim sum restaurants. This book does have plenty of pretty pictures of what the food should look like when it is made and also has an excellent section on how to prepare and cook the food. Most of the recipes in this book are not even found in dim sum restaurants. Recipes that are most common in dim sum restaurants like ha gow, sui mei, chicken feet, low bac gow (chinese turnip pancake) and many others that are not even in this book at all even though they are some of the most eaten dishes in the restaurants. It is extremely disappointing to have a book that is specific for dim sum but hardly have any of the most common dim sum dishes in it. There are recipes in the book like "salmon money bags" and grilled mushrooms that are not even heard of in the restaurants. I do have to admit that the instructions are easy to follow and most of the ingredients are quite easy to find in the markets.

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Summary: Dim Sum
Review: I bought this book at the check out counter as I was leaving the bookstore. I took it with me to China when I went to adopt my son two weeks later. I loved it and had so much fun with it. I was able to order all sorts of things. I was able to attempt Cantonese pronunciations and if all else failed I could point to the picture and characters. I loved the little book and it was so easy to tuck in my purse.

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Summary: Great Authentic Recipes
Review: This is an excellent cookbook. I had borrowed one from a friend of mine and decided that she couldn't have it back. I had to buy a new copy to get one back to her. The recipes are a good sampling of and introduction to authentic Chinese Dim Sum. A beginner can follow these recipes and get authentic results. ... some recipes could/should have been included, but I feel that a book like this is an introductory level and stands well on its own. I also felt that the recipes were not very Americanized. The Chinese restaurants near here (O.K. It IS Vermont) typically have steak teriaki and egg rolls as appetisers and nothing that even comes close to the recipes in this book. The ingredients are relatively easy to obtain in an American market or in an Asian market in American cities. The beginning of the book shows a great lesson in some of the techniques and some ingredients. As an American trying to learn more authentic Chinese recipes, I found this book most useful.