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

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Summary: If I could have only one Chinese cook book...
Review: ...this might just be it. This book was clearly a labor of love for Grace. It was written with the home cook in mind. From reading this book, along with her earlier volume, "Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen," it is clear that Grace's family and mine have a lot in common--namely a love and reverence for traditional, home-style Chinese cooking. The recipes are clear, simple, and easy to follow. I love the fact that so many of them are gleaned from her aunties and uncles--just as they are in my family. And it's so much fun reading about the history and production of the wok--I'll never look at the 30-year old specimen handed down to me from my mom the same way again!

I have a good collection of Chinese cookbooks, including volumes by Barbara Tropp, Ken Hom, Yan Kit, and my own family (I come from a family of restauranteurs and chefs), and over the years gleaned pearls of wisdom from each, but like I said, if I had to choose only one, "Breath" might just be it. But please, don't ask me to actually do it...

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Summary: What do we know about Chinise Cusine
Review: After reading this book I think that the stuff we get in most Asian restaurants is really just the prefab grocery store stuff they sell at Asian markets. So now I have been left asking a lot of questions. So I purchased a cast iron wok from China like the books suggests and have come up with wonderful results. I followed the seasoning techniques and now have a wok that is better than any I could purchase. One has to remember anyone can assemble the ingredients for a dish and measure to perfect portions. It's really the technique that makes the dish. This is probably the first Chinese cookbook to do so. From that point you can really understand the cuisine start to create real Chinese Cuisine.

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Summary: Comprehensive Guide to Your Wok
Review: I have taken this book out of the library so many times that I finally broke down and bought the book. I am an avid stir-fry cook and this book has some great wok stir-fry recipes, but it has so much more. It is a comprehensive guide to wok history, culture, maintenance and cooking techniques-- and demonstrates how a wok can be used for so much more than stir-fry. The recipes are great and pretty foolproof. I also own The Chinese Kitchen, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. I like that book and use it often, but especially on busy weeknights, I appreciate that the recipes in Breath of a Wok generally call for far fewer ingredients and taste just as good.

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Summary: Going Into & Behind The Wok In Chinese Cuisine
Review: We've all likely experienced the sizzle and vapors coming off wok prepared food, and that's one essential of proper wok cooking. Here renowned Chinese cookbook auhtority Young gives us the insight into the wok in Chinese lore and life, its seasoning and its history of developing recipes.

What I found captivating was the history and exploration she takes us through of actual construction of woks, the hammering and shaping blacksmith approach and different ways of seasoning.

There is some chapters which are so unique, e.g. The Master Lesson in smoking from an experienced wok expert with then three recipes. This is delightful approach which continues with other experts offering techniques and recipes, e.g. Susanna Foo's Mango Chicken, a succulent dish with marinated vodkaed chicken and richen broth with asparagus, mango and candied walnuts. Yum!

The steamed portion really interests me, especially prep of dumplings, such as "Shrimp Dumplings Spring Moon".

The book is delightfully completed with an "Essentials" section replete with menus, glossary (usually with photos) metric equivalencies, sources.

One will want to spend much time savoring in all the wonders and info in this jam-packed inspiration about wok cooking and history. It will aid all who have or desire to enter this rich historical cuisine. The color photography and writing are superb and add to its richness and captivating presentation. A masterpiece!

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Summary: Flawed but Highly Useful Tour of Wok Culture and Cuisine
Review: `The Breath of a Wok' is a self-described work of culinary anthropology by Grace Young describing the current and past role of the wok in the Chinese culinary tradition for residents of both mainland China and Chinese transplanted to the enclaves in the United States. This is one of those rare books who begin with great promise, starting with the excellent photography and design composition on the cover and the acknowledgments giving thanks to every major Chinese-American chef and culinary educator from Martin Yan, Ken Hom, and Ming Tsai on down (This is an extreme case of inflation similar to the absurd level of detail to which movie credits now go).

The description of the book's subject on the cover is "Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore". This is an especially accurate characterization of the book's contents, in spite of the fact that the book occasionally strays into discussions of history, chemistry, and sociology. And, the book does not fare well in these supplementary topics, in spite of the fact that it does a good job of addressing it's primary subject.

Before addressing what is good about the book, I will point out what I found weak about the book.

First, the book spends a lot of time on discussing the differences between the `northern' wok with a long handle and the southern or Cantonese wok with two ear-shaped handles, yet at no point is there a simple picture of the two side by side to make clear in the reader's mind the differences. And, although there are allusions to techniques which are appropriate to one style and not the other (one can saute' or `jump' ingredients with the long-handled northern style but not the southern style') there is no serious discussion of this technique.

Second, the book intimates that the wok, unlike any western cooking implement, can perform just about every savory cooking method there is, including braising, steaming, poaching, and deep-frying. I don't object to claims for poaching and there is no question that steaming has been a time-honored use of the wok for centuries, with special bamboo steamers of ancient design constructed especially for the purpose. On the other side of the coin, I cannot seriously agree that the wok is a good tool for either braising or deep-frying. Classic braising requires a low pot with a tight fitting lid that can fit in the oven. Similarly, deep-frying requires a LOT of oil in contrast to the very little oil that is the forte of the wok's techniques.

Third, the author explains how to season a traditional iron or carbon steel wok, and does not succeed in explaining why Chinese chives are used in this seasoning technique. Part of her explanation for the efficacy of heating the wok while coating the surface with oil is that the pores in the metal open with the high heat and are more easily filled with the oil. The problem with this is that Shirley Corriher has claimed exactly the opposite behavior for heated metal cooking utensils in explaining why high heat will improve the non-sticking properties of the pan by closing the pores and cracks in the metal. The author mentions that the traditional oil for seasoning is pork fat, but fails to point out why this is actually desirable even today. My interpretation is that animal fats are a good choice because they are solid at room temperature and they go rancid much more slowly than vegetable oils.

After saying all that, I must repeat that the author does succeed in bringing to life the `wok hay' or breath of the wok for non-Chinese readers like myself. Aside from excellent recipes covering a large number of different cooking techniques and ingredients, the author recounts several especially warm family gatherings involving both her own family of aunties, uncles, and cousins and the family of novelist Amy Tan.

Another very nice aspect of the book is on the opening pages which have a quick tour of how woks are made by hand in rural and suburban blacksmith shops and how they are used by rapidly disappearing street food vendors at a `dai pai dong' in the outskirts of Foshan. After the rather loosely organized historical and cultural tour, the author gets down to the serious business of how to select, buy, season, and clean a good wok. For cooks with standard home cooking ranges, the author strongly recommends a carbon steel wok with a flat bottom and discourages us from using stainless steel, nonstick surfaced, electric, or multilayered metals. Oddly, she does not give an opinion on purely aluminum woks. The instructions for seasoning are thorough, with six different methods from which to choose. I feel the discussion of technique is much better than the explanations for how these techniques work. The book now addresses it's heart, the notion of `wok hay', which I feel the author turns into something which is just a bit more mystical than it really is. If Marcella Hazen can spell out with clear sentences some notions that are at the heart of Italian cooking technique, then why must Ms. Young resort to metaphor and reverence for what is simply a matter of technique.

I thoroughly enjoyed the portions of the book devoted to recipes, especially the excellent discussion of making the famous pork barbecue steamed dumplings, as done by the family of Amy Tan. Recipes also cover stir-frying poultry, meat, seafood, rice and noodles, vegetables plus smoking, pan-frying, `braising', poaching, steaming, and deep-frying. The book ends with an excellent directory of Chinese pantry ingredients. This alone is worth the cost of the book. The appendices also include menus that would be of great use to a Chinese heritage or to someone who wishes to entertain in the Chinese manner.

This is a beautiful, informative, and useful cookbook, essential to someone who wants to get the most from their wok. It must, however, be approached with a critical mind.