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Rating: 
Summary: A REAL Chinese cookbook in English!
Review: I was delighted to find this book at my local library. I grew up in Hong Kong, the food paradise, eating real Chinese food. Most Chinese cookbooks in English disappoint me with Americanized recipies (some of the entries I don't even recognized as Chinese food!). This cookbook though, contains most all Chinese food that I enjoy eating at home. I tried making a couple items, and I can testify the authenticity of the recipes. Some of the recipes are complicated, but I can find plenty recipes that are affordable and manageable. I think it's a must-have if you like cooking your own Chinese food in America.
Rating:
Summary: A REAL Chinese cookbook in English!
Review: I was delighted to find this book at my local library. I grew up in Hong Kong, the food paradise, eating real Chinese food. Most Chinese cookbooks in English disappoint me with Americanized recipies (some of the entries I don't even recognized as Chinese food!). This cookbook though, contains most all Chinese food that I enjoy eating at home. I tried making a couple items, and I can testify the authenticity of the recipes. Some of the recipes are complicated, but I can find plenty recipes that are affordable and manageable. I think it's a must-have if you like cooking your own Chinese food in America.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly complicated recipes but good for cross-reference
Review: If you are a cook, especially a novice or a new hand at Chinese cooking, this book by Yan Kit may be a good one to start with or to add to your collection. The pictures are helpful but I would prefer to have a picture for every dish, and if possible, accompanied by pictures of the preparation and cooking process. I am a firm believer that cookbooks must have pictures of the end-state for every dish to benefit the users, especially those cooks who are new but are adventurous to try a recipe for the first time. The listing of ingredients is helpful although by no means comprehensive. I had a problem when I wanted to cook the Smoked Duck, Szechuan Style. It asks for "saltpetre powder" which is not found in the list of ingredients or, despite thorough searching, anywhere else in the book. A search in the internet revealed that saltpetre, or saltpeter, is potassium nitrate or KNO3, which was as helpful as finding out that salt is sodium chloride! I found her Roast Belly of Pork, which is a favourite dish of mine, quite complicated. On the other hand, the recipe for this dish from The Food of China (called Spicy Crispy Pork) was over-simplified as it omitted important aspects especially the pricking holes all over the skin. I am still finding out why it is important as my butcher swears by it, and my father advises not to omit it. In the end, I combined the information from this book and from the Roast Belly Pork recipe in Hamlyn Publishing's The Best of Chinese Cooking (ISBN 0-600-32462-1). I learned something from Yan Kit for this dish which was valuable i.e. the need to make horizontal cuts on the flesh side about 1 inch apart. She did not explain the reason for doing this, which is a deficiency in many cookbooks as authors often fail to explain the rationale for doing or not doing certain things. Now, these horizontal cuts are important as they will enable you when the dish is cooked, to cut through the meat which would have been toughened by the baking process into manageable 1-inch slices. I have avoided buying this book for some time, but in the end purchased it as another cookery book to cross-reference and counter-check similar recipes from other books with.
Rating:
Summary: Twenty year old cookbook
Review: Overall this is a very useful book, largely because of the excellent photographs. Be aware, however, that place names are in the conventional form, not Pinyin. The book was written in 1984; many excellent Chinese cookbooks are more recent and reflect the current market place and field investigations.
Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive
Review: This book introduced me to Chinese cooking, and although I now own a number of excellent Chinese cookbooks by such notables as Nina Simonds, Ken Hom, and Susanna Foo, I return to this book again and again. It covers a wide variety of dishes, from simple to complex. In addition to lots of great photos, there is good information on ingredients with which beginning cooks or cooks new to Chinese cooking may not be familiar. This book is a bargain and I keep mine within easy reach in my kitchen. I've made the simple fried rice time and again; although Susanna Foo's fried rice is delicious, it is much more labor-intensive than the fried rice recipe in Yan-Kit's book. Hint: try them both!
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Cookbook
Review: This cookbook provides excellent and easy to follow recipes for dishes from around China. Each recipe has a picture and useful information. The binding is of good quality, meaning you can flatten it while you're cooking without tearing it up. The dishes are oriented to authentic Chinese tastes, not Americanized junk food. The only drawback is that the recipes are English-only, without Chinese characters. Sometimes my wife (who is Chinese) cannot tell what ingredient is called for because of this. The recipies in this cookbook tend to be slightly more fancy (and thus more time consuming)than absolutely neccesary, which can be good or bad, depending on your mood and patience. So I recommend having another, slightly simpler book for comparison, such as "Chinese Cooking" by the Wei Chuan company.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Chinese cookbooks for the average home cook
Review: This is not a book of classic authentic Chinese dishes one would be served in most Chinese homes or restaurants in Bejing. This book is an excellent collection of recipies for the American cook with a limited experience cooking Chinese dishes. The ingredients are introduced in a simple and easy to understand fashion along with great photos. The recipies are laid out in a clear step by step format producing excellent results on the first try. I also found the examples of menu selections a great benefit when planning a dinner party. I own a number of Chinese cookbooks and this one I tend to use the most Its great flavors and reception I get when I serve these dishes to my guest make it a mainstay in my kitchen.
Rating:
Summary: Authentic chinese cuisine
Review: This is quite a good book for those who would like to learn to cook Chinese food. Some of the "Chinese" or "Asian" cookbooks are sort of "Americanized" but not this one. For instance, the "Sweet and Sour Pork" which is very tasteful unlike those which you can get from Chinese fastfood which are dripping with red sauce. Another benefit of this book is that it has step by step instructions, and at the beginning of the book, she explains various types of Asian noodles, what type of knife to get, what is the proper way of cutting the meat or vegetables and how to fry, which I find extremely helpful. Most cookbooks do not explain how to do all this things and just give you the recipes, expecting you to know how to do everything. Also, it comes with colorful pictures of all the dishes which I find motivating (for me to try the recipes.)
Rating:
Summary: Authentic chinese cuisine
Review: This is quite a good book for those who would like to learn to cook Chinese food. Some of the "Chinese" or "Asian" cookbooks are sort of "Americanized" but not this one. For instance, the "Sweet and Sour Pork" which is very tasteful unlike those which you can get from Chinese fastfood which are dripping with red sauce. Another benefit of this book is that it has step by step instructions, and at the beginning of the book, she explains various types of Asian noodles, what type of knife to get, what is the proper way of cutting the meat or vegetables and how to fry, which I find extremely helpful. Most cookbooks do not explain how to do all this things and just give you the recipes, expecting you to know how to do everything. Also, it comes with colorful pictures of all the dishes which I find motivating (for me to try the recipes.)
Rating:
Summary: Yan Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook - TOP on my list
Review: This is the best authentic Chinese cook book one can have. The ingredients are easy to find outside Asia. The instructions are clear and the dishes are heavenly. After I have acquired this book, I become the best cook among my Chinese friends. Recently I went to Hong Kong to look for another Chinese cook book, I have to say I feel very disappointed. None of them are as good as this one. I highly recommend it.
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