Someone's in the Kitchen: Our Favorite Cookbooks for Chinese and Asian Cooking

Beijing has a wealth of dining options but there are times when only a home-cooked meal will do, whether it’s to save money, guarantee your food is safe and good quality, or simply for a fun evening with friends. While import supermarkets like April Gourmet and Jenny Lou’s make it easy enough to whip up Western classics, with so many great local ingredients on our doorsteps it seems a shame not to embrace Chinese cooking. We’ve picked a few of our favorite Chinese and Asian cookbooks (online recipes may be practical but there’s something romantic about a proper cookbook) to help you on your way. 

If you’re a true beginner when it comes to Chinese cooking, enroll in a couple of classes at The Hutong, which will ground you in basics such as knife skills and ingredient prep. Visit thehutong.com/beijing-cooking-school for a full calendar of upcoming classes.
 

Everyday Cooking: Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking
Fuchsia Dunlop, 2012
This is by far the most dog-eared recipe book in my Beijing collection. English writer and chef Fuchsia Dunlop, the first westerner to train as a chef at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, has a way of making Chinese cooking incredibly accessible yet still authentic. The recipes in Every Grain of Rice are fresh and simple, and don’t necessarily pander to Western sensibilities or pantries – not a problem for those in Beijing with easy access to the right ingredients. 
Available from amazon.cn, The Bookworm 
 

Asian Flavors: Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes
Peter Meehan, 2015
I eagerly await the delivery of food and lifestyle quarterly Lucky Peach every three months, so when they published their cookbook I knew it was going to be on the top of my wish list. 101 Easy Asian Recipes does exactly what it says on the tin; the recipes (everything from slow cooker pho to onigiri) are practical and at times willfully inauthentic, perfect for speedy weeknight cooking. 
Available from amazon.com, taobao.com 
 

Crash Course: Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, 2009
With 11 cookbooks and 40 years of teaching Chinese cooking under her belt, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo is just about the most reliable guide through the Chinese kitchen that you could ask for. Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking is structured as a series of lessons that will help you build up to cooking more complicated dishes. If you’re a particularly ambitious cook, we also love her book, The Dim Sum Book: Classic Recipes from the Chinese Teahouse.
Available from amazon.cn
 

Wok This Way: The Breath of a Wok
Grace Young and Alan Richardson, 2004
Award-winning author Grace Young’s dazzlingly photographed tribute to that most essential of Chinese kitchen implements will help you master wok-cooking techniques once and for all. The 125 recipes will help you achieve wok hei, the highly prized but elusive taste that food achieves when properly stir-fried in a wok. 
Available from amazon.cn

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Email: robynnetindall@thebeijinger.com
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