Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine: The Fabulous Flavors & Innovative Recipes of North America's Finest Chinese Cook Book

My dear departed aunt gave me this book one Christmas nearly a decade ago. And since then, I haven't viewed cuisine in quite the same way ... much less Chinese cuisine. Reading Foo's descriptions of her food's origins taught me that each cook's repertoire and product really exist as the end result of their culinary journey. (I was young and naive then, forgive me.) Foo's dishes are precisely the result of her journey, and I commend her for placing that fact squarely in her book. To talk of or deride a cook's food as bastardized is to overlook the possibilities of food preparation and the origins of some the most loved dishes the world over. After all, the heavenly Trinidadian pelau wouldn't exist without the engenuity to mix Chinese, Spanish and Indian techniques and ingredients.

Now for the food. I truly adore her vegetable preparations. The green beans w dried shrimp, eggplant "salsa" and daikon with brussel sprouts and dried scallop have become regulars in my reportoire. They also tend to be inexpensive and satisfying. The orange beef with sundried tomatoes is a knockout. Also worth adoring is her version of scallion pancakes; they trump the highly oily and gelatinous versions found in even the best of Chinese restaurants. My only quibble is that if followed to a T, a few of the recipes can become too oily despite Foo's own concern to make light dishes. Also, the directions for Shanghai vegetable rice cooks the rice too quickly leaving it soggy and undercooked. But despite this, most of the recipes are easily adjusted to one's own tastes and locked into memory.

Take a chance on this book if you are willing to explore a lighter, less corn syrup laden direction American-Chinese food can take. It'll be a tasty journey.