The Chinese Cookbook

Written by Craig Claiborne, with the advise and tutelage of Virginia Lee in 1972. Claiborne has given most of the recipes a simple introduction for their history or interest. They are also, within their category, marked for simple preparation to complicated. There are several color photographs of

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prepared dishes, but most of the book is without illustration. Some of the more complicated cooking techniques and dumpling pinching have line drawn illustrations.

This has some interesting recipes, some that are way more fuss than I will do, however, I did buy a bamboo steamer so that I could try some of the dumplings. We love dumplings. The only problem is the fuss of making the dough, although for many of them one can find wonton and egg roll wrappers easily enough in the store. What stood out for me in reading this, is how many of the ingredients have become standard supermarket fare compared to 1972 when this was written. Also, the internet has made getting the few things not available easy enough to order. Cool.

In comparing this to the "Yan Can Cook" by Martin Yan I read recently, the flavors are the same, but he has simplified the process to more manageable methods. There was so much waste in many of the recipes of Claiborne and Lee!

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