Beyond Bok Choy: A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables - Hardcover

Ross, Rosa Lo San

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1885183232 ISBN 13: 9781885183231

Publisher: Artisan, 1996

Synopsis

Beyond Bok Choy is the first book to help consumers identify, choose, and--most importantly--cook the enormous variety of increasingly available Asian Vegetables. Top chefs discovered these tasty leafy greens, squashes, peas and beans, mushrooms, and herbs several years ago, and many varieties are appearing in supermarkets, farmers' markets, and seed catalogs as well as in Asian flavors, there has been little information available to home cooks on how to add these vegetables to their repertoire.

With this book, Rosa La San Ross, a New York-based cooking teacher and caterer who grew up in Hong Kong, guides readers through the many varieties of bok choy, mustard cabbages, melons, edible gourds, sprouts, and shoots. her 70-easy-to-prepare recipes--including both classic Chinese stir-fries and original fusion recipes--will send curious cooks to unexplored regions of their supermarkets and then to the kitchen. The book's guidebook-like format makes it east to carry on shopping expeditions.

About this title

Review:

Ross tells how to recognize, buy, store, cook the intriguing produce found at Asian markets and appearing in ever more supermarkets. This book includes color photos of 55 vegetables and 70 recipes. Take it to the market then back to the kitchen, feeling secure about what to do. Recipes range from simple, classic Chinese dishes like Sesame-flavored Flowering Cabbage (Choy Sum) to exotic fusion dishes like aromatic Shiso Risotto. Ross also shares memories of life in Hong Kong, a little Asian history and fascinating cultural tidbits, all food-oriented.

From the Inside Flap:

The streets of Asian neighborhoods across North America are lined with vegetable stands filled with a confusing assortment of leafy greens and mysterious roots. Farmers' markets in Des Moines and Minneapolis include stands selling intriguing Asian varieties of cabbage that most western cooks don't know what to do with. Korean vegetable stands in New York sell long beans, bean sprouts, and even lemongrass, which many have enjoyed in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai restaurants but don't know how to prepare at home. Huge Chinese supermarkets in Los Angeles offer tempting ingredients that can intimidate even experienced cooks.

Top chefs discovered some Asian vegetables several years ago. But despite a mushrooming interest both in vegetables and in Asian flavors, there is still very little information available to help home cooks identify, choose, store, and--most importantly--cook these delicious and nutritious foods.

Rosa Lo San Ross, a New York-based cooking teacher and caterer who grew up in Hong King and Macao, guides us through Asian markets with Beyond Bok Choy: A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables. Drawing on her tours of Chinatown for western chefs, her experiences with her students, and her childhood memories of meal and markets in Hong Kong and Macao, she de-mystifies a mystifying subject and opens a new world to the home cook. Her explanatory text, combined with Martin Jacob's elegant photographs, will help everyone identify and buy these unfamiliar vegetables. Her 70 recipes--some classic Chinese, some original fusion recipes--will send adventurous cooks first to an Asian market and then into the kitchen. For those cooks who are also gardeners, there are cultivation tips and a list of sources for Asian vegetable seeds.

About this edition

• Publisher: Artisan
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1885183232
• ISBN 13: 9781885183231
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192