Cookbooks: Dim Sum
While out shopping this morning, took a detour and went browsing through a bookshop, and guess what – yep, brought these two babies home! The ‘Chinese Dim Sum in Pictures’ (left) cost me a whopping A$48 and the ‘Cantonese Dim Sum’ (right) is much cheaper at A$12. Oh, well, can’t help myself, they just look too good and the step-by-step pictures are just too tempting. There are another two books in the same series as the ‘Chinese Dim Sum in Pictures’ on the shelf, Complete Book of Roasted & Spiced Food (燒烤滷燻食品大全) and another called Chef's Manual (廚師及燒臘師手冊), I was also very very tempted to buy them but stopped myself in time as that would set me back another A$90, ouch! So I quickly paid for the two books and left the shop.
‘中國點心製作圖解 Chinese Dim Sum in Pictures’ looks very comprehensive and contains 309 pages. It is divided into 10 sections: Doughs and Buns (發麵與包子), boiled and steamed dumplings (餃子類), wontons (餛飩類), shaomai dumplings (燒賣類), special pastry dim sums (特別外皮餃類及角類), puff pastry dim sums (酥皮點心), Chinese pancakes and ricecakes (餅糕類), glutinous rice dim sums (糯米點心), fun dim sums (趣味小吃), imperial dim sums (宮廷點心). Can’t wait to sit down and slowly read through it, yipee……
‘廣式飲茶小點 Cantonese Dim Sum’ is a much smaller book with only 72 pages. This book is almost a pictorial guide to making the common Cantonese dim sums, 22 of them. So if I disappear for a while, you will know that I’m spending all my free time happily burying my face in these two books……
‘中國點心製作圖解 Chinese Dim Sum in Pictures’ looks very comprehensive and contains 309 pages. It is divided into 10 sections: Doughs and Buns (發麵與包子), boiled and steamed dumplings (餃子類), wontons (餛飩類), shaomai dumplings (燒賣類), special pastry dim sums (特別外皮餃類及角類), puff pastry dim sums (酥皮點心), Chinese pancakes and ricecakes (餅糕類), glutinous rice dim sums (糯米點心), fun dim sums (趣味小吃), imperial dim sums (宮廷點心). Can’t wait to sit down and slowly read through it, yipee……
‘廣式飲茶小點 Cantonese Dim Sum’ is a much smaller book with only 72 pages. This book is almost a pictorial guide to making the common Cantonese dim sums, 22 of them. So if I disappear for a while, you will know that I’m spending all my free time happily burying my face in these two books……
Labels: Cookbooks
posted by SeaDragon @ 26.3.05
5 Comments:
請問兩本書的作者和出版是誰？
謝謝！
Hi Florence,
這兩本書作者與出版社分別為﹕
「中國點心製作圖解」 江獻珠著 萬里機構．飲食天地出版社出版
「廣式飲茶小點」 金華著 笛藤出版
Hi SeaDragon,
Thanks for the reply.
Have you gone through the books? Which is better?
Would [中國點心製作圖解]be a better guide? Well I am judging by the publisher though!
Florence,
Still going through the books slowly :).
I like both books, as they are different in their own right.
中國點心製作圖解 is not just a straight forward recipe book (first published in 1994, now already 12th reprint in just 10 years!), it is more like a textbook, providing explaination or background about special features of each dish. It also covers recipes from both northern and southern China, although only the more popular or well-loved dim sums only, not so much on special regional ones. It would be a good book for people who prefers to learn more than just how to make a dish.
On the other hand, 廣式飲茶小點 is just a straight forward Cantonese recipe book, giving you step-by-step pictures of each preparation step from beginning to end.
Hi SeaDragon,
I realise your post was written five years ago, but just wanted to suggest that if you're interested in previewing chinese books on cooking/baking/dessert-making before deciding whether they're worth purchasing, then maybe you could check out one of the branches of Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries (maybe Ivanhoe).
I'm from Melbourne's west and sometimes I travel all the way to Ivanhoe library just to borrow their chinese cookbooks as they have quite a range (including the Cantonese Dimsum book you have). The crappy thing about some of the chinese cookbooks for borrowing at that library, is some of the pages are missing/ripped out by selfish readers, which really irks me.
You could also check out their online catalogue, or if you're looking for a specific chinese cookbook you could search it up on Trove by its pinyin title or ISBN: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ which lists the libraries in Australia that own the item, by state (but sometimes it's outdated/not accurate, so it's better to search the respective catalogues of the libraries listed).
The Chinese Dim Sum in Pictures book is available for borrowing at Hawthorn Library (Boroondara).
Which bookshop did you get the books from?
I managed to buy some cheap-reasonably priced (around $12 each) chinese books on baking from Xinhua bookstore (located at 206 Bourke St), but their range is limited.
I've also bought some chinese cookbooks at reasonable prices (including shipping) from online stores such as 66emart and hkbookcity.
I've checked out the bookstore/giftstore in Footscray on Hopkins St, but the cookbooks there are quite expensive.
Sorry for the long comment and windedness! These are probably things you already know about, and here I am blabbing on and on :)
Post a Comment
<< Home