Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World

Martin Yan

HarperCollins, Oct 22, 2002 - Cooking - 364 pages

When it comes to Chinese cooking, no one has as much culinary talent and encyclopedic knowledge as Martin Yan. That talent and knowledge are presented here in Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking, a companion volume to his new public television series.

Martin takes you on an unforgettable culinary journey through the gates of eleven Chinatowns around the world. Visit the streets, shops, homes, and restaurants you would never experience without Martin as your guide. From London to San Francisco to Yokohama, Martin introduces shopkeepers, chefs, and home cooks who, for the first time, share their cooking secrets. And as you travel the globe with Martin, you'll discover how Chinese food is different in Macau, Singapore, and Sydney.

Each of the eleven cities is featured along with a list of Martin's favorite restaurants and his favorite dishes and house specialties. Learn Martin's tips for ordering in Chinese restaurants and dim sum parlors. Discover how Chinese food and culture are inextricably linked, as Martin explains the significance of traditional festivals and their accompanying symbolic foods.

Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking has stunning full-color photography throughout and recipes that make it easy for cooks to create more than two hundred dishes at home, from takeout favorites such as Kung Pao Chicken to restaurant classics such as Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger and Green Onions. Exotic-sounding recipes like Good Fortune Fish Chowder, Flower Drum Crab Baked in the Shell, and Double Harmony Meatballs in Sweet and Sour Sauce are made easy. Don't live near a Chinatown? Try your hand at making your own Roast Duck, Char Siu (barbecued pork), and Gin Doi (sweet sesame balls with duck). Martin makes the exotic familiar by offering tips on unfamiliar ingredients and specific techniques in combination with Chinatown history and culture.

Whether you end up cooking a dish at home or enjoying it in your nearest Chinatown neighborhood, Martin teaches you all you need to know about Chinese cuisine and culture. Travel with Martin Yan through a world of Chinatowns and satisfy your taste for adventure with Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking.

What people are saying

Review: Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World

User Review  - Kellea - Goodreads

I love this cookbook because it's not just a cookbook, it's a travel guide through all of the different Chinatown's and great Chinese restaurants around the world. What I also like about this book is ...

Review: Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World

User Review  - Kelly - Goodreads

Cookbooks are some of my favorite history books. There's nothing like food to teach you where people come from, what's important to them and how they live their daily lives. Chinese cooking was a ...

About the author

Martin Yan is the author of ten bestselling cookbooks, including Martin Yan's Feast: The Best of Yon Can Cook, Chinese Cooking for Dummies, and Martin Yan's Asian Favorites, and is the host of a new public television series, Martin Yan's Chinatowns. Martin is also a popular speaker and writer on food trends and addresses conferences, food industry events, panels, culinary functions, and schools. He lives near San Francisco, California.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World
• Author: Martin Yan
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002
• ISBN: 0060084758, 9780060084752
• Length: 364 pages
• Subjects: Cooking / History; Cooking / Regional & Ethnic / Chinese; Travel / General