My reference library
I write a lot about Asian food, and to facilitate this tasty pursuit, I maintain a shelf of reference books. These aren’t necessarily the most useful books in the kitchen (though frequently they are), but they’re the best when, for example, I want to know more about Sichuanese pickled chiles.
Southeast Asian (general): Hot Sour Salty Sweet
Noodles (general): Noodle
Thailand: Dancing Shrimp, Thai Food
Vietnam: Into the Vietnamese Kitchen
Philippines: Memories of Philippine Kitchens
Japan: Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art
China: Land of Plenty, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Breath of a Wok, The Dim Sum Dumpling Book
Chinese-American: Helen Chen’s Chinese Home Cooking
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore: Cradle of Flavor
Korea: Eating Korean
A few observations. First, a few of these books are so comprehensive, it’s hard (from my admittedly limited perspective) to see how they could be improved: Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, Memories of Philippine Kitchens, Japanese Cooking, Land of Plenty, and Cradle of Flavor. Eating Korean is close.
Japanese Cooking has held up remarkably well, considering it was published in 1980, but sooner or later there’s going to be a hole there. I have Hiroko Shimbo’s Japanese Kitchen, and I like it, but it feels idiosyncratic, as much about Hiroko Shimbo’s (very appetizing) cooking as about contemporary Japanese cooking.
What are your go-to books for national cuisines?
Comment by jenny
Hi, I really appreciate your bringing up national cuisine cookbooks! I never happen upon them myself, seemingly always preoccupied with the fresh/local/farmer’s market types. but I would love to incorporate more asian food into my cooking!
I also like your note on clarified butter— have you figured out how to make a lot at once and keep it for later?
-jenny http://www.rootingforfruit.com
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 10:01 am
Comment by mamster
Thanks, Jenny. I am not Asian myself but I don’t like to go more than a day or two without eating something with soy sauce or fish sauce in it.
One book I forgot is Asian Ingredients by Bruce Cost. Very handy reference.
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 10:13 am
Comment by mamster
Oh, and also Asian Vegetables.
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 10:15 am
Comment by Maggi
I love this book on Thai: Quick and Easy Thai by Nancie McDermott.
I’m not positive, but I could swear I bought the book because you had recommended it. Anyway, I use this book (and a few others which you had already listed) a lot. We eat more Asian cuisine than any other. and now that we are hitting prime Pho season…
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 11:53 am
Comment by Wendy
Ada Boni’s Italian Regional Cooking is… well, I’m having trouble coming up with the proper adjective. It isn’t really “useful”, or “comprehensive”. While I have cooked out of it, most of the recipes are not outstanding or unusual. But I do think it’s probably the best national Italian cookbook I’ve found (in English, anyway). Most Italian cookbooks are pretty regional, even if they don’t claim it, or will be almost entirely regional with a few famous dishes from other regions thrown in. Ada Boni’s book covers every region, whether the cuisine is famous or not. By paging through each section, you get a really good idea of what flavors and cooking methods are popular in that region, and what natural resources are available. I use it mostly for reference. It also has the bonus of having hilarious photos from a different era in food photography.
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Regional-Cooking-Ada-Boni/dp/0517693496
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Comment by mamster
Wendy, what do you think of Waverley Root?
I also forgot Joe Cummings’s World Food Thailand.
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Comment by Audrey
Great list. I like Cradle of Flavor and I’ll have to check out some of the other books. I’m irrationally attached to Mai Pham’s The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking, having cooked my way through it when I was just starting to cook. I also like Eileen Lo’s Chinese Kitchen, which incidentally has a recipe for Sichuan Pepper Pickle. Yum. Admittedly when I cook from the latter, my Shanghainese grandmother always thinks I added too much or too little of something.
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Comment by Werner
I’m quite fond of Essentials of Asian Cuisine by Corinne Trang, which I think I found remaindered in my local bookstore. It’s ostensibly Pan-Asian, but the best recipes in this book are Chinese and Korean. I like how Trang highlights simplicity and improvisation over complicated preparations.
At the other end of the spectrum, for Indian food, I would not be without Madhur Jaffrey’s A Taste of India, which was unfortunately OOP last time I looked. Some of her recipes can be quite detailed, and following them is like putting together a piece of IKEA furniture, where the big picture emerges only at the final step, and you wonder how you managed to create something so delicious. Almost every recipe in this book is a true winner. I wish she would write a book not only with recipes but also with manual on how to use Indian ingredients (especially spices).
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Comment by Caroline
Any recs on good sushi books? I’ve gone through a few and they all seem to be either super-fancy (sorry, I’m not a trained sushi chef) or way too basic and boring …
Posted on October 20, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Comment by Mamaliga
Hi Matt!
To add to the almost cliche-ish “Taste of…”, as a US-naturalized Romanian, may I humbly suggest “Taste of Romania” by Nicolae Klepper. I live in Chicago, where they have a huge Annual “Taste of Romania” fest with wild folk music, feet-stomped grape juice, and spit-grilled pigs, oxen, and lamb.
Cheers! Gabi @ Mamaliga.com
Posted on October 21, 2008 at 9:36 am
Comment by Rocky
I often reach for the various Culinaria books, they are great references. My favourite Chinese cookbook, besides the Wei Chuan books is The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook.
Posted on October 23, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Comment by Jason Truesdell
My favorite Japanese cookbook, mostly for its occasionally inaccurate and/or poorly translated but still indispensible folklore-knowledge about Japanese food, is Gaku Homma’s Japanese Country Cooking. I think there are books with prettier photos and books with easier-to-follow recipes, but it’s probably been the most influential source for my own Japanese cooking, other than actually eating in Japan a lot.
Posted on November 10, 2008 at 1:17 am