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Stone Carvings | Home » » Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch | | | | | | | Description: | | In Cantonese, “dim sum” means “touch the heart,” and Ellen Blonder’s charming celebration of China’s famed tea lunch does just that. More than sixty carefully crafted, authentic recipes, each illustrated with Ellen’s exquisite watercolor paintings, put the key to re-creating these delectable morsels in every cook’s hand.
Anyone who has enjoyed the pleasures of a dim sum meal has inevitably wondered what it would be like to create these treats at home. The answer, surprisingly, is that most are quite simple to make. From dumplings to pastries, Dim Sum is filled with simple, foolproof recipes, complete with clear step-by-step illustrations to explain the art of forming, filling, and folding dumpling wrappers and more. Ellen Blonder offers her favorite versions of traditional Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Turnip Cake, and Shrimp Ha Gow, each bite vibrantly flavored, plus recipes for hearty sticky rice dishes, refreshing sautéed greens, tender baked or steamed buns, and a variety of pastries and desserts—all the ingredients required for an authentic, restaurant-style dim sum feast. Practical advice on designing a tea lunch menu and making dim sum ahead of time round out this irresistible collection.
Lovingly created from years of tasting, refining, and seeking out the best dim sum recipes from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Dim Sum is a gem that any student of Chinese cooking will treasure. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9780609608876
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Ellen Leong Blonder | | Hardcover:
| 144 pages | | Publisher:
| Clarkson Potter | | Publication Date:
| April 09, 2002 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0609608878 | | Package Length:
| 8.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.8 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 26 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent Balance between Authenticity and AcessibilityDec 08, 2009
Let me first say that I am born in Hong Kong and have literally grown up with Dim Sum. I view it as more than just great foods but also as part of a traditional family event. Much like Southern barbecue isn't just about the pork. I am giving this book a 4.5-stars rating
One thing I really appreciate about this book is that its small 2 pages devotion in tea. Tea plays a very important role in traditional Dim Sum. Dim Sum are the foods, but the entire event/experience of going to a Chinese restaurant, ordering Dim Sum and drinking tea is called "Yum Cha", which literally means "Drink Tea". In short, the book converses more than just recipes.
The recipes are not entirely authentic from two angles. It is not necessary a bad thing, but potential buyers should know where this book is coming from. First, a few of the traditional Dim Sum dishes, like Black Bean Sauce Chicken feet, are passed up for semi-western pastries like Mango Pudding. Second, the recipes themselves are not purely authentic. A good example is the recipe for Char-Siu Bao (Steam Cantonese BBQ Pork Buns). It only calls for cake flour. A more authentic recipe would have called for both cake flour and wheat starch. That being said, this book is much more authentic than many other books which simply call for all-purpose flour. I have altered 80% of the recipes I tried thus far because the final products differ from my recollection. Nevertheless, the book provides a good starting point for people who want to try making Dim Sum. The book also offers many vegetarian versions of the same dish. The pictures are wonderful. They are beautiful hand-drawn pictures of the Dim Sum, as well as the hand-drawn procedures, like the steps to pleat a Char Siu Bao. These hand-drawn procedures are cleaner and simpler to understand than photographs. The cooking instructions are easy to follow as well, assuming you have a basic knowledge in cooking and have read one or two cookbooks before.
Here is a dilemma for Dim Sum book. Many Dim Sum dishes are not simple. Most Chinese home cooks cannot make them. They are certainly not typical cookies which home cooks can easily make. As such, a Dim Sum book can be very authentic but >1% of home cook can follow or it can be very easy to learn but does not resume the real dishes at all. This book strikes a good balance between being authentic and accessible. It is not too daunting for a person to learn and the ingredients are not too difficult to find, yet it is authentic enough that readers will not be wasting time and energy in learning subpar recipes. Although this book is an introductory cookbook for Dim Sum enthusiasts, it is not a beginning cookbook. It assumes the readers have a decent background in general cooking. In short, it is a beginner book for Dim Sum, but it is not a beginner book for cooking.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Very goodNov 21, 2009
I moved away from SF area, to another state, and haven't been near a Chinese bakery in decades, & have been missing Char Sui Bao for the longest time. This cookbook enables me to make my OWN, I love this! Followed the instructions and made extra BBQ pork and froze batches of tiny cubed pork, so now I just make the dough and the sauce mixture and steam them in a bamboo steamer. The Char Sui was absolutely delightfully delicious. The potstickers were amazing too, I will have to try some of the other recipes, but those two recipes have made me extremely happy. Thank you for making this cook book!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Great book, easy to follow directionsAug 14, 2009
Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch is a great cookbook that gives a lot of background info for those of us who did not grow up with this type of cooking. It also shows alternative ways to steam things, other than using a bamboo steamer and a wok. The directions are very straightforward.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
excellentAug 13, 2009
For years I have been searching for dim sum recipes so as to recreate those dishes I had grown up with. Previously, cookbooks were either too complicated, or didn't show how to form the dumplings. with this book, you have both easy-to-follow instructions and exquisite illustrations showing you how to form the dumplings. I look forward to being able to try all of these recipes out. Most of the basic, common dim sum recipes are covered. My only complaint? One of my favourites is not given!
Dim SumFeb 25, 2009
I love the book! The recipes are great! I grew up in the same area of the author. It brings so many great memories of my childhood. It also allows me to pass on tradition to my children.
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