My one reservation on the Fuschia Dunlop book is that for all its
length, there aren't as many recipes as you would expect... she goes for
the "recipe plus a 3-page essay" style of cookbook design, where each
dish is placed in context and accompanied by an account of origin,
personal reminiscence or detailed explanation. Which is fine and dandy
in its own way - Sort of what I like in a cookbook actually, having cut
my teeth on Yamuna Devi's "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking" and
Shizuo Tsuji's "Japanese Cooking - A Simple Art". Recently got Hi Soo
Shin Hepinstall's "Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen" and it's along the
same lines, even giving instructions for brewing Korean style soy sauce.
I guess what I find a little sad is that Dunlop's is not as ambitious in
scope as these other books, in terms of number of recipes or varieties
of dishes covered. The two things I look to first are vegetable dishes,
and sweets; there were far fewer vegetable dishes than I expected, and
the section with recipes for sweets and street snacks was fleshed out by
a bunch of descriptions of snacks for which no recipe was provided in
the book. Interesting to read but *frustrating* in a cookbook. When I
read about something in a cookbook I want to cook it, dammit! :-) That
goes for meat curing too... Dunlop talks about lots of home meat curing
going on in Sichuan, but gives a recipe for bacon only. Overall: the
glass is 3/4 full. Points for tackling Sichuan cuisine, points for
striving for authenticity, points for being detailed and interesting and
unique... points deducted for making a big, big deal about how important
it is in Sichuan cooking to cut the ingredients just so, and then not
provide drawings (let alone photos) of most of the recipes. Points
deducted for breathless excitement about using a cleaver :-) Points
deducted for not including more recipes, and for assuming readers will
most likely never have access to actual Chinese vegetables. I want a
good Sichuan radish recipe dammit! :-) I also want more info about
pickling and preserved food.

My review above is festooned with smiley faces :-) to make the point
that I do not hate Fuschia Dunlop or this book. I just wish it were
more, and better.

2001 doesn't really count as new, but I recommend "Growing Up in a
Korean Kitchen".

On Alan Davidson: I guess he has written the definitive work on trifle.
Also "The Oxford Companion to Food", but if it were my resume, I'd want
to highlight the trifle book myself (title: "Trifle").

Davidson and his group are behind the VERY esoteric quarterly magazine
or small food journal "Petits Propos Culinaires". Go take a look! A
subscription would be a great Christmas present if the recipient is just
crazy interested in all food, from the Meditteranean through Eastern
Europe, Africa, and all parts of Asia, and all historical periods,
including points such as
* Analysis of actual menus and dishes served at the Lord Mayor of
London's annual banquet in the 1700's
* Fact: At certain times of year, wild partidges in parts of Greece may
be toxic to humans! (Not only a fact, but a named fact: "coturnism")
* Dried wild fruits of Iran

krnntp

Peter Dy wrote:
> With Christmas coming up, I was wondering if there's any new or newish Asian
> food-related books out there that are unique and noteworthy?
>
> Here's three I can think of:
>
> 1. Fuchsia Dunlop. _Land of Plenty: Authentic Sichuan Recipes_.
> This one is from 2003, and has been mentioned several times here, so I won't
> say more about it, except to say: It's a nearly 400 page book devoted only
> to the Sichuan cuisine! Get it!
>
> 2. James D. McCawley. _The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters_.
> This is a much-awaited reprint of a book first published in 1984. It has
> also been mentioned numerous times on this group. If you have any interest
> in food-related Chinese characters for whatever reason, the late University
> of Chicago linguist's book is a must. Though he seems to have meant it as a
> way to read Chinese-language menus, I use it as a reference dictionary.
>
> 3. Alan Davidson. _Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos_.
> Ok, I only just saw this book on Amazon last night--I don't have a copy and
> I've never held one in my hands. But one of my favorite food books in my
> library is Davidson's _Fruit: A Connoisseur's Guide and Cookbook_. That
> hardcover tome is filled with wonderful, full-page drawings of what seems
> like most every edible fruit in the world. It give scientific names, a list
> of what the fruit is called in other languages, and excellent descriptions.
> It even includes the Pili nut, native to the Philippines, which I didn't
> think any non-Filipino knew of--it's the nut with the highest oil content,
> and is awesome roasted and coated in a sugar syrup.
>
> Well, that book has been long out of print, as has been Davidson's _Seafood_
> book, which is advertised on the flap of my fruit book. But on my recent
> trip to NYC, I found out that some of his old seafood books had been
> reprinted! One is _North Atlantic Seafood_ and the other is _Mediterranean
> Seafood_. Both, like the fruit book, seem like excellent, one-of-a-kind
> reference books. And searching Amazon last night, I also came up with this
> intriguing-looking book on Laotion fish! Seems Davidson used to be the
> British ambassador to Laos. It was his first book, from 1975, and this is a
> reprint. If it is anything like his Fruit book, I'd highly recommend it,
> especially considering that we are damned lucky that a book on the fish of
> Laos is being reprinted. I can't imagine the printing continuing for long.
> Oh, and there's also a reprint of his _Seafood of South-East Asia_!
>
> Has any one seen any of these Davidson books? He's the one who wrote the
> much acclaimed Oxford Companion to Food, which I've never looked at.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/6cnxy -- Laos book.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3vf2n -- Seafood of SE Asia book.
>
> So, any other new books out there? I seem to recall reading about a new
> Goan cookbook somewhere.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
>