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Recommend me some Cookbooks for Chinese food?

I'm fancying doing some proper takeaway style food tomorrow night. I've got a big pack of chicken wings which are just begging to be deep fried and a rack of ribs. Going to do a chow mein with some veg and prawns on the side.

Currently trawling youtube for ideas for the wings and ribs. Can't decide if the ribs should be baked char siu style or deep fried!
 
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My go-go Chinese cookery book is the Australian women's weekly Chinese cooking class. Sometimes comes with a different picture on the front cover. Costs about a tenner brand new, should be able to get it for less than that.
 
FabricLiveBaby! said:
The only chicken wing recipe you will ever need. 100% hit at every party I have.

Click to expand...


That's what I'm talking about. I don't think I've ever cooked wings. Thinking about it I don't know if I've ever cooked wings and there a million recipes and methods.

Do you have an equally good one for salt and pepper ribs. There seems a million different ways of doing them. Most far out idea I've seen so far is doing them in the slow cooker first, but many seem to suggest that they should be double fried.

Edit: Can't see me being able to rice syrup or corn syrup or dried red peppers, although I did buy some Gochujang at random recently, so guess that could go in. Is mustard sauce just mustard?
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
That's what I'm talking about. I don't think I've ever cooked wings. Thinking about it I don't know if I've ever cooked wings and there a million recipes and methods.

Do you have an equally good one for salt and pepper ribs. There seems a million different ways of doing them. Most far out idea I've seen so far is doing them in the slow cooker first, but many seem to suggest that they should be double fried.

Edit: Can't see me being able to rice syrup or corn syrup or dried red peppers, although I did buy some Gochujang at random recently, so guess that could go in. Is mustard sauce just mustard?
Click to expand...

Instead of rice syrup you substitute honey.
You can use hot red chilli but you have to deep fry them first. Or just use hot pepper flakes to your taste.

I have a great recipe for spiced salt ribs in that book I posted. Requires deep frying (but only once).
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
I'm fancying doing some proper takeaway style food tomorrow night. I've got a big pack of chicken wings which are just begging to be deep fried and a rack of ribs. Going to do a chow mein with some veg and prawns on the side.

Currently trawling youtube for ideas for the wings and ribs. Can't decide if the ribs should be baked char siu style or deep fried!
Click to expand...
Coca Cola chicken wings.
 
FabricLiveBaby! said:
Instead of rice syrup you substitute honey.
You can use hot red chilli but you have to deep fry them first. Or just use hot pepper flakes to your taste.

I have a great recipe for spiced salt ribs in that book I posted. Requires deep frying (but only once).
Click to expand...

Ah! I bought that book. If you rate their recipe I shall give it a go.
 
We spent so much at Hoo Hing they gave us a free sea bass. The only fish dish I can cook is kedgeree. I was cooking Chinese tomorrow anyway. I'll have a look what Ken Hom says in a minute unless anyone has any better recipes?
 
FabricLiveBaby! said:
I bought this book when I was at university from the catering library. It's out of print now but it's without doubt the best cook book I've ever owned. Chinese comes out tasting just like it does from the takeaway plus some more traditional type recipes too.! Really good, well detailed, and goes in to technicalities in the foreword about how you should approach Chinese cooking.

As I said, it's now out of print but you can pick up a second hand copy for peanuts on amazon. Seriously, you can buy it for £0.01 (+p&p). Go look.

Really worth it. Go buy it. I could not live without this book. Best book I ever bought. Honest.

View attachment 82553

International Cuisine: China: Amazon.co.uk: Christine Yau, Norman Fu, Deh-Ta Hsiung: 9780340811184: Books
Click to expand...

Big bump to say that I just got this very cheaply on the strength of your recommendations. I have to admit that I would never have bought it otherwise because I'm a snob about covers and this one looks a bit Good Housekeeping, but it's fucking brilliant :thumbs: So much information on cutting techniques and kitchen equipment <3 Cheers!
 
Interestingly tonight I made these (from the book).

(them chicken balls)

Tasted fucking great, as always.
 

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UnderAnOpenSky said:
That's what I'm talking about. I don't think I've ever cooked wings. Thinking about it I don't know if I've ever cooked wings and there a million recipes and methods.

Do you have an equally good one for salt and pepper ribs. There seems a million different ways of doing them. Most far out idea I've seen so far is doing them in the slow cooker first, but many seem to suggest that they should be double fried.

Edit: Can't see me being able to rice syrup or corn syrup or dried red peppers, although I did buy some Gochujang at random recently, so guess that could go in. Is mustard sauce just mustard?
Click to expand...

This salt and pepper chicken recipe appeared a couple of weeks ago on my new favourite Youtube channel.

The battering is basically the same for Hong Kongy style pork/chicken, which I tried and worked 100%.

For ribs tho, I would allow the egg and birds custard powder and just go straight in with packing on potato starch.



I honestly highly recommend their Youtube channel if you haven't already subscribed. It's as good as (if not better than) the book I mentioned on this thread - the book is quality but turns out much more "high quality" flavours- but the Youtube channel is the cheating and cheaper British Chinese Takeaway version.

They are also releasing a book soon which is available for pre-order. I'm thinking about buying it. It's £18.90, but the problem is that the postage to Poland is £15!!! :eek:

Might order it and then get some fam or friend to bring it over when they next visit.

You can get it here:

https://www.chinandchoo.com/product-page/pre-order-chin-and-choo-s-chinese-takeaway-cooking-bible

2.PNG
 
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FabricLiveBaby! said:
This salt and pepper chicken recipe appeared a couple of weeks ago on my new favourite Youtube channel.

The battering is basically the same for Hong Kongy style pork/chicken, which I tried and worked 100%.

For ribs tho, I would allow the egg and birds custard powder and just go straight in with packing on potato starch.



I honestly highly recommend their Youtube channel if you haven't already subscribed. It's as good as (if not better than) the book I mentioned on this thread - the book is quality but turns out much more "high quality" flavours- but the Youtube channel is the cheating and cheaper British Chinese Takeaway version.

They are also releasing a book soon which is available for pre-order. I'm thinking about buying it. It's £18.90, but the problem is that the postage to Poland is £15!!! :eek:

Might order it and then get some fam or friend to bring it over when they next visit.

You can get it here:

https://www.chinandchoo.com/product-page/pre-order-chin-and-choo-s-chinese-takeaway-cooking-bible

View attachment 191862
Click to expand...

I subscribe to their channel. They are excellent.
 
I had another go tonight as fancied a chinese for a while and the last few times I've ordered one it's been expensive and shit. Also I've now got a thermapen and a wok burner which makes deep frying stuff so much easier.

First time I've used Sichuan pepper. Awesome stuff. Definitely going to crank it to 11 next time. Ribs were an awesome success, sweet and sour pork less so, despite it being super crisp out the wok, the batter went gloopy almost straight away.

IMG_20200407_184527.jpgIMG_20200407_184746.jpg
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
I had another go tonight as fancied a chinese for a while and the last few times I've ordered one it's been expensive and shit. Also I've now got a thermapen and a wok burner which makes deep frying stuff so much easier.

First time I've used Sichuan pepper. Awesome stuff. Definitely going to crank it to 11 next time. Ribs were an awesome success, sweet and sour pork less so, despite it being super crisp out the wok, the batter went gloopy almost straight away.

View attachment 205411View attachment 205412
Click to expand...

If your batter went gloopy it's beacuse your oil wasn't hot enough, and/or there wasn't enough oil 8n the pan for deep frying.

Frying twice also works. You fry for 3/4 of the allocated time, and then take out, reheat oil to temperature and then fry for a second time to crisp up the batter which will have soaked up some of the juices from the meat.
 
FabricLiveBaby! said:
If your batter went gloopy it's beacuse your oil wasn't hot enough, and/or there wasn't enough oil 8n the pan for deep frying.

Frying twice also works. You fry for 3/4 of the allocated time, and then take out, reheat oil to temperature and then fry for a second time to crisp up the batter which will have soaked up some of the juices from the meat.
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Hmm. Maybe I fucked up the final stage. I've been frying in batches and double frying. Last week when I did tofu I was having the opposite problem regarding heat. The oil kept going over 200 and with the ribs and the first fry of the pork I had to keep turning it down. That wok burner is savage.

What I did do was put all the pork in together for its final crisp/reheat. Assumed it would hold its heat. Was crisp when it came out second time. I was wondering if the style of batter could make a difference. Maybe next time I will chop it a bit bigger and just aim for the pork balls type effect, total takeout style.
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
I had another go tonight as fancied a chinese for a while and the last few times I've ordered one it's been expensive and shit. Also I've now got a thermapen and a wok burner which makes deep frying stuff so much easier.

First time I've used Sichuan pepper. Awesome stuff. Definitely going to crank it to 11 next time. Ribs were an awesome success, sweet and sour pork less so, despite it being super crisp out the wok, the batter went gloopy almost straight away.

View attachment 205411View attachment 205412
Click to expand...

I fucking love sichuan pepper, I think I may have a slight addiction to the stuff. I find it really difficult to get though, I did find some in Spice Mountain not long ago but it's really expensive - more geared towards the gift market I think! I did find a Chinese supermarket more recently though, will try there next time I need to restock.
 
Epona said:
I fucking love sichuan pepper, I think I may have a slight addiction to the stuff. I find it really difficult to get though, I did find some in Spice Mountain not long ago but it's really expensive - more geared towards the gift market I think! I did find a Chinese supermarket more recently though, will try there next time I need to restock.
Click to expand...

Can't remember how much I paid in the Chinese supermarket, but don't remember it being that pricey for a huge bag of them whole. All the stuff I read said cooking it 1 to 1 with salt made it very spicy, but it wasn't that bad. I'm holding of putting more in as i dont want to add that much salt. Next time I'll use loads less.
 
Now I've got a deep fryer I've got really into in to this. I'm having to limit it to once a week. Never thought it would be so good, but really liking lemon chicken, the trick being posh lemon cordial from Sainsburies. Oh and I use pork. :D

Not a great one for following recipies that closely, but this fella has done quite a good book.

Chinese Takeaway Cookbook: From Chop Suey to Sweet 'n' Sour, Over 70 Recipes to Re-create Your Favourites: Amazon.co.uk: Kwoklyn Wan: 9781787133679: Books

Buy Chinese Takeaway Cookbook: From Chop Suey to Sweet 'n' Sour, Over 70 Recipes to Re-create Your Favourites by Kwoklyn Wan (ISBN: 9781787133679) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk
 
Two really good youtube channels for anyone who wants to get to grips with authentic Chinese cooking...

Chef Wang, proper Sichuanese chef. In Mandarin, but you can turn on CC for decent subtitles.



Chinese cooking demystified... Chinese and American food-nerd couple who unpack various recipes and ingredients.

 
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