Product Description

Barbara Tropp, an acknowledged food world star and one of the foremost authorities in Chinese cooking, has been called the "Julia Child of Chinese cooking." Her claim to fame? The invention of "Chinese bistro," a marriage of home-style Chinese tastes and techniques with Western ingredients and inspiration. In the China Moon Cookbook, Barbara makes her inventions and creations available to cooks everywhere. Here are 250 recipes that highlight her cooking genius. This is a cuisine like no other--bursting with unexpected flavors and combinations (like Chili-Orange Cold Noodles, Spicy Tangerine Beef, and Sweet Carrot Soup) but as balanced as yin and yang. The book is also chock-full of information: stories of China and Chinese culture and lessons on technique and pantry stocking. Written with passion and humor, and a precision that makes the volume as approachable for a novice as it is for a professional, China Moon is an essential addition to the shelves of any kitchen. Winner of a 1992 IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award. 2-color illustrations throughout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91946 in Books
• Published on: 1992-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this wide-ranging collection of recipes from her famed Chinatown cafe, the doyenne of California Chinese cuisine offers a "private cooking school" for cooks who want to enter the "world of traditional Chinese flavors combined with exclusively fresh ingredients." Beginning with the "pantry" chapter on basic condiments like five-flavor Oil and China Moon pickled ginger, Tropp ( The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking ) moves throughout the meal, offering signature recipes, like plum wine chicken salad with sweet mustard sauce, and Hoisin pork buns with ginger and garlic. An entire chapter is devoted to the meat that is "symbolically central to the entire Chinese culture"--pork. Not surprising for a book that is as much a course in method and culture as a collection of recipes, instructions are detailed and descriptive. True to her hybrid East-West cuisine, Tropp reveals eclecticism in her observations about cooking: In one chapter she praises traditional Chinese seafood cooking and presentation practices for following "the integrity of the fish"; a few pages later, she muses about that modern American invention, plastic wrap. Stylish illustrations that simultaneously recall a modern upscale restaurant menu and a 1950s Vogue are also true to the mixed nature of Tropp's cuisine. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Tropp, author of The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking and chef/owner of San Francisco's China Moon Cafe, is a talented and passionate cook. Her new book is filled with hundreds of creative, unusual, and fascinating recipes. However, "homestyle" does not quite seem the word to describe them. Many have lengthy ingredients lists, and many dishes require components from other recipes for their preparation--not necessarily complicated on their own, but in the end somewhat daunting for busy home cooks. Nevertheless, the recipes are inspired and mouth-watering. Tropp's sidebars--on every page--are filled with information about Chinese cooking and food in general. This unique book is recommended for most collections. BOMC HomeStyle Books selection.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
What Russo and Lukins accomplished for secreted-away American ingredients and recipes, so will Tropp (with the help of her co-authors) achieve for Chinese foodstuffs and menus. In fact, her second culinary collection (the first was "Modern Art of Chinese Cooking") is laid out in much the same manner as the popular Silver Palate series: fun and funky line drawings, lots of personal narrative, and sidebars on subjects from choosing serrated bread knives to cleaning squid. She's quick to point out that her more than 250 recipes from her China Moon restaurant are, strictly speaking, not authentic. But the oriental romance lingers in mile-long names (Ma-La steamed poussin with roasted Szechwan pepper-salt), techniques (stir-fry, sandpot casseroles), and fresh, from-scratch ingredients (infusions, spices). First-timers might balk at the preparation times and occasional intricate techniques, but this is a compilation worth savoring. (Barbara Jacobs, BookList)

In this wide-ranging collection of recipes from her famed Chinatown cafe, the doyenne of California Chinese cuisine offers a ``private cooking school'' for cooks who want to enter the ``world of traditional Chinese flavors combined with exclusively fresh ingredients.'' Beginning with the "pantry'' chapter on basic condiments like five-flavor Oil and China Moon pickled ginger, Tropp moves throughout the meal, offering signature recipes, like plum wine chicken salad with sweet mustard sauce, and Hoisin pork buns with ginger and garlic. An entire chapter is devoted to the meat that is ``symbolically central to the entire Chinese culture''--pork. Not surprising for a book that is as much a course in method and culture as a collection of recipes, instructions are detailed and descriptive. True to her hybrid East-West cuisine, Tropp reveals eclecticism in her observations about cooking: In one chapter she praises traditional Chinese seafood cooking and presentation practices for following ``the integrity of the fish''; a few pages later, she muses about that modern American invention, plastic wrap. Stylish illustrations that simultaneously recall a modern upscale restaurant menu and a 1950s Vogue are also true to the mixed nature of Tropp's cuisine. (Publishers Weekly)

Tropp, author of The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking and chef/owner of San Francisco's China Moon Cafe, is a talented and passionate cook. Her new book is filled with hundreds of creative, unusual, and fascinating recipes. However, "homestyle'' does not quite seem the word to describe them. Many have lengthy ingredients lists, and many dishes require components from other recipes for their preparation--not necessarily complicated on their own, but in the end somewhat daunting for busy home cooks. Nevertheless, the recipes are inspired and mouth-watering. Tropp's sidebars--on every page--are filled with information about Chinese cooking and food in general. (Library Journal) China Moon Cookbook was written by a talented American woman who fell in love with an Asian land some twenty years ago and has devoted a great part of her life to sharing the wealth of her chosen country's food. Her book shares beautifully; this is an inspired work...her instructions are clear and the resulting meals are light, colorful and multi-textual. China Moon food not only sings, it dances on the tongue. -- Reviews

Customer Reviews

My favorite cookbook
The China Moon Cookbook introduced me to high end cooking ten years ago and I've never looked back. Barbara Tropp manages to draw in complete novices with detailed step-by-step instructions of what to do and what not to do, dosed out with a good humored, you-can-do-it-too manner. This cookbook would be a worthwhile addition to anyone's set just for its instructions on how to buy and prepare fish or poultry, or for its instructions on making double chicken stock.

Barbara Tropp's recipes are Chinese influenced in the way of ingredients, so make sure you have a supply of good sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sichuan peppers, red chilis and ginger. In case you don't, the sidebars provide an introductory course in how to find, buy and store such ingredients, with brand recommendations. The main emphasis in each case is the notion of extracting a pure flavor in each dish. Rather than producing the kind of heavy, integrated sauces more typically associated with the Chinese kitchen, China Moon cranked out light, spicy, and brightly acidic dishes like my all time favorites, clear-steamed salmon with corriander pesto and gold coin salmon cakes.

The real strength of this book lies not in its excellent recipes, which can be adapted in numerous ways once you understand their principles. It's in the preparation of a pantry full of such goodies as ma-la oil ("ma" for the numbing spiciness of sichuan peppercorns, and "la" for the traditional burn of red pepper), and pickled ginger that takes 10 minutes to make and leaves you forever wondering why you hadn't done this sooner. There are recipes for stocks, sweet and sour dipping sauces, mustards, and other staples of the Chinese kitchen, that once created, allow the preparation of amazingly flavorful dishes in short order. Each dish has excellent instructions on what can be done in advance and held, and what needs to be done last minute.

Even if you just make the pickled ginger and hot chili oils on pages 8 and 10, you may share Barbara Tropp's sentiment, "The day I made my own hot chili oil, I swear I grew a foot as a cook!". Along with these recipes, you get the first two of her passionate sidebars, the first on selecting and peeling ginger, the last step of which she was shamed into by her Chinese-Vietnamese prep staff and grandmotherly Chinese-American pastry chef. As a historian by original training, her text is salted with quotes backing up her obsessions about 1/16 vs. 1/4 inch dice for stir-frying timing, and quotes "a character in an official history of first-century China: 'When my mother cuts the meat, the chunks are invariably in perfect squares, and when she chops the scallions, they are always in nuggests exactly 1 inch long.' What can I say? History centuries-old supports me in my obsessions!"

My Favourite, Least-Used, Essential Cookbook
No contradictions, there. I read this book cover to cover in one sitting, and loved it. I also learned the techniques of modern Chinese cooking in detail, including how to shop.

The book's problem is that the recipes are designed for a restaurant kitchen, with staff on hand. I have made exactly one dish from it. It took me half a day, and contained endless steps that could easily be shortened or eliminated if you didn't happen to have, say, a staff of 5 on hand. The result was wonderful, and I've made an equally-good version of it many times since, but not before going through the recipe with a LARGE pair of pruning shears.

But buy it anyway. The advice in the side columns alone is worth the price of entry, and the pantry section...

The pantry section is where the fifth star comes from. The infused oils are amazing, the pickled ginger (right down to the brand names of the vinegars -- and don't even THINK about substituting!) is sublime...

The firmament of cooking lost a bright star when Barbara Tropp died.

too time-consuming!
The China Moon cookbook offers many wonderful and unique recipes for lovers of asian cuisine. However, this book is definitely NOT for the cooking novice or for people that desire dishes that involves simple preparation. Most of the China Moon recipes requires the use of several different types of aromatic oils and spices that you need to make YOURSELF - which consists of several different types of ingredients that A) may be difficult to find in your local grocery store or B) needs to be prepared in some fashion before using. After spending hours/days/weeks chopping and cooking spices just to prepare special oil(s) (that you'll use only a couple of tablespoons worth), you'll think to yourself: 'Is this really worth it?'. Not only that, but the book insists that you make your own chicken/vegetable stock! And yet again, this involves combining several hundred different oils, spices and ingredients to make X amount of stock that you will only use 1 cup worth in a single recipe. Sheesh! After being discouraged by how much preparation and labor it involved to make a single dish (the 'simplest' dish calls for 2 oils)-I've only used my China Moon cookbook twice in the past 6 years. The dishes are impressive and tasty, but I would only recommend this book for people that really LOVE to cook or have alot of free time.