The Asian Grocery Store Demystified (Take It with You Guides) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Unfortunately I was not as enraptured with this book as most of the other reviewers. I don't feel it would be terribly useful for a beginning Asian cook.
I also found some inaccurate or less familiar descriptions; for instance many recipes call for "thick soy," which in this book is called "dark soy, or superior soy" but a novice wouldn't know those distinctions.
Additionally the book only gives one or maybe two names for the same thing; if you're cooking something from another culture confusion may reign! For instance in this book belacan (spelled blacan in most other Asian cookbooks I own), which is a common Asian ingredient, is the only word used for dried shrimp paste -- it's also known as trasi (Indonesia), kapi (Thailand) and mam tom (Vietnam). In the grocery store I have bought a wonderful paste that is packaged only under the name "trasi." Using this book, who would know?
Among its weaknesses I find the dearth a pictures a detriment. Many shoppers (like me) are quite visual and look for colors or bottle shapes. It would be more helpful to have photos of some ingredients; for instance showing the difference between bean thread noodles and rice sticks, or what a jackfruit looks like.
I found the index difficult to use. Something might be referenced in the text but not found in the index. Drives me nuts.
However, there are some strengths to this book. It's a convenient size to bring to the store and gives a nice overview. It's also helpful for the novice to have brand recommendations, but I can safesly say, having shopped for ingredients in Minnesota and California (and in Australia), that not all the same brands are imported to everywhere and that what she recommends may not be in your market.
If you really want to get serious about Asian ingredients I suggest you check out three books: "Chinese Cooking, Step by Step techniques" by Yan Kit Martin (Random House). This book has photos and Chinese characters for many different ingredients. You can easily take it to the market. Charmaine Solomon's "The Complete Asian Cookbook" (Lansdowne) has a good glossary of ingredients in the back of the cookbook, but it's a big book to heft around (I think the new edition is paperback though). Lastly, if you can find it, "Charmaine Solomon's Encyclopedia of Asian Food" (William Heinemann Australia) is well worth seeking out. It's the best of the bunch. Loads of ingredients listed alphabetically, pictures, a great index, some good recipes -- this weighty book has it all. Worth lugging to the market if you need help.

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Do you want to prepare an Asian meal as delectable as those in restaurant?Are you too intimidated by the exotic ingredients to try? And what's inside those mysterious bottles, bags and boxes in your local Asian grocery store anyway?This handy Take it With You guide provides the answers.Author Linda Bladholm, who has lived, worked, cooked, and dined in locales as diverse as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Laos, and Vietnam, takes you on a tour of a typical Asian grocery store and expertly describes what you'll find.Make Your Next Shopping Trip a Successful and Fascinating JourneyPeppered with over 400 illustrations, plus stories about the ingredients used in every major Asian cuisine, this guidebook identifies and tells you how to use the vast array of meats, fruits, vegetables, noodles, tofu, rice and delicacies.A bonus section of the author's favorite recipes will help you create savory, authentic dishes that will impress everyone--and it will open a window onto the remarkable civilizations of the Orient.

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