I already have hundreds of cookbooks. Did I really need another? I rarely cook or eat Chinese food, usually preferring Japanese, Korean or Thai when cooking Oriental. Did I really need another Chinese cuisine one to fill up my shelf space? The answer to both is "No", so I felt a little guilty for buying it. But I only got the Kindle version which is only three quid and doesn't require house-room. That's the guilt dealt with.



What a really great book! I learned lots of things from it. I've not yet cooked any of the recipes but they certainly seem very do-able for any competent and confident home cook and probably also for anyone who has the enthusiasm to learn. What I particularly liked about it was that it taught techniques rather than strict recipes where you must use the exact ingredients specified and you must use the exact quantities. Thus, it seemed to me that once you'd mastered the techniques you could vary the actual "recipes" given and make perhaps ten-fold the number of menu items in the book, eg swap cooked pork for chicken and so on, according to what's available and/or in season.



Most of the ingredients can be easily obtained in the UK from the mainstream supermarkets. Others can be found online or at a specialist store. As it happens, I have most already (because I live abroad and have to stock up on things that aren't available locally).



Another thing I really liked was the menu planning section. It's kinda hard sometimes to cook for more than a few people if you're in a rented flat. But this book has shown me how I could do it without too much stress.



Perhaps I should add that the only reason I've not yet cooked anything from the book is because I only bought it an hour ago and found it enthralling. I'll definitely be trying several of the dishes very soon.



All in all, this is a wonderful book and I'm delighted I bought it.