chicken n dumplings recipe

Check Update Price

Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking By W. W. Norton & Company Price for Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. With Special Pomotions List Price : $30.00 Price Save : $19.60 SalesRank :37614 Warranty:

Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking Description

Land of Plenty is literary food writing at its best, as well as a marvelous invitation to new skills and flavors for the home cook. Read it. Cook it. Eat it. And take pleasure in the emerging career of Fuschia Dunlop, a big new voice in the world of food. --Schuyler Ingle Elizabeth David had it easy. All she had to do was eat her way through France and Italy and translate the essence of the encountered cuisines for a ravenous, literate, English-speaking public. Fuschia Dunlop, on the other hand, went to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan in China, where she ended up the first foreign student enrolled at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. That was nearly 10 years ago. After annual return visits and endless research she has produced, in English, a magnificent introduction to the food and foodways of Sichuan. She is in every way the dharma inheritor of Elizabeth David. You too may start to salivate halfway through the introduction to Dunlop's magnificent Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. Perhaps it begins when she explains xian, "one of the most beautiful words in the Chinese culinary language." It describes an entire range of flavor and sensation, "the indefinable, delicious taste of fresh meat, poultry, and seafood, the scrumptious flavors of a pure chicken soup..." Before you know it you are running headlong into a world of 23 distinct flavors and 56 cooking methods (they are all listed at the end of the book). Sichuan is the place where "barbarian peppers" met up with a natural cornucopia and a literary cooking tradition stretching back to the fifth century A.D. Innovation with cooking technique and new and challenging ingredients remains a hallmark of Sichuan. After describing basic cutting skills and cooking techniques, Dunlop presents her recipes in chapters that include "Noodles, Dumplings, and Other Street Treats"; "Appetizers"; "Meat"; "Poultry"; "Fish"; "Vegetables and Bean Curd"; "Stocks and Soup"; "Sweet Dishes"; and "Hotpot." Yes, you will find Gong Bao (Kung Pao) Chicken with Peanuts--Gong Bao Ji Ding. It's named after a late 19th-century governor of Sichuan, Ding Baozhen, which brought on the wrath of the Cultural Revolution for its imperial associations. Until rehabilitation, the dish was called "fast-fried chicken cubes" or "chicken cubes with seared chilies.

Costumer Reviews

4.7 Out Of 5 Stars (59 Customer Reviews)  
Reviews for Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking (Hardcover) The mark of a good cookbook is that it get used a lot, and in just a few months my copy of Land of Plenty has acquired a variety of drips, splotches, and stains from its very frequent trips into my kitchen.

I was fortunate enough to spend several weeks in Chengdu and Chongqing a few years ago, and the recipes in this book do a fantastic job of recreating the smells and flavors I remember from my trip. Literally every single recipe I've tried from this book has been a winner, and the Gong Bao Ji Ding (Kung Pao Chicken) has become a weekly standard around our place. My girlfriend, a native Chinese, has repeatedly commented that the flavors of these recipes taste authentic to her memories of eating at Sichuanese restaurants in China.

As previous reviewers noted, Sichuan peppercorns, which are a key flavoring ingredient in some of these dishes, are indeed slowly making a comeback in the US. However, they still seem to be very hard to find outside of major Chinatowns like NYC and San Francisco. I eventually found a few Internet sources, such as the CMC Company, and was able to purchase them that way (and it was well worth it).
Reviews for Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking (Hardcover) I was very surprised when I found this book in this library, because authentic Chinese cookbooks are difficult enough to find, and anything regional and non-Cantonese even rarer. I myself had never been to Sichuan, though my family did often dined at excellent Sichuan restaurants in Taiwan.
Before I proceed to the recipes, let me state that having read the book several times already (!), this is by far the best regional cookbook on Chinese cooking I've read in English. The author has a talent for combining the precise instruction needed for writing a cookbook and a poetic flair for capturing the local attitude to food. Knowing that most of her audience would likely be unfamiliar with daily life in Sichuan, often a mystery even to outside Chinese, she details the street life there.
Reviews for Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking (Hardcover) There are no steamed dishes but mostly require wok frying so the recipes aren't the healthiest but they are not that oily either (two teaspoons of oil in the wok and one teaspoon of sesame oil in the sauce for the Kung POW!)

The layout of the book is encouraging and I had no problem reaching for it when I am at a loss over what to cook for dinner. Luckily I have chili peppers and sichuan peppercorn in my larder now so I am well-prepared to tackle these recipes which call for simple ingredients but the resulting flavors are complex and addictive. Once that ginger meets the sichuan pepper infused oil, one can taste the deliciousness of the dish by fragrance alone.

I also understand what Chinese takeout food is all about now. These flavors are crowd pleasers and an unskilled cook like myself enjoys a 100% pass rating from picky eaters when these dishes are served.

This is a perfect book and I laugh at Fuschia Dunlop's photo because I think her smile is like my inner smile when I see or think of something good to eat. My only regret with the layout is that the order of the ingredients for the marinade and the sauce are not in the same order so that if I need cornstarch in both liquids, I can use one measuring spoon for two ramekins.

Because of this book, I purchased sichuan peppercorns, my first ever pricey knife, a Krups coffee grinder, more sesame oil, two bottles of Jonesy port and more cutting boards. The lip smacking flavors of Sichuanese cuisine are that motivating.

Buy Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking Now