Reddit reviews Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking

Ok, so I'm a student at USC and I've just started cooking chinese food this summer. For a recipe book, you want anything by Fuchsia Dunlop. She's got three books out: Land of Plenty (四川菜), Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook (湖南菜), and Every Grain of Rice (a compilation of the other two). Hands down the best authentic Chinese cookbooks that are written by a westerner, while remaining true to the original recipes.


Finding a good Chinese market has actually been my biggest problem, which is a little ridiculous because it's Los Angeles and I know all the old 阿姨s have to shop somewhere. I'm not sure what the situation is over in Westwood, but the only chinese grocery store that I've found that really has everything is the Ai Hoa market, just a block away from the Chinatown metro station (Cluttered and unorganized, just like the markets over in China! But they really do have everything). I've also heard good things about A Grocery Warehouse. But I haven't really explored K-town or Little tokyo, so there may be some good grocers there. Please share if you find some, and report back if you find some Korean/Japanese grocers that also sell Chinese food!

I can highly recommend either of Fucshia Dunlop's books, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook and Land of Plenty, as excellent recipe and instruction books for Chinese cooking. In the front matter she lists the equipment you'll need to get started as well as goes over the techniques. I cook out of both of them several times a week.

I purchased my wok and cleaver from the Wok Shop and was very happy with their prices and service.

The last apartment I lived in had an electric stove so I picked up a cheap butane stove from the local asian grocery store for ~$20 that worked fine. It's nowhere near as powerful as a high-end gas stove or a turkey fryer burner but it gets the job done. An electric stove will not work for Chinese, you need something with a flame.

Edit: I also own a rice cooker which is well worth the $20 I spent on it. I'd pick one up if you're serious about Chinese.

My grandmother's. Or this. https://www.amazon.com/Land-Plenty-Treasury-Authentic-Sichuan/dp/0393051773

I cook mostly Asian food, although I'm not Asian. Here are several cookbooks I couldn't live without...

Real Thai (McDermott)

I have David Thompson's epic Thai cookbook, but that's more for special occasions. McDermott's book has excellent recipes from many regions of Thailand. The homemade curry pastes are really worth the effort.

Chinese (Sichuan): Land of Plenty, Dunlop

Chinese (Hunan): Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Dunlop

I can't recommend Fuschia Dunlop's cookbooks highly enough. You will have to search for some ingredients, but these days this is pretty easy.

General Asian: Complete Asian Cookbook (Solomon)

Charmaine Solomon's book is hit or miss sometimes, but it has so many recipes in it that it's worth it, from Sri Lanka to the Philippines to Japan, etc.

My favorite new, specialty cookbook is

Cooking at Home With Pedatha (Giri & Jain)

which has delicious Indian (specifically, Andhran) vegetarian recipes.

Chengdu is in the Sichuan region/province and Fuschia Dunlop has written a great, accessible book about Sichuan cooking: https://www.amazon.com/Land-Plenty-Treasury-Authentic-Sichuan/dp/0393051773

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Also, here's a recipe from Anthony Bourdain's Sichuan episode, contributed by Fuschia: https://explorepartsunknown.com/sichuan/recipe-pock-marked-mother-chens-bean-curd-mapo-doufu/

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Good luck!

Without a doubt, Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop.

She was the first Westerner to graduate from the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine and spent a couple of years cooking at some of the best restaurants in Chengdu. This may be the best cookbook of any type that I've ever used. The recipes are spot on, authentic, and amazing. Her follow up Hunan book is good as well, but Sichuanese style is where it's at!

I would suggest sticking with one region at a time since cooking styles and pantry items are so different. A Chinese cookbook with multiple regions is like having a singular European cookbook with chapters for British, French, Italian, and Greek. You're not going to learn much and I doubt the recipes would be that good.

Fuschia Dunlop also wrote a cookbook, Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. It has recipes but also plenty of information about the history of tastes, ingredients and techniques used in Sichuan cooking. I believe this is exactly what you're looking for.

Hopefully i can give you a few pointers. To answer your question "How can I learn to cook chinese food" first you need to know what type you're looking for, sichuan is much different from shanghai and both are different from cantonese cuisine for example. Sichuan tends to favor spicy food, while shanghai food tends to be more on the sweet side and then you have your classic cantonese flavors. That being said, these are some of my recent favorite books, I'd startoff with "Land of Plenty" by Fuchsia Dunlop which has authentic Sichuan recipes and which are quite tasty. Another good book is "The Chinese Take-Out Cookbook" by diana kuan, it has a bunch of different recipes that you would usually find in america. The cool part is that with stir frying which alot of recipes use, generally speaking since there's not alot of oil, it is not too high in fat.

Well, I'm half-Chinese. I'll give you two cookbook recommendations which are full of recipes which really resonate with that part of my background:

• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. While I'm generally not big on Chinese cookbooks not specializing in one or two regional cuisines, this book gets a pass because it's so organized and pedantic. It builds itself up from simple to complex and includes recipes which build on each other. It also features a large section on ingredients. An additional pro is that it includes the Chinese characters which makes it easier to find the proper product at your Asian grocer. I love it so much that I lugged this book to Taiwan with me and used it as my cooking guide/reference.
  
• Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. Of all the regional Chinese cuisines with which I have experience, I love the multi-layered flavors of Sichuan the most. It was through Dunlop's book that I first discovered this magnificent cuisine and it encouraged me to discover some of the Sichuanese restaurants in the Bay Area. Instructions are clear and she does a great job bringing Sichanese food to life. An absolute must own if you are at all interested in regional Chinese food. Her book on Hunanese food is also pretty killer.
  
  In addition to the aforementioned Chinese food, I'm just a fat piggy who loves to eat. Here are a few more recs:
  
  
• Thai Food by David Thompson. This is the bible of Thai food for English speakers. It's nearly 700 pages long and not a page is wasted on fluff. It's more than just a cookbook, it's a anthropological study on Thai people, their history and the way they eat. An immense book. If you are more into pictures, check out his book on Thai Street Food.
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen. This was the book that really unlocked Vietnamese food for me. I adore how many fresh herbs/veggies are used and how it creates a complex, yet light, cuisine. And don't get me wrong when I say light...it's as full flavored as can be, but without heaviness. In the interim since this book came out, others have showed up on the market which are as good (see Charles Phan's recent book), but Nguyen's book will always have a special place in my heart.
  
• ad hoc at home by Thomas Keller. Thomas Keller is arguably the most important American chef of the past 20 years, so when he turns his sights on homestyle food, you can be sure it's done with correct technique and style. While this book isn't as notable as TFL cookbook or his sorta primer on sous vide cooking, I'm including it because it has recipes which people will actually use. Unparallelled technique, good recipes and delicious food equal a winning cookbook. One note: it's not dumbed down and some of the recipes take time, but everything I've ever made from it has been great.
  
• Alinea by Grant Achatz. {Disclaimer: I worked for Grant Achatz for a couple of years.} Everyone should own at least one cookbook which is completely out of reach, but serves to inspire. When you flip through this book, your jaw will drop and you will wonder, multiple times, "WTF?!?!?!" It's an amazing testament to how open and possible American cuisine is at the moment and you'll do yourself well to flip through it. Additionally, the photographs and the book itself are phenomenal. The paper, in particular, is well worth the price of admission. It's sexy shit, yo.
  
  Feel free to drop me a line if you need more recommendations. I've got quite the cookbook collection (I love to cook, it's not just cookbook porn) and love to share my thoughts.

Redoran,

This is the way to ROCK A WOK!
http://www.amazon.ca/Land-Of-Plenty-Fuchsia-Dunlop/dp/0393051773

Lived for a while in China and for fun I worked/volunteered at a Chinese restaurant. These recipes are as authentic as you can get. Granted you are a "pretty poor graduate" student but check around the internet and she has some recipes out there for free. Best part is that once you get really good, you can make a killer meal in 15 minutes for less than $5 bucks.

edit:grammar

Check this book out. I learned to cook Sichuanese from this book and now I make the best Chinese food I've ever had.

http://www.amazon.com/Land-Plenty-Treasury-Authentic-Sichuan/dp/0393051773/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406527722&sr=8-1&keywords=land+of+plenty

If you're interested in going down the Sichuan rabbit-hole...and you should be, consider picking up any book by Fuschia Dunlop. I'd specifically suggest Land of Plenty.


Soysauce64 is absolutely right, but I'd suggest buying a bag of Sichuan peppercorns, toasting them briefly in a wok, and grinding them in a coffee grinder/spice grinder. The jar of ground roasted pepper will keep for half a year, and it will become your best friend when making these dishes. Be sparing at first!

Und für Leute die noch tiefer in chinesische Küche einsteigen wollen: die Bücher von Fuchsia Dunlop sind sehr empfehlenswert. Every Grain of Rice ist ein genereller Überblick, Land of Plenty beschäftigt sich mit der Küche Sichuans.

My bf is going through the book Land of Plenty. With a few ingredients from Amazon that are a little harder to find if you aren't near a Chinese market, he makes simple hearty meals in 20 minutes. Most of the dishes take about 20 minutes.

Fuchsia Dunlop's books are quite good as well.


Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province

Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking

Some of my best sources are cookbooks that are not exclusively vegetarian, like Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice and Land of Plenty. Both do contain a large number of vegetable and tofu recipes, plus meat recipes that can be easily veganized (e.g., Gong Bao chicken which I replaced with eggplant, and Dan Dan noodles with minced mushroom.)

I love Ottolenghi's Plenty for his vibrant take on vegetarian Middle Eastern cuisine. He also has a long-running series on the Guardian .

Serious Eats has a great compendium of vegan recipes. His vegan baos are to-die-for.

I'll make sure I avoid the Land of Plenty restaurant, but I think Land of Plenty refers to a very well written book of Sichuan recipes that is my personal go to for Sichuan cooking at home.