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Name: Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking: A Cookbook: Kho, Kian Lam, Horton, Jody: 9780385344685: Amazon.com: Books
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Rating: 4.7 (197 reviews)

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Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking: A Cookbook Hardcover – September 29, 2015

by Kian Lam Kho (Author), Jody Horton (Photographer)

4.7 197 ratings

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Create nuanced, complex, authentic Chinese flavors at home by learning the cuisine's fundamental techniques.

Winner of the 2016 IACP Julia Child First Book Award

Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees offers a unique introduction to Chinese home cooking, demystifying it by focusing on its basic cooking methods. In outlining the differences among various techniques--such as pan-frying, oil steeping, and yin-yang frying--and instructing which one is best for particular ingredients and end results, culinary expert Kian Lam Kho provides a practical, intuitive window into this unique cuisine. Once one learns how to dry stir-fry chicken, one can then confidently apply the technique to tofu, shrimp, and any number of ingredients.

Accompanied by more than 200 photographs, including helpful step-by-step images, the 158 recipes range from simple, such as Spicy Lotus Root Salad or Red Cooked Pork, to slightly more involved, including authentic General Tso's Chicken or Pork Shank Soup with Winter Bamboo. But the true brilliance behind this innovative book lies in the way it teaches the soul of Chinese cooking, enabling home cooks to master this diverse, alluring cuisine and then to re-create any tempting dish they encounter or can imagine.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] magisterial new book.”
—New York Times

“[A] beautiful and meticulous volume that examines the techniques one by one--stir-frying, deep-frying, saucing, braising. The recipes travel the gamut from familiar (mapo tofu) to startling (pig's skin and bean aspic), offering something for both the student and the adventurer in your kitchen.”
—T. Susan Chang, NPR.org, one of “2015's Great Reads”

“If you've wanted to cook authentic Chinese food but have felt a little put off by unfamiliar ingredients or techniques, then run, don't walk, to buy this book.”
—Fine Cooking

“Red Cook blogger Kian Lam Kho focuses on basic techniques—flash-poaching, deep-frying, hang-roasting—in his first cookbook, a compendium of specialties from throughout China. Organizing recipes by technique, he shows how to master dishes from the simple (cucumber salad) to the complex (yin-yang fried tofu-skin rolls).”
—Food & Wine

“This extraordinary collection is a must-have for anyone interested in Chinese cuisine.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[A] gorgeous trove; if you owned it, you’d feel as though you’d never need another Chinese cookbook for your entire culinary life.”
—Seattle Weekly

“An attractive, knowledgeable yet accessible guide to cooking Chinese food, focusing on techniques from stir-frying to smoking. Kho clearly explains the differences in regional cuisines, reviews crucial cooking tools and skillfully guides Western readers through essential ingredients and dishes.”
—Seattle Times

About the Author

KIAN LAM KHO is a chef, culinary instructor, restaurant consultant, and the James Beard Award–nominated blogger behind redcook.net. He has taught at the Institute of Culinary Education and Brooklyn Kitchen. He lives in New York City.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Phoenix claws and jade trees are poetic metonyms, or metaphorical substitutions, you’ll find on many Chinese restaurant menus. “Phoenix claw” is a synonym for chicken feet, and “jade tree” is used for gailan, or Chinese broccoli. To most Chinese diners, this is familiar terminology, and I grew up learning it naturally at daily meals. But for many Westerners, authentic Chinese cuisine remains just out of reach linguistically and geographically. Yet with so many ingredients readily available and a wok just one click away online, it’s time to extend these thrilling and transportive flavors to eager home cooks everywhere.

In this book I demystify Chinese cooking by taking a unique approach. I believe that the cuisine is easiest to learn by technique. A dry stir-fry is no more difficult to prepare than a moist one; the key is to know which technique to use for which ingredient and for which final result. Armed with this knowledge, you can not only re-create dishes from all over China and many East Asian countries, but you can cook almost any ingredient in any fashion you’d like. If you discover you love dry stir-fry with leeks and you are wild about duck, you can combine the two to make a successful Chinese dish all your own.

As China opens up to the world, her emigrants bring many regional cooking traditions to their adopted countries. They introduce new ingredients and open restaurants to satisfy their longing for food from home. At the same time, Western expatriates flock to China as companies from all over the world scramble to do business there. After short stints in China they return home, yearning to re-create the incredible array of food they experienced abroad.

This confluence of immigration and business travel creates new demands and sets higher standards for authentic Chinese food outside China. No longer are we satisfied with Beef with Broccoli and General Tso’s Chicken. We now demand Xinjiang Lamb Burgers and Lan Zhou Pulled Noodles. From New York to Melbourne, people are curious about authentic Chinese food.

My own experience of cooking Chinese food in America parallels the narrative of these new Chinese immigrants. Arriving in America from Singapore in the 1970s to attend university in Boston, I longed for the abundance of wonderful food from home. At that time most restaurants in town were still serving up chop suey and other substandard Cantonese fare. My only defense against bad Chinese food was to cook at home. Unable to find a good Chinese cookbook, I resorted to writing home to my aunts and other relatives for instructions and recipes.

Over the years I mastered techniques and developed recipes that helped me in my kitchen. I found that by taking one technique and switching up the ingredients, I could make an entirely new dish typical of a different region. Once I had the many methods under my belt, I could make almost anything. I hope this book will help illuminate fundamental Chinese cooking methods for the Western cook and make this fascinating cuisine practical to prepare at home.

Thus, the chapters here are organized according to cooking methods rather than the usual division by ingredients or region. Some techniques are defined by heat sources. Cooking with oil, for example, is divided into five techniques: light frying, deep-frying, oil steeping, yin-yang frying, and panfrying. The procedures are different but all use oil as the heat medium. This approach can greatly facilitate the learning of a cuisine by identifying similarities and differences among related techniques.

Although the preparation methods outlined in this book are based on a comprehensive set of Chinese cooking techniques, I have kept the home cook in mind and have thus omitted some seldom-used ones. Many of these omitted techniques simply put too fine a point on a general method. For example, pan-frying in Chinese can be minutely defined in three ways: jian, tie, and ta, depending on whether the ingredient is fried whole, cut into pieces, or covered in batter. Since the technique is fundamentally the same, I combine them into pan-frying.

The recipes include many classic home-style and restaurant dishes, appropriate for everyday family meals as well as elaborate banquets. They illustrate the cooking techniques rather than a specific regional cuisine, though the region where each recipe originated is identified when appropriate.

A fundamental Chinese cookbook would not be complete without references to history and culture. You’ll find a discussion of regional flavors as well as sections on dining customs, pantry ingredients, and kitchen tools. I also include common ingredient preparation and knife techniques. If you are already familiar with Chinese food, you may choose to skip these sections. They can, however, be entertaining reading while you wait for your braised chicken to cook.

Be adventurous with the techniques and ingredients you’ll find in these pages. Don’t be daunted by the technical details. They are there to help you to understand the theory and allow you to be creative. Above all, have fun learning the world of classic Chinese cooking.

Simple Stir-Fry

At just about every meal in a Chinese household, there’s a stir-fry of a single leafy vegetable, more often than not seasoned only with salt and white pepper—no thickener, no soy sauce. Sliced ginger or garlic is just about all one would add to give it a little extra kick. This is what is known as simple stir-fry because it uses only a single main ingredient.

This emphasis on simplicity doesn’t mean that you cannot add other, stronger-flavored ingredients to enhance a simple stir-fry. Fermented black beans, shrimp paste, and fermented tofu are often added at the end of the cooking process as part of the seasoning step. Perhaps the reason that Americans are not familiar with this technique is because Chinese restaurants rarely list simple stir-fries on their menus. A Chinese patron would normally ask the waiter or waitress what kind of green vegetables are in season and available in the kitchen, then order one for simple stir-fry. A few tips are in order to help you with simple stir-fry. When cooking leafy vegetables it is almost always sufficient to just let them cook in their own moisture, without covering the wok. However, when cooking vegetables that contain less moisture, such as legumes or gourds, you can add a few splashes of water or stock during cooking and cover the wok with a lid; repeat this a few times, stirring the vegetable each time, until cooked.

Garlic Stir-Fried Greens

This recipe can be used for cooking any leafy greens, such as spinach, bok choy, or chrysanthemum greens. I chose to use pea shoots here because they are my favorite. Pea shoots are the young leaves and tendrils of sweet peas. You can buy them very young as sprout-like greens, or most commonly as more mature but still tender leaves and tendrils. When buying pea shoots, be sure to select those with young tender leaves. Pea shoots are full of vitamins A and C and are an excellent source of fiber.

serves 2 or more, as a side dish

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
12 ounces pea shoots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1. Heat a wok over high heat until a droplet of water sizzles and evaporates immediately upon contact. Swirl the vegetable oil around the bottom and sides of the wok to coat it evenly. Add the garlic slices to the wok and stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the pea shoots and mix them in with the garlic. Cover the wok and let the vegetable steam for about 1 minute.

2. Uncover the wok and add the salt and pepper. Stir-fry for about 1 minute more. The vegetable is ready when the leaves are just wilted.

Stir-Frying Leafy Vegetables Evenly
Special steps should be taken when stir-frying leafy vegetables. In order to cook them evenly, cut the leaves from the stems and place them in separate containers. First cook the stems until they begin to sweat; then add the leaves and cook until completely done. Remember not to overcook vegetables—this process may take just a few seconds.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarkson Potter; First Edition (September 29, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385344686
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385344685
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.29 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.26 x 1.17 x 10.27 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #362,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #65 in Wok Cookery (Books)
- #133 in Chinese Cooking, Food & Wine
- #487 in Cooking for One or Two

Customer Reviews:
4.7 197 ratings

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Kian Lam Kho

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Kian Lam Kho is a private chef, food writer, teacher and food consultant specializing in Chinese cuisine. He is the author of "Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees: Essential Techniques of Authentic Chinese Cooking," and the creator of the James Beard Foundation Awards nominated Chinese home cooking blog Red Cook (http://www.redcook.net) and is one of the authors of Knack Chinese Cooking: A Step-by-step Guide to Authentic Favorites Made Easy. He lives in New York City and teaches Chinese cooking at the Institute of Culinary Education and the Brooklyn Kitchen. He appears regularly as speaker and discussion panelist on Chinese cuisine and its history. He helped launch New York's first Yunnan restaurant, Lotus Blue, as a consulting chef. He is also a frequent guest chef and caters private multi-course Chinese banquets.

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Robert Platters

Best comprehensive introduction to Chinese cooking

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is probably the most comprehensive introduction to Chinese cooking. The author puts special emphasis on ingredients, equipment, and technique. He wants you to understand the "how" and "why" behind everything, which makes him a wonderful teacher. The photography is also to die for, and it's obvious from the recipes and photos that the author is a real master of Chinese cooking.

The types of recipes in this cookbook are for the types of dishes that you might find in a fine Chinese restaurant. Many of them are something quite special and better than the typical versions that one might eat at any small restaurant in China. Instead, these are the sort of dishes that would be available at an expensive restaurant or hotel. However, I should emphasize that the dishes are not so difficult. It just means that you may have to stock your cupboards with some extra spices and sauces (no big deal).

For those who are looking for the very simple dishes that one might find in anyone's home in China, I would recommend "The Cultural Revolution Cookbook." That book does not have dishes that are so elegant and special, but they are more authentic to the type of simple home cooking found in kitchens all across China. Many of those recipes have only like 3-4 ingredients, and no special preparation, just as we would see from farmers out in the countryside. There is something beautiful about that type of simplicity too.

For those who want to try making some really great and special Chinese dishes, including learning all sorts of neat techniques, I recommend this book. For those who just want to learn simple dishes for home cooking, I recommend "The Cultural Revolution Cookbook." Each book has its domain and does its thing perfectly.

Finally, Kian Lam Kho's enthusiasm and passion for cooking really shine through in this book. The author genuinely cares about teaching you in the very best possible way, and teaching you everything you would need to know about the techniques and reasons behind everything. It's really an unbeatable comprehensive introduction to Chinese cooking.

41 people found this helpful

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Bagel Man

Kian Lam Kho has come out with a great introduction to making quality Chinese style food at home.

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

Book arrived as I came home from a long day at the industrial bakery. Took a short unwind time and started to read the book.

I didn't need recipes for chicken or duck feet, however, scanning the index we saw the the Mapo Tofu (p211) and the Steamed Stuffed Tofu (p261) made me run out to the Kogers and purchase what we didn't have at home.
It was a welcome end to a long day and the beginning to more long missed Chinese dishes at home.
Thank you Kian Lam Kho!
We loved the Mapo Tofu using ground beef instead of pork, it was better than what we could order take out.
The Steamed Stuffed Tofu made us think we were back at Hop Kee or On Luck back in NY Chinatown.
Our Friend Duck Wong would smile on Braised Whole Duck on page 212.
The book is very well written, shares culture along with the recipes.It has brought back many happy memories of eating with the cooks and wait staff at the end of the evening.
This is a great companion to our collection of Huang Su Huei's of cookbooks from the 1970's.
The recipes reminded me of the earlier day's when I would fix equipment in my friends Chinese Restaurants, where the cooks would teach me simple things after I finished the repairs.
It is fair to say that my Wife and I enjoy the book and it's collection of recipes.

Let me know if you agree with my feeling and opinion of this great book.

65 people found this helpful

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Wendy NN

What Chinese cooking used to be. Looking foreward to making some delicious dinners.

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2024

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Beautiful book,well written. I could eat the pages it looks so good!

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wts

Treasury of marvelous chinese cooking techniques, but without any clear display of recipes

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2023

Verified Purchase

I bought this book to get the recipe for Oil Steeped Soon Hock and I wasn't disappointed....following the recipe which was simple yielded the most tender fragrant fish. It didn't have the crispy exterior of restaurant oil steeped soon hock but it was nevertheless restaurant quality and is now my trusty banquet dinner dish. I have yet yo try the other dishes but I am sure they will be great. The only thing is, it is kinda hard to use this book because it is not grouped by ingredients such as chicken or vegetable, nor by dish categories such as noodles or appetizers, but by cooking technique. If you are planning a meal, of course you don't go by technique, so if you are trying to plan a meal using this book it is not going to be straightforward. The chapter outline does not even list a single recipe, only cooking techniques, and there is no recipe index either, just a general index, so navigating the book is a real headache, it is just not user friendly as far as accessing recipes are concerned. Having said that, if you are trying to improve your chinese cooking technique, this book is going to be invaluable. It covers a whole range of techniques that are not simply not to be found in other cookbooks, but which are the foundation of chinese cooking including traditional and fine chinese cuisine. It is a great reference book, I just wish the author would provide a recipe index and include the names of the recipes in the chapter outline.

5 people found this helpful

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Vincent Zhao

Great and concise cooking technique book with awesome production value.

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

At first I was confused about the lack of photos for each individual recipe, a finished product photo if you will, but a glance at the table of contents and the title cleared the confusion. This book is ultimately about Chinese cooking techniques. The techniques are center stage here, not individual ingredients or recipes. In the large world of Chinese cuisine, there are countless recipes with their own variations. You only will need to know the vast variations of red cook pork recipes to know that to be the case. There is really no way to put them all in. Thus Kian Lam Kho focus in on the techniques.

As the book stands right now, it is in a very convenient size packed with various recipes per cooking technique for you to learn and master. With these techniques and knowledge on how to use them, you can apply it to any ingredient. From what you can learn, you can cook phoenix claws and jade trees.

As for the other traits of this cookbook, I think the other reviewers got it covered. I should note though, the attached red ribbon bookmark is such a nice touch.

14 people found this helpful

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Reviewed in Germany on November 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

Das Buch war als Geschenk gedacht und ist sehr gut angekommen

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Amazon Customer

Excellent guide

Reviewed in Canada on April 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book has revolutionized how I cook faux-Chinese at home. I lived in China for two years about a decade ago and I still miss the food. This book brings me closer than I have found anywhere else (except at one restaurant in Richmond BC 🙂)

Paul Newson

Learn Techniques, Not Just Recipes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

Well written, easy to understand, organised by cooking technique.

The opening chapters give detailed information about Chinese food in general, the regions, equipment, ingredients etc. After that, each chapter introduces a different cooking technique, along with a bit of background about when and where it originated, followed by a few recipes utilising the given technique.

The recipes given are a great start from which you are given the knowledge necessary to create your own dishes from your favourite ingredients - or from whatever you happen to have in your pantry that day.

Cliente Amazon

Great book for learning the basis But

Reviewed in Italy on December 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

Some recipes do really taste bland, they are missing some kick. Full of pics and explainations, even for the most difficult techniques. Kho really is a good teacher and want you to understand what you are doing and Why you are doing that.Very good and nice book.

Michael Dumais

The only Chinese cookbook you will ever need!

Reviewed in Canada on July 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

I really like how this cookbook is organized. Its approach is very tailored to the essence of the Chinese cuisine and how it works. I love the cultural and historical tidbits throughout as well. Hands down the best Chinese cookbook out there!

One person found this helpful

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