The Food of Sichuan

Starred review from August 1, 2019

When Dunlop's Land of Plenty appeared in 2001, Sichuan cooking was not well known in the West; for many, a Sichuan dish meant adding peanuts or extra chiles. Dunlop's exhaustive work imploded that myth and presaged several food trends. Here the author offers a new, updated edition that includes fresh photographs, recipes, and recent food trends in the region, with some older recipes retested and tweaked. The focus remains on explicating the astonishing array of Sichuan flavors and techniques. Some dishes, such as dry-fried green beans, traditional dandan noodles, and strange flavor bang bang chicken, have become more prominent since the first edition, but many dishes will be new to Western palates, including scalded kidneys with fresh chilli and rabbit eaten cold. Dunlop was the first Westerner to be trained at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine, and while she does address home cooking, many of the recipes are inspired by banquet and restaurant cooking. Techniques are fully explained, but cooks will need to obtain several special ingredients. VERDICT With the original still considered one of the best sources on Sichuan cooking, this new edition is a must-have for anyone interested in authentic Chinese cuisine.--Devon Thomas, Chelsea, MI

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2019
For more than a century, a bland and bastardized version of Cantonese cooking formed Americans' notion of Chinese food. But now U.S. eaters eagerly seek out the tongue-numbing adventure that is the cooking of China's Sichuan province. Dunlop, one of few Westerners to train as a professional chef in Chengdu, has revised and expanded her classic Land of Plenty (2003), and this new cookbook takes into account growing familiarity with Sichuan cooking and increasing availability of both fresh ingredients and necessary kitchen staples to produce genuine Sichuan cooking at home. Dunlop shares with her readers not merely recipes, but essays and instructive tables delineating the 23 flavors and 56 cooking methods of Sichuan. Dishes vary from simple stir-fries to elaborate stuffed steamed breads and dumplings. Some U.S. readers may find the use of metric measures in Dunlop's recipes a stumbling block to fully embracing these delicious foods. A bibliography and a glossary of Chinese characters will intrigue and inspire the most serious student cooks.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)