Sichuan Cookery, published in the United States as Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking, is a 2001 cook book by Fuchsia Dunlop. It was published in the United States by W. W. Norton.
A new edition of the book, The Food of Sichuan, was published in 2019. [1] This edition was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury. [2]
While Dunlop was in China, a friend from Denmark told her that she should author a book after seeing her copy down recipes. Dunlop decided to pursue this goal since she perceived the Western market for Chinese cookbooks to lack any "researched on the ground" type works. She made proposals to publish the book on two occasions, finding a publisher on the second try. On the first one, publishers felt that the version was not focused broadly enough. [2]
Within China, a Mandarin translation was later published. [2]
Susan Jung of the South China Morning Post wrote that the original 2001 book "established Fuchsia Dunlop as the English-writing authority on Sichuanese cuisine." [3]
Publishers Weekly gave the 2003 American edition a starred review and stated that "the book is a pleasure—both to cook from and to read." [4]
Jay Rayner of The Guardian described the 2019 edition as "a detailed, sometimes nerdy, often romantic guide-cum-travelogue through" Sichuan cuisine. [2]
Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China, as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples such as rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok, can now be found worldwide.
Sichuan cuisine or Sichuanese cuisine, alternatively romanized as Szechwan cuisine or Szechuan cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine originating from Sichuan province and the neighboring Chongqing municipality. Chongqing was formerly a part of Sichuan until 1997; thus, there is a great deal of cultural overlap between the two administrative divisions. There are many regional, local variations of Sichuanese cuisine within Sichuan and Chongqing.
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television is ultimately the primary way for a chef to become a celebrity, some have achieved this through success in the kitchen, cookbook publications, and achieving awards such as Michelin stars, while others are home cooks who won competitions. In South Korea, a celebrity chef is referred as a cheftainer.
Jane Grigson was an English cookery writer. In the latter part of the 20th century she was the author of the food column for The Observer and wrote numerous books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. Her work proved influential in promoting British food.
Anglo-Indian cuisine is the cuisine that developed during the British Raj in India. The cuisine introduced dishes such as curry, chutney, kedgeree, mulligatawny and pish pash to English palates.
Ching-He Huang (Chinese: 黃瀞億; pinyin: Huáng Jìngyì; Wade–Giles: Huang2 Ching4-i4;, often known in English-language merely as Ching, is a Taiwanese-born British food writer and TV chef. She has appeared in a variety of television cooking programmes, and is the author of nine best-selling cookbooks. Ching is recognized as a foodie entrepreneur, having created her own food businesses. She has become known for Chinese cookery internationally through her TV programmes, books, noodle range, tableware range, and involvement in many campaigns and causes.
Fuchsia Charlotte Dunlop is an English writer and cook who specialises in Chinese cuisine, especially Sichuan cuisine. She is the author of seven books, including the autobiographical Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper (2008). According to Julia Moskin in The New York Times, Dunlop "has done more to explain real Chinese cooking to non-Chinese cooks than anyone".
Judith Jones was an American writer and editor, best known for having rescued The Diary of Anne Frank from the reject pile. Jones also championed Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She retired as senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf in 2011 and fully retired in 2013 after more than 60 years at the company.
Red braised pork belly or hong shao rou is a classic pork dish from China, red-cooked using pork belly and a combination of ginger, garlic, aromatic spices, chilis, sugar, star anise, light and dark soy sauce, and rice wine. The pork belly is cooked until the fat and skin are gelatinous, soft, and melt easily in the mouth, while the sauce is usually thick, sweet and fairly sticky. The dish has a melt-in-the-mouth texture that is formed as a result of a long braising process, during which the liquid reduces and becomes thick. It is generally served with steamed rice and dark green vegetables, often over holidays. The dish is often prepared with hard-boiled chicken eggs or vegetables, which are used to soak up the juices from the recipe.
Twice-cooked pork or double-cooked pork is a Chinese dish in Sichuan cuisine. The pork is simmered, sliced, and then stir-fried—"returned to the wok." The pork is accompanied with stir-fried vegetables, most commonly garlic sprouts, but often baby leeks, cabbage, bell peppers, onions, or scallions. The sauce may include Shaoxing rice wine, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, chili bean paste, and sweet wheat paste.
Yuxiang is a seasoning mixture in Chinese cuisine, and also refers to the resulting sauce in which meat or vegetables are cooked. It is said to have originated in Sichuan cuisine, and has since spread to other regional Chinese cuisines.
Suanla chaoshou is a dish of Sichuan cuisine that consists of a spicy sauce over boiled, meat-filled dumplings. Suanla means "hot and sour," and chaoshou is what these particular large wontons are called in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
Mapo tofu is a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan province. It consists of tofu set in a spicy sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, based on douban, and douchi, along with minced meat, traditionally beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions, other vegetables, or wood ear fungus. One account indicates that the dish existed as early as 1254, in a suburb of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. Other accounts indicate it originated at a Chengdu restaurant in the 1860s.
Hot and sour noodles is a dish which comes from Sichuan, China and is a popular part of Sichuan cuisine. The noodles are made from starch derived from peas, potato, sweet potato, or rice.
Irene Kuo, née Irene Hsingnee Yuan, was the author of The Key to Chinese Cooking and an influential popularizer of Chinese cuisine in the United States and the West during the 1960s and 1970s. Her appearances on American talk-shows such as Johnny Carson's and Joan Rivers', as well as her successful restaurants, were instrumental in her popularization and education efforts.
Maria Guarnaschelli was an American cookbook editor and publisher. In a career spanning five decades she worked with and groomed popular food authors including Rose Levy Beranbaum, Rick Bayless, Julie Sahni, Fuchsia Dunlop, J. Kenji López-Alt, and Judy Rodgers. Some of the notable cookbooks published by her included Classical Indian Cooking,All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking, The Food Lab, The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and The Cake Bible. Her works were noted to have contributed to a change in how cookbooks were produced, and also credited with introducing American households and chefs to international cuisines beyond just European cuisines.
Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food is a 2023 book by Fuchsia Dunlop, published by W. W. Norton & Company in the United States and by Particular Books in the United Kingdom.
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China is a 2008 book by Fuchsia Dunlop. It is a memoir that describes her interactions with Chinese cuisine whilst in China.