Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More

5 Responses to “Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More”

1. MB says:

   July 30, 2010 at 7:18 am

   This is a fantastic book on Dumplings, I am really enjoying it. It would be Five stars but it is not one of my immediate favorites. I would recommend it to any one who likes the dumpling.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
2. Robert P. Beveridge says:

   July 30, 2010 at 9:04 am

   Andrea Nguyen, Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More (Ten Speed Press, 2009)

   Asian dumplings are nearly a staple food for anyone who patronizes Chinese restaurants. In most places, you have a choice of one or two types (even at most buffets), but every once in a while you stumble across a dim sum restaurant, or a place where they’ve got a gifted dumpling maker in the kitchen, and you get a better survey of the available options. But I have yet to run across a restaurant of any kind that has the variety to be establish in Andrea Nguyen’s book, which is packed with recipes for just about every type of Asian dumpling you can reflect of (and some you probably didn’t know had been assimilated by Asian cultures, such as empanadas).

   At its core, a cookbook is a thing of utility; it should tell you how to cook things. Rare is the cookbook (at least, the cookbook published by a traditional publisher) that doesn’t meet this criterion. But on another level, that of reading for pleasure, a cookbook should have another function: the reading of it should make you hungry. And this one qualifies.

   The creation of dumplings is a long, intensive process, the kind of thing that Mario Batali likes to refer to as the zen of cooking. As a result, you may well end up preferring to go grab them at a restaurant, but this is excellent reads anyway. Check it out. *** ½
   
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
3. K. Woytisek says:

   July 30, 2010 at 9:26 am

   Dumplings are one of my favorite foods and Ms. Ngyuen doesn’t disappoint in providing a wealth of recipes in many categories. The illustrations are accurate and helpful for a novice and professional alike. One thing but, although minor, is the recommedation to use commercial wrappers for the soup dumplings. I’ve tried this several times and the commerically made wrappers do not work-they just aren’t supple enough (I only point this out because it was the recipe that drew my attention-they are a favorite of mine). Nevertheless, I would still recommend this book because it is a perfect compendium on all styles of Asian dumplings.

   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
4. J. Lew says:

   July 30, 2010 at 11:35 am

   I judge Andrea Nguyen’s cookbook on Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, is a masterpiece. It is by far the best Asian cookbook ever written, in my opinion. There are so many Asian dumpling cookbooks on the market today, but none of them measure up to this one. The photos are magnificent, the how-to illustrations are even better, and Ms. Nguyen’s instructions are precise and thorough lacking being verbose. I have been collecting cookbooks for years and there are dozens of Asian cookbooks on my bookshelf. This one by Ms. Nguyen I will treasure. Congratulations, Ms. Nguyen, for a job well done!
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
5. Puzzle Geek says:

   July 30, 2010 at 2:21 pm

   building more dumplings using this book. My very first ever dumplings-from-scratch (Pork and Napa Cabbage) were a success. No more store-bought dumplings for me!

   This book is on NPR’s best cookbooks of 2009, and it deserves to be there.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5