Noodles and Rice

My Favorite Dim-Sum Cookbooks

by Stef on July 12th, 2006

I’ve been perusing my dim sum books lately because I’m looking for stuff that does *not* contain wheat or eggs (as to be expected, there isn’t a lot, save for bean-curd wrapped things and little meat dishes)…. I will have to rework many of the recipes to come close to something that my allergic family members can have… but I’m starting to despair of ever finding anything that will resemble real char xiu bao or soup dumplings. Sigh… going through these just awakens more cravings… so much that I think I’ll do a few recipes in the near future, but spaced out enough so my hubby doesn’t have to “suffer through” them ;-).
In the meantime, I thought I’d post my favorite titles — I’ve cooked from these books so much through the years that they are dog-eared and spotted in places where a bit of oil has splattered. I should confess that I don’t baby my cookbooks at all — except a couple of French ones and my Alford/Duguids… If it gets so bad (and I’ve only had two that really started falling apart and became a frustration to use) I’ll buy replacements — and these days that’s so easy to do.

At any rate, if you’re a dim sum lover like my family is, try any or all of these; they won’t disappoint you! Any book by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo is, of course, outstanding. But I have a special affection for Ellen Blonder’s books because of the beautiful drawings. I sometimes think of her as the Mollie Katzen of Chinese cuisine. Being a sporadic artist myself, I wonder whether I can make a pretty illustration of adobo… but something tells me I should leave the illustrating to professionals, like Cynthia Bauzon-Arre, who makes isaw look so artsy and yummy at the same time!

Dim Sum books to add to your library:

Classic Deem Sum
Dim Sum Book - also by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo
Chinese dessert, dim sum & snack cookbook - an older book, 20 years old, that I chanced upon at a used bookstore — no illustrations, but there are many recipes not found in other books, mostly for the desserts and light fruit compotes
- This is one I don’t have in my collection. It’s not a cookbook, but a pocket guide for people planning a visit to a teahouse — has pictures of the most basic dim sum dishes you’re likely to find, plus their Chinese names and pronunciations. Cute and specially recommended for dimsum newbies!

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POSTED IN: Appetizers/Snacks/Nibbles, Chinese, Cookbooks, Dim Sum, General : Asian Food / Cuisine