• Eat Your Books

  See Susie's reviews of this cookbook at The Boston Globe and in her round-up of the best 2007 cookbooks at NPR Kitchen Window

• PrincessK on January 15, 2012

  Weeknight quick: Beef with Cumin Duck Egg and Chive Omelet Fragrant-and Hot Tiger Prawns Fisherman's Shrimp with Chinese Chives Stir-Fried Rice with Egg and Preserved Mustard Greens

• sir_ken_g on December 23, 2011

  My rule of thumb for ethnic cook books is for them to be written by a native who has lived in the West and knows West ingredient names. Ms Dunlop is an exception. She spent considerable time traveling and cooking in China with the eye of a trained chef. Her interpretations are first rate.

• erin g on September 11, 2010

  I probably reach for this book the most out of all the books on my shelf. The flavours of her dishes are bright and taste - I hesitate to use this word, since it is often over-used - authentic.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sweet-and-sour spare ribs

  • Breadcrumbs on March 25, 2013

    p. 58 Wow! What on earth can I say other than we absolutely loved this. It was so good we dipped our spoons into the serving dish to scoop up the very last dregs of the sauce to mix in w our remaining rice. One of our favourites from the book and I’d go as far as saying that this was the very best sweet and sour recipe I’ve ever made. The deep mahogany colour of the pork was a thing of beauty too. If you like ribs, you’ll love this. Wonderful! Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/892279#7967771

  • Breadcrumbs on March 25, 2013

    p. 58 Wow! What on earth can I say other than we absolutely loved this. It was so good we dipped our spoons into the serving dish to scoop up the very last dregs of the sauce to mix in w our remaining rice. One of our favourites from the book and I’d go as far as saying that this was the very best sweet and sour recipe I’ve ever made. The deep mahogany colour of the pork was a thing of beauty too. If you like ribs, you’ll love this. Wonderful! Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/892279#7967771

  • metacritic on January 08, 2024

    This is fantastic -- and I adhered to her advice, boiling without deep frying. In truth, the pan frying she calls for after the boil does a fair amount of browning and the syrup of caramelized sugar and dark soy takes care of the rest. I often make Vietnamese caramelized ribs (w/ fish sauce and sugar) and this rivals them in flavor. Ridiculously easy, too. I don't use this book as often as I should.

• Spicy coriander salad

  • erin g on September 11, 2010

    I often make this with lettuce thrown in as well. Great on the side of grilled meats.

  • amraub on February 04, 2012

    Excellent salad. Substituted sambal oelek for the pickled chiles.

  • clcorbi on March 09, 2017

    Delicious salad, but SO spicy--I even decreased the amount of chili oil to 2t and this salad is still incredibly hot! I really like the below idea to toss in some lettuce next time, for a change of texture. This salad seems like it would make a really nice garnish to a fried rice or other Asian bowl meal. Dead simple to throw together, too.

• Smacked cucumbers

  • chawkins on July 24, 2013

    I made both variations. I prefer variation #1 because of the addition of sesame oil and the salted chiles I have is spicier than the dried red pepper flakes. To me, variation #2 is greasier because of the hot oil, but it was my husband's choice because it has less vinegar and he has an aversion to vinegar.

  • Ro_ on May 22, 2020

    Delicious. I made the second version. Would make again, it's just a bit annoying having to do the oil at the last minute.

  • Stephenn31 on November 25, 2023

    Not bad. I prefer the version in her Sichuan cookbook with black vinegar. Though this has a simpler taste to it. I made version #1 as I love sesame oil. May 2025 - I made this again and the flavours have grown on me. It had more of a pickle crunch than the Sichuan version and cleaner flavours. I used sambal olek instead of the preserved chili in option 1. It wasn’t hot but added a little colour

• Spicy steamed pork buns

  • Ro_ on January 17, 2021

    Texturally these came out great (although I would have liked more filling-to-bun ratio, make more filling next time for same amount of dough) but they didn't pack a punch of flavour. I guess because there's not much going on in the filling mix except pork, chillis and a faint hint of ginger. Also, the buns stuck to the bamboo steamer despite oiling it - I'd line it next time.

• Chairman Mao's red-braised pork

  • mcvl on June 19, 2017

    I adapted this to braise a whole tied pork shoulder in the oven at 325 for two hours. Magnifico. And the braising liquid will be the basis for a fabulous soup.

  • Ro_ on October 20, 2020

    Very nice, and much quicker than the other red braised pork recipe I have made (and loved) from Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice. I loved the caramelised flavour of the sauce and the pork came out beautifully tender. I think if I made this again, I would first stiry fry the pork for a few minutes on high heat before adding the shaoxing wine and water, in order to get the fat a little bit more crispy.

  • IvyManning on June 04, 2021

    It was my first time cooking pork belly. I wish there would have been instructions to buy a meaty piece of pork belly. The dish had so much liquid fat, I ran the sauce through a gravy degreaser and got about a 1/2 cup of fat. I'm not fat phobic, but that seemed like far too much to leave in. It took more like 2 hours for the bite-size pieces of pork and fat to become tender. Also, the recipe doesn't serve that many people, maybe 2 people. The flavor was very good, though I would prefer a bit more sugar as the pork didn't really brown or get coated, maybe because there was SO much fat. Might try with pork shoulder next time as this was a bit too rich.

• Qing Qing's back-in-the pot pork

  • Ro_ on December 19, 2019

    This was predominantly salty, lacking contrasting flavours, and somewhat dry. Twice Cooked Pork from Every Grain of Rice is a much superior recipe with a much more satisfying balance of flavours and textures.

  • Stephenn31 on December 23, 2024

    On the salty side (though maybe I used too much concentrated stock), but flavourful. Easier than some of the other versions, but not as flavourful as versions in other books by Dunlop

• Tiger-skin steamed pork

  • Ro_ on June 06, 2023

    I didn't think this was as good as some of the author's other recipes for pork belly. It was fine but I probably won't make again, especially since it's a bit faffy.

• Farmhouse stir-fried pork with green peppers

  • Snadra on November 04, 2011

    A great, mild dish with loads of sweet grassy flavour from the peppers. It does take a bit to time to get a good char on the peppers, but is totally worth it. Makes a generous meal for two with rice (and probably leftovers).

  • Gio on February 03, 2014

    http://baileyfarmsinc.com/farmhouse-stir-fried-pork-with-green-peppers/

  • wcassity on May 09, 2022

    We loved this! Made with pork belly only (plus 1 slice of bacon) and bunch of "long green hot peppers" from H-Mart.

  • Stephenn31 on May 25, 2025

    I used yellow bell pepper which I think was better than when I did it with green bell pepper. A mix of colours would work too

• Stir-fried smoky bacon with smoked bean curd

  • westminstr on March 11, 2014

    Delicious! Used one package baked tofu, 2/3 package bacon (skipped the steaming), and thinly sliced greens of one leek.

• Stir-fried bacon with winter bamboo shoots

  • stepharama1 on February 22, 2023

    Delicious! However, the ratio of bacon to bamboo may be wrong as it specifies 5 oz. bacon and 3 oz bamboo shoots. I used about a pound of bamboo and 3 oz bacon as this ratio was more in line with Chinese food that I've eaten and cooked previously. Wish the recipe had a picture with it.

• Beef with cumin

  • Snadra on December 02, 2011

    Fragrant with cumin, and it does yield a tender result. The marinade makes a sort of sticky sauce for the beef. We did cut back on the chiles. The biggest problem was pouring the excess oil out of the wok, but otherwise it came together quickly. Served with plain rice and a quick cabbage salad.

  • amraub on January 29, 2012

    Quick and easy with a nice level of heat.

  • chawkins on August 22, 2013

    Flavorful, we loved this. I'm just reading the earlier notes here that said the marinade made a sticky sauce, I discarded my marinade, I thought this is supposed to be a dry dish.

  • JoanN on September 02, 2014

    This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. I start to crave it if I don't have it once a month. I up the amount of cumin, and grind the fresh seeds coarsely. I used to try to cut back on the oil, but don't any longer. The greater amount of oil gives the meat a beautifully silky texture and you pour most of the oil out anyway. I use flank steak almost exclusively.

  • Breadcrumbs on October 01, 2015

    p. 102 - This dish came highly recommended by Joan on CH and I have no idea why it’s taken me this long to try it as we absolutely loved it. I used Thai bird chilies and they produced a perfect amount of heat for us. I used beef tenderloin this time around but will try flank steak next time. Highly recommend this one, even for non-cumin lovers as mr bc is in that camp but loved this dish. Photo here: http://www.chowhound.com/post/cooking-fall-2015-show-meals-1025190?commentId=9736388#9736388

  • mamacrumbcake on October 02, 2016

    I thought this was pretty good. My husband thought there was too much cumin. Two things I was not expecting: (1) the potato flour in the marinade caused the marinade to become a thick paste which had to be massaged into the meat. (2) the use of so much oil to fry the meat. You will definitely want to wear a apron and use a splatter shield over your pan--hot oil bombs flying around the kitchen, ouch!

  • clcorbi on June 23, 2017

    Very nice sauce. We used 2t of chili flakes (the minimum recommended amount), and found it to be plenty spicy. The oil splattering is definitely pretty intense in this recipe. I added the marinade to the pan along with the beef, but not clear if I was actually supposed to do that (I have had this issue with a few Dunlop recipes; the rare instance where her instructions are unclear). Anyway, a bit of a user error, bf cut the meat into rather large cubes rather than thin strips. So the texture was a bit off, but the sauce was delicious, and I'd definitely try this again with the meat cut more nicely for a stirfry.

  • kitchen_chick on November 15, 2018

    I love this dish; however, I don't always feel like deep frying - it's messy and, well, it's a lot of oil. So rather than doing the deep frying stage, I opted this time to add some oil to the marinading beef to loosen it right before stir-frying. You don't get the same amazing silky texture as you do when passing the meat through the oil, but it's still a nice, flavorful stir-fry. Next time I'm going to add some whole cumin seeds, too. (We love cumin.)

  • Bloominanglophile on January 31, 2020

    This dish, in both of Dunlop's books "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook" and "Every Grain of Rice", tends to get high marks. I thought it was fine, but not one of my favorite dishes. Will make this again to see if my impressions are consistent.

  • Ro_ on March 18, 2021

    I didn't want to deep fry the meat, so used about 100ml of oil and shallow fried. It came out fine. I really liked the flavour and texture (thickish) of the sauce. I was sceptical that it would need added salt, but it absolutely did. Would make again.

• Slow-braised beef with potatoes

  • amraub on November 11, 2012

    I took a few short cuts on this and made everything in a Dutch oven rather than using a wok to brown and switching to a casserole. I also used very small potatoes, did not peel or fry. The potatoes came out fantastically even without the frying. The meat in this dish was incredibly tender and nicely flavoured. Will make again.

  • Ro_ on April 30, 2023

    I used a cinnamon stick instead of cassia, and beef ribs instead of chuck (I let it cook on the bone and it fell off beautifully at the end). Like the other commenter, I skipped the wok and did it all in a casserole dish, although I did fry the potatoes. Cooked for about 2 and a quarter hours in total, and the textures and flavours were incredible, for very little work. The only thing I'd change next time is to grate rather than slice the ginger, since I didn't care for the texture of it in the finished dish.

• Dong'an chicken

  • Ro_ on December 06, 2022

    I found this on the bland side, I think getting the balance of ingredients exactly right is probably very important, and I was a bit slapdash with measuring so that might have had something to do with it. Should have added more vinegar with hindsight and reading the description again, I ended up adding soy sauce instead at the table

• General Tso' chicken (Taiwan version)

  • Ro_ on February 27, 2023

    The chicken came out meltingly tender and gorgeously flavoured. I don't think I'd change anything about this recipe: it was great and I will make it again. Because it's quite rich, fatty and salty it would be nice to have a fresh green vegetable as a side, maybe a cucumber salad or similar.

• General Tso's chicken (Changsha version)

  • clcorbi on February 03, 2017

    Wow, this was absolutely delicious. I don't see how this version could be topped, but I do want to try out the other version as well.

• Steamed chicken with chopped salted chiles

  • krista_jo on May 19, 2026

    Takes 5 mins to prep: delicious and healthy.

• Liuyang black bean chicken

  • Ro_ on June 29, 2021

    Nice but I wouldn't necessarily bother deep frying my chicken again, I think I'll stick with the recipe in Every Grain of Rice.

• Numbing-and-hot chicken

  • Ro_ on May 14, 2020

    The flavours in this were very nice. The recipe gave 2 large, 3 medium or 4 small portions. The only criticism is that it's very oily (and I used a lot less oil than stated in the recipe to achieve something between a deep fry and a shallow fry) which might put me off slightly for the future. You definitely need lots of plain white rice to go wtih it. I might try this again and just stir fry the chicken rather than deep frying it. I did this with breasts, not thigh.

• Chicken with ginger

  • chawkins on January 12, 2017

    An okay dish, nothing spectacular, not as gingery as I would like. Just basic pantry ingredients and simple execution. No comparison to my mom's ginger chicken which uses young ginger and tamed with honey.

  • Ro_ on January 01, 2020

    I was sceptical about the quantity of ginger and the fact it was only sliced instead of finely chopped, with skin on, but that turned out absolutely fine since it softened up and disintegrated quite a bit in the broth. This was a nice, light, cleansing recipe which was perfect after Christmas/NY indulgence, however agree with previous comment that it doesn't pack a punch of flavour (ginger or otherwise) so probably won't make it to my favourites list.

• Dongting stir-fried duck breast

  • mziech on February 03, 2011

    really fast and easy recipe

  • Ro_ on December 22, 2020

    Nice dish, as another commenter says very fast and easy. However it was a little bit "plain" - I'm not sure that it brings out the best of the duck breast and might be nice with a little sweet note, like some honey, and maybe another crunchy vegetable added to the stir-fry, like mange-tout.

• Stir-fried eggs with green peppers

  • westminstr on December 18, 2014

    A very simple recipe and the directions worked perfectly, though I did seed my peppers (couldn't help myself). It was tasty enough and a good way of using up the last of my shishitos which weren't tasty enough to eat on their own but I wouldn't rush to make it again.

• Duck egg and chive omelet

  • chawkins on July 06, 2018

    I made the variation of this, using chicken eggs instead of duck eggs. I used to make this dish the way my mom did it, using the same batter, she would made a whole bunch of individual 4” omelets. Fuschia Dunlop’s way of making one large omelet with all the batter is so much more efficient, I’ll be doing it this way from now on.

• Steamed smoked fish with black beans and chiles

  • Rinshin on June 02, 2014

    This was good, but not great. I've had much, much better tasting steamed fish using other sources. Felt a bit like I wasted good fresh whole sea bream fish.

• Steamed fish with chopped salted chiles

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Quite good!

• Fisherman's shrimp with Chinese chives

  • PrincessK on January 20, 2011

    Try this with garlic scapes in spring. p. 177 (RCC)

  • stockholm28 on May 07, 2017

    I finally got around to making this; it has rave reviews on the chowhound COTM thread. It was very good, although I had no potato flour for the marinade so substituted half cornstarch and half rice flour. It didn't turn the pretty golden brown color in the photo. I will also cut back on the oil next time. This was quite flavorful and I will definitely make this again. I wouldn't hesitate to make this with regular chives.

  • Bloominanglophile on January 31, 2020

    Made this back in August when I had some Chinese chives (garlic chives) growing in my herb bed. A fabulous dish--highly recommended. It's fairly easy too, not too involved and weeknight do-able. I would like to try it with the salted chiles at some point.

• Peng's home-style bean curd

  • clcorbi on February 20, 2017

    A tasty meal, but I enjoyed the "Home Style Bean Curd" from this book a bit more.

• Home-style bean curd

  • clcorbi on January 31, 2017

    My first use of this book and wow, this is a delicious tofu dish. I didn't have pork loin so I substituted two sliced Chinese sausages--not exactly the most authentic choice in the context of this dish, but boy, was it tasty. I also used Sambal Oelek in place of the salted chiles. There is not much chopping involved here so prep goes by very quickly--and, since shallow-fried tofu always takes a bit of time, I was able to do most of the prep while waiting on each batch to crisp up. I only used about 1/4t of red pepper flakes but would up that amount slightly in the future as we like our stirfries quite spicy. This was really good and would be made even better with a homemade stock. Next time!

  • jenburkholder on April 05, 2022

    Tasty! We used bouillon instead of homemade stock, which was fine, and also substituted Thai chopped pickled chiles for the Hunanese ones. Frying the tofu is a bit onerous, as always, but very nice dish overall.

  • chawkins on March 02, 2025

    I enjoyed this. A bit spicy but not overly. I went easy on the salted peppers (I used pickled peppers) and skipped the dried red pepper altogether.

• Stir-fried peppers with black beans and garlic

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Good. But guests LOVED

  • jenburkholder on April 05, 2022

    Very pleasant. Just used water instead of stock. Simple flavors, but satisfying.

• Potato slivers with vinegar

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Very good - different

  • Ro_ on May 07, 2023

    This is the second recipe for Chinese potato slivers that I've tried, and ultimately I just don't think it's a dish I'll fall in love with. I feel like the slivers should be crispy, but they're not. I enjoyed the vinegar flavours, but not really the texture.

• Fried cucumber with purple perilla

  • DayOwl on September 14, 2021

    Really interesting and refreshing dish.

• Stir-fried bitter melon with Chinese chives

  • Jardimc on August 21, 2024

    I cooked this with bitter greens because that is what I had on hand. I added a dash of ume vinegar to offset the bitterness.

• Stir-fried fava beans with Chinese chives

  • JoanN on June 25, 2011

    Can use regular chives and add one sliced garlic clove, but much better with Chinese chives if available.

• Stir-fried fava beans with minced pork

  • erin g on September 11, 2010

    A fun way to use favas in season.

• Stir-fried mixed mushrooms

  • clcorbi on November 02, 2017

    This was tasty, very fast, and surprisingly flavorful. I didn't have any stock so I just skipped the 4T called for. My mushrooms threw off some liquid so I didn't miss the stock.

  • Ro_ on April 29, 2023

    Simple and tasty, quite "clean" and healthy feeling despite the bacon.

• Stir-fried zucchini with salty duck egg yolks

  • chawkins on August 11, 2016

    There was no need to add salt to the zucchini slices, the salty egg yolks was salty enough. The strong flavor of the yolk was the perfect balance to the slightly sweet but otherwise bland fresh zucchini from my garden. I did not have salty duck eggs, just used salty chicken egg yolks

• Stir-fried Chinese leaf cabbage with chopped salted chiles

  • westminstr on March 11, 2014

    I've made this dish twice now and love it. It works with ordinary green cabbage if you slice it thinly. The sesame oil finish is key.

  • clcorbi on January 09, 2018

    Yum. Really delicious flavor for so few ingredients. I agree that the sesame oil finish is key.

  • Stephenn31 on December 23, 2024

    I let the cabbage char a bit which gave it excellent flavour. Will make again.

• Hand-torn cabbage with vinegar

  • jenburkholder on April 05, 2022

    Really liked this. Simple, but more than the sum of its parts. We used Napa cabbage.

• Stir-fried pea leaves with garlic

  • Stephenn31 on December 23, 2024

    I made with yucai. A nice garlicky flavour. I’d add more sesame oil next time

• Stir-fried purslane

  • Jardimc on July 28, 2024

    P. 220

  • Jardimc on July 29, 2024

    Simple and good. Now I know what to do with purslane. Finally!

• Spicy eggplant pot

  • nathanieldaw on September 20, 2013

    This is basically the fish fragrant eggplant from Dunlop's "Land of Plenty", plus pork and minus sugar and vinegar. I think it's best with all three!

  • jenniebakes on October 05, 2018

    I really enjoyed this - I was thinking vinegar would make it even better and then read nathanieldaw's comment, so off to find the fish fragrant eggplant recipe!

  • chawkins on April 14, 2021

    I did not peel the eggplant as directed as I was worried that they might absorb more oil peeled. Very good dish and quite spicy.

  • Ro_ on April 21, 2023

    I think there is an error in the ingredient list on EYB because my book does not call for pork ribs and I can't really see how they would work in this recipe? Anyway, I only partly peeled the aubergines, because I like the skin. I was worried the dish would be too salty overall, but it was great. Very nice.

• Changde rice noodles with red-braised beef

  • Snadra on November 04, 2011

    Made just the beef, which really does go well with mashed potatoes. The beef becomes quite gelatinous and the flavours permeate it ( and the house). The amount of chile called for is quite high - I used half as much and it was still,quite spicy. Very simple to put together.

• Stir-fried rice noodles with chicken slivers

  • amraub on August 16, 2012

    Extremely quick (except for the soaking time) and delicious.

  • westminstr on July 19, 2013

    This recipe was perfect as I also had cooked chicken breasts and shiitake mushrooms and green onions to use up. I changed the recipe around quite a bit, using fresh instead of dried shiitakes and sliced red pepper instead of bean sprouts. Also, previously cooked chicken instead of raw and olive oil instead of peanut oil (I'd run out of the latter). I had a bit of a noodle clumping problem when the noodles hit the hot pan. Nevertheless, this was a good dish, easy to riff on and a good vehicle for leftovers.

  • twoyolks on July 18, 2017

    This was easy to make and nice but it was a bit bland. I did have to substitute sambal olek for the salted chiles which may have cut back on the flavor.

  • Ro_ on July 23, 2021

    Kind of like a Chinese pad Thai. Easy and tasty - nothing amazing but a solid weeknight dinner.

  • TrishaCP on January 27, 2022

    Other than user error when I botched the prep of the noodles, we really loved this dish. We also used sambal oelek.

  • Stephenn31 on November 25, 2023

    Delicious from easy ingredients. I used sambal olek instead of the salted chilies and sliced cabbage instead of the bean sprouts

• Red-braised winter melon

  • chawkins on October 16, 2012

    My mom would never make this recipe, as she claimed that soy sauce would impart a sour taste to the winter melon and she would never use soy sauce on winter melon. But since I got 15 melons from one vine in my garden, I'll try any winter melon recipes that are not overly fussy. This is actually pretty good if you don't mind the slight sour note in the melon.

• Stir-fried rice with pork and shiitake mushrooms

  • twoyolks on April 09, 2013

    It may not be traditional, but I think an egg would go very well in this.

• Sour-and-hot noodles

  • clcorbi on March 29, 2017

    This recipe makes a bowl of super spicy, umami meat sauce that is then ladled into a bowl of soy sauce, scallions, noodles and broth as per the general "soupy noodles" instructions on pg 260. I had to substitute sliced water chestnuts for the bamboo, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I used a nice homemade stock for the sauce portion of the recipe, but had to use a store-bought stock for the noodles. To up the flavor a bit, I simmered a few hunks of crushed ginger in the stock, which I think helped. Next time I might decrease the amount of red pepper flakes in this dish slightly, because we were both coughing quite a bit while eating. Perhaps I might just replace some of them with sambal oelek, which never seems to give me that reaction, no matter how much I use. Either way, the flavor here was very tasty, and the mix of stock and meat sauce produced a nice bowl of noodles.