COOKING THE BOOKS-PART 2

Is this the year i hunt for old copies in charity shops, it certainly will be, but before we head for the old books, several new purchases have been made. In all honesty i headed for the sales armed with my christmas book tokens. Smugness and guilt aside i could buy happily in the knowledge that what i was spending was gifts from people close to myself. So i headed for the sales on the hunt for half price books. Half price books i found,but i was looking for specifics. I harbour a certain fondness for asia, mainly the orient with the food of south east asia and china being my greatest passion with the culture of the far east a close second. Although i cook asian food at least once a week i have never had the inclination to post my recipes,photos and mishaps.There are some wonderful Asian food blogs around written by people in the know, people who have lived or live in Asia, or from Asian descent. How could i compete with these people with my limited knowledge of asian cuisine. Back to the book tokens, with Asian in mind the hunt began with my first purchase being Balance and Harmony by Neil Perry. A wonderful book that shouts passion and knowledge of this wonderful cuisine, second purchase was non Asian but French - Ripailles by stephane reynaud. Third purchase was back to Asian with Sri Owens Indonesian Food. A delight to read with good insight into the food of Indonesia,a food that is often overlooked by the western world in favour of the well known south east Asian nations or china. Next up was a basic chinese cookbook that accompanied a Tv series here in the UK, at half price Chings- chinese made easy, fitted the the bill just perfect. There were other books i wanted, but maximum paper for minimum money was the order of the day.

So why Asian cookbooks? Well i want to take my knowledge to the next level, while using the Wok at home is not without it's problems, there is a lot more to oriental cooking than meets the eye, complex flavours and balance among many. In effect i am starting from scratch with oriental cuisine with a view to develop an in depth knowledge of skills,techniques and tastes. Most people purchase a wok and stir fry till there heart is content, but they are using a technique, rather than a style of cooking, but to many this technique is often abused, ingredients are thrown in the wok, soy sauce is dumped on top then emptied onto the plate only for the clueless eater to pour salt by the tablespoon in the hope of eating a meal that is edible. In my last cooking the books post i followed a recipe, although in the first post i said i look for inspiration rather than a recipe, i feel to achieve an acceptable level of knowledge as a non asian i need to cook the books.