10 Best Chinese Cookbooks in 2022 (Katie Chin, Fuchsia Dunlop, and More)

The average commercial burner used for Chinese stir-fry can produce temperatures nearly 10 times as high as the standard burner in your kitchen can. So if you aren’t careful when you pick up a Chinese cookbook, you could end up with limp, leaky veggies and chewy, characterless meat because you don't have the right tools for the job.

Some cookbooks give you the option to use American-styled skillets, making them more convenient. But other times, they'll ask you to use woks, knives, or other gear you don’t have or otherwise aren’t willing to buy, so it's important to look for important keywords like “Simple” and “Home Cooking” when it comes to Chinese cookbooks.

You also want to check how many spices the cookbook utilizes. Since we now have e-commerce sites selling pantry items, and more and more grocery stores are stocking rarer Chinese condiments and spices, cookbook-required items like chili bean sauce can be more easily found near you.

However, this isn't always the case. So if you're too far from your nearest Chinese supermarket or you don't want to pay for shipping from online retailers, then look for a book that calls for as few rare spices as possible.

Chinese side dishes usually have just one main ingredient—so you have just a pork dish or just a vegetable dish. That means that, for a complete meal, you’d have to make at least two side dishes, as well as get the rice going in the cooker. And who has the time or energy for that on a busy weekday night after work?

So if you’re looking to cut down on prep time, see if the cookbook offers one-dish meals that also ensure you meet your daily dietary requirements.

You’ve probably heard of Sichuan cuisine (also known as Szechuan). It’s known for its biting hot chili and pungent, refreshing peppercorns. The taste, in Chinese, is often described as “mala“–or numbing and spicy. 

A lot of Sichuan dishes will also have a sweet or sour component playing underneath, perfect for people who like complex, layered flavors. A famous representative of Sichuan cuisine is mapo tofu.

Hunan is another bright and spicy region, but it doesn’t use copious amounts of peppercorn, so you don’t get that distinct tingling sensation. Instead, the aroma of garlic and the savoriness of meat give Hunan dishes their bold flavor profile. 

Hunan is known for its “dry pot” dishes—stir-fries with very little moisture, which leaves the meat crunchy without, the vegetables crisp, and spices fragrant.

All the spice and oil in a Sichuan dish could lead to potential indigestion if you aren’t careful. So if you’re looking for something lighter and more refreshing, perhaps pick out a Cantonese cookbook. 

The Cantonese are famous for dim sum–or “morning tea”–which often consists of steamed dishes light enough for a morning meal. Their rice noodle rolls are a particular highlight.

Cantonese congee is the ultimate comfort food, too. The most popular variety is Century Egg-Lean Pork Porridge, which infuses rice with the umami of meat and preserved egg.

Tender and savory-sweet isn’t, of course, all these regions have to offer, but it’s one of their main tastes. Shangdong has rich, nourishing flavors featuring clear broths that have bubbled for hours, deep, milky soups, sweet and sour carp, and the creaminess of sea cucumbers.

Jiangsu offers more balanced flavors. Jiangsu chefs stress the use of fresh ingredients, and sugar is a popular seasoning, so you get sweet and mellow undertones. It makes good use of the hong shao method, where you braise pork in soy sauce and rice wine. 

Zhejiang is directly south of Jiangsu, and it utilizes the same savory-sweet approch and attention to fresh ingredients and seafood. Its dishes are quite dainty and not quite as greasy and overpowering as other Chinese dishes. 

Anhui is further insland, neighboring Jiangsu, so their fare can be quite similar at times. However, Anhui is a mountainous–and not a coast-side–region, so their dishes utilize a lot of wild herbs, plants, and animals. There is less emphasis on stir-frying and more on stewing–think of the famous and multifarious Li Hongzhang Hotchpotch.