Pei-Mei's Chinese Cook Book

When my grandparents came to the United States in 1980, they left behind a whole universe of food. To their credit, they have taken well to the land of hotdish and its delights (see Macaroni Casserole). Also to their credit, they started making lots of Chinese favorites at home, dishes that are commonplace restaurant fare in Hong Kong. 

Luckily, I have been able to glean a number of these recipes over the years, although the instructions are always vague. As it turns out, a lot of these recipes were derived from the 1960s Taiwanese celebrity chef Fu Pei-Mei. Pei-Mei's three volume set sat in their kitchen for decades... until now. I am proud have these books passed on to me.

Each of Pei-Mei's recipes has a Chinese version and an English version (at times clumsily translated, but gets the job done) on facing pages, as well as a glossy, full-color photo of every dish, beautifully plated. For such a comprehensive collection, this is all rather impressive. Although Pei-Mei uses a lot of exotic ingredients (pigeons, sea cucumbers, various crabs, and more), much of her output is quite accessible, and you can expect to see some Pei-Mei inspired dishes soon on No Free Lunch.