Chinese Cooking

Arlene Gryfe is a Toronto-based professional nutritionist and home
economist.

These two books prove that Jean Paré has not yet run out of new ideas.

The Pork Book has a foreword describing nutritional values and ideal
cooking methods for pork. As expected, there are recipes for appetizers,
soups, salads, sandwiches, and accompaniments. However, since this is a
one-meat book, main courses are presented in chapters for casseroles and
stews; chops, ribs, and steaks; roasts; stir-fries; on the grill; and
entrées.

Chinese Cooking provides a glossary of Chinese ingredients, brief
instructions on using chopsticks, and some chopstick etiquette. Recipes
are divided into dim sum, appetizers, soups, main dishes, noodles and
rice, vegetable dishes, and desserts.

Recipes in both books are presented in metric and imperial measures in
bold type, with clear step-by-step instructions. All recipes have
nutrient analysis of calories, fat (identified as monounsaturated,
polyunsaturated, and saturated), cholesterol, fibre, protein and sodium,
although these values would probably not deter any reader who selects
one of the several pork recipes that exceed 700 calories per serving.
Both books are richly illustrated with tempting colour photos. Both are
cross-indexed and include a tip index for the many useful tips scattered
throughout.

Some readers might object to the few pages of advertising or to the
“Paré Pointers” (bad puns such as “Wok me up and throw away the
ghee”). Others may find the red print in Chinese Cooking difficult to
read. Most, however, will welcome yet another volume in this popular
series of tasty recipes prepared with readily available ingredients.