The yogurt-based, covered-pot-baked Kazakh bread smells exactly like good dinner rolls from a Midwestern supper club, but the moist, absorbent texture seems closer to an underwater sea sponge.
The whole review is excellent; it covers a new Chinese regional cookbook Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China.
I’ve checked out this book from the library. The photography is great, and I enjoyed the memoirs that take up a large fraction of the text. At times their attitude is a little unfair to Han Chinese – I feel they’d have no problem suggesting that I’m personally responsible for damages inflicted on native Americans. I’m glad they’ve taken the time to publish their observations of these cultures, but the recipes weren’t that great (guess I just prefer Han Chinese food, like from Fushia Dunlops books). I have to agree with this statement from the review (though I admit I haven’t done the testing that the reviewer subsequently describes):
“The theory of cultural preservation through cookery is well and good, but it works only if people like the cookery. And some of the recipes in Beyond are a hard sell.”
Should you be allowed to write a review of a book on Chinese-or Chinese-related cuisine if you express shock at the combination of Tofu and animal fat? I think not.
I’m going to order this book. Uighar food is the best food in China, which is in turn some of the best food in the world.
yogurt-based, covered-pot-baked Kazakh bread smells exactly like good dinner rolls from a Midwestern supper club
Mmmmmmmmmmm, good dinner rolls from a Midwestern supper club…..
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