[.ca] A Spoonful of Ginger: Irresistible, Health-Giving ... (ISBN 0375400362)

From Amazon.com:
Part cookbook, part primer of Chinese medicine, Nina Simonds's A Spoonful of Ginger offers dietary advice, herbal home remedies, and lively, unintimidating Asian recipes for the American home cook. Try Braised Duck with Tangerine Peel and Sweet Potato as a cure for high blood pressure. Baked Black Bean Shrimp might be just the dish to get you over that bout of depression. Simonds presents the ailing reader with concoctions to relieve everything from hangovers to frostbite. And lovers of fine food need not despair--medical advice is kept brief, presumably to make room for more delicious recipes. For example, Steamed Fish with Black Mushrooms and Prosciutto makes no claims to cure anything but hunger. And any volume on health food that features a substantial section on pork (check out Spicy Pork Tenderloin with Leeks and Fennel) can hardly be called austere or old-fashioned. With tastes from all over Asia represented, from Indian curries to Japanese miso, these 200 dishes are tasty riffs on Chinese themes that should cure even the most jaded of palates. --David Kalil

The single best compilation of Asian recipes:
Very versatile and informative. It has a little Eastern philosophy mixed in for those who are interested (I am not). I consider myself pretty strong as amateur cooks go (favorite book to cook from is the French Laundry cookbook), and am now able to include many Asian themes in my cooking. Favorite recipes: * Cinnamon-braised tofu with spinach (this will keep your guests guessing for about 10 minutes about what the heck they're eating) * Poached pears in a sweet ginger sauce (not the actual recipe name, but that's what it was) * Yin-yang shrimp (absolutely astounding)

Mmmmmmm Ginger!:
This book is Amazing, I have tons of cook books and I use this one the most. Although ginger is used it is in abundance (and I LOVE it) in this book, it is full of dishes with many wonderful herbs, and flavors. The fish recipes are my favorite (such as the ginger miso crusted Halibut, so easy and delicious) but the beef and chicken are also wonderful. Its like going to a very good Chinese restaurant with out clogging your arteries. I hate string beans but loves the String Bean recipe in this book and the Conge is perfect for a cold rainy night.

Mislabelled:
The front cover of this book states "Irresistible, health giving recipes from ASIAN kitchens." While this book is great - albeit a bit too Americanized for my taste (most Asian recipes have stronger, bolder tastes, these are much too mild) - it centers too much on Chinese food and philosphy. Those who love authentic Asian food realize that each culture is diverse, both in food and in culture. This book lumps them all together and is too general.

Gingerlicious!:
So far, the recipes I've prepared from this book have garnered nothing but raves. Many of the recipes are simple enough to prepare for weeknights, using few ingredients but very fresh ones. The result is fabulous flavor that you just can't get from your local takeout joint. The section about home remedies is really neat (I have yet to use the hangover helper recipe, but I'm sure it will come in handy one day). I got this and Ming Tsai's "Blue Ginger" cookbook around the same time. I've barely cracked open Ming's book-the recipes are gorgeous but mostly inaccessible. If you are a newcomer to Asian cooking, I think "Spoonful of Ginger" is a delicious introduction.

"sense"sational Chinese cooking:
I first saw Nina on PBS and ran to the computer to see if I could find her book. I have ordered many a cookbook and resold a few because they only had a recipe or 2 that I could use. Not this one. It has many soy sauce and oil stains because I use it so much. This book is great because it is truly authentic. I say this because I found several recipes for dishes that my Chinese mother-in-law cooks when she comes over from Honk Kong. Nina's Noodle Cookbook is a great book to get, too. My husband's favorite recipe is the spicey Chinese peanut sauce, which we have a lot of during the summer as a cold noodle salad. Nina also gives lots of variations on her recipes so it is easy to vary a recipe according to what you have on hand or what you are able to find in the grocery store. Speaking of that, many of the ingredients are easy to find in non-Asian food markets.