East Meets West Cooking – Ming Tsai

I have followed Ming Tsai over the years through magazines and reports from diners who came to eat at the Sugar Club in London when I was chef there. It seemed natural that followers of his approach would find something in my own style that appealed to them. So I was thrilled to be asked to review his cookbook, East Meets West Cooking.

Ken Hom introduces the book and obviously has great admiration for Ming, with whom he taught at Silks restaurant in San Francisco many years ago. Ming then talks about why his food is what it is - he calls it East West cooking, and is not at all keen on the term fusion. His parents were born in Beijing, he was raised in the USA, and has travelled and worked in France and Japan. Blue Ginger, his restaurant, is in Massachusetts, USA.

The chapters are easy to follow and include soups, dim sum, rice and noodles, seafood and meat. There is a chapter entitled "Over the top" for those with patience and advanced skills.

The only thing I could fault in this book is the editing. For example, the photo that precedes page 117 is credited with one recipe, yet it seems to be two separate recipes, one of which I can't actually find in the book.

I cooked the udon noodles with clams (page 88), which tasted good. Again, bad editing in step two made it a little confusing. I used small clams from a fishmonger, as opposed to little necks, and cooked it for a little less time, but the flavour was great.

I would highly recommend this book, and I think everyone will learn something from it. However, it's worth checking out Ming's Web site first - www.ming.com.

Peter Gordon, food writer and chef-proprietor, the Providores, London

East Meets West Cooking - Ming Tsai. Pavilion, £20.
ISBN 1-86205-383-9