Roll over image to zoom in
Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia
£24.70£28.50 (-13%)
Luminous at dawn and dusk, the Mekong is a river road, a vibrant artery that defines a vast and fascinating region. Here, along the world’s tenth largest river, which rises in Tibet and joins the sea in Vietnam, traditions mingle and exquisite food prevails.Award-winning authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid followed the river south, as it flows through the mountain gorges of southern China, to Burma and into Laos and Thailand. For a while the right bank of the river is in Thailand, but then it becomes solely Lao on its way to Cambodia. Only after three thousand miles does it finally enter Vietnam and then the South China Sea.It was during their travels that Alford and Duguid―who ate traditional foods in villages and small towns and learned techniques and ingredients from cooks and market vendors―came to realize that the local cuisines, like those of the Mediterranean, share a distinctive culinary approach: Each cuisine balances, with grace and style, the regional flavor quartet of hot, sour, salty, and sweet. This book, aptly titled, is the result of their journeys.Like Alford and Duguid’s two previous works, Flatbreads and Flavors (“a certifiable publishing event” ―Vogue) and Seductions of Rice (“simply stunning”―The New York Times), this book is a glorious combination of travel and taste, presenting enticing recipes in “an odyssey rich in travel anecdote” (National Geographic Traveler).The book’s more than 175 recipes for spicy salsas, welcoming soups, grilled meat salads, and exotic desserts are accompanied by evocative stories about places and people. The recipes and stories are gorgeously illustrated throughout with more than 150 full-color food and travel photographs.In each chapter, from Salsas to Street Foods, Noodles to Desserts, dishes from different cuisines within the region appear side by side: A hearty Lao chicken soup is next to a Vietnamese ginger-chicken soup; a Thai vegetable stir-fry comes after spicy stir-fried potatoes from southwest China.The book invites a flexible approach to cooking and eating, for dishes from different places can be happily served and eaten together: Thai Grilled Chicken with Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce pairs beautifully with Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad and Lao sticky rice.North Americans have come to love Southeast Asian food for its bright, fresh flavors. But beyond the dishes themselves, one of the most attractive aspects of Southeast Asian food is the life that surrounds it. In Southeast Asia, people eat for joy. The palate is wildly eclectic, proudly unrestrained. In Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, at last this great culinary region is celebrated with all the passion, color, and life that it deserves.
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Artisan (7 Oct. 2000) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 352 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 9781579651145 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1579651145 |
| Dimensions | 25.72 x 2.86 x 28.89 cm |
by H. Harriott
If you are into south east asian food youve got to get this book. It has some great recipes and fabulous photograpy
by S. Wolff
Possibly my most favourite cookery book. And I have quite a few. This huge book is an adventure through central and south east Asia. The stories and photographs are so poetic and evocative that by the time you get to the recipe, you’re on the verge of eating the page! The recipes themselves are authentic, well informed and not that difficult to replicate. It’s also wonderful to be given the history of tribes and their movements, to understand how flavours and ingredients have evolved over time. This book is a treasure that I use regularly. I almost need a second copy…one for the kitchen and one for the coffee table.
by Tracy B
What a great book, brought for my brother who was over the moon. I am so impressed with it I am going to buy myself a copy too. Would definitely recommend.
by Philmore East
Wonderful book – I warmly recommend all of the books of Alford & Duguid, this one being my favourite because I like SE Asia cooking. The travelogue and stories make this a book you read rather than only flip to a recipe. The recipes in my opinion are not for absolute beginners, and obviously some of the ingredients will be hard to obtain (especially here in the Czech Republic), but generally it’s more about ‘getting the feel’ for the recipe.
by j piers
This is a fabulous book. A “coffee table” book but with huge practicalities. I loved the beginning with the map of the Mekong river and all the adjoining coungries. The historiy and the love for these areas comes through lou and strong. with this young couple and their young child. The anthropoligical value is also worthwhile .
I cook out of this book often but sometimes I just read it to enjoy and savour the atmosphere.
by johnsidwick@aol.com
A beautifully written and presented book that contains a wide range of interesting recipes many of which are as original as recipes get. It is a book that should be invaluable in the kitchen but also as a coffee table or bedside entertainment. I can see no possibility of any thinking cook not being able to take advantage of many of the ideas the book is bound to generate, let alone gaining many new additions to his/her repertoire.
One of the best cookery books I’ve come across in ages. Highly recommended.