Product Description
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… More >>
Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia
Tags: asia, Culinary, journey, Salty, Sour, Southeast, Sweet, through
#1 by Anonymous on February 28, 2010 - 6:33 am
I was expecting a lot more from this book….Instead I got to much text, and not enough good recipes. Really this book is nothing special, and it is big and bulky!I’m returning it for sure.
Rating: 2 / 5
#2 by Superstar Reviewer on February 28, 2010 - 8:35 am
If only the producers of this book put as much effort into coming up with recipes that I might consider making as taking beautiful photographs and doing a beautiful layout I would award 10 stars. As it is, I haven’t made anything from this book and I love southeast asian food.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by NYC gal on February 28, 2010 - 11:12 am
Pondering on whether to return book or not. Purchased for Cambodian recipes, having a hard time finding a Cambodian cookbook, this was the best bet = and it does have dishes for things we ate like Khmer soup, pumpkin curry and a similar version to Amok. (oddly i have the amok recipe in my New York Cookbook, a favorite standby)
But as an avid photographer and traveler and cookbook collector, i have to say the travel writing is amateurish, the photos are not great (a mini picture of Angkor wat and i don’t think i saw many pictures of places i’d been to in thailand or vietnam – just street scenes – what kind of travelogue is this?) and never seem to match the right page (you would think there would be a photo of what you are reading about next to it) and the pictures of dishes are far and few between. For the huge irregular book format of the book there are not that many recipes. Compare for example “the Cook’s Book” for the same heft has 685 recipes.. Compare with Nobu Now for the difference in food photography capability..
if many of these reviews didn’t say the recipes are good they are part of daily repetoire, i’m tempted to return. it really is way to big for the content inside.
Rating: 3 / 5
#4 by Quick Smart on February 28, 2010 - 11:27 am
Asian food has been a mainstay in our family for decades and as a group, we’ve consumed tens of asian cookbooks. This book is among the most pleasurable to use and the results are always a delight.
Beautiful photography and the essence of cultures are captured and waiting for you here.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by HomeChef on February 28, 2010 - 2:10 pm
This was given to me by a good friend. I love to cook, and over the years have struggled with South East asian, Thai in particular, cooking. But this book lays it all out in such a way, and has such clear instructions that, in combination with an asian grocery store, it is foolproof. As a bonus, the travelogues and side bars are wonderfully interesting. Even if you don’t cook, you will be taken away on a wonderful culinary journey through the region.
Rating: 5 / 5