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Simply Ming: Easy Techniques for East-Meets-West Meals
As the chef and owner of the acclaimed Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and an Emmy award-winning television personality, Ming Tsai has become the standard-bearer of East-West cuisine, the innovative blending of Eastern flavors and techniques with Western ingredients and presentations.
Now, in Simply Ming , he presents a breakthrough technique for bringing East-West flair to everyday cooking, making it possible to transform a handful of fresh ingredients into a delicious meal in a matter of minutes. The genius of Simply Ming is a versatile array of master recipes—intensely flavored sauces, pestos, salsas, dressings, rubs, and more that eliminate much of the last-minute prep work. So sophisticated dishes such as Tea-Rubbed Salmon with Steamed Scallion-Lemon Rice, Grilled Miso-Citrus Scallop Lollipops, and Green Peppercorn Beef Tenderloin with Vinegar-Glazed Leeks can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.
Even casual dishes such as spaghetti, burgers, fried calamari, and chicken wings get a boost of East-West excitement in Ming’s creative hands, becoming Asian Pesto Turkey Spaghetti, Salmon Burger with Tomato-Kaffir Lime Salsa, Blue Ginger Crispy Calamari, and Soy-Dijon Chicken Wings. This is food that is simple enough to serve on a weeknight, but special enough to share with guests. And desserts get the Simply Ming treatment, too, with tempting ways to transform basic shortbread dough, chocolate ganache, and crème anglaise into a range of show-stopping finales.
Filled with color photographs that motivate and inspire, beverage suggestions to complement each dish, and helpful tips for cooking with unfamiliar ingredients, Simply Ming makes the excitement and innovation of East-West cooking easily accessible to all home cooks.
Now, in Simply Ming , he presents a breakthrough technique for bringing East-West flair to everyday cooking, making it possible to transform a handful of fresh ingredients into a delicious meal in a matter of minutes. The genius of Simply Ming is a versatile array of master recipes—intensely flavored sauces, pestos, salsas, dressings, rubs, and more that eliminate much of the last-minute prep work. So sophisticated dishes such as Tea-Rubbed Salmon with Steamed Scallion-Lemon Rice, Grilled Miso-Citrus Scallop Lollipops, and Green Peppercorn Beef Tenderloin with Vinegar-Glazed Leeks can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.
Even casual dishes such as spaghetti, burgers, fried calamari, and chicken wings get a boost of East-West excitement in Ming’s creative hands, becoming Asian Pesto Turkey Spaghetti, Salmon Burger with Tomato-Kaffir Lime Salsa, Blue Ginger Crispy Calamari, and Soy-Dijon Chicken Wings. This is food that is simple enough to serve on a weeknight, but special enough to share with guests. And desserts get the Simply Ming treatment, too, with tempting ways to transform basic shortbread dough, chocolate ganache, and crème anglaise into a range of show-stopping finales.
Filled with color photographs that motivate and inspire, beverage suggestions to complement each dish, and helpful tips for cooking with unfamiliar ingredients, Simply Ming makes the excitement and innovation of East-West cooking easily accessible to all home cooks.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 11, 2016
I love his program. The recipes in the book are interesting but complicated. Several of them require dipping recipes and batter recipes. I will order scallion pancakes, in a restaurant.
August 19, 2007
I have a soft spot for this cookbook. It wasn't my very first cookbook, but it excited me about cooking. Through this book, I discovered that cooking wasn't entirely about survival or about recreating dishes the way you had them before; it was a creative process.
A lot of my cooking has roots in this book. The book shed new light on ingredients I had grown up with in my mom's cooking (we're Thai). During my first two years cooking, my staples were almost entirely fusion food. Some favorites include Crazy Noodles, Asian Lamb Gyros, Mango Chicken, and Scallion Pancakes (a bit more traditional). These recipes really lend themselves to being adjusted and reinvented. The recipes taken as a whole serve as inspiration for art of looking for subtle connections between different types of cooking.
This book isn't perfect though. As much as Ming Tsai, tries to make the book accessible, I find myself "dressing" down most of his recipes by substituting and omitting ingredients down to their essentials. The book doesn't go deeply into techniques either.
I've found that cooking requires a balance of inspiration and technical know-how (knife skills, knowledge of how heat alter foods, etc). This book provides the inspiration, but it works best if you have some basic familiarity with some of the ingredients (like hoisin sauce or sambal) and know your way around the kitchen. Ming Tsai actually has a series of free podcasts on iTunes that are really helpful.
One other thing, this book is so beautiful that I would almost leave it on your coffee table and away from the kitchen where it could get sauce and oil stains. You can print most of the recipes on his web site, but the layout of the book makes it great for flipping through for ideas.
A lot of my cooking has roots in this book. The book shed new light on ingredients I had grown up with in my mom's cooking (we're Thai). During my first two years cooking, my staples were almost entirely fusion food. Some favorites include Crazy Noodles, Asian Lamb Gyros, Mango Chicken, and Scallion Pancakes (a bit more traditional). These recipes really lend themselves to being adjusted and reinvented. The recipes taken as a whole serve as inspiration for art of looking for subtle connections between different types of cooking.
This book isn't perfect though. As much as Ming Tsai, tries to make the book accessible, I find myself "dressing" down most of his recipes by substituting and omitting ingredients down to their essentials. The book doesn't go deeply into techniques either.
I've found that cooking requires a balance of inspiration and technical know-how (knife skills, knowledge of how heat alter foods, etc). This book provides the inspiration, but it works best if you have some basic familiarity with some of the ingredients (like hoisin sauce or sambal) and know your way around the kitchen. Ming Tsai actually has a series of free podcasts on iTunes that are really helpful.
One other thing, this book is so beautiful that I would almost leave it on your coffee table and away from the kitchen where it could get sauce and oil stains. You can print most of the recipes on his web site, but the layout of the book makes it great for flipping through for ideas.
April 11, 2013
This cookbook is my go-to recommendation when someone asks me what book to get for someone learning to cook. The format has you make a sauce or chili past or reduction, and then has 2 or 3 recipes that use that sauce so a novice cook can see different uses for the flavors. Cleverly, even if you cook all the dishes you will usually still have some of the sauce left over, and now that you've made a couple dishes you can be inspired to create your own. A great book for inspiring creativity and learning all kinds of techniques.
November 24, 2008
Ming Tsai is a true creative and master chef. I love this concept of making one sauce and then quickly being able to make a whole handful of impressive dishes. Great for a busy mom. LOVE the black bean garlic sauce. Very authentic and not for the faint of heart!
April 1, 2008
Tasty Asian fusion. The recipes are on the whole a crowd pleaser and the pictures are to die for. One con though: certain ingredients are hard to find and opricey.
May 11, 2008
Beautiful cookbook! Still need to get an autograph for this one.
March 22, 2010
Beautiful cookbook and I <3 Ming ... but it didn't really inspire me to cook any of his recipes at home. Actually, it just REALLY made me want to go to Blue Ginger. ;-)
November 7, 2011
I got this from the library and have rechecked it out 3 times. There are master sauce, syrup, salsa recipes. Then there are several recipies for each one.
Great idea
Great idea
December 25, 2013
Ming is a genius. Blending flavors in surprising and innovative ways. Simple to make yet the flavors are complex.
January 7, 2016
good sauces and seasoning recipes - definitely useful. I will try the scallion pancakes. Some basic technique approaches.
April 8, 2017
Lots of choices
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews