Martin Yan’s China

With the summer Olympics bearing down on us with lightening speed, there’s just enough time to get our culinary ducks in a row -- and not crispy duck, either -- in order to have local favorites at our fingertips while watching the Beijing games on television.

I understand that this is not the point of Martin Yan’s China (Chronicle Books), a wonderful and complete book by a well known author and television personality. If regional Chinese cooking expertly parsed for western markets and kitchens is what you’re after, you’d have a tough time going wrong with one of Yan’s many books. But this one, even more than the others I’ve seen, seems to embrace the fierce simplicity that characterizes the best of Chinese cooking. Bold flavors and colors, fresh ingredients and straight-forward explanations of techniques and foods that may be unfamiliar to some western chefs.

This is a really wonderful book. One of my favorite cookbooks thus far this year. Very good photographs are included throughout: not just great food and food styling, either but National Geographic-quality photos of a country currently undergoing great change. In all ways, Martin Yan’s China seems an important companion for those two weeks this summer when you’ll be glued to your television.