Chinese cooking is one of the most popular in the world and in Hawai‘i it’s undoubtedly the favorite cuisine.
After two years of gathering recipes from family, friends, and the community, Hawai‘i food writer Lynette Lo Tom has captured the delicious cooking of her mother Lorna Lee Lo, extended family, and friends. There is a wide range of dishes to satisfy not only the novice, but professional chefs as well. Most of the recipes, not surprisingly, are Cantonese, as three-quarters of the Chinese workers who came to Hawai‘i to work on the plantations were from Zhongshan, an area in Guangdong province (formerly called Canton).
Lynette, a Hawai‘i born, fifth-generation Chinese, explains some of the unique foods in Hawai‘i such as “cake” noodle. The book’s 112 recipes includes popular dishes such as Boiled Peanuts with Star Anise, Chinatown-style Crispy Skin Roast Pork, and Mongolian Beef. More traditional recipes are also included: Prune Apricot Mui, Winter Melon Soup, and Chicken Soup with Ginger and Whiskey (called Gai Jow).
A Chinese Kitchen goes behind the scenes explaining the recipes, providing insights into Chinese food traditions, culture and experience in Hawai‘i. The many stories interspersed throughout the book give colorful insights into Chinese life in Hawai‘i from the 1950s until the present.
About the Author
Lynette Claire Lian Fu Lo Tom (羅蓮말) is the eldest child of Richard Cheong Lo and Lorna Lee Lo. Her grandparents were Tan and Louise Ho Lo and John (Duck) Sau and Florence Wong Lee. Growing up in Makiki and Mānoa with her sisters Joanne and Charlene and her brothers Russell and Barry, she ate Chinese food almost every day and always appreciated its variety. She is an enthusiastic home cook. Lynette is a proud graduate of Mānoa Elementary, Stevenson Intermediate and Punahou School. She earned a journalism degree from University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. A former reporter, she created a successful public relations and marketing firm, Bright Light Marketing. Now she is focusing on the culinary world with her company Bright Light Cookery and is especially fascinated by foods cooked “back in the day.”
Product Details:
- Authors: Lynette Claire Lian Fu Lo Tom
- Series: Hawaii Cooks
- Hardcover: 216 pages
- Publisher: Mutual Publishing (September 1, 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1939487528
- ISBN-13: 978-1939487520
- Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.9 x 9.3 inches