There are a multitude of great cookbooks out there and if you have a cook that you'd like to get a book for, I highly recommend the Authentic recipe book collection courtesy of Periplus Publishing Group, located out of Singapore.
Authentic Recipes From Thailand
I've featured quite a few recipes from Authentic Recipes From Thailand (Thai Chili Sauces, Grilled Beef and Pork, Green Papaya Salad ) as well as A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables (Bean Sprout & Green Bean Salad, Indian Chickpeas & Eggplant and Coconut Cabbage), which have been popular on this site.
Looking at the recipes from the Periplus books, one can already see (and virtually taste) the difference. I was recently put in contact with Eric Oey who runs Periplus through its parent company Tuttle Publishing, a very curious business with roots that run deep in Asia.
Books to Bridge East and West
Started by Charles E. Tuttle in Tokyo in 1948, the company's mission was to publish "books to span the East and West." It is the parent to three publishing houses: Tuttle, Periplus Editions and Journey Editions. Tuttle was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Emperor of Japan for his services to Japanese-American understanding in 1983. He died in 1993. Oey is a cousin of Tuttle, by the way.
The Authentic Recipes From … series includes these countries: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam. Most feature a complement of 75 recipes, costing only $12.95 US.
Written by Authors Living in Asia
According to Oey, the inspiration for the series was to produce a set of "travel cookbooks" to feature the true cuisine and food culture of Asian countries to the world. Oey says authors of these books are top experts in the country and therefore, had intimate knowledge of the cuisine. And what about the recipes?
"We tried to select all the 'classic' recipes that are famous in the country or region -- the ones that everyone there in the place regards as "local" recipes."
Authentic Recipes?
One wonders still, just how "authentic" these recipes are.
"Unlike most cookbooks which are written by foreign authors living in a Western country and photographed in a studio in a Western country, all of these books were written by authors who live in the country - and the photographs were all shot on location in the place. So the way the food looks and the recipes themselves are absolutely as authentic as possible because everything was done in the country or region where the cuisine originates," replied Oey.
In the end, Oey says the target market for these books are those who want to know what people actually eat in other countries "as opposed to what is served in Asian restaurants in Western countries." These are high quality books for chefs of any level. Good for a little surprise under the tree and well-priced, too.
By the way, here's a review of the latest in the Authentic Recipes collection, Morocco!
