The Ducks Guts' Profile

From: Melbourne, Vic Australia

Joined: March 26th, 2010

About me: Just in case my mother finds this website, I don't buy all my cookbooks new. A lot are second hand from garage sales and op shops. One of my favorites is a 1960's high school cookbook from Malaysia bought from a garage sale. I use to love the Time-Life Good Cook series and the Food of the World series, but I haven't had a lot of success cooking out of them. They are wonderful to read tho', so they are still in the bookshelves, and not relegated to storage.

Favorite cookbook: Thai Food by David Thompson


Latest review:

August 12th, 2012

Lentil Soup from A Month in Marrakesh

A good plain soup which made a large potful. I made it with water, not stock, and it still worked, which is always a good sign. read more >


recipe reviews (154)
book reviews (14)
useful review votes (56)

The Ducks Guts' Reviews


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Cookbook Reviews

14 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 14Sort by: Rating | Title

Warming Soups Against Colds

By Huang Chunsheng
Guangdong Economic Press - 2004

July 10th, 2011

Book 4 of the series with ISBN 7806778322.

Summer Soups

By Huang Chunsheng
Guangdong Economic Press - 2004

July 10th, 2011

Book 2 of the series with ISBN 7806778322. Book has a blue soup pot.

Summer Cooking

By Elizabeth David, Adrian Daintrey
Penguin Books Ltd - 1969

July 22nd, 2011

Part of a boxed set

Small Food: Snack-sized Bites to Share with Friends (Cookery)

By *
Murdoch Books - 2002

April 7th, 2010

Like all the Murdoch Books that are produced by a team, make sure that once you buy it, you don't accidently buy it again, thinking it is a different book. I have seen these books twice now, with different covers since I bought my copy.

One Hundred Famous Chinese Foods (Eng-Chin Ed.)

By
Chongqing Publishing House,China - 1999

April 10th, 2010

Difficult to review other then a curiosity. The only recipe I tried, nobody particularily liked, and the recipe with "cat or leopard meat" is frankly upsetting to a pet owner. Also, the servings seem to vary from family sized to recipes that could feed a small brigade, with no explanation why. One recipe started with 50 kg of donkey meat, but others are just a kilogram of flour plus a few extras.
Still, it is an interesting book, with a description of each dish and its history.

Nourishing Soups

By Huang Chunsheng
Guangdong Economic Press - 2004

July 10th, 2011

Book 3 of the series with ISBN 7806778322.

New Style Sichuan Cuisine

By Huigi Cao
Beijing Industry University Publishing House - 2003

July 5th, 2011

Book 2 of the series Chinese Cuisine New Sichuan Flavourous Dishes. Missing Book 1.

Dishes of Sichuan Characteristic

By Huigi Cao
Beijing Industry University Publishing House - 2003

July 5th, 2011

Book 3 of the series with ISBN 7563908980.

Chinese Vegetable and Vegetarian Cooking

By Kenneth Lo
Faber & Faber - 1995

April 10th, 2010

Not sure if it is because this book is vegetarian, Cantonese or just too anglicized, but I don't find the recipes very appetising. It was first published in 1974 and in this 1995 version the recipes are still mostly English vegetables and sherry is used instead of rice wine. Very very bland.
On the plus side, it does contain a good description of all the different methods of Chinese cooking, some of which are not described in other cookbooks. There is a ghost of a teaching book in this little paperback.

Chinese Soups

By Huang Chunsheng
Guangdong Economic Press - 2004

July 10th, 2011

Book 1 of the series with ISBN 7806778322. Not sure of the real title of the book,as the Google translation is a bit odd.

Chinese Cooking: Cantonese (International Gourment)

By Margaret Leeming
Ward Lock Ltd - 1993

April 7th, 2010

LOVE this book. It is wonderful for beginners with simple recipes that work, with only 1 dud. It's not glamourous, just a plain little book with only a few pictures, but it is a good primer you can spill soy sauce on and not worry.

Canapes

By Eric Treuille, Victoria Blashford-Snell
Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd - 1999

April 3rd, 2010 (edited 3rd April 2010)

Fabulous book. It has very good recipes (only one that guests didn't like) and most importantly evey recipe has a note on how to prepare it ahead for parties. With care, you can choose recipes that only need at the most minor assembling on the day, having been prepared the day or week before. There is a list of them at the back under "Do Nothing On the Day" (such a life-saver). Fantastic for beginners at entertaining.

Banc

By Liam Tomlin, Stan Sarris, Rodney Adler, Adrian Lander, Charlie Trotter
New Holland Publishers - 2000

March 27th, 2010

Hard to review as it is a good book, and interesting, but expensive and the only recipe I have made from the book was nothing special for the hours of work that went into it. It was good, but not amazingly so.
Worth thinking about, but NOT without seeing a copy of it first.

Australian Seafood Users Manual

By Yearsley,Onley, Brown and others
Department of Primary Industries, Queensland - 2000

April 5th, 2010

Excellent book for Australians who have a fisherperson in the family. Identifies the fish, and more importantly, the best ways of cooking and the most suitable types of wine. This is a industry book, so you also get the resturant type of information such as recovery rates, habitat, flavour, oiliness, moisture, texture, flesh colour, bones, price etc