If you want to learn to cook Italian you could arguably go to Marcella Hazan or Giuliano Bugialli, French you could go to Julia Child, Elizabeth David or Jacques Pepin.
But, if you want to learn to cook Chinese, you go to Fuchsia Dunlop. She was the first Westerner to attend the prestigious three-month chef’s training course at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine.
I have learned so much from her and I now feel confident in tackling most Chinese food at home. Before discovering Fuchsia Dunlop, Chinese cooking felt intimidating. Her books taught me not only the recipes, but technique, ingredient selection, and how to think about regional Chinese cuisine.
“Fuchsia Dunlop is a cook and food-writer specialising in Chinese cuisine. She is the author of Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking; Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, an account of her adventures in exploring Chinese food culture; and two critically-acclaimed Chinese cookery books, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, and Sichuan Cookery (published in the US as “Land of Plenty)”.