Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking

Beautifully photographed and boldly designed, Lo's tome is a collection of 23 lessons in three sections. In her hands, the usual cookbook pantry list becomes "Lesson 1: Creating a Chinese Pantry," concerning things like bean-curd juice, boxthorn seeds, and mung bean starch. One section looks at "The Market Particular," by which Lo means even rarer pantry ingredients, like bird's nest and hairy melon, along with a review of more basics and then a sampling of tea.