Ebook A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family Cheryl LuLien Tan 9781401341282 Books
Ebook A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family Cheryl LuLien Tan 9781401341282 Books
Download As PDF : A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family Cheryl LuLien Tan 9781401341282 Books
"Starting with charred fried rice and ending with flaky pineapple tarts, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan takes us along on a personal journey that most can only fantasize about--an exploration of family history and culture through a mastery of home-cooked dishes. Tan's delectable education through the landscape of Singaporean cuisine teaches us that food is the tie that binds."
--Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America--proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers' and aunties' kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations. A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself. Reading Group Guide available online and included in the eBook.
Ebook A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family Cheryl LuLien Tan 9781401341282 Books
"Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan grew up in Singapore with no interest in the family traditional cooking that surrounded her youth. Cheryl's dreams were bigger than that. At the age of 18 she left home and family for America to become the fashion writer she had always hoped to. Yet in her 30's, Cheryl began to long for that taste of Singapore, the dishes that defined her childhood. Was it too late to learn the secrets that surrounded her youth and now were embedded within the kitchens of her Grandmothers and Aunts?
A memoir of not only the beauty of tradition and food but also the strength found in unlocking the stories of the past.
In this mouth-watering sensation of a book - I learned about the history of Singapore flavors to the point that I felt as though I could almost smell the scents of fried crab, peppery pork rib broth, and Hainanese Chicken Rice...
During one trip back to Singapore when Cheryl has decided to actively pursue learning more about her Singapore heritage in cooking and offers to help make the traditional Pineapple tarts, I had to laugh when she walks into the kitchen to help to find not one or two pineapples for the tart making - but seventy. The plan was to make 3,000 tarts.
Written and told by Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan herself, I enjoyed the humorous style of writing and had to laugh because she sounds a little like me - biting off more than she can chew (pun intended) such as traveling back and forth to Singapore to capture the family traditions, and in the midst of it all taking on the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge which was an on-line challenge to bake your way through every recipe in this book.... which includes triumphant stories "Bagels that were perfection right out of the oven!", as well as not so triumphant stories. "I knew the day would come when I would almost burn down my kitchen".
Oh - and just wait until she calls her maternal grandmother a liar. :D
Honestly I have not had so much fun reading a food memoir style read in a long time. I tasked myself to look up the words I did not know and turned this whole culinary adventure into a learning experience as well. As Cheryl makes her way through New York restaurants that feature Singapore favorites, and heads home to learn the "how to's" of her heritage she grows in more ways than she could have imagined.
I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of this book. If you are looking for a real treat in culture, food, and everything in between, I would highly put my stamp of approval on this book. This book includes recipes in the back.
See more details on this review at my Book Blog: Book Journey"
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Tags : A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family [Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan] on . Starting with charred fried rice and ending with flaky pineapple tarts, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan takes us along on a personal journey that most can only fantasize about--an exploration of family history and culture through a mastery of home-cooked dishes. Tan's delectable education through the landscape of Singaporean cuisine teaches us that food is the tie that binds. --Jennifer 8. Lee,Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan,A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family,Hachette Books,1401341284,Cultural Heritage,Essays Narratives,Personal Memoirs,Cooking, Singaporean,Cooking, Singaporean;Anecdotes.,Singaporean cooking;Anecdotes.,Tan, Cheryl Lu-lien,ASIANS IN THE U.S.,Anecdotes,Autobiography general,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural, Ethnic Regional / General,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women,BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY,Biography,Biography Autobiography,Biography Autobiography/Personal Memoirs,Biography / Autobiography,Biography/Autobiography,COOKING / Essays Narratives,COOKING / Regional Ethnic / Asian,Cooking/Regional Ethnic - Australian Oceanian,GENERAL,General Adult,INTERNATIONAL AND ETHNIC COOKERY,Non-Fiction,Regional Ethnic - Australian Oceanian,Singapore,Singaporean cooking;Anecdotes.,Tan, Cheryl Lu-lien,United States,Women,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural, Ethnic Regional / General,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women,Biography Autobiography/Personal Memoirs,COOKING / Essays Narratives,COOKING / Regional Ethnic / Asian,Cooking/Regional Ethnic - Australian Oceanian,Regional Ethnic - Australian Oceanian,Women,Biography / Autobiography,Anecdotes,Asians In The U.S.,Biography And Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,Biography/Autobiography,Autobiography general
A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family Cheryl LuLien Tan 9781401341282 Books Reviews :
A Tiger in the Kitchen A Memoir of Food and Family Cheryl LuLien Tan 9781401341282 Books Reviews
- Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan grew up in Singapore with no interest in the family traditional cooking that surrounded her youth. Cheryl's dreams were bigger than that. At the age of 18 she left home and family for America to become the fashion writer she had always hoped to. Yet in her 30's, Cheryl began to long for that taste of Singapore, the dishes that defined her childhood. Was it too late to learn the secrets that surrounded her youth and now were embedded within the kitchens of her Grandmothers and Aunts?
A memoir of not only the beauty of tradition and food but also the strength found in unlocking the stories of the past.
In this mouth-watering sensation of a book - I learned about the history of Singapore flavors to the point that I felt as though I could almost smell the scents of fried crab, peppery pork rib broth, and Hainanese Chicken Rice...
During one trip back to Singapore when Cheryl has decided to actively pursue learning more about her Singapore heritage in cooking and offers to help make the traditional Pineapple tarts, I had to laugh when she walks into the kitchen to help to find not one or two pineapples for the tart making - but seventy. The plan was to make 3,000 tarts.
Written and told by Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan herself, I enjoyed the humorous style of writing and had to laugh because she sounds a little like me - biting off more than she can chew (pun intended) such as traveling back and forth to Singapore to capture the family traditions, and in the midst of it all taking on the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge which was an on-line challenge to bake your way through every recipe in this book.... which includes triumphant stories "Bagels that were perfection right out of the oven!", as well as not so triumphant stories. "I knew the day would come when I would almost burn down my kitchen".
Oh - and just wait until she calls her maternal grandmother a liar. D
Honestly I have not had so much fun reading a food memoir style read in a long time. I tasked myself to look up the words I did not know and turned this whole culinary adventure into a learning experience as well. As Cheryl makes her way through New York restaurants that feature Singapore favorites, and heads home to learn the "how to's" of her heritage she grows in more ways than she could have imagined.
I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of this book. If you are looking for a real treat in culture, food, and everything in between, I would highly put my stamp of approval on this book. This book includes recipes in the back.
See more details on this review at my Book Blog Book Journey - After losing a prized newspaper job at the Wall Street Journal due to the great downturn of ’09, Cheryl Tan took a year off to return to her native Singapore, and the comfort food of her youth. After meeting with her briefly, I am not surprised that she chose a difficult time to write a book, using her misfortune brilliantly. Reasons for her dexterity become evident once I got to know her family in “A Tiger in the Kitchen.â€
Although Tan, a capable, goal oriented type ‘A†seamlessly negotiated the transition to America, could she do the same in reverse? Especially when she had largely rejected cooking for family, viewing a life in the kitchen as cut off from the larger world, lacking power. And now, after sixteen years in America, Tan must finally contend with the ladies. She must earn her place in the kitchen.
Slowly she learns to abandon the American obsession for precise measurements, formulas and procedures and begins to navigate complex recipes that often exist only in the sharp and exacting memory of one of her aunties. When she asks how much sugar to add or how long the duck should cook, she is often met with the words “agak, agak†loosely translated as “just enough†or “until it is done.’
But over time spent with her aunties and mother, in the many hours it takes to properly prepare the cookery that fuses Malay, Indonesian and Chinese roots, Tan begins to see these women more clearly. She claims that although she has encountered tough and capable women in America, including driven CEOs and editors, nobody scared her more than these women in their Singaporan kitchens.
Over the course of chopping, peeling, dicing and boiling, stories begin to unfold, as appetizing as the dishes themselves. Memories are offered up that would never have surfaced otherwise. Divorce, opium addiction, love and abandonment, the stuff that families are made of are handed to Tan as a gift for genuinely participating in the family legacy.
Although I am not ordinarily fond of memoir cookery books, this one masterfully segues from kitchen to chronicle with natural cadence. I feel that I know these characters, the aunts and uncles, father and mother and grandmother on their own terms, gradually coming to understand them so well that when I actually attempted her recipe for Mandoo (a Chinese dumpling), I felt many eyes upon me, looking over my shoulder, silently letting me know that I could be quicker, the pleats in the dumplings neater, it could have used less filling to be tidy. But at the same time, I am convinced that they want me only to do my best. And somehow I really want to please them!
“Tiger,†as the book is affectionately known, is both a frothy cocktail and a delicate family tale, that shifts from continent to continent, past to present and culture to culture with an intuitive grasp of the precise moment to move on. Tan’s journalism background comes to the fore with clear detailed writing to bring us to a tempting table laden with exotic treats. Unlike many family tales, it neither veers into an overly sentimental journey or a hard-nosed dissection of the shortcomings of either culture.
And by the way, the Mandoo was delicious. - Tan manages to capture so many aspects of Singaporean life. The food, the rapid pace of change, the importance of family and cultural tradition, the special nature of the Chinese heritage in Singapore and much more. She writes in an engaging style, providing just the right amount of background history. It is also true that I enjoyed the book the second time thru after having lived in Singapore long enough to get a feel for the fabric of the city!
- I loved Cheryl Tan's memoir about cooking and family -- and about how the two inevitably intersect. This beautifully-structured book alternates between her life in Manhattan and her family in Singapore; it's insightful and often laugh-out-loud funny (you'll never look at cinnamon rolls in quite the same way, and I also loved the moment when she had to risk e.coli to make her grandmother happy by sampling uncooked meat - nobody ever said family recipes had to be FDA-approved). The only thing that would make this book better would be an interactive edition where you could click on a dish and have it delivered to your door. Until that happy day, Tan's wonderfully evocative writing will be the next best thing.
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