Bao Family Cookbook: Recipes from the Eight Culinary Regions of China

It is clear that the author of this book spent more time making this book look cool and flashy with the filters applied to the pictures of the people who ran a restaurant than the actual recipes. I highly doubt any of the recipes in this book were actually tested let alone used by a restaurant that made enough profit to make rent.I’ve tried making the Char Siu and the Pineapple Buns from the recipes in this book and both turned out terribly. The char siu was flavorless and lacked any characteristics of a char siu. It was no different than a baked pork loin.The pineapple bun dough was so tough and dry after mixing and kneading that I had no hope for a good proof. After an hour, the dough looked as lifeless as it did at the beginning but I relented thinking there was some magic left in store for this recipe.There was not. The oven spring was non existent and I was left with several dense buns that were tough to chew.I didn’t bother trying any other recipes. I had wasted enough time with this book and now I am writing this review to help others to avoid doing the same. You can find much better recipes for free on youtube or from a google search