COOKING THE BOOKS

PUTTING RECIPES TO THE TEST WITH RICHARD EHRLICH 150 RECIPES FROM THE TEAHOUSE Vivienne and Jenny Lo Faber and Faber pounds 16.99 Photographs by Graham Kirk

Reviewing cookbooks is a time-consuming business. That's why we're starting a new series using a novel approach: we get someone else to do the reviewing. All our testers, whom I refer to as CGPs (cooking guinea pigs), are asked to evaluate the books on usability, quality of recipes, practicality, illustration quality and value for money.

We ask our CGPs to read and use the book for as long as possible - preferably incorporating the testing into their own cooking - before giving me the low-down. We don't want to compare every book to some imaginary perfect cookbook but just look at its individual pros and cons and decide whether it succeeds in doing what it appears to be trying to achieve.

There are plenty more books in the pipeline, and we need CGPs. Are you interested? I can offer you no payment other than a free book and my undying gratitude. If you want to cook, please write to me at the Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL. And tell me what kind of food you normally cook, and what you're interested in.

To kick things off, I'm doing the first review myself. The Lo sisters run Jenny Lo's Teahouse in London, and this book (their first) emphasises the "comfort food" they serve there. Most of the dishes are Chinese, but there are also Malaysian, Japanese and Sing- aporean offerings.

The cuisines of Asia pose two problems, one for the novice, the other for everyone. The novice problem: while these cuisines are not inherently difficult, they do call for special ingredients. Beginners will have to go out and buy them and this will cost quite a lot of money. I would conservatively guess pounds 20 to pounds 30 for the basics; pounds 75 to pounds 100 for everything. And that's assuming that you have access to an Asian supermarket. You will also need a wok.

The universal problem with these cuisines is that they are famously labour- intensive. You need dedication in abundance. You also need home-made stock, or many dishes (especially soups) will be insipidus maximus.

Still not put off? Then consider this book. The recipes are divided by region or country, but a more important division is between the recipes and the background information that takes up a good chunk of the book. There's historical and cultural information as well as nutritional - but not your standard nutritional. Vivienne Lo is an acupuncturist (as well as an historian) and there`s a whole section of therapeutic recipes with details of which organs they are intended to benefit. There is also an appendix of foods giving similar information. You may want to know that the combination of pork and almonds (in Gongbao's Pork Chunks) "clears phlegm and supports the lungs and colon", but I didn't. I also tired quickly of the personal and familial history and information on how the sisters came to start their restaurant.

The recipes are fairly sound, and there's a reasonable mix of the ultra- simple and the more complicated. I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say that this is the best Chinese cookbook on earth, but the large number of recipes is commendable and dashes of cooking from outside China give a nice variety.