Dear Toni-Lee & Rheuben,
Yes, the books are well written, and the chief protagonist does love to cook, though it seems he loves to eat more!
He cooks a lot relatively, because he is single. But I have had a thought of planning a tour based on the restaurants and dishes he eats in the different places he goes to while on his cases (Shanghai & environs; Suzhou; Hangzhou; Wuxi; Beijing; Guangzhou; in the PRC (These I remember offhand; there might be more...). And LA & environs; St. Louis, MO; and possibly other places, in the USA.
And Inspector Chen inspired me!
A few weeks ago, I was hungry. In the refrigerator, I had boiled rice from a few days earlier, as well as raw eggs, prepared meats, sliced dill pickles from the USA, baby red, orange and yellow sweet peppers (capsicums for UK/Aussie/Kiwi folks),and mango & tamarind chutney.
I chopped up 90 grams of corned beef and beef shoulder, and fried them in a TBL of olive oil, added in a beaten egg, shredded it as it cooked, added in the 200 grams of already boiled rice and the 3 chopped up peppers, and 2 minutes before I removed it from the heat, some chopped up dill pickle slices and some spices (Baharat, an Arab compound spice; sweet paprika; black pepper; I figured there was enough salt from the meats, and from the soy sauce I was going to add), and after 2 minutes, removed from the heat. I added a TBL of the chutney and 1/2 tsp of soy sauce, put it in a rice bowl, got out a pair of chopsticks, and had a Sino-Jewish meal!
Best,
Joey