RIPE FROM AROUND HERE; a vegan guide to local and sustainable eating
(no matter where you live) (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010, 264 pages, ISBN
978-1-55152-254-8 $23.95US soft covers) is by Jae Steele, a registered
holistic nutritionist in Toronto. Her first book was Get It Ripe
(2008); her vegan blog is at domesticaffair.ca. Still, there was a need
for log rolling from Deborah Madison, Wayne Roberts, and J.B. MacKinnon
(The 100-Mile Diet). The intent of the book is to get you to eat food
in season, food that is local and organic, and food that is good for
you as a vegan. In other words, SLO food (not really the Slow Food
Movement food, but part of it) for vegan locavores. She preps the
reader through the first 75 pages with primer data on healthy
nutritional food, the importance of staying local, being sustainable,
and what one can do through container growing, composting, preserving
during summer, and the like. Recipes run from drinks to breakfasts,
muffins and breads, dips and spreads, salads, sauces, soups, entrees,
and desserts. Good food all round. Preparations have their ingredients
listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no metric table of
equivalents. Each recipe has indication if the prep is gluten-free,
soy-free, nightshade–free, and/or raw. At the back of the book, there
are seasonal menu ideas centered around different themes (and with page
references to the dishes). This is followed by a good resource list of
books, articles and videos.
Audience and level of use: locavores, vegans and vegetarians.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: hemp milk; mushroom and
spinach salad; springtime tabouleh; asparagus and spring onion quiche;
apple spice pancakes; and an apple cinnamon buckwheat raw granola.
The downside to this book: I found the typeface too light after a time.
The upside to this book: page references to the dishes cited on the
menus.
Quality/Price Rating: 88.
4. PORCH PARTIES; cocktail recipes and easy ideas for outdoor
entertaining (Chronicle Books, 2009, 144 pages, ISBN 978-0-8118-6580-7,
$16.95 US, hard covers) is by Denise Gee, who has written articles and
books on cocktails and foods. Even so, the book needed some log rolling
endorsements. It's a good guide to outdoor entertaining, whether on a
porch (as in the American South), or deck, patio, backyard, stoop, and
the like. All you need is a fun, frilly cocktail with lowish alcohol,
and some good finger food for handheld snacks. There's a chapter on
planning (but it should not be too decorative), followed by some 50 or
so cocktails and punches. Try watermelon cooler, blackberry smash, ruby
sangria, or Bellini. Little bites of food include crumbles, dips,
puffs, cheeses, crostini, and more. There's a source list and an index.
Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements,
but there is also a metric table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: cautious entertainers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: cherry tomatoes with
jalapeno-pimento cheese; Greek crostini; baby crab cakes; cucumber
smoked salmon sandwiches; fig and walnut brie.
The downside to this book: a bit short, it could have been longer.
The upside to this book: good ideas and themes.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
5. QUESADILLAS (Gibbs Smith, 2010, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-4236-0503-4,
$14.99 hard covers) is by Donna Kelly, who has written several single
product cookbooks on tortilla, tofu, and canned soup. Here she has
several dozen ideas for quesadillas, the melted cheese wonder
sandwiched inside crispy tortillas. So there is food here from around
the world, to stuff into mainly flour tortillas. There's a vegetarian
section and one for desserts, as well as a collection of zippy sauces
and salsas. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois
measurements, but there is also a metric table of equivalents. All of
this is easy to do with a microwave.
Audience and level of use: kids, home cooks, snackers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: these are mostly variations,
such as BLT quesadillas, pizza style, crab cake style, chicken Caesar,
Old world Mexico with potatoes and chorizo.
The downside to this book: I wish she had some corn tortilla quesadilla
recipes – I can make my own, but she needed to have some starters.
The upside to this book: good variations on grilled cheese sandwiches.
Quality/Price Rating: 85.
6. FAST, FRESH & GREEN; more than 90 delicious recipes for veggie
lovers (Chronicle Books, 2010, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-8118-6566-1,
$24.95 US paper covers) is by Susie Middleton, former editor of Fine
Cooking, now writing about vegetables for that magazine. She
concentrates here on quick methods, such as pre- or quick-braising,
short sautéing, stir-frying, and quick roasting. Some preps have meat
in them such as pancetta, but just over 60 recipes here are all veggie.
She encourages substitution of vegetables. The book is arranged by
eight cooking techniques (raw is also an option) including gratins.
There's primer material on shopping and storage. The pantry is another
chapter with all those oils and vinegars, condiments and aromatics,
herbs and spices, dried fruits and nuts, and some meats in the freezer
such as bacon. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both
metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there are no tables of
equivalents.
Audience and level of use: home cooks
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: spinach with shallots and
Parmigiano; mahogany mushrooms; tomato, peach and herb gazpacho salad;
sautéed broccoli with garlic and thyme; cider-braised baby bok choy and
golden apples.
The downside to this book: these are not all veggie preps, which could
be confusing to some readers.
The upside to this book: yummy looking photos.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
7. BOOZE CAKES; confections spiked with spirits, wine and beer (Quirk
Books, 2010; distr. Raincoast, 143 pages, ISBN 978-1-59474-423-5,
$16.95 US soft covers) is by Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone,
both designers. The former has written other sweet books on cupcakes
and popsicles. These are preps for cakes that have had alcohol added
after baking, although there are a few with alcohol added to the
batter. She has charts on how much alcohol is retained after backing.
There's four sections – classics that traditionally have alcohol in
them (bourbon buttercream, honey-spice beer cake); cocktail cakes with
cocktails added to the cakes; cake shots with one-bite cakes such as
brownies, or tea cakes; and "cakes with a twist" which are simply
popular recipes spiked with alcohol. Preparations have their
ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there a metric
table of equivalents. The authors use symbols to indicate the type of
cake, the number of servings, the baking time, and the occasion
(casual, entertaining, formal, etc.). At the back, there are sections
on making your own liqueurs and making different buttercreams and
frostings.
Audience and level of use: home cooks.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: wine-tasting cakes (merlot,
rose, blackberry); rum and coke whoopie pies; pumpkin martini cakes;
ginger cake with rum sauce; rosemary limoncello cake; tipsy tiramisu.
The downside to this book: NO INDEX
The upside to this book: appetizing photos.
Quality/Price Rating: 84.
8. THE WINEMAKER COOKS; menus, parties and pairings (Chronicle Books,
2010, 240 pages, ISBN 978-0-8118-6934-8, $35 US hard covers) is by
Christine Hanna, a food writer-teacher who is also president of Hanna
Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma. Technically, while Hanna is the manager,
it is Jeff Hinchcliffe who is the winemaker (at the time of writing).
Hanna takes her position as marketer and entertainer seriously; she's a
ferocious cook. Her book, arranged by seasons, has 20 menus, most four
to six courses each. Preparations have their ingredients listed in
both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of
equivalents. Wines are used in many of the recipes, and there are
suggestions for types of wines to pair with the dishes. These wines are
generic, such as her suggesting a Sonoma Pinot Noir or a
Gewurztraminer. As wine and cheese have a natural affinity, there are
21 preps (over one-fifth of the book) involving cheese. Some menu
themes include a grillside lunch, an Eastern Mediterranean feast, an
ocean-harvest dinner, and a springtime brunch.
Audience and level of use: followers of winemakers and wineries.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: Fall Dinner - spicy eggplant
caviar with pita chips; fall lettuces with pear and pecorino; pan-
seared hanger steak with porcini-merlot reduction; roasted potatoes and
shallots with herbed aioli; pear tarte tatin with ginger ice cream.
The downside to this book: the index is in teeny tiny print, yet there
is leftover blank space on the pages.
The upside to this book: good, clean layout is a plus
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
9. THE ART OF WOOD FIRED COOKING (Gibbs Smith, 2010, 192 pages, ISBN
978-1-4236-0653-6, $19.99 US paper covers) is by Andrea Mugnaini who
also imports wood fired pizza ovens. And, of course, she teaches wood
fired cooking; she's had over 20 years experience in such cooking. The
thrust of the book is Italian via the wood fired oven. Desserts seem to
be particularly good if you use fresh fruit: the high heat caramelizes
the sugars in the fruit. Recipes are meant for this oven, but
occasionally she mentions use of a roasting oven or some other lower
temperature environment (e.g., biscotti di prato) that can be cooked in
a conventional oven. But otherwise, this is strictly a one purpose
book. Beyond the pizza, calzone and flatbread sections, she has preps
for a whole meal, from apps to desserts. Preparations have their
ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is a metric
table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: Italian food lovers, wood fired pizza oven
lovers, restaurants.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: I did not try any recipes
from this book as I do not have access to proper equipment.
Nevertheless, some preps look pretty good: roasted figs with fromage
blanc and grated chocolate; lasagna with tomato sauce and sheep's milk
ricotta; wood-roasted side of salmon; chicken cutlets with cherry
tomatoes and basil; porchetta; saltimbocca.
The downside to this book: there's a lot of material about her school,
and undoubtedly, the book will be vended to her students.
The upside to this book: a single product book that is extremely
useful.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
10. CHEESE; exploring taste and tradition (Gibbs Smith, 2010, 304
pages, ISBN 978-1-4236-0651-2, $35 US hard covers) is by Patricia
Michelson, owner of La Fromagerie, a well-known cheese shop in England.
Indeed, this book has been published in England at the same time. And
there is log rolling from none other than Nigella Lawson herself. The
arrangement is by country. Normally, in cheese books, the first country
is France. But since this is a book of British origin, the United
Kingdom comes first, subdivided by regions. Each country has some
special cheeses highlighted. Thus, for France, there is a separate
discussion on Mimolette, Papillon, Roquefort Carles, Cantal, and ten
others. In this book, cheeses come from Europe and North America, with
just a few pages for Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, one of
the finest blue cheeses in the world (King Island's Roaring Forties)
was not included in the Australian section. For Canada, 18 cheeses from
six producers are highlighted: two from the Maritimes, two from PQ, one
from Ontario and another from BC, along with relevant photos showing
the cheese. Production methods are listed, as well as tasting notes.
One of my faves is here: Dragon's Breath Blue. There's the usual primer
info on cheese and cheese making, as well as generous notes on cutting
cheeses and accessorizing a platter. Several different kinds of
platters are shown. Drinks and cheeses are paired off. And there is a
small recipe section on cooking with cheese, making your own flavoured
cheeses, and some light meals and sandwiches. Preparations have their
ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but
there is no table of equivalents. At the end, there is a directory of
cheeses covered in the text, and this listing includes some eight
cheeses from "the rest of the world".
Audience and level of use: beginning cheese lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: "The reason why the baby
calf fourth stomach lining is used for rennet is because the animal has
to be suckling from its mother to obtain the right high acidity level
in the fourth stomach".
The downside to this book: there is no index to the recipes.
The upside to this book: a nice introduction to the world of cheeses,
with a package of recipes, appreciation, and pictures.
Quality/Price Rating: 85.