3.WINTER CABIN COOKING (Ryland Peters & Small, 2015, 176 pages, ISBN 978-1-84975-660-0, $24.95 US hard covers) is by Lizzie Kamenetzky, a UK food stylist and food editor who is now freelance in the culinary field. It's a book of substantial food, particularly stuff that can be done by guys: gluhwein, fondue, strudels, dumplings all come to mind. Preps can be left to simmer or bake, and keep the cabin warm. I did not see anything specifically meant for a fireplace such as a wiener or marshmallow roast, but there are stews and soups that can be made in the dying embers, with a pot of course. The chapters are arranged by type, with dumplings and noodles, soups and stews, cheese, brunch and small plates, meats, desserts, and of course drinks such as hot toddies. Very Teutonic, to go with the Alps. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: skiers, chalet lovers, winter freaks.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: parmesan and ricotta cheesecake; brisolee; Tiroler grostl; poached salmon with green mayonnaise; rosti; schnitzel with warm potato salad; cassoulet.
The downside to this book: a lot of superfluous outdoor winter photos made me feel cold; the space could have been used by more food shots.
The upside to this book: it is mostly about mountain food and cabins and skiing and the need for hearty food.
Quality/Price Rating: 88.
4.FRESH MADE SIMPLE (Storey Publishing, 2015, 200 pages, ISBN 978-1-61212-608-1, $18 US hard covers) is by Lauren K. Stein, food writer in the Boston area (Eat Boutique). She advocates using everyday but favourite foods in creative combinations, to make drinks, dressings, snacks, desserts, and light meals. Fave foods might include avocado, ricotta, eggs, pineapple, almonds, spinach, chocolate, coconut. She proposes that you mix and match 75 veggie-centric recipes to create dozes of delightful dishes. The illustrations, by Katie Eberts, are fabulous, and clearly show the visual approach to cooking needed, with drawings and arrows and the briefest of texts. Quantities are roughly specified so it doesn't matter with metric or avoirdupois measurements. Perfect for the millennials. There is even a section at the back on how to enlarge a meal by adding steak or chorizo or salmon, bacon, grilled chicken. Some good ideas.
Audience and level of use: millennials, young cooks.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: herb butter; pineapple cilantro salsa; fried plantains with avocado feta mash; goat cheese and caramelized onion quesadilla.
The downside to this book: I could have used more ideas and drawings for a more complete book, but that which is here is value for the price.
The upside to this book: there are some afterthoughts on how to be more creative, with pages and pages of non-illustrated ideas.
Quality/Price Rating: 88.
5.THE HOMEMADE KITCHEN (Clarkson Potter, 2015, 320 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-34615-3, $24.99 US paper covers) is by Alana Chernila, a cookbook author (The Homemade Pantry) and cheese maker. It has been log rolled by Mollie Karzen, Hugh Acheson, Katie Workman, and at least six others. She has 13 guiding principles taped to her fridge, and the book is arranged in chapters with those rules: feed yourself; put your hands in the earth; use your scraps; do your best and then let go; do the work; eat outside; invite people over; don't be afraid of food. Over the course of the book she has many stories and memoir type materials in each chapter. At the end, there is a short bibliography of helpful additional readings. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: beginners, students, millennials.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: preserved lemon hummus; tagliatelle with fresh tomatoes; cheesy fish crackers; calzone with buttery tomato sauce; dal with radish raita; honey wheat bread.
The downside to this book: there are more self portraits than are required.
The upside to this book: good arrangement of materials.
Quality/Price Rating: 86.
6.PALEO PLANET (Harvard Common Press, 2015, 294 pages, ISBN 978-1-55832-835-2, $24.95 US paper covers) is by Becky Winkler, Boston bloggist for A Calculated Whisk. The subtitle pretty well says it all: primal foods from the global kitchen with more than 125 recipes. It is a whirlwind tour through high-protein and low-carbohydrate diets, arranged by meat, course, or meal: pantry, apps, soups, salads, poultry, beef-pork-lamb, seafood, veggies, breakfast, brunch and desserts. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is a table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: dieters, paleo people.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: huevos divorciados with sweet potato hash; pan-seared salmon with dukkah; citrus-braised lamb shanks with winter veggies; lega tibs; moussaka; coconut tamarind curry.
The downside to this book: most of the recipes are for dinners, but you can or should be able to scale up or down, and be inventive with sides.
The upside to this book: there are three indexes – egg-free, nut-free, and a regular recipe index.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
7.MAKE YOUR OWN RULES COOKBOOK (Hay House, 2015, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-4019-4436-0, $24.99 US hard covers) is by Tara Stiles, the engaging founder of Strala Yoga and book author. Here she gives us a collection of more than 100 preps for plant-powered juices, smoothies, salads, mains, and desserts, emphasizing a healthy and green kitchen for the busy lifestyle. She's got a half dozen log rollers on board. Her own food rules follow the precept: eat what makes you feel great. And feeling great leads to looking great. The trick is to find those foods that make you feel great. Start with having what you want, and then see how you feel. Move on to other foods by paying attention to your body. Do the green kitchen (get rid of toxic cleaning products, nonstick cookware, scents, plastic containers, and the like. It will all come together in the kitchen with knives, cutting board, skillet/pan, blender, and juicer. Pay attention to the icides: herbicides and pesticides. Buy only organic. It is a healthy lifestyle and you will live longer. For more details, try her book "Make Your Own Rules Diet" (Hay House). This book is the followup, with more recipes. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: the health conscious
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: broccoli soup; vieques salad; mushroom tacos; rainbow ceviche; big bowl of courage; not-mushy veggie burger; coconut parfait; easy miso soup.
The downside to this book: lack of metric measurements
The upside to this book: good selection of preps and common sense approaches.
Quality/Price Rating: 86.
8.MENNONITE MEN CAN COOK, TOO (Good Books, 2015, 316 pages, ISBN 978-1-68099-053-9, $17.99 US hard covers) is by Willard Roth, a Mennonite church leader and a journalist who has cooked many dinners. His recipes come from his mother and grandmothers, plus food from a number of countries where he has been on mission work. He also has some recipes from a dozen male friends. Almost none of this is particularly "Mennonite" food – just some 170 recipes for guys by guys who cook. It's divided into starters, mains, sides, sweets, and seven menus utilizing the recipes (plus a few unique of their own). The menus celebrate Epiphany New Year Feast, Shrove Tuesday New Orleans Supper, Agape Bible Lands Breakfast, autumn Thanksgiving meal. The book has large print, a boon for the seniors. The recipes work, of course, and they are relatively easy to prepare. The stitching allows the book to fall open and stay flat, even in the middle. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: guys
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: Brussels sprouts with cranberry balsamic; feather sponge cake; Parmesan stuffed mushrooms; apricot beef sweet sour soup; autumn pork stew; 5-bean sweet-sour relish; day cake; corn leek bake.
The downside to this book: many dishes could use a bit more spicing up, but then that's just me.
The upside to this book: good stories are told for each recipe.
Quality/Price Rating: 86.
9.MADE IN INDIA (Flatiron Books, 2015, 320 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07101-9, $35 US hard covers) is by Londoner Meera Sodha; these are "recipes from an Indian family kitchen" (subtitle). Log rolling comes from Yotam Ottolenghi and Nigella Lawson; it is a UK based cookbook. It opens with the Indian primer and pantry, and then moves on to starters through the dishes of meats and veggies and sides, to chutneys and pickles, desserts and drinks. Leftovers has its own chapter. There are nine menu ideas, but with no page references to the recipe. There is also a separate chapter on wine with Indian food, and "how to eat with your hands", surely an invaluable section. The help section deals with "too much" of stuff, as in too much chili, too much salt, too much rose water, too much lemon juice, etc. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: those wishing to learn about Indian food.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: lamb raan; love cake with cardamom and pomegranate shrikhand; golden garlic raita; coconut and tamarind chicken curry; chana dal with golden garlic tarka; eggplant and cherry tomato curry; chapati warps with spicy veggies.
The downside to this book: changing "aubergine" to "eggplant" helps Americanize the book, but its position in the index also needed to move from "A" to "E"!!
The upside to this book: section on how to eat with your hands and fingers.
Quality/Price Rating: 86.
10.DIY VEGAN (St. Martin's Griffin, 2015, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-05871-3, $25.00 US paper covers) is by Nicole Axworthy and Lisa Pitman, who are contributing photography and food editors for VewNews magazine which addresses the vegan community worldwide. Here are about 100 easy recipes, complete with both raw and gluten-free vegan options. These preps are used to stock pantry shelves, refrigerators, and freezers: vegan milks, ice creams, and butters from nuts and seeds; home-ground flours; sauces and spreads; snack foods; home-made cheeses. Preparations have their ingredients listed in US measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: vegans, those looking for healthy snacks.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: coconut peanut butter; nutty crispy rice squares; ketchup; cereal bars snacks; cinnamon rolls; buffalo mozzarella; French onion dip mix.
The downside to this book: I wanted more.
The upside to this book: very useful book to kick the packaged-food habit.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
11.SWEET MIDDLE EAST (Chronicle Books, 2015, 168 pages, ISBN 978-1-4521-1439-2, $24.95 US hard covers) is by Lebanese-born Anissa Helou, now a UK food writer who has written many other cookbooks and food articles. These sweets are loaded with butter, nuts, honey and spices – sometimes together, sometimes separately: flaky pastries to syrup-soaked fritters. All of it is basically finger food. Along the way she also covers spiced teas/coffees and beverages, ice creams, jams and jellies. Thus, there are Turkish coffee, Turkish fritters, Turkish macaroons, Turkish pistachio cake, Turkish pistachio shortbread, Turkish saffron rice pudding, and Turkish sweet chicken pudding (boneless chicken breasts) found through chapters dealing with halva, breakfast sweets, pancakes, cookies, frozen desserts, and pastries. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: those with a sweet tooth or interest in Middle East food.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: see above
The downside to this book: I could not find any references to "Turkish delight", which may be more Western than Turkish.
The upside to this book: Middle East transliterations are listed in each prep, as well as in the index.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
12.THE NEW SUGAR & SPICE; a recipe for bolder baking (Ten Speed Press, 2015, 234 pages, ISBN 978-1-60774-746-8, $27.50 US hard covers) is by Samantha Seneviratne, a food writer and stylist associated with Good Housekeeping, Fine Cooking and Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. It comes with Deborah Madison's endorsement. The author is of Sri Lankan heritage, and the desserts are thus boldly spiced (think cloves, cardamom, ginger, chile, cinnamon, nutmeg, peppercorns). In fact, her book is arranged in chapter order by these spices, with a final section on savoury herbs such as caraway, bay leaf, anise, lavender, and saffron. Preparations have their ingredients listed in US avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: bakers, those looking for some spicy desserts.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: apple danish with caraway cream; black pepper, dark chocolate, and sour cherry bread; mango lime sorbet; summer berry focaccia; honeyed cashew lace cookies; blackberry-peach hand pies.
Quality/Price Rating: 88.
13.SCANDINAVIAN BAKING (Quadrille, 2014, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-84949-665-0, $35 US hard covers) is by Trine Hahnemann who writes and lectures on Scandinavian food around the world. She's written five cookbooks in Danish and three other cookbooks in English. Lead endorser is Mimi Sheraton. Her book has over 100 carefully explained recipes dealing with authentic but contemporary Scandinavian dishes. It is arranged by both type of foods and seasons, beginning with cakes and pastries, followed by Midsummer, and then breads and savouries, followed by Christmas. She's got some notes on Scandinavian baking with sourdoughs and starters and bigas, and concludes with some jams. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: bakers, Scandinavian food lovers
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: rye bread layer cake; yeasted marzipan cream buns; Napoleon's cake; rosehip roulade; "potato" cake; caraway seed bread; spelt cardamom rolls; choux pastries with rhubarb cream; winter spiced pastry.
Quality/Price Rating: 86.
