Search This Blog

Saturday, January 17, 2015

* THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS...

...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an "easy" format. Here are some recent "re-editions"...
 
 
 
22.BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS NEW COOKBOOK. GIFTS FROM THE KITCHEN, plus
Food Gift Chapter. 16th edition. (Wiley, 2012, 2014, 672 loose leaf
pages, ISBN 978-544-30707-0, $29.99 US, ring binder) is from the
magazine of the same name. In fact, with each book US and Canada residents can get
a free subscription for one year (value: $6 US). Since the book is
widely discounted at box stores and Amazon, with the subscription the
book can be had at virtually next to nothing. The 15th edition was
published in 2012. It is important to remember: this is a classic that keeps getting
better, for the basic home cook. Now in this edition of more than 1400
preps are 1300 recipes with 1200 photos (800 new) and 400 photos of
techniques. And there is more complete nutritional data for each dish. New features include a chapter on "Cook's Secrets", "8 to Try" (flavour changes to perk up simple recipes), and a new chapter on holiday faves. Recipes have been laid out in a more eye appealing fashion, and there is advice on how to customize basic recipes. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is still no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 85.
 
 
23.THE LOW-SUGAR COOKBOOK (Nourish Books, 2010, 2014, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-84899-975-6, $17.95 CAN paper covers) is by Nicola Graimes, an award-winning healthy-food writer of more than 25 books. The recipes were taken from an earlier book published in 2010 as Quick & Easy Low-Sugar Recipes. The other material is newly written, and of course, some of the preps have been updated. It is a British context, by=but then sugar is sugar. These low-sugar versions do not resort to artificial sweeteners, so of course they are more healthy. Her collection includes some basic preps (such as chutneys, relishes, jams, almond milk), breakfasts and brunches, light meals and snacks, dinners, desserts, cakes, breads, and some menu planning. The index could have been more useful if more ingredients were indexed: for example, spelt soda bread is only under soda and bread, but not spelt. Preparations have their ingredients listed in some metric but mostly avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Preps and cooking times are given, and there are four 5-day menus. Quality/price rating: 87.
 
 
24.THE BEER BOOK (DK, 2008, 2014, 352 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-1952-1, $25 US hard covers) has been pulled together by Editor-in-Chief Tim Hampson. There are 14 contributors (with bios), but no signed reviews or entries. Most of the beers are bottled, but there are some from microbrew pubs. There is a pix of a beer bottle or can or pump for all the major beers covered. The directory-type data includes names and addresses, websites, and a mini-capsule history. There are also maps which include the US, Germany, UK, Belgium, and the Czech Republic (considered the Key Nations in beermaking). There are more maps of "Beer Trails" in Oregon, Bamberg, Cotswold's, Brussels, and Prague. There are features on the biggies Anheuser-Busch, Brooklyn, Guinness, Hoegaarden, Pilsner Urquell, and others. And essays on tasting, malts, German beer, lager, hops, glasses, wild beer yeasts, and beer-food matching. There is a glossary and index to beers, as well
as space for your own tasting notes. More than 800 breweries are covered in this updated 2014 edition, with some tasting notes for more than 1700 beers. Canada gets six pages for Amsterdam, Creemore, Granville Island, Pump House, McAuslan, etc. (27 companies in all), with 2 to 4 beers apiece. We needed more on Canada – also why was there
Labatt and Molson coverage? Quality/Price Rating: 88.
 
 
 
25.LA TARTINE GOURMANDE; recipes for an inspired life. (Roost Books,
2011, 2014; distr. Random House of Canada, 314 pages, ISBN 978-1-61189-078-4,
$26.95 CAN soft covers) is by Beatrice Peltre, creator of
latartinegourmande.com weblog. She's also a free-lance food writer,
stylist and photographer, working in and around Boston. So she did
almost everything in the book: food writing, food styling and food
photography. There's log rolling from David Lebovitz, and Dorie Greenspan. This is a soft cover reprint from the 2011 hardbound book. There are about 100 recipes, mostly
inspired by her French roots. Other preps come from Denmark, New
Zealand, and Boston. She's also slightly gluten-intolerant, so most of
the baked goods here have gluten-free flours. She's careful to explain
all of this and to list her organic flours. Every prep comes with a
memoir-like anecdote, so it is a bit of a personal book. After a
kitchen primer, the arrangement is by course (breakfast, lunch, dinner,
and dessert). Preparations have their ingredients listed in mainly
avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Some interesting or unusual recipes include cold honeydew and cucumber
soup, omelet wraps with nori and crunchy veggies, cumin and parsley-
flavored cheese gougeres, white lentil soup with chorizo and poached
eggs, and lavender ile flottantes. Quality/Price Rating: 87.
 
 
26.RAW SNACKS (Grub Street, 2011, 2014; distr. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-909808-05-8, $24.95 CAN paper covers) is by Caroline Fibaek, a Danish naturopath who consults for raw food restaurants. It was originally published in Denmark in 2011; this is the English translation. It is an engaging collection of raw food, emphasizing the entry points of spicy nuts, raw chocolate truffles, grape lollipops, date fudge, coffee substitutes and energy drinks. As the title says, they are all snacks, and these can be the easiest to handle for non-raw food eaters – and great at mixed parties. Arrangement is by type: salty, chocolate, liquorice, wine gums, caramel, "ice cream", milkyshakes, sparklers, and more. These have  no dairy, no white sugar, no gluten, no animal fat. Just 100% raw vegan. There is an international list of suppliers' websites at the rear.
Preparations have their ingredients listed as hybrids in both metric and  avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 86.
 
 
27.COFFEE TIME TREATS (Ryland Peters & Small, 2014; distr. T. Allen, 192 pages, ISBN 978-1-84975-569-6, $24.95 US hard covers) is a publisher's collection of some 80 recipes for coffee cakes, sticky buns, muffins, and other soppers for the morning espresso, mid-day latte, and after-dinner cappuccino. Only a few (under 15) actually have coffee in them; the bulk are meant as spicy-nutty accompaniments. Credits go to the RPS stable of cookbook writers such as Liz Franklin, Hannah Miles, Isadora Popovic, Sarah Randall, and Julian Day. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 85.
 

Chimo! www.deantudor.com

No comments: