3.COASTLINE (Interlink Books, 2017, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-56656-026-9 $35 USD hardbound) is by Lucio Galletto and David Dale. Galletto runs an Italian restaurant in Sydney, Australia; Dale has written cookbooks on Italian and Turkish cuisine. Here they explore the Mediterranean influences on Spain, France and Italy, emphasizing the east part of Spain and the west part of Italy. Most of the material is centred around Liguria, Provence, and Catalunya with their similar cuisine and sources. Historical influences for the region include the Greeks, the Romans, the Vikings, and the Arabs. The authors have a collection of photo essays and stories plus 100 or so relevant recipes. The typical arrangement begins with sauces and dips, snacks and apps, salads, grains, soups, stews, and ends with desserts. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois with some metric measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: home-cooks, and the armchair traveller and cook?
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: black noodles with seafood; mussels Catalan style; navettes; petits farcis; Genoa calf liver; artichokes with ham and pine nuts; onions with romesco; pistou; romescada.
The downside to this book: too many non-food pix, but that might be its appeal
The upside to this book: it is a good concept for a cookbook
Quality/Price Rating: 89
4.THE BUFFALO NEW YORK COOKBOOK (The Countryman Press, 2018, 176 pages, ISBN 978-1-68268-323-1, $19.95 USD paperbound) is by Arthur Bovino, a local Buffalo food and travel writer. He had previously written "Buffalo Everything" which was a guide to eating out in the "nickel city". Here he gives 70 preps from the restaurants he has covered. He's got the classic chicken wings aka Buffalo wings plus chicken finger subs, fried bologna sandwiches, stinger tacos, and sponge candy. And there is a section on how to Buffalo-ize your comfort food such as chicken pot pie, nachos, deviled eggs, cauliflower wings, and grilled cheese. His arrangement is specific: wings, beef on weck, iconic Buffalo dishes, Buffalo basics, and party food. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: City of Buffalo lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: Old School Buffalo wings; Buffalo chicken parm pizza; stuffed banana peppers; Buffalo 7-layer dip; pizza logs; Buffalo panko.
The downside to this book: There is room for more recipes.
The upside to this book: upper New York state is covered nicely by beef on weck and Utica greens and Cornell-styled barbecue chicken.
Quality/Price Rating: 86.
5.SCRAPS PEELS AND STEMS (Skipstone, 2018, 255 pages, ISBN 978-1-68051-148-2 $22.95 USD paperbound) is by food journalist Jill Lightner who has most recently done work for Taste magazine. This is a nifty collection of 73 recipes plus tips for rethinking food waste at home. It's in two parts: one deals with food waste at home, and is divided into sections covering meal planning, shopping, storing, cooking and eating, plus the matter of leftovers and gardening. The other part deals with outside the home – food service such as AYCE, grocer stores and food banks, farms, ranches, and fisheries, plus
material on waste management helping households to save money. There is some advice on how to live the less disposable life and a resource list guide (which also includes some aquafaba (vegan meringue) interest groups). Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: green users of food, millennials.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: typical preps to reduce waste and use leftovers (stews from scraps) include cassoulet, gumbo, cholent, mujaddara, shakshuka, and chili. For veggies, there are crispy roasted potato peels, roasted cauliflower leaves, and quick-pickled stems.
The downside to this book: it can be depressing if we don't all pull together. Only 5% of wasted food is composted. The rest goes to landfill where the food creates methane, a sort of double whammy (not only wasted food, but also methane creation).
The upside to this book: it is good to be reminded of a lot of things here.
Quality/Price Rating: 90
6.COOKING WITH SCRAPS (Workman Publishing, 2018, 189 pages, ISBN 978-0-7611-9303-6 $19.95 USD hardbound) is by Lindsay-Jean Hard, a food editor and writer at Food52 ("Cooking with Scraps"). This book grew out of that project. She encourages all of us to turn our peels, cores, rinds, stems and other odds and ends into delicious meals. She deals with how to select, store, and use these elements. She's got 85 recipes, plus tips and techniques. It is all arranged alphabetically by main ingredient. So "apples" are up first, followed by "aquafaba" (chickpea foam), through bread, coffee, fennel, leeks, wine and zucchini.
Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: conscientious eaters; sustainable food lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: radish top ohitashi; dill pickle brine bloody mary; watermelon rind-lime granita; cantaloupe pulp overnight oats; mushroom stem compound butter; tomato seed dressing; coconut-milk braised turnip greens stew; wine vinegar.
The downside to this book: the book is more about cooking the scraps with the "waste and environment" elements toned down, less of a message than the book above.
The upside to this book: there is a recipe index by course (apps to desserts plus drinks).
Quality/Price Rating: 90
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Chimo! www.deantudor.com
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