REVIEW: DECONSTRUCTING THE DISH; inspirations for modern-day cuisine

DECONSTRUCTING THE DISH; inspirations for modern-day cuisine
(Whitecap, 2007, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-55285-897-4, $35 soft covers) is
by David Adjey, a consulting chef on the ever-popular "Restaurant
Makeover". He has also appeared on other Food Network shows. He was
once Dan Aykroyd's personal chef, and Dan has endorsed the book. He
begins by stating "I dissect and explain each dish as comprised of
building blocks, each hidden within the finished dish". Exploring this
way will allow you to start from the centre (the principle) and work
out to the garnish, the vegetable, and the sauce. Adjey also promotes
12 rules, one of which is "Cook from a different region in the world at
least once a week". He has the book arranged from Fall to Summer. These
are all complex flavours, not for the faint of heart. Nor are they
quick and easy. You'll need to put some work into it. And that's a good
thing, for spin-offs and variations will later come to you. He has 40
mains and accompaniments or garnishes; there are no apps or desserts.
Ingredients are expressed in both US and metric forms. He has a
glossary and basic recipes for stocks.
Audience and level of use: other chefs, those looking for a challenge.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: duck twofer (roasted breast
and confit leg); grouper, yellow pepper, purple potato, pink
grapefruit; oxtail, red wine ragout, butternut squash ravioli, fried
parsley; turkey, oyster bread pudding, lima beans, white gravy; ancho
rabbit, pozole-poblano stew, epazote-hominy ensalada.
The downside to this book: some may decry the lack of apps and
desserts.
The upside to this book: there is excellent photography, particularly
on building the dish and plating presentation.
Quality/Price Rating: 90.

www.deantudor.com

TASTING: Pre-Cuvee Tasting of Possible Winners, February 13, 2008

The Time and Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11AM to 2 PM

The Event: Cuvee Tasting of top scoring wines submitted to Cuvee from each
participating winery.

The Venue: BMO Strathcona Room, 68th Floor

The Target Audience: wine media

The Availability/Catalogue: all wines are available at the respective
winery. Some wines may be available through Vintages.

The Quote: "Corks still dominate as closures go, but it was gratifying to
see that there were very few corked wines."

The Wines: There were about 60 wines, three bottles of each. The tasting
also included seven wines from past award winners in celebration of the 20th
Anniversary of Cuvee. They had all aged very well. The best of these were
Cave Spring Off Dry Riesling 2003, Lakeview Cellars Chardonnay Reserve Vinc
Vineyard 2000, and the Pillitteri Estates Cabernet Franc Family Reserve 2002
(en magnum).

**** Four Stars (90 - 93 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Cave Spring Gewurztraminer 2006 $19.95

-Chateau des Charmes Equuleus (50%CS/25%CF/25%M) $40

-Creekside Estate Reserve Meritage 2004 (55%CS/45%M) $34

-Featherstone Estate Bottled Gewurztraminer 2007 $18.95

-Fielding Estate Meritage Reserve 2005 (58%CS/24%CF/18%M) $35

-Hillebrand Trius White 2006 (33%Ge/29%R/27%PG/11%Ch) $18.95

-Inniskillin Montague Vineyard Chardonnay 2006 $18.30

-Niagara College Teaching Winery Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2006 $19.15
++V-A-L-U-E++

-Peninsula Ridge Fume Blanc 2006 $26.95

-Royal DeMaria Muscat Ottonel Icewine 2004 $279.95

-Stoney Ridge Estate Winemaker's Reserve Cabernet Franc 2004 $49.95

-13th Street Funk Blanc de Noir 2000 [sparkler] $40

-30 Bench Benchmark Red 2005 (50%CS/30%M/20%CF) $60

*** Three Stars (86 - 89 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

-Alvento Winery Elige 2005 (72%CS/28%CF) $29.80

-Birchwood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (85.5%CS/14.5%Zweigelt) $12.65

-Colio Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2006 $15.95 ++VALUE++

-Flat Rock Cellars Nadja's Vineyard Riesling 2006 $19.95

-Henry of Pelham Reserve Riesling 2006 $14.95

-Hernder Estate Riesling 2006 $10.95 ++VALUE++

-Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Proprietor's Grand Reserve White Meritage
2006 (87%SB/13%Se) $24.55

-Lailey Vineyard Old Vine Chardonnay Niagara River 2006 $29.95

-Maleta Estate Meritage 2005 (60%CF/40%CS) $29.95

-Mike Weir Estate Cabernet Shiraz 2005 (75%CS/25%Sh) $17.95

-Mountain Road Unoaked Chardonnay 2005 $14.95 ++VALUE++

-Peller Estates Signature Series Ice Cuvee Rose NV [sparkler]
(55%Ch/35%PN/10%CF, with Vidal Icewine as dosage) $35

-Stonechurch Riesling Dry 2006 (90%R/8%Ge/2%Muscadet) $12.95

The Food: upscale sandwiches, salads, grilled veggies, cookies and tarts,
coffees.

The Downside: once again, I got lost finding the right bank of elevators.

The Upside: a great chance to taste some potentially award-winning Cuvee
wines and possible Ontario Wine Award winners.

The Contact Person: erin@mitchellwestlake.com

The Effectiveness (numerical grade): 91.

www.deantudor.com

RETURN TO TERROIR ORGANIC/BIODYNAMIC TRADE SHOW, TORONTO, FEBRUARY 9, 2008

The Time and Date: Saturday, February 9, 2008. 1 PM to 4 PM

The Event: Return to Terroir organic/biodynamic wine tasting, trade
component. The group was founded by Nicholas Joly, who also presented a
seminar on the urgent need for biodynamics. This was part of a world-wide
tour, which included Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angeles, Oslo, Madrid,
Düsseldorf, Verona, Bordeaux and Tokyo.

The Venue: Fermenting Cellar, Distillery District.

The Target Audience: wine trade, sommeliers, importers, wine press.

The Availability/Catalogue: it was a bit of a curate's egg - some parts of
the show were excellent; others were inconvenient and time-consuming. The
catalogue was extensive, with notes on each winery, with names of
principals, addresses, etc. But no wines were listed (and of course, no
terms of availability, no vintage years, no prices, etc.). It was a drag to
have to write it all down. I may have skipped the vintage years since just
about everything was recent. I certainly skipped recording the ABV since
that figure could be anywhere on the label and I was not about to go
scrounging - lack of time. The other drawbacks on the catalogue: the tables
were numbered, but the number was not the same as the page number in the
book! Also, what passed for page numbers in the book was white on black in
small typeface. The room was darkish, so it was hard to see even at the best
of times. I was not alone with this concern... We had three hours for the
show, but we were not told that we could have stayed longer - and tasted
right through to 8 PM. Consequently, I did not get around to tasting
everything. Kudos to The Merchant Vintner (Zind-Humbrecht) for having the
best walkaway notes: extensive background to the four wines, prices,
availability, vintages, etc. Other well-placed notes came from Frog's Leap,
Benziger, Cascina degli Ulivi, and Albet i Noya (Vinexx). I was disappointed
that no wines from Ontario, PQ or BC were displayed, nor were there any
wines from South Africa and Chile. But I guess these countries' wineries are
not members of the group? This was a group function, not an
organic/biodynamic roundup trade show. You had to be a member of the group
to exhibit.

The Quote: from a consumer in the evening, "Is this wine organic?" Duh...

The Wines (not in any order):

**** Four Stars (90 - 93 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

- Domaine Cazes 2005 Ego Languedoc-Roussillion ($15 Vintages Fall)

- Domaine Cazes 2005 Alter Languedoc-Roussillion (P.O)

- Montirius Vacqueyras Le Clos 2005 ($29.95, Vintages Oct 2008)

- Tres Sabores Porque? No? 2004 Napa ($30)

- Tres Sabores Zinfandel 2004 Rutherford ($39)

- Tres Sabores Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Napa ($60)

- Descendientes de J. Palacios Villa de Corullon 2005 Bierzo Spain ($63,
Woodman)

- Descendientes de J. Palacios Las Lama 2005 Bierzo Spain ($175, Woodman)

- Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofi 2005 Priorat ($89, Woodman)

- Domaine Josmeyer Riesling 2001 Alsace ($45)

- Champagne Fleury Brut NV ($80)

- Domaine Valentin Zusslin Riesling Grand Cru 2004 ($56.95)

- Albet i Noya Xarel-Lo Classic 2007 Penedes ($15, P.O. Vinexx)

- Compania de Vinos Telmos Rodriguez Altos de Lanzaga 2004 Rioja Alavesa
($92)

- Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Gueberschwihr ($39.65, +686246, also in half
bottles)

- Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Herrenweg de Turckheim ($43.60, +993352)

- Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos-Saint-Urbain ($89.25,
+958918)

- Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendage Tardive ($57, +70250 the
375ml)

- Domaine Hauvette Les Baux Rouge 2004 Provence ($45)

*** Three Stars (86 - 89 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

- Albet i Noya La Milana 2005 Penedes ($29, P.O. Vinexx)

- Montirius Gigondas 2005 Terre des Aines ($34.95, Diamond Estates)

- Montirius Garrigues 2005 ($24.95, Diamond Estates)

- Castagna Vineyard Genesis Syrah 2004 ($94.20, +53298)

- Castagna Vineyard Genesis Syrah 2005 ($99)

- Castagna Vineyard Un Segreto Sangiovese/Syrah ($110)

- Domaine Marcel Diess Burg 2004 Alsace ($63)

- Domaine Marcel Diess Altenberg de Bergheim 2004 ($93)

- Domaine Marcel Diess Mambourg 2004 ($109)

- Chateau Romanin La Chapelle Romanin 2004 Provence ($21)

- Domaine du Traginer Cuvee Capates 2004 Languedoc-Roussillion ($70,
Lexcellent)

- Compania de Vinos Telmos Rodriguez Matallana Tempranillo 2004 Ribera del
Duero ($115)

- Frog's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Rutherford ($99)

- Domaine du Coulet Cornas 2006 Billes Roires (?)

- Domaine de Villeneuve Les Vieilles Vignes Chateauneuf-du Pape 2005 ($42.70
licensees, Small Winemakers Collection)

The Food: the food stations were grouped together, except for one. They were
all excellent, with food and service from a variety of organic places about
Toronto: The Healthy Butcher (beef appetizers), Beretta Farms (ham and
chicken open face sandwiches), About Cheese-Provincial Fine Foods (four raw
cow milk cheeses, two of them organic), JK Restaurants (soup), and Czechoski
(sausages).

The Downside: the catalogue had no wines listed.

The Upside: it was a pretty fair turnout for a trade show on a Saturday.
Many people were actually well-dressed in the afternoon.

The Contact Person: mark@thelivingvine.ca

The Effectiveness (numerical grade): 87 (it would have been higher with a
better catalogue - this score is, after all, all about "effectiveness").

www.deantudor.com

BACON COOKBOOK

THE BACON COOKBOOK; more than 150 recipes from around the world for
everyone's favorite food (John Wiley, 2007, 276 pages, ISBN 978-0-470-
04282-3, $41.99 hard covers) is by James Villas, who was the food and
wine editor of "Town & Country" magazine for 27 years. He has won 2
Beards for journalism, and has authored innumerable cookbooks. Villas
is a specialist in Southern cuisine. The first principle here is that
bacon makes every meal better. 168 recipes are claimed here, and they
are largely French Provencal, Japanese, and other regions of the world.
All courses are covered, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, and
desserts. Artisanal bacons are also covered, but there is nothing on
Berkshire pigs, the latest hot hog in North America. Basics are
covered, such as how bacon is produced and different international
styles from Europe, North America and China (lop yuk). The preps are
arranged by course, from apps to desserts. Most use bacon as a
substantial ingredient, not just as a flavouring. Both mail order
sources and measurements are US only.
Audience and level of use: ham and bacon lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: zapallo calabaza; tarte a la
flamme; tourtiere; adobo; Serbian bacon, bean, and cabbage soup; Santa
Fe venison sausage and Canadian bacon stew; chocolate truffles and
peameal bacon.
The downside to this book: there are no conversion charts, nor any
mention of Berkshire.
The upside to this book: a single ingredient book is always welcomed.
Quality/Price Rating: 90.

www.deantudor.com

REVIEW: TO CORK OR NOT TO CORK

TO CORK OR NOT TO CORK; tradition, romance, science, and the battle for the
wine bottle (Scribner, 2007, 278 pages, ISBN 978-0-7432-9934-3, $26US hard
covers) is by George M. Taber, author of "Judgment of Paris" a book of the
year in 2006 for Decanter magazine. And hopefully, this current book too
will also be a Book of the Year. It is the first really significant wine
book to come along in quite some time. Here is this history of sealing
bottles, how cork was discovered, how corks are made, and why corks are
possibly the best and most effective stoppers of all. If it weren't for the
TCA and chlorine compounds, life would be jolly. But it isn't. Taber goes
into the reasons for cork's sudden rise in 2,4,6,-TCA levels, as well as
other chlorine goodies. Modernization has killed the old fashioned cork.
First, the musty taste and smell from TCA's reaction to
chlorine-as-sterlizer. Second, oxidation resulted from the new bottling
lines, which demanded speed for efficiency (they put silicone finishes on
corks in order to quickly seal a bottle, but the finish created gaps
allowing wine to be exposed to air). Both of these increase defective wines
to about 15% of the total. Yet about 10% is the profit margin, and wineries
lost money here. Taber examines the Portuguese cork industry, with its lack
of quality control in the early 1970s after the revolution. He looks at new
closures such as plastic corks and Corq, glass, screw caps (and the various
liners needed), and Zorks. The first test of screw caps for wine was at
Davis in 1950. Essentially, though, it all came down to marketing. Plastic
corks were more acceptable to consumers than screw caps - and they still
are. There is a concluding bibliography (but no end notes) and an index.

Audience and level of use: people who like to read about wine and the
industry.

Some interesting or unusual facts: TCA was first identified and named in
1981. A solution was possible, but Taber says that the Portuguese ignored
the problem, hoping that it would go away. They were also afraid that if
they examined their corks, too many of the corks would be rejected.

The downside to this book: a few niggling errors (Gall sold Hearty Burgundy
at retail in five-gallon jugs? Maybe 5 litre jugs. Tin capsules? Maybe lead
capsules for a 1961 Grand Cru Bordeaux. And others...Also, there was no
mention of the "Riesling with a Twist Campaign". The index is not as
comprehensive as one would hope. If you wanted to know about New Zealand
screwcap activities (and there are two whole chapters on this), you'd never
know from the index since there is no entry for New Zealand or any
initiatives. It has all been located within the "screwcap" entry, which is a
long series of sub-entries.

The upside to this book: a well-written, fascinating account of an
engrossing subject.

Quality/Price Rating: 98.

www.deantudor.com

DRINK BOOK REVIEW: EYEWITNESS COMPANIONS: BEER

EYEWITNESS COMPANIONS: BEER (DK, 2007, 288 pages, ISBN 978-0-7566-
3155-0, $25 paper covers) has been edited by the late Michael Jackson
(he died in August, 2007), the world's leading writer on beer. He was a
multiple-award winning specialist on barley, for he also wrote about
whiskies. The book is an "illustrated portable guide to global beers".
Jackson only goes after the best beers and the top producers, and
furnishes extensive tasting notes. There's material on beer styles and
history (lager, ale, porter, krieks, etc.), how to taste and enjoy a
beer, beer and food matching, and a glossary of terms. That leaves 210
pages for beers of the world. The Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, and
the UK get the most space. Beers are arranged alphabetically within
countries. Each brewer gets a name entry, address, website, short
history-description, and a tasting note for one or more beer styles.
There are 18 breweries listed for Canada, from Amsterdam, Big Rock,
Brick, McAuslan, Moosehead, and Wellington among others. Illustrations
are colourful, and feature mainly bottles, labels, and adverts.
Audience and level of use: beer drinkers who read.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: the TN for Bud - "sweet,
grainy nose, with green apples, a light balanced body, but without
distinct flavours".
The downside to this book: major producers include Budweiser and
Miller, and they are here, adding nothing to the book.
The upside to this book: comprehensive and illustrative.
Quality/Price Rating: 90.

www.deantudor.com

Ontario Wine Society: Lailey and Southbrook Chardonnays

The Time and Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 6:30PM to 8 PM

The Event: Southbrook/Lailey Chardonnay Vertical Tasting

The Venue: Ontario Wine Society at U of T Faculty Club

The Target Audience: OWS members and guests. Fifty people attended.

The Availability/Catalogue: we tasted eight wines, four from Lailey
(2000-2006) and four from Southbrook (1997-2000). These are wines from two
different wineries, but using the same grape source (Lailey Vineyards) and
the same winemaker, Derek Barnett (for vintage 2000, he made the Southbrook
Chardonnay but did not bottle it). Both Derek and Bill Redelmeier
(Southbrook) commented on the wines. All wines were basically treated the
same way: French oak, barrel fermentation, barrel aging, and malo-lactic
fermentation.

The Quote: "Lailey Vineyards' chardonnay grapes have been growing since
1973, and they have achieved Old Vine status. But with the 2003 and 2005
vintages, a lot of the old vines died [Lailey lost 85% of all their vines in
2005], but they are being replaced."

The Wines: we began with some wines at the reception, mostly off-dry, such
as a Chardonnay Musque (too sweet), Pelee Island, Calamus, DeSousa Vidal,
etc, to a total of 9 wines. My fave - and driest - was the Hillebrand 2005
Sauvignon Blanc Barrel Aged. Here were the wines tasted; we did them all
blind (although by taste and sight it was pretty easy to figure out what the
years were; the best comparison was with the two 2000 wines as they came
from the same vineyard). We tasted them in the following order (and I was
able to guess them all except for two which I had reversed - I even managed
to distinguish between the two 2000 bottles. Write me and I'll tell you how
I did it):

* Lailey Chardonnay 2006 (not yet released, coming to Vintages in September
2008, $29.95): muted nose but full flavours, some acidity showing but not
yet balanced. Fresh fruit. QPR: 88.

* Lailey Chardonnay 2004 ($39.95, 65 cases made): good nose, toast and
butter, a bit shrill or bitter on the finish, suggesting more food than
sipping. QPR: 89.

* Southbrook Chardonnay 2000 ($33.95): new oak lends butter and
butterscotch, rich, full, voluptuous, balanced. QPR: 90.

* Lailey Chardonnay 2000 ($39.95): mute nose, good mouth feel, longer
length, some finishing acid demands food. Young at heart. No new oak. QPR:
88.

* Lailey Chardonnay 2002 ($39.95): yellow sight, some age showing, buttery,
developing well, balance, overall a good wine. QPR: 91.

* Southbrook Chardonnay 1997 (magnum, n/a): gold sight, old, marmalade (some
said madeirized, and that could be with some bottles), chunky. QPR: 85.

* Southbrook Chardonnay 1998 (magnum, n/a): well-rounded and balanced,
off-dry smoothness, integrated, overripe tropicality, high alcohol, sort of
like California. QPR: 92. (my fave)

* Southbrook Chardonnay 1999 (magnum, n/a): cream, good length and detail,
an elegant wine, suggests food, a bit perfumed in that typical Ontario
taste. QPR: 88.

The Food: buns, polenta parcels and fish cakes to start, followed by penne
in a cheese and cream sauce.

The Downside: attendance was lower than I expected, given the price and the
quality of the wines, but I heard that some members just don't like white
wines.

The Upside: a great chance to taste these wines - verticals and commonalties
are hard to find any more in the local wine scene.

The Contact Person: www.ontariowinesociety.com

The Effectiveness (numerical grade): 91.

www.deantudor.com

JANUARY -- THE RESTAURANT COOKBOOKS...

...are one of the hottest trends in cookbooks.

Actually, they've been around for many years, but never in such
proliferation. They are automatic sellers, since the book can be flogged at
the restaurant and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing
guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of
these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant.
Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the
restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special
notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or
anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of
these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the
ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more
often there is not. I'll try to point this out. The usual schtick is
"favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks". There is also PR copy on
"demystifying ethnic ingredients". PR bumpf also includes much use of the
magic phrase "mouth-watering recipes" as if that is what it takes to sell
such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that
some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don't seem to
work, but how could that be? They all claim to be kitchen tested for the
home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are
loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories
about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef
bounding about. But of course there are a lot of food shots, verging on
gastroporn. The endorsements are from other celebrities in a magnificent
case of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail
order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the
world, so don't ignore them altogether. Here's a rundown on the latest crop
of such books -

13. ELIZABETH FALKNER'S DEMOLITION DESSERTS; recipes from Citizen Cake (Ten
Speed Press, 2007, 230 pages, ISBN 978-1-58008-781-0, $35US hard covers) is
by the chef/owner of Citizen Cake, Citizen Cupcake, and Orson in San
Francisco. She was a pastry chef of the year in 2006 (Bon Appetit), and has
appeared regularly on the Food Network, including "Iron Chef America".
Notable log rollers for the book include Mario Batali and four other chefs.
But why also Robin Williams? Here are 65 or so dessert recipes, with lots of
colour photography for the preps and (too many) location shots. The 10
anime-style sequences can appeal to a young audience; they illustrate key
techniques and ingredient information throughout the book. Most of the preps
are elaborate and somewhat complex, but they have been adapted to home
kitchens. Each comes with a preparation timeline for organization and mise
en place, and there is also a "minimalist" version for those who are pressed
for time. Commercial chefs scale everything by weight. Falkner lists both
home cooking volumes and scaling for the ingredients, and this is a good
thing, since only scaling is accurate. Thus, under apple galettes, we read
that you can prepare the puff pastry up to one month in advance, make the
caramel sauce one week in advance, and what to do just before serving. The
minimalist version suggests making strip tarts rather than the puff pastry.
For the ingredients, you'll need 2 cups (or 10 ounces) of flour, 12
tablespoons (6 ounces) of cold unsalted butter, etc. She opens the book
with - what else? - chocolate chip cookies. She follows with chocolate
desserts, fruit, cupcakes, "classics", and heavy construction and layering.
The publisher has a metric conversion chart at the back. Check out
www.citizencake.com.

Quality/Price Rating: 90.

14. THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY COOKBOOK; a taste of Provence (ThreeForks, 2008;
distr. Canadian Manda Group, 162 pages, ISBN 978-0-7627-4375-9, $24.95 US
hard covers) is by Scott Cohen, executive chef of Las Canarias and Pesca on
the River, both in San Antonio. Co-author Marian Betancourt is a freelance
food writer with an immense string of credits to her name. Notable
logrollers include Jacques Pepin and Ed Brown (Eight One Restaurant in NYC).
After 15 years in New York (this after a stagiaire in France), Cohen moved
out to Texas. Here they present about 100 recipes derived from his two
places, and they are reflective of the landscape. But I rather think that it
more Sonoma than Provence, since many of the dishes had that Southwest
flavour. Typical dishes include black olive tapenade with pickled nopalitos,
tuna tartare with sesame seeds and serrano, squash blossom roasted corn
huitacoche soup, red snapper cioppino, pissaladiere with goat cheese,
cauliflower mashes with mexican oregano. There is the usual equipment and
pantry inventory advice, condiments, sources in the surrounding Texas Hill
country area, and a metric conversion table. This is reliable and do-able
cooking. Quality/Price Rating: 89.

15. THE BOSTON CHEF'S TABLE; the best in contemporary cuisine (ThreeForks,
2008; distr. Canadian Manda Group, 234 pages, ISBN 978-0-7627-4514-2, $24.95
US hard covers) has been assembled by Clara Silverstein, a former food
writer with the Boston Herald. She has collected and highlighted over 100
recipes from chefs in the Boston area, including Todd English, Jasper White,
and Lydia Shire. Chapters are arranged by course (appetizers to desserts and
brunch), and the recipes - of course - have been modified for home use. Each
prep gets an entry for the restaurant, along with names and addresses and
web sites. Sometimes cook's notes are offered. And there is always a
mini-profile of the establishment, sometime with a photo. Thus, for New
England cheese pie there is an entry for Meritage at the Boston Harbor
Hotel, under Executive Chef Daniel Bruce. There's lobster and sweet potato
cakes from Ned Devine's at Faneuil Hall, scallops with turnip puree from
Blu, beet and kale risotto from L'Espalier, and baked lemon pudding from
Locke-Ober. Restaurants and recipes are indexed together, and there is a
metric conversion chart for the US measurements. Quality/Price rating: 90.

16. BISTRO LAURENT TOURONDEL; new American bistro cooking (John Wiley, 2008,
286 pages, ISBN 978-0-471-75883-9, $34.95US hard covers) is by the eponymous
Executive Chef who has more than six restaurants in the US. He was named
Restaurateur of the Year for 2007 by Bob Appetit. Food author Michele
Scicolone is the co-writer. Noted logrollers include the usual team of
Batali and Flay. Here, Tourondel has 150 recipes derived from his
restaurants, which have been described as "traditional French bistro with
the a la carte options of an American steakhouse." An initial response might
be: "how thrilling!" But ultimately this is global fusion cuisine with a
multiplicity of flavours centered around a core of meat or seafood tones.
The range, and table of contents, moves from appetizers through to desserts:
grilled white asparagus, egg, prosciutto, black truffle vinaigrette; green
papaya chicken salad; spicy curry duck noodles; potato-watercress soup, blue
cheese and bacon; roasted cod fish, herb-bacon crust; dried apricot bread
pudding. US volume measurements for each ingredient are used, but there is
no table of metric equivalents (except for oven temperatures). He has a
special section on techniques, but there are still too many extraneous
photos of the chef and his resto at work. Wine suggestions and cook's tips
are exceedingly useful. Mail order sources are all US, mostly within
striking distance of New York City. Quality/Price rating: 87.

17. NEW WORLD PROVENCE; modern French cooking for friends and family
(Arsenal Pulp Books, 2007, 216 pages, ISBN 978-1-55152-223-4, $22.95US soft
covers) is by the husband-and-wife team of Alessandra and Jean-Francis
Quaglia. They met while working at restos in Nice. They opened their first
Provence restaurant in Vancouver in 1997, and their second in 2002. Here are
130 healthy and simple recipes based on their resto menus. Antipasti comes
first (I'm allowing that word since the Italians were all over Provence
before the French were), followed by appetizers and the rest of the courses.
For some reason, there is a chapter on Brunch, between the Meat Mains and
the Desserts. Try sauteed squid with chili-citrus vinaigrette; salade
forestiere; roasted vegetable tartelettes with sun-dried tomatoes; fennel
pollen-dusted wild salmon with lemon aioli; pear and fig torte. The preps
are more Northern Mediterranean rather than Provencal, but it is all the
same related cuisine. The narrative material and cook's tips are a bit
memoirish, and there are extraneous photos of the authors and/or staff and
friends standing around or preparing something, rather than pictures about
the plated food. US volume and metric weight measures are mingled and
inconsistent; there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price rating:
86.

18. ONE POT ITALIAN COOKING (Whitecap, 2007, 192 pages, ISBN
978-1-55285-900-1, $29.95 paper covers) is by Massimo Capra, co-owner and
chef of Mistura in Toronto. He appears regularly on the Food Network, and
this book is endorsed by two other Food Network regulars, Lynn Crawford
(Four Seasons in NYC) and Michael Smith. It is a strange book for Capra to
author, since he runs an upscale Italian resto at Av and Dav in Toronto. One
pot? Does Mistura even do one pot cooking? Well, yes it does:
balsamic-glazed lamb ribs, which has been and still is a fixture on their
menu. He says that lamb ribs are hard to find (probably because his resto
has cornered the market on them!) but worth the effort. Here are more than
100 "easy" and "authentic" recipes. One pot is also to taken to mean one
skillet or one sauce pan as well. So we get soups, stews and braises,
sautees, and desserts. Most of the food is definitely rustic. Try Tuscan
cabbage soup (ribollita), chestnut polenta, farmer's risotto, garganelli
with fava beans and prosciutto, chicken rolls with eggplant, or Lombardy
sand cake.

Quality/Price rating: 90.

www.deantudor.com

BORDEAUX 2005 in Toronto, Canada, Jan 22/08

The Time and Date: Tuesday January 22, 2008 2PM to 4 PM

The Event: Vintages Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux 2005 Tasting Event,
for the trade. Over 100 wines from over 75 chateaux.

The Venue: Four Seasons Hotel, Regency Ballroom

The Target Audience: wine media, sommeliers, food and beverage managers.

The Availability/Catalogue: many of the vaunted, ripe and
classically-structured 2005 wines were available for pre-order. This was not
strictly a futures event, and stock will begin to arrive over the next few
seasons. But many could still be pre-ordered by Feb 8/08. My tasting
catalogue, as with all previous LCBO tasting catalogues, was well-laid out,
clear, had prices, and connected well with the labels on or at the tables.
And as with all previous LCBO catalogues, this one fell apart after 30
minutes. Their printer has a problem with staples.

The Quote: "What vintage is this wine?" - gushed-heard from one young blonde
lady. Did she not know where she was? Or was she a gate crasher?

The Wines: I could not taste every single red wine, but I tried. I did not
taste any white Pessac or any Sauternes/Barsac, for there was no time and
palate left. The best wine values of the show were Chateau Beaumont ($19.85)
from Haut Medoc and Chateau Greysac from Medoc (not available for purchase,
but regularly selling for under $20 US). Both were well-aged already, ripe,
and with a textbook mouthfeel and length, and exceptional at the price:
these are wines to have while waiting for the other 2005s to come around.
Here were my faves of the show (not in any order except by stars), although
just about all of them are closed:

**** Four Stars (90 - 93 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

- Château Chasse-Spleen ($65)

- Château Phelan-Segur ($70)

- Château Talbot ($72)

- Château La Conseillante ($309)

- Château Leoville Barton ($309)

- Château Troplong Mondot ($329)

- Château Angelus ($392; $784 for magnum)

- Château Lynch-Bages ($215)

- Château Figeac ($174)

- Château Pichon-Baron ($197)

- Château La Couspaude ($99)

- Château La Lagune ($109)

- Château Canon ($133)

- Château Leoville-Poyferre ($199)

- Château Beau-Sejour Becot ($114; $228 for a magnum)

- Château Langoa Baron ($113)

- Château Clarke ($32)

- Château La Gaffelière ($110)

- Château Poujeaux ($47)

- Château Dufort-Vivens ($54)

- Château La Dominique ($73)

- Château Lagrange ($96)

*** Three Stars (86 - 89 in Quality/Price Rating terms):

- Château Dassault ($54)

- Château Camensac ($36)

- Château Grand Puy Ducasse ($46)

- Château Bouscaut ($42)

- Domaine de Chevalier ($82)

- Château Latour-Martillac ($49)

- Château Smith Haut-Lafitte ($125)

- Château Canon-La-Gaffelière ($138)

- Château La Dominique ($73)

- Château Beauregard ($55)

- Château Branaire-Ducru ($160)

- Château Léoville-Barton ($309)

- Château Haut-Bages Libéral ($85)

- Château Lynch-Bages ($215)

- Château Pichon-Longueville ($198, $396 magnum)

The Food: hard to beat duck terrine, chicken liver mousse, roquefort cheese,
stilton, brie, dried fruit, several kinds of breads, and the like.

The Downside: it may have been just a trade function, with tastings rather
than orders, but does that excuse a certain rudeness from many of the French
pourers? They talked amongst themselves while we were standing in front of
them, waiting for wine to be poured, glasses outstretched so that there
would be no mistake about what we wanted. Other pourers were writing notes
and text messaging. And it wasn't just to me either...On the other hand, the
LCBO Product Consultants were lively and alert, as if to compensate.

The Upside: a great opportunity to taste some serious wines at serious
prices.

The Contact Person: try Shari Mogk-Edwards through www.vintages.com.

The Effectiveness (numerical grade): 95.

www.deantudor.com

AUDIO REVIEW: IN DEFENSE OF FOOD; an eater's manifesto

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD; an eater's manifesto (Penguin Audio, 2008, unabridged,
6.5 hours on 5 CDs, ISBN 978-0-14-314274-4, $38.50 Canadian) is by Michael
Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma", which was the top-rated
non-fiction book of 2006. The picture of leaf lettuce on the cover pretty
well tells it all; it is accompanied by the text: "Eat food. Not too much.
Mostly plants." Some of this material was previously published last year in
the New York Times' magazine; that article was meant as a follow-up to his
2006 book. As he plainly makes clear, the real evil in food is the ideology
that controls everyday eating. Pollan calls it "nutritionism"; it promotes
nutrients above the food itself. In many ways, it is a lot like the movement
of the late 19th century with Kellogg and Graham and their flours and foods.
When you diet, you end up changing your balance of nutrients in your foods.
Thus, a low-fat diet becomes a high-carb diet. When "additives" and
"supplements" provide nutrients, you really don't know if they will work in
the same way as in "food". Another argument against nutritionism is that new
discoveries and new research methods have overturned the past: butter is
better than its trans-fat replacement, free-range food is better that
battery food, no fresh eggs were used in the 1960s cholesterol trials
(frozen and powdered eggs were used, and that skewed the results), fat is a
carrier in our bodies for natural nutrients and thus must be present in our
diet. He goes on to show that many studies were flawed. For example, a half
billion dollar eight year study of low-fat diets for women showed that the
target range of 20% of total calories from fat intake was never achieved.
The lowest it got was 29%. Because food corporations make their money on
both novelties and long shelf lives, then all processed foods should be
avoided. He produces what we can call the "The Michael Rules". Some don't
rules: don't eat food incapable of rotting; don't eat food with unfamiliar
ingredients and/or HFCS (high fructose corn syrup); don't eat food that make
health claims or are dietary supplements. Some do rules: do eat mostly
plants (especially leaves); do eat wild foods; do pay more to eat less; do
have a glass of wine with dinner. This book has been read by actor and
writer Scott Brick, who also narrated the 2006 "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

Audience and level of use: For retrovores (those who eat food that was
raised the way they used to be raised) -- anyone concerned about what they
eat, or looking for guidance on how to eat wisely.

Some interesting or unusual facts: "I'm hoping this book will give people
tools so they don't have to be dependent on people like me"

The downside to this book: while he has good material on fructose corn
syrup, he has nothing on the other devil, MSG, nor on preservatives in
general. While all the text is here in unabridged format, there is no
listing of the reading sources nor of the index and websites, which is a
shame. Quality/Price Rating: 94.

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JANUARY 2008: 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. Here are some recent "re-editions"...

* BILLY'S BEST BOTTLES; wines for 2008 (McArthur & Co., 2007, 200
pages, ISBN 978-1-55278-683-3, $21.96 spiral bound) is now in its 18th
edition. I got it too late for inclusion in my annual gift article,
wherein I discussed other wine annuals. The wines in Billy's listings
are all available at the LCBO's General List and some as Vintages
Essentials, in Ontario; most will also be found in other provinces and
American states. He leads off with his plea for wine drinking by mood,
and this mood determines the strength level of the wine. His "Wine By
Mood Spectrum Chart" (also at www.billysbestbottles.com) is for food
and mood matches, based on fresh wines, medium (body) wines, and rich
wines, subdivided by white and red. This is the "Six Pack" approach to
wine drinking. Each wine has advice on how to serve plus plenty of food
matches and ideas (but the recommendations for pizza are for tomato-
sauce and cheese pizzas only). There is a wine calendar for upcoming
events in Ontario, but mainly for the GTA region. Wines are indexed by
category and by country. But this index can be ripped out in the book
store for a listing of the 200 or so wines. This is the major drawback
of any spiral bound book. Also, there are not many details about grape
varieties for the Euro wines. But it exhibits a no-nonsense commonsense
approach to wine, and there is an updated list of touring wineries in
Ontario. Quality/Price rating: 87.

* WEEK IN WEEK OUT; 52 seasonal stories (Quadrille, 2007, 255 pages,
ISBN 978-1-84400-502-4, $45US hard covers) is by Simon Hopkinson,
former chef at Bibendum (1987-1995). He is now a full time UK food
writer. The material in this volume was previously published in The
Independent Saturday magazine between December 1994 and April 2002. If
necessary, Hopkinson reworked the recipe. Jason Lowe was the original
photographer, and he is back with some presumably new settings. There
are 52 productions here, beginning with Winter and moving through
Autumn. It is an eclectic mix, relying on seasonal availability. All
recipes, of course, are for home use. Each week Hopkinson focused on a
particular ingredient or foodie topic at the time. The recipes take
their lead from the time of year, and usually there are three or so
each week. Try roast quails with butter and lemon; tomatoes stuffed
with crab and basil; cold veal with sliced egg and anchovy sauce; hot
strawberry and almond pie. Quality/Price rating: 88.

* MICHAEL BROADBENT'S POCKET VINTAGE WINE COMPANION (Harcourt, 2007,
408 pages, ISBN 978-0-15-101261-9, $22US hard covers) is by Michael
Broadbent, MW, probably the most experienced fine-wine taster in the
world, with 55 years and more in the wine trade. He also writes a
monthly column for Decanter (and has done so for the past 30 years).
This "pocket" book, in a decent 4.83 x 6.75 size, in two colours (black
and red inks), updates his previous 2002 book, MICHAEL BROADBENT'S
VINTAGE WINE; fifty years of tasting three centuries of wine at $80, so
it is a bargain book. He's shortened the format, leaving out much
material from the original 560 large size pages. The original big book
began life in 1980, with a revision in 1991 and 2002. This, then, is a
third revision, and certainly more affordable. Dropped are his profiles
of personalities and many of his anecdotes. Also dropped are Madeira
entries, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, various appendices
and indexes. Added are updated notes over the past five years, and a
re-assessment of all vintages.
The sources for his wine notes are from collectors' cellars, wine
auctions, legendary tastings, wine society events, and his own personal
cellar. He is not consumer-driven like Robert Parker. Most tasting
notes have been rewritten and made smaller. France gets 300 pages,
Germany 45 pages, California has 20 pages, and Vintage Ports get 25
pages. Bordeaux has the biggest chunk of space, naturally, for it has
long lasting, mostly expensive, and widely available wine (plus of
course the Brits are just across the Channel from Bordeaux and have an
intimate history of involvement in the wine trade, as with Madeira and
Port). Bordeaux is the wine which turns up in cellars and auctions
everywhere. Most of the whites here are Sauternes. Red Burgundy is
mostly DRC. Icewines? Well, none from Canada, but there are a handful
from Germany (eiswein). There is also a chart specifying ullage levels
and wine terms. Quality/Price rating: 95.

* THE GOOD HOUSEKEEPING COOKBOOK; 1,039 recipes from America's favorite
test kitchen. Rev. ed. (Hearst Books, 2007; distr. Canadian Manda
Group, 608 pages, ISBN 978-1-58816-561-9, $24.95US hard covers) has
been edited by Susan Westmoreland, the Food Director of "Good
Housekeeping". It has been often revised over the years; indeed, I grew
up with previous editions. It's a basic book, nothing too fancy,
arranged by product or course. Thus, there are chapters on appetizers,
soups, stews, quick and easy weeknight meals, quickbreads, desserts, as
well as products such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, veggies
and fruit. The boards inside the covers have tables of equivalents,
substitutions, pan volumes, and food equivalents. There are test
kitchen tips strewn throughout. The pages are clay coated which allows
for colour photography, an added bonus. Plus the pages clean up better
should you spill any foods or oils on them. More recipes are at
www.goodhousekeeping.com. The book jacket says: "By the time our
recipes appear on these pages, they are guaranteed to work in any
kitchen, including yours. We promise." Quality/Price rating: 90.

* SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND; with eight around the table (Quadrille,
2006, 2007, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-84400-507-9, $29.95US soft covers) is
by Ruth Watson, an award-winning UK food writer and food editor (Daily
Mail). She has twice won the Glenfiddich Award. This book was
originally published in 2006 in hard covers, and the paperback reprint
is a straight reissue, right down to the Jamie Oliver logrolling. The
basic intent is to provide stress-free weekend entertaining, when you
can be focused entirely on the guests and the meals. All of the recipes
can be prepared in advance, or made to a quick cook stage a la minute.
No cook starters are emphasized, as well as one-pot dishes or roasts.
The key, of course, is planning. British emphasis. Quality/Price
rating: 85.

* THE 100-MILE DIET; a year of local eating (Vintage Canada, 2007, 266
pages, ISBN 978-0-679-31483-7, $19.95 paper covers) is by Alisa Smith
and J.B. MacKinnon, a couple living in Vancouver. They are both authors
and magazine writers. This current book is the 2007 paperback reprint
of the hard back book. They make a year-long attempt to eat only food
grown and produced with a 100-mile radius of their apartment in
Vancouver. They did it when they discovered that the food ingredients
that we eat have traveled 1500 miles on average. It's a little easier
to do this on the west coast where the climate is milder and the
growing season is longer. But there is no denying that imported foods
such as coffee and chocolate would have to go, as well as non-BC wines.
For Ontario, we'll have to eat a lot of root veggies and hydroponics.
But no matter...The book is well-written and enjoyable on its own
terms: it makes you think. Quality/Price rating: 91.

* NEW GOOD FOOD; essential ingredients for cooking and eating well.
(Ten Speed Press, 2007, 284 pages, ISBN 978-1-58008-750-6, $19.95US
paper covers) is by Margaret M. Wittenberg, global VP of Whole Foods
Market, where she has worked since 1981. Logrollers include Mollie
Katzen and Heidi Swanson, but, really, only Marion Nestle counts here.
The book was originally published in 1995; here, it has been
extensively revised and expanded. For years it had been a bible for
buying, storing and preparing whole foods. There are seven new
chapters, including one on whole grains. Grass-fed beef and antibiotic
use in meat production is covered, as well as organic labeling and new
nutritional findings. She also covers fruits and vegetables, breads,
pasta and noodles, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, oils, poultry and
eggs, dairy products, seafood, and seasonings. Just about everything
mentioned can be found at the larger health and natural food stores
(think: Whole Foods), so that makes the book exceedingly useful. Other
useful items include seasonal produce charts and preparation advice. No
recipes, but there are cooking guidelines for each product. It is nice
to see that the bibliography has very few articles from before 1995.
Quality/Price rating: 92.

* ONE-DISH VEGETARIAN MEALS; 150 easy, wholesome, and delicious soups,
stews, casseroles, stir-fries, pastas, rice dishes, chilies, and more
(Harvard Common Press, 2007; distr. National Book Network, 200 pages,
ISBN 978-1-55832-369-8, $29US hard covers) is by Robin Robertson,
cookbook author (she's written about 14 of them), chef, and vegetarian-
cooking instructor. The book collects the best recipes from three
earlier works ("Rice & Spice". "Pasta for All Seasons", and "The
Vegetarian Chili Cookbook"). I assume that one-third of the recipes
come from each book. But all courses and forms are covered anyway,
including lunches, dinners, workdays and weekends. There are also
dairy-free options. Quality/Price rating: 88.

* HISTORY IN A GLASS; sixty years of wine writing from Gourmet (Modern
Library, 2006, 2007, 376 pages, ISBN 978-0-8129-7194-1, $16.95US paper
covers) has been edited by Ruth Reichl, the current editor of Gourmet
magazine. It is a companion piece to Endless Feasts, which was a
collection of food essays from sixty years of Gourmet. The current book
was originally published in 2006 in hard cover; this is the paperback
reprint. The seventeen writers here include Gerald Asher and Frank
Schoonmaker, who were long time regular columnists. Hugh Johnson, James
Beard, Andre L. Simon, and Frederick S. Wildman Jr. are other notables.
There's a lot of American history here, beginning with Repeal and the
War. Madeira, pinot noir, Ray Bradbury's dandelion wine, Oregon,
Washington, Chile, Spain, Chianti, sherry and others complete the
picture. Well worth a read. Quality/Price rating: 90.

* THE BEST LIFE DIET (Simon & Schuster, 2007, 283 pages, ISBN 978-1-
4166-8492-6, $17.50US soft covers) is by Bob Greene, an exercise
physiologist and certified personal trainer specializing in fitness,
metabolism, and weight loss. He has written 10 other similar life-
altering books. This is a paperback reprint of the 2006 hard cover, a
monster of a bestseller. It details a diet plan, lifestyle advice, and
healthful recipes. This is the guy who helped Oprah Winfrey shed a lot
of weight. Here are any menus along with recipes for several weeks'
worth of eating. But don't forget the exercise. He has metric
conversion charts as well. Check out his website www.thebestlife.com
for more material. Quality/Price rating: 89.

* PASTA PASSION (Quadrille, 2007; distr. Ten Speed, 304 pages, ISBN
978-1-84400-449-2, $18.95US paper covers) is by Ursula Ferrigno, a
chef, consultant, and food writer who specializes in Italian cuisine.
It was originally published in 2003, and has now been revised and re-
laid out. The hook here is that pasta is a) a staple, b)a five minute
meal, and c)a source of energy complex carbohydrates. She data on pasta
shapes (and which sauces are best matches for which shapes) and fresh
pasta. 150 recipes range from the basic (spaghetti with red peppers and
tomatoes) to the upscale (vincigrassi aperto: open lasagna with cep
mushrooms and prosciutto). Topics include light and healthy recipes,
make aheads, and everyday, as well as easy and impressive recipes.
There are even some dessert recipes (e.g., Neapolitan ricotta tart)
which use pasta. Quality/Price rating: 88.

* SPICE; recipes to delight the senses (Periplus, 2005, 2007, 273
pages, ISBN 978-0-7946-0489-9, $39.95US hard covers) is by Christine
Mansfield, an Australian chef now working in Covent Garden's East@West.
She is also a cookbook writer, and this is her fourth such book. It was
originally published in 1999 and revised and updated in 2005. This is
it's first North American appearance. Aromatics are used from Sri
Lanka, Japan, Singapore, Tunisia, China, Thailand and China. It now
comes with an introduction by Charlie Trotter. There is an extensive
glossary of the major spices in the world, followed by material on dry
spice blends (garam masala, curry, berbere, five spice powder (although
the Chinese version has six spices, two [anise and fennel] with the
same flavour profile), wet spice pastes, condiments, oils, and sauces.
The arrangement is apps to desserts. There is a 10 page discussion on
matching wines to spices, and this is quite good and useful. She has an
international list of spice suppliers and a bibliography;
unfortunately, the book listings appear not to have been updated since
the 1999 edition. Try pepper sourdough bread; chili cumin dal; eggplant
masala; chicken livers with pickled lamb's tongue, mustard spaghetti
and garlic sauce. Quality/Price rating: 89.

* THE GLOBAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WINE (Wine Appreciation Guild, 2000, 2001,
912 pages plus CD-ROM, ISBN 978-1-891267-38-3, $75US) has been edited
by Peter Forrestal. Here are 36 wine experts who cover various regions;
they are all named. Tony Aspler deals with Canada. The book was
originally published in Australia and was reprinted by the WAG. I have
no idea why I was sent a review copy, for the book is neither new nor
up-to-date. Yet the book proclaims "Another feature of this massive
book is that it is up to date...This book has run to a tight schedule
without compromising its integrity." There are two paragraphs detailing
how they cracked the whip in order to keep the book current - but only
as of 2000. Hey, there have been tremendous changes since 2000! Good
pictures and maps, but shame about the text. To compound the matter,
the book was apparently mailed to me at the end of October 2007, but
sat in the San Francisco post office until the end of 2007. Ah, well.
The one real redeeming value is the CD-ROM which allows for single word
searches and contextualizing. Quality/Price ratio: unrated.

* COCKTAILS; style recipes (Simon and Schuster, 2005, 2008, 96 pages,
ISBN 978-1-4165-7101-8, $15.95US paper covers) is by food and drink
writer-editor-author Norman Kolpas. It is a paperback reissue of his
2005 book. There are over 50 easy-to-make drinks, both contemporary and
classic, plus tips and ideas for party planning. It has been organized
by type of drink and type of occasion, featuring stunning photography.
The book concludes with a glossary and an index. Quality/Price rating:
85.

* THE INSULIN-RESISTANCE DIET. 2d ed. Rev. and exp. (McGraw-Hill, 2008,
240 pages, ISBN 978-0-07-149984-2, $16.95US soft covers) is by Cheryle
Hart, M.D., and Mary Kay Grossman, R.D. This book originally came out
in 2001, and since then it has sold 150,000 copies. The eating plan
here is fully described: how to lose weight by linking carbs and
proteins to control blood sugar. Or, as the authors state: "How to turn
off your body's fat-making machine". The latest info is, of course,
incorporated into the text. The authors claim that 95% of their
patients successfully lose weight using their plan's Link-and-Balance
Eating Method, self-tests, and food lists. 45 recipes are included, as
well as shopping and restaurant strategies. Quality/Price rating: 91.

* THE RIVER COTTAGE MEAT BOOK (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004, 2007; distr.
McArthur, 544 pages, ISBN 978-0-340-82638-6, $29.95 soft covers) is by
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a UK writer and Channel Four broadcaster.
He lives at "River Cottage" in Dorset, and fights for real food and
meat in England. This is his third cookbook in the River Cottage
series. It was published in 2004, and here gets a paperback reprint at
a reduced price. The original edition sold 165,000 copies, so lots of
people are eating lots of meat. This is a tightly researched, from a
British perspective, book on meats such as beef, lamb, pork, poultry,
and game. There is a side excursion into offal. 40% of the book is
about meat; the rest is about recipes scattered amongst cooking
techniques with their own chapters (roasting, slow cooking, fast
cooking, barbecuing, preserving and processing, and using leftovers in
soups and stocks. There is a bibliography and a British resources list
of suppliers. He includes a small section on a dozen mood categories,
with page references. So for "Sheer Comfort", we can have cold roast
beef open sandwich, rice pudding pork, daube, beef in stout, Irish
stew, red flannel has, spaghetti bolognese, and others. All the dishes
we associate with the UK are here, such as steak and kidney pie, jugged
hare, roast belly of pork, roast grouse, oxtail stew, pork pie, and
roast beef (the full monty, he says). Of course, his shepherd's pie is
made with lamb. Many more details are at www.rivercottage.net. Quality/Price
rating: 89.

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