IDIOTS' GUIDES WINE (Alpha, 2013, 262 pages, ISBN 978-1-61564-416-
2, $19.95 US paper covers) is by Stacy Slinkard, sommelier and wine
editor of About.com, and wine educator. What distinguishes Idiot Guides
from all the other such introductory tools is the use of colour and
clay-based paper. So: if a picture is worth a thousand words, then this
is the basic wine guide for you. It is loaded with maps, labels,
vineyards, and the like. But in essence, it gives the bare bones of
wine varieties (the top 8) and vintages, Old world vs. New world, tips
for matching/pairing wines with food, and how to find wines that you
will enjoy. For us here in Canada, the section on local wines is
laughable (three pages, frozen vineyards and grapes, three producers –
even Virginia gets four producers). But hey – it is all so simple that
it can be memorized for your next dinner/patio party.
Audience and level of use: beginner
Some interesting or unusual facts: "Situated on opposite sides of
Canada, British Columbia and Ontario are…" Really?
The downside to this book: "The coveted juice is bottled in half-
bottles" – I think the grape juice used in ice wine has to be fermented
first.
The upside to this book: lots of pictures.
Quality/Price Rating: 79.
4. BULLETS AND BREAD; the World War II story of feeding Americans at
home and on the battlefield (History Publishing Co., 2013, 330 pages,
ISBN 978-1-933909-75-2, $28.95 US hard covers) is by Kent Whitaker, a
food writer and book author who also specializes in the history of food
and nutrition in American conflicts such as the Civil War and WWII.
Here he delves into food during 1941-1945, concentrating on "chow" –
the military cooks and what was provided by the government, plus what
citizens at home ate during rationing. There are chapters on canned
chow, both Allied and Axis rations, training for cooks, chow on trucks-
planes-boast-battleships, food for the invasions in Italy and France,
Victory Gardens and home rationing. As he says, he examines the food
supply chain and the transformation of the food industry needed to feed
a military that grew from one million to ten million over night.
There's a large chapter on "memories", a sort of oral history or
reprints of remembrances, with many photos and illustrations. This is
followed by some recipes, based on pamphlets and cooking manuals of the
time. It is a bit of a hodge-podge, but it is cohesively laid out with
readable typefaces. He ends with a huge list of military museums and
their libraries that he visited, along with websites.
Audience and level of use: military historians, culinary historians,
reference libraries.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: army cakes (hot cakes),
ration muffins, vegetable omelet, dishes with SPAM, SOS for the home,
kale and rice ring, meatless bean recipes.
The downside to this book: some of the writing style in the first part
is a bit turgid, but the overall impressions can be savoured and the
points get across.
The upside to this book: lots of adverts, photos, reproductions (all
black and white).
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
5. EATS; enjoy all the seconds (Advantage, 2013, 252 pages, ISBN 978-1-
59932-386-2, $29.99 CAN paper covers) is by Mary Rolph Lamontagne, who
went to cooking school in Paris and then returned to Montreal to work
as a food writer for the French Canadian magazine Recevoir. Since 2005
she's been a food consultant and teacher in South Africa. Here she
concentrates on leftovers (she has had to be frugal with food in the
South African game lodges). She makes suggestions for using up
leftovers or excess from a garden or farmer's market. I know myself
that I suffer from overzealous shopping, so the book will prove
invaluable for still more ideas. Indeed, I've now gone beyond leftovers
and seconds. To me, my problem is what I call "holdovers", third
helpings of the same food. Personally, I can reduce everything to a
sauce or to a stuffing. She's prepared fruit and veggies in master
recipes which can then be re-invented into three or four other
components. There are 135 preps for 12 fruits and 15 veggies, which she
has divided by colour: the greens, the purples, the reds, the yellows,
and the whites. Preparations have their ingredients listed in
avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
For more ideas, visit savourandsave.com.
Audience and level of use: home cooks
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: for red cabbage, there is
red cabbage salad, cabbage and apple soup shooters, sweet-and-sour red
cabbage, Asian chicken salad, and fish tacos with cumin-scented
cucumber and cabbage slaw.
The downside to this book: I wanted more recipes.
The upside to this book: there are multiple indexes, by course, dish,
and ingredient.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
6. KEEPERS (Rodale, 2013, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-60961-354-9, $26.99 US
hard covers) is by Kathy Brennan and Carolina Campion, who have both
won culinary awards and worked for Saveur, among other magazines. The
subtitle says it all: "two home cooks share their tried-and-true
weeknight recipes and the secrets to happiness in the kitchen". Well,
they may be home cooks, but they have a terrific amount of experience,
more than you or I. There is also some heavy duty logrolling from
people such as Daniel Boulud. It is a folksy book, mainly for families
during the week, the key to which is, of course, ORGANIZING. The preps
are mains and sides, with a selection of sauces and dressings. There
are recipe indexes by category (extra-fast, popular with kids,
vegetarian, etc.) and by ingredient. There are also lots of tips
throughout the book. Preparations have their ingredients listed in
avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: homemakers
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: black bean and butternut
squash enchiladas, Asian pork sliders, Japanese style meat and
potatoes, "jump-in-the-mouth" turkey cutlets, adobe-style chicken
wings.
The downside to this book: maybe a little too much emphasis on
lifestyle in yet another family cook book?
The upside to this book: lots of leading and a large typeface.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
7. FISH; 54 seafood feasts (Chronicle Books, 2013, 228 pages, ISBN 978-
1-4521-0948-0, $27.50 US hard covers) is by Cree LeFavour, a cookbook
writer and author of Poulet. Here she looks at shellfish, fillets, and
crustaceans, organized into 54 set meals. It is arranged by
international region: American, European, Latin, East Asian, South
Asian, and Middle Eastern/African. LaFavour has chosen fish that are
sustainable, abundant, and flavourful. She has a long list of what to
avoid and what to buy – there is still plenty of choice out there at
the market, but one is limited sometimes by a restaurant menu.
Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and
avoirdupois measurements, but there is no separate table of
equivalents.
Audience and level of use: fish lovers, and those wishing to know more
about sustainability.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: braised squid, prawn-studded
Persian rice, grilled shrimp kebabs, kimchi oyster dogs, Ramen noodle
bowl, wok-braised haddock, yellowfin tuna sliders, panfried lime-
chipotle tilapia, Kauai ahi poke.
The downside to this book: my eyes got fatigued looking at the
typewriter-style typeface, which is the same (Courier) as I have looked
at for the past 50 years.
The upside to this book: my fave picture is the last one in the book.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
8. CARAMEL (Gibbs Smith, 2013, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-4236-3212-2,
$24.99 US hard covers) is by Carole Bloom, who has written ten other
books about chocolate, desserts, pastries, candy, and even some for the
Dummy series. Here the emphasis is on the brown side of food, including
caramelizing: cakes, cupcakes, brownies, tarts, pie, cookies, custards,
mousses, parfaits, ice cream, candies, just about everything imaginable
that can be browned. Preparations have their ingredients listed in
avoirdupois measurements for both volume and weight. There are also
tables of metric equivalents. Introductory notes cover caramel,
butterscotch, toffee, and brittle. There is a sources list, but mainly
for equipment.
Audience and level of use: pastry cooks, caramel lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: dulce de leche sandwich
cookies, hazelnut praline biscotti, caramelized upside down pear tart,
caramel pecan cake squares, caramel buttercream frosting, chocolate
dulce de leche pecan pie.
The downside to this book: no gluten-free flours are used.
The upside to this book: excellent photography of sweets.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
9. SLOW COOKING FOR TWO; basics, techniques, recipes (Gibbs Smith,
2013, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-4236-3383-9, $19.99 US hard covers) is by
Cynthia Gaubert, co-author with Nathalie Dupree of Mastering the Art of
Southern Cooking (2013 Beard winner) and Southern Biscuits. Here she
deals with a busy two-person household who need a low maintenance food
pattern. All the preps were done in a Cuisinart brand slow cooker; it
uses the same amount of electricity as a 75 watt bulb. What's different
about this book is the concept of Double Dinners. Most cuts of beef and
chicken are sold in packages designed to serve four or more people. Her
Double Dinner recipes call for using slow cooker liners as separate
cooking bags to cook TWO entirely different recipes in the same
implement at the same time, using the total supermarket package. For
example, the smallest chuck roast at her store is two pounds. She cuts
it in half and makes two entirely different meals with liners,
following two separate recipes. One gets eaten now, the other tomorrow
or whenever (it will not be a leftover). She has also developed a slow
cooker pantry: refrigerator, freezer and dry. All courses are
presented. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois
measurements, but there is a table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: slow cooker appliance owners.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: Cornish hen in port wine and
fig preserves, bulgur pilaf, potato gratin, kale and kielbasa soup,
banana bread, ginger peach butter,
The downside to this book: there is enough white space to allow for a
casserole version of many dishes, for those without slow cookers.
The upside to this book: Double Dinner idea.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
10. HOME BREW BEER (DK Publishing, 2013, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-
0983-6, $22 US hard covers) is by Greg Hughes, co-owner of BrewUK, an
online brewing website. He also organizes beer competitions. It is a
fun book – anyone can make their own beer, from a simple kit or from an
elaborate setup with friends. There are 100 recipes here from around
the world, in different styles, with colour photos of techniques and
the finished beers. The range includes lagers and ales, wheat beers,
herb-spice-fruit beers, all with different levels of strength and
concentration of flavours. I used to make beer for 20 years, but had to
switch to ciders for my weight problems. So it is a treat to revisit a
basic home brew book. There is the usual DK treatment of pictures and
graphs illustrating timelines, geography, ingredients and techniques.
There are many complications involving yeast treatment, hops, adjuncts,
and even waters. A simple recipe is all you need to get started – the
rest are for the big boys' club, which you can join after experience.
The first rule is to never, ever use sucrose (table sugar) because the
resulting brew will taste too apple-y. Of course, you may like that
style, so do go ahead – it's a shandygaff. Equipment can be basic or
extensive, but will always involve transfer hoses, air locks, and
carboys. More than a third of the book covers all this material. The
recipes are the remainder. Preparations have their ingredients listed
in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is also a table
of metric equivalents. He has a glossary, a trouble-shooting FAQ, and
some online forums for further help and assistance and recipes.
Audience and level of use: potential home brewers, even experienced
ones looking for something different.
Some interesting or unusual facts: Beer is unlikely to make you sick as
the alcohol will kill off the bacteria. Damage from exploding bottles
is mostly a thing of the past if you follow directions exactly and use
plastic bottles.
The downside to this book: some preps look too complicated but really,
they are not.
The upside to this book: good fun.
Quality/Price Rating: 90.
11. BAKING BY HAND; make the best artisanal breads and pastries better
without a mixer (Page Street Publishing, 2013; distr. Canadian Manda
Group, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-62414-000-6, $22.99 US paper covers) is by
Andy and Jackie King, founders of A & J King Artisan Bakers in Salem,
MA. It's also got lots of log rolling, from Jeffrey Hamelman and Nina
Simmonds. The Kings advocate mixing by hand, which usually takes place
after most of the products have been incorporated. Here, it happens at
the beginning. They develop their own sourdough culture, and then shape
the bread for the oven. It's a good method, led by the Four-Fold
technique for making bread at home. There are lots of detail about the
bakery, as well as pix of techniques. The preps come from their bakery,
and include a ciabatta, a multigrain, some pastries, and of course the
sourdough. There are chapters on breads and flatbreads, sandwiches and
fillings, croissants and sticky buns, some sweet and savoury tarts, and
even bread puddings. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both
metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of
equivalents. Most preps are also scaled, so that ingredients have to be
weighed.
Audience and level of use: home bakers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: English muffin toasting
bread; caraway-rye sourdough; oatmeal-cinnamon-raisin loaves; brown ale
and barley bread; caramel-bourbon-pecan bread pudding.
The downside to this book: no gluten-free adaptations.
The upside to this book: great binding makes the book lie flat with no
effort.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
12. STARTERS & SIDES MADE EASY; favorite triple-tested recipes
(Artscroll/Shaar Press, 2013, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-4226-1422-8, $15.99
US) is by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek, both of them food writers
specializing in kosher cuisine. This is just one of the "Made Easy"
series for the kosher home (others deal with fresh food and Passover).
There are 60 preps here that are supposed to jazz up any meal, kosher
or not. Check out more at cookkosher.com. There's a spice guide,
followed by a fundamentals section of mashed food, roasted veggies, and
rice as a platform. And then a section on plating. The recipes come
next, followed by a chapter on how to make a side or starter into a
main. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois
measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: kosher kitchens
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: za'atar and rosemary baked
olives; braised steak kebabs with apricots; black rice with mango and
peaches; falafel cigars; sweet potato and leek quiche.
The downside to this book: I'd like more recipes.
The upside to this book: good photography.
Quality/Price Rating: 87.
13. STEP-BY-STEP CAKE DECORATING (DK Books, 2013, 256 pages, ISBN 978-
1-4654-1441-0, $25 US hard covers) is by Karen Sullivan, a custom cake
maker with a successful celebration cake business. She's assisted by
three professional cake decorators (Asma Hassan, Sandra Monger, and
Amelia Nutting). Together, they present hundreds of ideas, techniques,
and projects for creative designs. Step-by-step techniques go over
icings, coverings, piping, embossing, modeling, and airbrushing. You
could make a filigree-piped wedding cake with tumbling roses, or a
pirate ship cake with cake pops, or even a simple g=handbag. There are
more than 100 step-by-step techniques illustrated here, along with cake
basics and templates. There are also resources list and tables on
adapting cake quantities. Decorating techniques include 3-D,
stenciling, and imaging. Preparations have their ingredients listed in
avoirdupois measurements with some metric, but there is no table of
metric equivalents.
Audience and level of use: home bakers, intermediate level of skill.
Quality/Price Rating: 88.
14. RAW, QUICK & DELCIIOUS! 5-ingredient recipes in just 15 minutes
(Robert Rose, 2013, 221 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0455-0, $24.95 US paper
covers) is by Douglas McNish, a vegan executive chef who has also
written "Eat Raw, Eat Well". Here he continues to promote the vegan
life style with more raw dishes. This time, he's limiting himself to
five ingredients in each and prepared in 15 minutes or so. There are
175 preps here, and they do not deal with dehydrators or sprouting. All
meals are covered, from Breakfast's smoothies, drinks and juices,
through Snacks, Salads, Dressings, Mains, Pasta and noodles, Sides and
Desserts. There is some material on techniques and maintaining a raw
pantry of 15 items. And there are lots of variations for many recipes.
Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and
avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: vegans, vegetarians, raw food lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: date muesli; mushroom tart;
stuffed cucumber cups; carrot pad Thai; mango ginger cilantro dressing;
strawberry cheesecake smoothie.
The upside to this book: Good layout, good typeface
Quality/Price Rating: 88.
15. THE COMPLETE LEAFY GREENS COOKBOOK; 67 leafy greens & 250 recipes
(Robert Rose, 2013, 480 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0457-4, $27.95 CAN soft
covers) is another good value book from award-winning cookbook author-
journalist Susan Sampson via Robert Rose publishers. Since Nana said
you should eat your greens, then this is the book to begin with: 67
greens include the well-known plus sorrel, grape leaves, perilla,
turnip greens, and more. While the arrangement is dictionary-style, she
does have columns of data about four sub-groupings: salad greens,
cabbages, leaves and vines, and wild greens (chickweed, dandelion
greens, fiddleheads, purslane, ramps, watercress, et al.). Each green
gets a description embodying ID names, foreign names, tasting notes,
equivalents (bunches, weights, leaves, stems), health notes, varieties,
how to buy and store, prepping, and substituting. Then follow a few
recipes for each green, in which she notes whether the prep is vegan or
where it goes in the menu (side, salad). Of course, there is a colour
illustration of what the plant looks like. Beverages and health drinks
are covered too (check the index under "B" for beverage). Preparations
have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois
measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. For more, look at
www.thefarelady.com.
Audience and level of use: vegetarians, reference libraries, plant
eaters.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: for sorrel, she's got creamy
sorrel soup, fattoush, garlic lover's beans and greens soup, and sorrel
pesto.
The downside to this book: the book is weighty because of the need for
colour.
The upside to this book: a good collection.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
