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Wednesday, April 8, 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.THE PLAN (Grand Central Life & Style, 2013, 2014, 307 pages, ISBN 978-1-4555-1549-3, $16 US paper covers) is by Lyn-Genet Recitas, a holistic nutritionist for more than 30 years. It has been a best-selling book and is now available as a paperback reprint with added recipes, plus some updated ones. Essentially, her diet calls for structuring a food plan around the foods that are best for you. It is a way of changing how you eat, and for life. Prepping begins with a three day cleanse followed by testing for food groups and types. Trigger foods are identified and should be avoided. At the same time, you can lose weight by personalizing a healthy foods list that promotes rapid weight loss. She's got many ideas, including a spring diet and a thyroid diet, both of which involve some testing. Additional menus and ideas are to be found at her website www.lyngenet.com. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Well worth a look. Quality/price rating: 87.
 
 
23.THE DASH DIET ACTION PLAN; proven to lower blood pressure and cholesterol without medication (Grand Central Life & Style, 2007, 2014 , 220 pages, ISBN 978-1-4555-1282-9, $16 US paper covers) is by Marla Heller, RD, who also teaches food science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This was Heller's first DASH book (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension); this is the paperback reprint version. The DASH diet has been proven to lower blood pressure and cholesterol without the need for medication.
With a diet of fruits, vegetables, low-fat and nonfat dairy, lean meats, fish and poultry, nuts, beans and seeds, healthy fats, and whole grains, one can drop pounds and get a faster metabolism with lower body fat and improved cardiovascular fitness. Her diet book is the plan, with a few basic recipes to get you started. She's got 28 days of meal plans at different calorie levels, shopping lists, eating-on-the-run tips, plus advice on exercise. This is fourth time through for this book, it is already a
classic. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents.  Quality/price rating: 88.
 
 
 
24.LOMELINO'S CAKES; 27 pretty cakes to make any day special (Roost Books, 2012, 2014, 148 pages, ISBN 978-1-61180-150-7, $22.95 US hard covers) is by Linda Lomelino, a food writer living in Sweden. It was originally published in Swedish in 2012; this is the 2014 translation for the North American market. It is a neat book with much material on equipment, ingredients, baking cake layers, dividing the cake into layers, filling and covering the cake, piping techniques, assembling and decorating. Plus the inevitable tips, hints, advice, and secrets. Some of the 27 preps are complicated but not difficult. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois weight and volume measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Some of the ingredients are scaled for correct ratios. Some interesting cakes include chocolate and licorice cake, cardamom cake with blueberries, lemon lover's dream cake, frozen mango passion, and frozen tiramisu. Quality/price rating: 85.
 
 
 
25.THE TASTE OF BELGIUM (Grub Street, 1996, 2014, 336 pages, ISBN 978-1-909808-18-8, 25 pounds sterling, hard covers) is by Ruth van Waerebeek, a Belgian chef who wrote this book in 1996 (Workman Publishing) and is now currently a brand ambassador and house chef for Conch y Toro winery in Chile. She runs major cooking classes in Chile. The original title was Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook, and over the years it has proved to be a classic by selling over 50,000 copies. It has long been out-of-print, so there is great joy in welcoming it back for new cooks. Belgian cuisine is like no other, with a merge of strong Germanic traditions with French culture. Belgium has more 3-star restaurants per capita than any other country, including France. This is home cooking at its highest point, and it is thus substantial with hearty soups (she's got 20), herring salads, pork liver pates, mussels and snails, eels, Belgian fries, partridge and red cabbage, beer and more beer (especially in cooking), Brussels sprouts, potatoes, apples, waffles, chocolate. Total recipes: 250, and each is a gem. It's a good reference book to Belgian food as she provides deep background for most of the preps. Recipes have their ingredients listed in both avoirdupois and metric measurements. One drawback – the native words (Dutch and French?) for each prep are too lightly grey-screened in tiny print – you'll need a magnifying glass. Quality/price rating: 89.
 
Chimo! www.deantudor.com

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