...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they've been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show 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 and/or the media personality. 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 shtick 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 at home, but how could that be? The books 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. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases 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 –
8.GATHER: a Dirty Apron Cookbook (Figure.1, 2019, 2016, 216 pages, ISBN 978-1-77327-067-8 $32.99 USD hardbound) is the creation of David Robertson, author of the Dirty Apron Cookbook. He founded The Dirty Apron Cooking School and Delicatessen in Vancouver, and now teaches some 35 classes a year. His current book is a follow-up to the earlier DAC; it has 80 recipes which reflect seasonality and personality in its flavours. The arrangement is typical: brunch, salads, soups, vegetarian, seafood, poultry and meats, breads, and deserts. He has a strong emphasis on the "mise en place" organized kitchen: that is half the battle (locating your materials). Brunch can be a gravlax and breakfast biscuits, or it can be a Thai beef steak sandwich with lemongrass aioli. A vegetarian feature is the pan-seared halloumi cheese and caramelized fennel with an orange-pomegranate reduction. Poultry and meats include a South Indian spiced pork tenderloin with lemon rice, and a bison mushroom stroganoff with thyme sour cream. Excellent plated food photography. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Joy Smith Foundation. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, but at least it had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89.
9.BIGGER BOLDER BAKING: a fearless approach to baking anytime, anywhere (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, 320 pages, ISBN 978-1-238-54632-6 $30 USD hardbound) is by Gemma Stafford, one busy lady: chef and host of an eponymous online baking show (from whence the book derives its title), judge on Food Network and Netflix, YouTube lady, Facebook, Instagram, and her own website www.biggerbolderbaking.com. Here are 100 recipes for maximum deliciousness with minimal effort, taken from her weekly show. Chapters are organized by tool: wooden spoon & bowl, pots and pans, rolling pin, baking pans, mixer, "no oven needed", and basics. Typical are confetti mug cake, fancy pavlova, lemon curd mousse, devil's food cupcakes, homemade jelly doughnuts, peanut butter and fudge ice cream pie. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, but at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88.
10.ANTONI IN THE KITCHEN (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, 274 pages, ISBN 978-1-32863134-3 $30 USD hardbound) is by Antoni Porowski, the food and wine expert on Netflix's Queer Eye who also works as a food consultant and sommelier in New York City. It comes with log rolling by Ted Allen, Jacques Pepin, and Dorie Greenspan among others. Mindy Fox is the focusing food writer and recipe developer. It's also a memoir- as Ted Allen says, "a veritable culinary travelogue, with nods to his family's Canadian roots, and detours to every place from Lyon to Athens to Melbourne." Chapters are headed Apps and Snacks, "Greens, Veg and other sides", soups and stews, pasta and rice, weeknights, animal, and bakes. Typical are chickpea masala, butter beans and tuna in tomato sauce, farro bowl with sweet potatoes, fish tacos with chipotle mayo, bigos (Polish hunter stew), Moroccan-style (lamb) pasta Bolognese, and kielbasa Polish-style. He's also got some French-Canadian recipes from Montreal plus some of his family Polish recipes, The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88.
11.WHOLE FOOD COOKING EVERY DAY (Artisan Books, 2019, 400 pages, ISBN 978-1-57965-802-1 $40 USD hardbound) is by Amy Chaplin, author of the Beard and IACP award winning book "At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen" . She's the former executive chef at NYC's vegan restaurant Angelica Kitchen. She's now mostly a teacher, recipe developer, and personal chef. The sub-title pretty well says it all: "transform the way you eat with 250 vegetarian recipes free of gluten, dairy, and refined sugar." Contents are arranged by ingredient and by course. Thus, she begins with chia bircher bowls, moving through whole-grain porridges, gluten-free breads, nut and seed milks, drinks, and butters, soups, beans, veggies, sauces, cauliflower bakes, and a variety of desserts headed by puddings, granola, waffles, muffins. Quite through, with a string of variations after just about every prep. Helpful additional matter includes resources, tables of nut and seed roasting times, grain soaking and cooking times, ingredients for the pantry, essential equipment, and so nifty tips and advice for meal preps and meal plans. Most of the book is vegan. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Some of the metric is inconsistently applied. Quality/price rating: 89.
12.SHUK; from market to table, the heart of Israeli home cooking (Artisan Books, 2019, 368 pages, $53 hardbound) is by Einat Admony and Janna Gur. Admony is chef-owner of three NYC restaurants; Gur lives in Tel Aviv and has authored some 40 other cookbooks. "Shuk" is an Israeli market and usually features Mediterranean culinary crossroad food, a sort of cultural melting pot. The food here is flavourful, and comprises salad for breakfast, many cooking techniques for veggies, rich stews and soups, couscous and chicken, liberal use of lemon and oil, fresh herbs and lots of fish. These are 140 home comfort food preps, with tons of tips and on-site photos of the shuk tour of Israel. Included are Ethiopian chicken, Yemenite malawach sficha, crispy za'atar, green shakshuka, and Jerusalem bagels. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88
13.THE BEST OF AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN; best recipes, equipment reviews, and tastings 2020 (America's Test Kitchen, 2019, 326 pages, $45 hardbound) is a group effort from the PBS television show. It comes out in late summer but is meant for the next year: in this case, 2020. So all material here is pretty well is written up by the spring of 2019. This is a" best of the best" collection, active since 2007. It's arranged by course, from starters/soups/salads through veggies, pasta/pizza/panini, meat, poultry, seafood, breads, and desserts – with stops along the way for sides, breakfast and brunch. There are concluding sections on test kitchen resources, nutritional info, and conversion equivalents. Quite a lot packed into a handy package, and excellent value (particular for the buying guides and the technique photo displays). The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 92
14.YOU ARE WHAT YOUR GRANDPARENTS ATE: what you need to know about nutrition, experience, epigenetics & the origins of chronic disease. (Robert Rose, 2019, 320 pages, $37.95 paperbound) is by long time food author Judith Finlayson who also writes about personal well-being and women's history. She provides an up-to-date global overview of the science linking one's experience as a fetus with the development of chronic illness later in life, and the possibility that one will pass on lifestyle choices to future generations. Epigenetics is the connection between our genes and our environment: the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the lifestyle we choose. It's a good basis for those millennials who try to understand where they are from and where they are going. Nature and nurture are intertwined, and early life experiences have an effect on diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancers. She does a good job in making hard science accessible and readable. Something to think about over the holiday seasons. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Quality/Price Rating: 89
15.SAVE ME THE PLUMS; my Gourmet memoir (Appetite by Random House, 2019, 268 pages, $32 hardbound) is by the inspired Ruth Reichl, a great food writer with a gripping-can't-put-it-down style – just perfect for the holidays. She's been the restaurant critic for the LA Times, the NY Times, and then editor of Gourmet magazine for a ten year gig. Then the magazine shut down, primarily because of the incursion of the Internet where recipes abound. This is her story, her memoir of the glamourous, high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Under her management, Gourmet flourished as a cutting-edge food magazine, far from its stodgy beginnings. It is also the story of how Reichl grappled with the changes and how the changes affected her and then how the shutdown affected her. There are about a dozen recipes here, but one caveat: no overall index to neither the preps or the subject content.
16.THE MUNCHY MUNCH COOKBOOK FOR KIDS (Familius, 2019, 170 pages, $28.99 spiral-bound) is by Pierre A. Lamielle, and award-winning kids' cookbook author with titles such as "Alice Eats" and "Kitchen Scraps: a humourous illustrated cookbook". He's also competed on Top Chef Canada and Chopped Canada (which he won). Great illustrations that even adults or new cooks will enjoy. These are the essential skills and recipes every young chef should know, beginning with ten pages of "safety". That deal with hot, sharp, and germs. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Quality/Price Rating: 87.
17.SOUTH; essential recipes and new explorations (Artisan Books, 2019, 376 pages, $60 hardcover) is by Sean Brock, once chef of Husk restaurants. Now he will have his own place in Nashville (working name: The Kudzu Complex, serving Appalachian food and a tasting menu). His first cookbook "Heritage" was both a Beard and Child winner in 2015. He's also been a subject on The Mind of a Chef and Chef's Table TV series. Here Brock goes all out with heirloom and indigenous Appalachian ingredients. 125 recipes cover boiled peanuts, fried green tomatoes, she-crab soup, grilled catfish, hoppin' john, pot of greens, dirty rice, cornbread, buttermilk pie, BBQ, plus a Country Ham, Road Map. With an eye on international sales, there are also metric conversion charts. It has already been named one of the best new cookbooks of 2019 by a dozen publications. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 91
18.SALT & TIME; recipes from a Russian kitchen (Interlink Books, 2019, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-62371-921-0, $35 USD hardbound) is by Alissa Timoshkina, chef, curator and supper club host with a PhD in film history. In 2015 she launched KinoVino, which offers film screenings and sit-down dinners with unique menus inspired by the films. Her firm is also an event planner for film and food activities. One of these projects is exploring the cuisine of the former Soviet Union. And she does it here with this book, especially for Siberian food (her birthplace). She's got 100 recipes, mostly about the crossroads of Eastern European and Central Asian cuisine – all adapted for modern tastes and our western kitchens. Interesting preps include Napoleon cake, khe (Soviet-Korean ceviche), golubtsy (layered cabbage pie), plus dumplings, sauerkraut, doughnuts, chicken with prunes. There is an extensive chapter on ingredients and the pantry, plus drinks.
The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90.
Chimo! www.deantudor.com
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