* MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS
3.BEST OF BRIDGE: COMFORT FOOD (Robert Rose, 2019, 252 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0632-5 $29.95 CAD spiral bound) is by Emily Richards and Sylvia Kong who have been extending the Best of Bridge franchise by creating new material and new books. They had previously written "Best of Bridge Weekday Suppers". Their latest book has 150 recipes for family and friends on the theme of "comfort food". As such it is very useful for anybody who wishes a basic cook book for the kitchen. The spiral binding is a great bonus, for the book lies flat when used. Typical dishes include breakfast sandwiches, ramen noodle soup, Asian chopped chicken salad, carbonara pasta – all the warm foods that are quick and easy to make for the fall/winter seasons. Some updating includes more plant-based options and multi-cultural preps (chicken gumbo, guyanese beef curry on rice, ma po tofu, churros). The familiar hand-lettered font has been retained (except for the index). Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements; and there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price Rating: 88.
4.INSTANT LOSS: eat real, lose weight (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, 322 pages, ISBN 978-0-358-12185-5, $24.99 USF paperbound) is by Brittany Williams, who describes how she lost 125 pounds – in one year – using the Instant Pot and other kitchen gadgets. In 2017 she made a radical choice to stop trying to lose weight and instead keep food simple. She changed her mindset regarding weight loss, dieting and food. Her first book was Instant Loss Cookbook, in which she used the Instant Pot for all her meals. She decided to do all the fresh cooking at home (avoiding processed foods), for meals that are 30 minutes in prep time or less, using healthy and sustainable food, with no eating out or ordering in. No fast food. Just natural food. And it worked too, and should work for anyone: mindfulness, no fast food, no processed food, no ordering in, no eating out, and just eating naturally healthy food of all kinds, even meats/seafood. There are 100 plus recipes here that are worthy of your attention. Just don't overindulge. The book is arranged by course, from apps through desserts, soups to nuts, with material on breakfasts and snacks. The book could have been improved if it had also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88
5.FRESH FLAVORS FOR THE SLOW COOKER (Storey Publishing, 2019, 202 pages, ISBN 978-1-63586-123-5 $18.95 USD paperbound) is by Nicki Sizemore, a recipe developer who had previously published "Build-a-Bowl" cookbook. Here are 77 easy recipes for the slow-cooked meal. It's a rethink of the old slow cooker, which is back in tandem with the Instant Pot. She does compare the two, and feels that the slow cooker is better since the Instant Pot (and its clones?) heats up too fast for breaking down stewing meats and other tough foods. BUT as long as you are aware of that heating up, then an Instant Pot can be used almost as well and you don't have to buy another appliance, not even from a garage sale.
Her overall changes in developing new recipes is to cut out processed foods, cut back on adding liquid, increase the aromatics and spices, add quick cooking foods last, and finish the dish with a compelling sauce/topping. There are four main sections here: veggies, poultry, meats, and seafood, plus brunch dishes. Thus there are chicken and black bean chilaquiles, Asian pork lettuce wraps, and slow cooked cod. The book could have been improved if it had also used metric in the recipes. But at least it had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89
6.CHEESE BOARDS TO SHARE; how to create a stunning cheese board for any occasion (Ryland Peters and Small, 2019, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-148-9 $19.95 USD hard covers) is by cheese professional and cheese educator Thalassa Skinner. This is a short introduction to the "world of cheeses" plus material on how to create 25 themed cheese boards with international cheeses. Themes include wine, beer and cocktail pairings, as well as kids, picnics, and camping trips. Each cheese has a detailed description and some suggested global alternatives if you cannot find an elusive cheese. She has accompaniment ideas and many tips and tricks, including a bibliography of books and magazines and websites for further reading. A typical board is the Alpine, an all Swiss cheese board. Four cheeses are described, 12 more are listed as substitutes, and she gives us the idea of doing more regional boards for other countries. Suggested "boughten" accompaniments for the Swiss board include rye bread toasts, salted almonds, pickled cornichons, and fresh apricots. Also, she has a tomato and smoked pepper jam for you to make from her recipe. I would have liked an all-blue cheese board for the sake of comparison, but she does have one board with two blues on it. In fact, cheese boards can also be instructive if there is the opportunity to compare and contrast very similar cheeses. Indeed, a few days ago I prepared a cheese board with four different Tommes (circular round shape, earthy gray-brown edible rind, and intensely nutty taste, made from skimmed milk: hence low-fat, high-protein) from four separate milk sources (water buffalo, cow, sheep, goat) from the same Ontario dairy – Monforte. Hey – that way I created a three-fold cheese board of regionality, Tommes, and milk sources! The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes to include equivalents to teaspoons and tablespoons, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90.
7.LEAF: lettuce, greens, herbs, weeds (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2019, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-240-5 $35 USD hardbound) is by food writer and cookbook author Catherine Phipps. One of her four books is CITRUS (2017). Here she engages us with 120 or so recipes that celebrate varied, versatile leaves. It's arranged by course, from brunch through starters, light meals, soups, salads, veggie main dishes, meat/seafood mains, sides and basics. There are some good notes on how to store leaves and how to dry herbs, plus some cooking preps on making flavoured salts, butters, jellies and oils, principally from herbs. A section on sauerkraut proves that cabbage is king. Radicchio risotto is one my faves, as is orzo with foraged spring greens. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes especially for the teaspoons and the tablespoons equivalencies, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88.
8.SOUR; the magical element that will transform your cooking (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2019, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-226-9 $35 USD hardbound) is by Mark Diacono, food writer. He introduces souring skills at the beginning, the first 60 pages that deal with sourdough, dairy, vinegar, fermented fruit and vegetables, and fermented drinks. Then he goes on with sections devoted to courses: apps, sides, salads, salads, mains, desserts, and drinks. At the end there are some resources, mainly books and websites. This is a through and comprehensive book, full of sour details. You've got to like "sour" but there are levels to run through. I love sourdoughs and sour dairy (kefir, yogurt), but I loathe pickles and fermented veggies. So where does that put me? This is an excellent reference book for its details. Some suggestions: sumac duck, kombucha mayonnaise, roasted plums with labneh, cherry sour cream clafoutis. It could have been improved if the book had also used more metric in the recipes especially for the teaspoon and the tablespoon equivalencies, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90.
9.COOKING CLASS GLOBAL FEAST! (Storey Publishing, 2019, 144 pages, $28.95 spiral bound) is by Deanna F. Cook, and it is her third work in this series meant for food adventures for kids. It's a tour of 44 ethnic dishes from around the world – there's fried bannock bread from Canada, beans on toast from the UK, soda bread from Ireland, kasha from Russia, mealie meal bread from South Africa, coconut bread from Tonga, fried rice from China, et al. There are also pop-out food passports, world language flash cards, flag stickers, infographics for taste-test explorations of fruits, breads, veggies and ice creams from around the world. Great fun for over the holidays. Quality/price rating: 87
10.AMERICAN CUISINE AND HOW IT GOT THIS WAY (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2019. 451 pages, $53.95 hardbound) is by Paul Freedman, author of "Ten Restaurants that Changed America" . He's followed up on that earlier tome by covering more of the Colonial period up through processed industrial food, ethnic cultural diversified foods, and the farm-to-table movement. It's an ambitious too, covering regional cooking styles of the colonies and the westward evolution of the USA. His main thrust is the progression from regionality through national standardization and then variety (as a backlash). Thoughtful, interesting reading for the holidays. Quality/price rating: 90.
11.THE SIDE DISH BIBLE (America's Test Kitchen, 2019, 564 pages, $45 hardcovers) is an affordable look at 1001 great recipes for every salad, veggie, rice, grain, fruit, and bean dish you might need to accompany a main dish – right from a turkey down to a meatball. The only thing missing is fresh meat as a garnish, save for bacon and pancetta (with over 50 preps between them). There are plenty of tips and advice to help the harried cook/chef to easily find a perfect matching side dish for any occasion. There's 10-minute Brussels sprouts, cauliflower salad, creamy farrotto (farro risotto), potato galette. And it is a perfect cookbook for those who actually enjoy a meal of side dishes (like me). One of the highlights of the holiday gift parade. Quality/price rating: 90.
12.PASTA GRANNIES; THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK (Hardie Grant Books, 2019, 256 pages, $42.99 hardbound) is by Vicky Bennison who created the YouTube channel "Pasta Grannies" five years ago. In her cookbook (and through the videos), she has a mission to save traditions and share skills, one Granny Nonna at a time, As 85-year old Lucia says, "when you have good ingredients you don't have to worry about cooking. They do the work for you." Everyone has their own special recipe and Bennison is capturing as many as she can before the nonne pass on. While the cookbook is arranged by type of food (nuts, veggies, pulses, gnocchi, seafood, meat, brodo, ravioli), it is basically about the great divide of dairy (butter, cheese) of the north and the tomato of the south. Diversity is the name of the game. Profiles are given as well as backgorund the the many kitchens, so it is more than just a cookbook. These are the secrets of Italy's best home cooks, and it is a wonderful gift for a hostess/holiday time. Quality/price rating: 90.
13.BINGING WITH BABISH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, 336 pages, $43 hardbound) is by Andrew Rea, a chef and filmmaker. He's created the eponymous YouTube channel, and this is the resulting complementary cookbook...except it also involves storytelling as it relates to 100 recipes recreated from fave movies and TV shows (such as Homer Simpson's Space-Age Out-of-This-World Moon Waffles, or The Godfather's Cannoli, or shrimp gumbo from Forrest Gump). He's got details about the cooking show itself, plus a range of photography and some memoir-material. Outstanding are such classic dishes as the timpano from Big Night, prison gravy from Goodfellas, and big kahuna burger from Pulp Fiction. The ultimate giftbook...to food lovers or film lovers. Quality/price rating: 86
14.BINGE-WATCHING EATS (Ryland Peters & Small, 2019, 160 pages $19.95 hardbound) is a publisher's production, with themed snacks and drinks for your next binge TV watch, as pulled together by Katherine Bebo and Julia Charles from 32 cookbook authors in the RP & S stable of writers. It's arranged by theme: lawyer shows, sports, medical shows, police, murder, etc. 60 party recipes for TV shows. Quality/price rating: 86.
15.FINE CIDER (Dog 'n' Bone, 2019, 176 pages, $27.95 hardbound) is by Felix Nash, a cider merchant who looks at the history, the styles, the apple varieties, and the processes of cider-making, He's also got material on cider-producing regions, cider and food matches, and a great list of where to start with the bucket list of ciders to try. Styles are important (I love cider from Normandy or Brittany), but these are dependent on the varieties available. There is an art to blending and to using wild yeasts. Cidermaking is a lot like winemaking, substituting apples for grapes and finishing with a lower alcohol content, usually at the top end of a beer level, say 5 – 8% ABV. There's the French style I like, usually at 4% ABV. There is also Pet Nat (petillant naturel) , ice cider, still cider, and Champagne method. A good too for those beginning to find their way into cider. Quality/price rating: 91
16.BAR CART STYLE; creating super-chic cocktail stations (Ryland Peters & Small, 2019, 128 pages, $19.95 hardbound) has been styled by Emily Henson. It is basically how to put together a bar cart that makes a statement in its own right for iconic cocktails and other alcoholic drinks. Carts are from the Art Deco and Jazz Age period, but they are important simply because they are mobile and free-up counter space. The bar basics are here, equipment is minimal as is glassware, and there are some suggested recipes such as blackberry bellini, mai tai, jalisco flowet, dill acquavit, and the Negroni. A great inexpensive gift for the millennial. Quality/price rating: 88
No comments:
Post a Comment