Three Quality Robert Rose Cookbooks reviewed ...

• THE ESSENTIAL HOME-GROUND FLOUR BOOK (Robert Rose, 2016, 288

  pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0534-2, $27.95 CAD paperbound) is by Sue Becker,

  owner of The Bread Beckers and The Real Bread Company. She's a nutrition

  counsellor in Georgia USA who has been teaching whole-grain flours for over 25

  years. This is a reissue/reprint of the 2016 book. Real whole grains are both

  nutritious and delicious, and can be incorporated into any lifestyle and culture.

  Those grains with gluten (wheat, barley, rye) unfortunately cannot be assimilated

  by some people, but there are plenty of other grains and grasses to go around:

  rice, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, teff, sorghum, legumes. She covers

  them all in her determination to get you to bake and eat freshly home-ground

  flours; there is nutrition, lower cost, and better taste. The first half of the book

  details equipment for home-milling and the basics of baking. The second half has

  100 recipes for yeast breads, quick breads, loaf breads, biscuits, cornbread,

  cookies, bars and cakes. As always there is the terrific Robert Rose layout of

  notes, ingredients, metric and avoirdupois measurements used in each recipe,

  and tips. Quality/price rating: 90.
• 
  
• 200 EASY HOMEMADE CHEESE RECIPES. 2d ed rev and expanded

  (Robert Rose, 2009, 2013, 2020, 408 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0465-9,

  $27.95 CAD paperbound) is by Debra Amrein-Boyes, head cheese

  maker and owner of The Farm House Natural Cheeses in BC. It was

  originally published in 2009 at 385 pages. There's a primer on basic

  cheese-making techniques, plus equipment and

  tools, and sanitation. Chapters include fresh cheeses, ;lata stretched

  cheeses, mold-ripening, blue-veined, washed-rind, washed-curd, semi-

  soft, semi-;rm, and hard cheeses. Other chapters deal with ethnic and

  regional cheeses, yogurt and ke;r, butter, buttermilk and crème

  fraiche. There is also a trouble-shooting section and a glossary. New

  changes indicated include an all-new 32-page troubleshooting section,

  new step-step-photos, and new inclusion of prep times with each

  recipe.

  Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and

  avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.

  Quality/price rating: 90.
• 
  
• SERIOUSLY GOOD FREEZER MEALS: 150 easy recipe to save your time.

  Money & sanity (Robert Rose, 2018, 368 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0591-5

  $29.95 CAD paperbound) is by Karrie Truman, a blogger

  (happymoneysaver.com} who can actually make 50 freezer meals in a day. Her

  blog appeals to those on a budget who cook from scratch. And of course, storage

  in a freezer is the best thing. We've had a freezer at home for 45 years now

  (actually, the first one lasted 25 years and we are now onto another one) and it is

  full of single items and prepared meals such as ragu or pot pies. So this is

  another Robert Rose single equipment book, chock full (150 preps) of freezer

  meals. She's got preps for the whole family: dietary needs, small and large

  families, time constraints. Freezer bags are the main containers: they can be reused. Of course, all freezer meals will lose their taste after awhile, so they need to be used up by rotation. There's a lot of primer material here on the hows and whys of freezing, followed by the preps. Most recipes have a bulk batch guide so you can increase or decrease the serving size (the servings are mainly for 6). Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupoismeasurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Interesting recipes include smoky pulled pork sandwiches; pad thai; tikka masala; sun-dried tomato and bacon chicken; chili; coconut cashew basil curry soup.
• The book is over-sized and heavy in weight, but I guess if you can prep many dishes a day for the freezer, then you can lug around the book. One upside to this book: there's an international scope. Quality/Price Rating: 90
• CHIMO!!  Dean Tudor, Gothic Eipcures Writing...