Boston chef, Didi Emmons, famed for her use of herbs and wild foods, provides a start to finish guide that includes foraging, growing, storing and cooking with a wide range of spectacular and uncommon ingredients.
Books in the category: Food preferences
05 Dec 2011 – 09:46
Vegetables are healthy, cost-effective and, above all, delicious. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall presents an abundance of fantastic recipes in this brilliant new book from the popular River Cottage series.
04 Oct 2011 – 15:15
Heston Blumenthal’s “Fantastical Feats” is the companion book to the television series of the same name. In the book and series, Blumenthal creates six feasts, each based on a theme. His aim is to capture the spirit of each theme in the dishes he creates. As with his previous books, one of the principle joys of this book is reading about Blumenthal’s thought process as he turns abstract concepts into the form of food. He writes not only about the ideas that work, but the ones that don’t. The book is immensely entertaining. He writes with great humour, and he has a gift of finding experiences that allows him to connect with the reader and help them to see the food world as he does.
10 Dec 2010 – 20:22
Nobody better embodies the present-day mantra “Eat real food in season” than David Tanis, one of the most original voices in American cooking. In his newest book he explores the joy of cooking in a small kitchen, from private food rituals to cooking for the whole tribe.
01 Nov 2010 – 21:20
Belinda Jeffery is an Australian author who has published other collections of her recipes and contributes regularly to delicious magazine. She has had a long history working in various media and as a chef and teacher.
The Country Cookbook chronicles her move to the country, the hinterland behind Byron Bay in northern New South Wales and, in her words, is both a celebration of and a thank you for the kinder and simpler life she and her husband have found away from the city.
This book demonstrates what is best about cooking in Australia – access to an amazing range of fresh produce and flavour influences from all over the world.
24 Oct 2010 – 15:41
As I’m typing this, a crock of briny cucumbers is sitting in my basement. In a couple of weeks, in theory, the cukes will (in theory) be big, crunchy dill pickles. I’d been meaning to try this for a couple of years. I knew vaguely that it’s not a complicated process, just pickles in salty water, with a splash of vinegar for safety. But The Lost Art of Real Cooking, a book that’s both accessible and bursting with personality, was the book that finally inspired me to stand up and do it. So I give it full credit.
01 Oct 2010 – 22:58
Recently released in paperback version, Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions, brings renewed life to this James Beard Foundation book award winner of 2005 (originally published in 2004). Numerous books have been written about native or indigenous cooking in the Americas, but most focus on a small subset of people, and are rarely written by accomplished chefs. Fernando and Marlene Divina, in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, have created a book that documents important cultural history, and thankfully convert it into a useful culinary tool.
21 Sep 2010 – 10:11
Aimed squarely at the teenage market, The New Students’ Veggie Cookbook addresses not just what a young vegetarian should eat, but also how to keep fit and healthy while doing so. The book covers the basics of setting up a kitchen, stocking a pantry, offering helpful and very clear instructions on how best to chop an onion, boil an egg and, interestingly, how to store food.
13 Jun 2010 – 16:35
The Minnesota Table: Recipes for Savoring Local Food Throughout the Year is a collection of travel stories, recipes, and menu ideas that follow Minnesota’s growing seasons. Travel along the seasons to hunt morels, pick blueberries, and winnow wild rice.
20 May 2010 – 04:13
Part recipe book, part gardening guide and part primer for encouraging children to take an interest in the food they eat Australian food icon Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion is an ambitious undertaking. Covering seventy-three different food crops, the gardening section combines Alexander’s experiences in her own kitchen garden and her work with school children, with detailed cultivation notes. The recipes, some of which have appeared elsewhere, cover a variety of cuisines and dishes and in some cases have been modified to be suitable for children to prepare. This is an impressive publication, the information is well presented and there is much here that is interesting and useful, but the wide scope of this book makes it difficult to categorise and may in the end limit its appeal.
10 May 2010 – 20:53
With his fabulous restaurants and bestselling Ottolenghi Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi has established himself as one of the most exciting new talents in the world of cookery. This collection of vegetarian recipes is drawn from his column ‘The New Vegetarian’, and also features brand-new recipes.
22 Apr 2010 – 17:23
At first glance, you may wonder what the fuss over Okashi is all about. A fairly simple book with attractive photographs, it presents appealing recipes that showcase author Ishida’s particular style, incorporating numerous Japanese flavours into many familiar baked goods and dessert items. Creative and suitable for a broad audience, this book should delight many bakers.
04 Apr 2010 – 14:53
A must-have for professional cake decorators, pastry students, and even advanced cake decorating hobbyists, Wedding Cake Art and Design is the only resource a decorator needs to design, plan, and execute picture-perfect wedding cakes for every client.
04 Apr 2010 – 14:51
Canal House Cooking Winter & Spring is a collection of our favorite winter and spring recipes, ones we cook for ourselves, our friends, and our families all during the cold winter months and straight through the exciting arrival of spring.
30 Mar 2010 – 15:18
The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide is one of the first books to collect dumpling recipes from around the world into a single volume. There is an excellent variety of dumpling types and flavors, the recipes are clear and there are plenty of tips for beginners. Unfortunately, a forced definition of the word dumpling as a category limits the book unnecessarily and may disappoint people who are looking for a dish they recognize as a dumpling but has been excluded.
07 Mar 2010 – 17:34
This book tells the story of how people coped with wartime food shortages and became healthier than ever before, with step-by-step illustrations showing how to grow your own vegetables, baking, preserving and lots of thrifty family recipes.
24 Feb 2010 – 22:53
Allergy-free Desserts includes recipes for all of your favorite baked treats—cakes, cupcakes, pies, quick breads, cookies, and dessert bars. Written by Elizabeth Gordon, this indispensable cookbook will finally let you enjoy desserts safely again.
14 Feb 2010 – 11:00
Lucid Food offers healthy, eco-oriented recipes based on conscientious yet practical environmental ideals. Sustainable chef Louisa Shafia demystifies contemporary food issues for the home cook and presents simple, seasonal dishes that follow nature’s cycles.
29 Dec 2009 – 06:00
In the last installment of our feature on year-end releases, we’re taking a look at cookbooks from famous chefs and restaurants, as well as the un-cookbooks: books with essays on food, food issues, and guidebooks on specific subjects.
14 Dec 2009 – 17:47
Based on the food served at Edinburgh’s best-known Italian deli-cafe, Valvona and Crolla, this new recipe book makes for an evocative and mouth-watering read. Organised around the four seasons, there are recipes, personal stories and mini-travelogues, hints and tips, and detailed ingredient information specific to each time of year. Inspiration abounds throughout, supported by recipes which are as reliable as they are tempting. All in all, ‘Valvona and Crolla: A Year at an Italian Table’ is a veritable feast for foodlovers.
07 Dec 2009 – 13:37
We’re continuing our year-end countdown this week with cuisine-focused cookbooks. This journey will take you from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, to Southeast Asia, East Asia, and India, France, Italy, Ireland, Ukraine, Greece, and northern and southern Africa. Hopefully you’ll find something of interest in the great variety of books for yourself, or to give as gifts.
24 Nov 2009 – 16:16
As the year draws to and end, cookbook publishers around the world bring out their big guns to take advantage of the gift-giving season. Here at The Gastronomer’s Bookshelf we’ve compiled bucketloads of new books to help you fill out that gift-list (and maybe find a few titles you’d want to keep for yourself!). Many of these are novel or noteworthy, while some are just titles we know will be popular gifts. We’ll be featuring these books over the next month. This week we start with pastry, baking, and Christmas-related titles for you to get a head start on all the seasonal treats you might want to make.
09 Nov 2009 – 00:20
Canal House Cooking Volume N°2, Fall & Holiday is a collection of recipes we cook for ourselves and our friends and families throughout this wonderful season. Cooking our grandmothers’, aunts’, and mothers’ recipes brings them to life and invites the people we miss to the table again.
29 Oct 2009 – 16:03
Written for people with a range of dietary conditions, including dairy, gluten and lactose intolerance, coeliac disease, fructose malabsorption and IBS, The Gluten-free Kitchen invites us all to enjoy with confidence the pleasures of a good food life.
08 Sep 2009 – 11:18
The no.1 fertility magazine in the US offers a full course of recipes specifically designed to help you get pregnant. Brimming with expert advice and tips, this is the unparalleled resource for any woman preparing to start a family.
04 Sep 2009 – 08:02
The front cover of “Snowflakes and Schnapps” shows a dinner table with a white painted antler in the middle of it. On first impressions it looks very stylish. But then you ask yourself, “Why is it there? Is there a purpose to it? Won’t it get in the way?” Look at the photo a bit longer, and the realisation hits that there is no food on the table. This book is like the photograph. There’s lots of style, with food almost as a secondary consideration.
Despite the glossy magazine feel of the book, and the expectation that it’s destined for the coffee table rather than the kitchen bench, it does contain recipes that would tempt even the most experienced of home cooks. A very impressive winter dinner could be built upon the offerings in this book.
“Snowflakes and Schnapps” will certainly satisfy those looking for a gift and many who are looking for a good cookbook. However, anyone who wants a more detailed and authentic look at the winter foods of Europe would be best advised to look elsewhere.
27 Aug 2009 – 00:41
Good food has been central to the Jewish faith since the time of the Bible, whether it’s a celebratory shared meal as part of a festival, or a Friday night at home. This title includes 90 everyday and special occasion Jewish recipes.
13 Aug 2009 – 23:16
Popular food blogger Elana Amsterdam offers ninety-nine family-friendly classics — from Pancakes to Eggplant Parmesan to Chocolate Cake — that feature her gluten-free ingredient of choice, almond flour.
30 Jul 2009 – 16:01
In “The Clatter of Forks and Spoons”, Irish chef Richard Corrigan covers the food that he grew up with as the child of a farmer in Ireland, traditional recipes, and the dishes he serves at his restaurant. Many of the dishes are simple and comforting, and will rarely require any searches for exotic ingredients or specialist equipment. Corrigan is also a storyteller, so you will find essays, anecdotes, and observations throughout the book. He presents his views with a great passion, but it’s done in a similar manner to what you would get from having a feisty debate with a good friend over a beer. He is also a champion of artisanal producers and allows many of these producers their own voice in his essays.
This is an outstanding book from three viewpoints. Firstly, in Corrigan’s writing, no words are wasted and his essays could be a book in their own right. The second are the recipes. It is food for the soul, the ingredients are listed in a clear manner, and the instructions are presented in a conversational tone. Finally, it’s a beautiful book. The photography suits the book in that it has a feel more like a family photo album than food porn. Many people will find this book a worthwhile purchase, including those who want to rediscover their Irish and British roots, those who simply enjoy good food writing, and anyone who simply wants to cook a delicious meal.
19 May 2009 – 19:06
The “Blue Ribbon” of this title is the traditional blue ribbon awarded to winning entries in country shows and specifically the various cookery sections (Classes) of the Horticultural and Agricultural Shows throughout South Australia. From cover to cover this is an attractive book, with well laid out pages, clear and easy to read text and nice sharp images to delight the eye and stimulate the taste buds. The prize winning cooks are women, men and children of all ages and mostly from towns and farming communities close to particular show venues. The recipes range from the humble tomato sauce, various preserves, jams and jellies, through baked goods from biscuits to sponge cakes and a State Competition winning entry of a rich dark fruit cake.
24 Apr 2009 – 16:36
The recipes contained within this unassuming, un-illustrated reissue glow. They openly embrace the full spectrum of ethical eating. The vast majority, in fact, are vegan. None of the ingredients (bitter almonds excepted) are difficult for a home cook to locate but, most importantly, this is a book of delicious, exquisite food; simple to make, exotic enough to tempt jaded palates and written in an elegant, spare style. Instruction is straightforward and, where appropriate, Haroutunian’s introductions, themselves short and sweet, are peppered with wisdom from classic Arabian literature. I only wish the word Vegetarian could be replaced with the word Vegetable in the title. It deserves a wider audience.
04 Feb 2009 – 00:09
It seems like we’re forever being told to eat healthier, lighter food yet at the same time there aren’t exactly a mountain of attractive food books that really focus on interesting healthy options. Too many healthy-eating books make food much less fun than it needs to be. To my surprise, Jill Dupleix successfully combines the ideas of lighter eating without making you feel like you’re launching into a 100% fat-free nightmare. Lighten Up offers a welcome diversity of good, appetising recipes in an attractive package. The tone won’t suit everyone, and the trendy ingredients might put some people off at first, but this is a book well worth looking at. I was surprised at how interesting I found the range of recipes.
29 Jan 2009 – 12:55
A book of American bakery classics in the Eastern European tradition and the follow-up to the author’s James Beard Award-winning Secrets of a Jewish Baker.
05 Dec 2008 – 20:35
