Star cook Stefan Marquard, meat expert Stephan Otto, and German grillmaster Steffen Eichhorn present 39 extraordinary steak recipes. This soulful cookbook is ideal for all meat lovers.
Books in the category: Ingredients
04 Jan 2012 – 14:28
In Malouf: New Middle Eastern Food, well-loved chef Greg Malouf has kicked off his travelling shoes and returned to his home kitchen to offer fans a breathtakingly beautiful, glossy and very, very generous tome of recipes that are rooted in the traditions of his beloved Middle East, but presented in a fresh, modern way. The food is seductive and truly inspired, but despite being a stunning piece of design, the book is not without its flaws.
04 Jan 2012 – 13:30
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.
05 Dec 2011 – 09:46
In this fun and satisfying cookbook, chef Daniel Holzman and general manager Michael “Meatball Mike” Chernow open up their vault of secrets and share nearly 100 recipes—from such tried-and-true favorites as traditional Bolognese Meatballs to more adventurous creations like their spicy Mini-Buffalo Chicken Balls.
26 Nov 2011 – 20:35
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
Jennifer McLagan’s final stage of her trilogy, including the much lauded Bones (2005) and Fat (2007), is a comprehensive exploration of those animal parts that are ignored or tossed in the bin, and the word fascinating would be the ultimate understatement in describing this book. Odd Bits is her final manifesto to the world of daring or squeamish cooks to take a new look at less common parts of the animals, and is one of the best cookbooks of 2011.
26 Sep 2011 – 12:54
In the spirit of ‘head to tail,’ Jennifer McLagen is on a quest to reassert the role of scrap meat. Beyond cookbook, Odd Bits shares historic, religious and cultural roles of these forgotten meats.
25 Aug 2011 – 14:32
In a review with a clear personal perspective, our reviewer explores the usefulness of a book on wild foraging for his role as a chef and restaurateur. Connie Green and Sarah Scott’s The Wild Table: Seasonal foraged food and recipes is the latest in a string of books capitalizing on the foraged (also called wild crafted) food movement. Just as the movement has evolved and matured, Green & Scott’s book is a step above all others.
25 Jul 2011 – 11:26
Chris Badenoch’s cookbook “The Entire Beast” is built around his passion for nose-to-tail eating and beer. Most of his recipes are European, but there are a couple of excursions into Chinese and Mexican food. While there is plenty to keep fans of nose to tail eating happy, there are enough other recipes to keep non-offal fans interested. His passion for beer is reflected in both his preference for using beer instead of wine in his recipes, and his beer recommendations for each dish. For those who don’t know very much about beer, he provides a glossary at the end. Badenoch’s passion, whilst sometimes going over the top, encourages readers to follow his cooking and drinking philosophy. Even without this enthusiasm, the recipes are still very tempting. For a first book, this is a very good effort.
16 Feb 2011 – 17:19
Food writer and trained chef Randy Clemens presents 50 palate-expanding recipes that make the most of Sriracha’s savory punch. You’ll love adding heat, depth, and an intriguing Southeast Asian twist to your dishes beyond just a tableside squeeze.
11 Jan 2011 – 14:25
In a period of enormous culinary innovation, often involving clever, insightful or entertaining combinations of ingredients, we bring you a feature about many of the books (and a few websites) that focus on pairing foods and flavours. Where many people have been familiar with the pairing of wine and food, these books instead look at flavour combinations in the kitchen.
05 Jan 2011 – 09:50
James Peterson’s books are indispensable tools for any kitchen enthusiast, from the home cook to the professional. Meat: A Kitchen Education is his guide for carnivores, with more than 175 recipes that offer a full range of meat and poultry cuts and preparation techniques.
28 Nov 2010 – 16:03
Nina Kéhayan’s classic work on aubergines (eggplants) was reprinted in English this year. It’s a very broad collection of recipes, covering a multitude of aubergine preparations and is likely to make any aubergine lover happy. The book is, however, not particularly attractive or informative, beyond what can be gleaned from the many techniques in the recipes.
28 Nov 2010 – 15:50
Both a resource and a recipe collection, Good Meat demystifies terms such as grass-fed and locavore, gives step-by-step instructions for buying direct from local farmers, and includes over 200 delicious ways to prepare pork, beef, lamb, poultry, and game.
01 Nov 2010 – 21:19
Acclaimed chef Damien Pignolet shows us the endless possibilities of the salad. Here are entrée salads to stimulate the appetite, side salads to refresh the palate, and warm salads that serve as a meal in their own right.
03 Sep 2010 – 20:45
In Roast Chicken and Other Stories Simon Hopkinson presents a collection of some of his favourite recipes for a diverse and very personal selection of his favourite ingredients. Much lauded when it first appeared in print in 1995 Roast Chicken was subsequently labelled ‘the most useful cookbook of all time’. Whilst this is a hard claim to justify the book is informative and interesting, with straightforward recipes for timeless dishes, its usefulness limited only by its narrow range.
22 Aug 2010 – 23:22
By acclaimed author Arto der Haroutunian, The Yogurt Cookbook offers over 200 recipes ranging from hearty peasant fare to elegant, light dishes. He expands yogurt beyond the narrow limitations of breakfasts and desserts, incorporating it into an impressive array of recipes.
14 Aug 2010 – 23:01
Leiths Meat Bible is the ultimate meat cookbook. Packed with recipes from all over the world, it has something for every occasion, from a simple after-work supper to an elegant dinner. All recipes are foolproof with an emphasis on proper technique.
02 Aug 2010 – 09:56
In Ottolenghi The Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini share recipes for the sort of dishes which have made their London Ottolenghi food stores popular. Their food is based on the generous use of fresh ingredients and bold flavour combinations, drawing heavily on a wide range of culinary traditions not least those of their homeland, Israel. The recipes here cover a range of ideas for vegetables, through meat and fish to cakes and meringues and offer a modern and imaginative approach which will appeal to the adventurous and curious home cook.
02 Aug 2010 – 09:54
Iron Chef Chen’s Knockout Chinese is a charming, lightweight book from a Japanese master of Sichuan cooking, and one of the original Iron Chefs. For better or for worse, this first translated work skips the traditional, authentic fare and goes straight for the innovative and personal recipes (with a few classics thrown in). The organization is strange and some things are lost in translation, but the recipes are often simple and inviting enough for most people to pick up immediately.
16 Jul 2010 – 15:32
Microgreens is a practical guide to growing arugula and other popular mini-greens that offer a multitude of colors, textures and flavors, as well as concentrated active compounds. The book also includes 15 easy recipes that make the most of microgreens.
16 Jul 2010 – 15:12
Hix Oyster & Chop House features 100 mouth-watering recipes for dishes that appear on the menu of the famous British restaurant. Oysters are a speciality and the book includes a guide to native oysters, producers in the British Isles, and tips for preparing.
06 Jul 2010 – 12:49
Patterned after Mario Batali’s New York pizzeria Otto, Molto Gusto takes the focus away from complicated “meat-and-potatoes” Italian dishes and towards simple, easy-to-prepare everyday fare (or as limited by your budget for the deli). The recipes are all approachable and the photographs are inviting, but some readers might be turned off by some extremely simple recipes and the dependence on a specific brand of tomato product.
06 Jul 2010 – 12:47
Nigel Slater tells the story of his vegetable patch and provides over 400 recipe ideas for using the vegetables he grows. Already well known for seven previous recipe books, his much admired autobiography Toast and his regular columns in The Observer, Slater’s enthusiasm will no doubt tempt some readers to start a vegetable garden of their own, although this is predominantly a book about cooking. As in his previous books, Slater’s recipes are straightforward and unfussy and his approach to using fresh produce should appeal to many home cooks.
06 Jun 2010 – 15:16
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
Ad Hoc at Home is the latest cookbook from award-winning chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Per Se, featuring casual family-style dishes. Compared to his previous works, the book is charmingly earnest and the recipes approachable, consisting of mostly American dishes with a touch of French influence, and plenty of helpful hints from Keller. However, Keller’s meticulous nature still comes through, elevating the dishes in terms of flavor and presentation, but at the same time making them time-intensive and at times expensive and unfamiliar. Even with its lavish production, the book still has relatively few illustrations.
28 Apr 2010 – 02:23
Nuts in the Kitchen is the ultimate culinary guide for using nuts in inventive, sophisticated, and astonishing ways. Whether you are a vegetarian, a vegan, or a meat eater, you’ll find yourself turning to this book over and over as you prepare meals large or small.
28 Apr 2010 – 02:23
This book contains recipes, detailed guides for which cuts of which meat (beef, veal, pork, poultry, lamb and game) are suitable for different preparation methods – whether roasted, braised, or baked, and tips on purchasing, storage, processing, seasoning and serving.
28 Apr 2010 – 02:23
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
Line caught, farmed, wild, sustainable, line-caught, organic – for the conscientious foodie, seafood can be an ethical minefield. This is where Fish Tales comes in. More than a recipe book, authors Bart van Olphen and Tom Kime take readers on a journey across the globe, to nine different sustainable fisheries. Sharing the fishermen’s stories, they give the reader a sense of the breadth and variety in fishing practices, and show us just how precarious our seafood supply is.
18 Apr 2010 – 19:31
The National Trust’s (UK) book on apples is probably everything a good British gardener would need to develop an orchard of delicious lesser-known apple varieties. One of a series of useful little books, this volume covers some history of the apple, culinary and cultural, the supposed health benefits, origins of various cultivars old and new, and horticultural tips for growing trees in various settings. This is a valuable and charming book for British readers and for curious fruit growers and apple lovers in other places.
20 Mar 2010 – 21:59
An enjoyable book containing an impressive range of information about common and exotic ingredients, including many pictures and nutritional information. It’s suitable for people who already know a bit about ingredients, although the organisation of the book can be quite frustrating. For beginners, this would only be suitable for US readers, with some reservations.
01 Mar 2010 – 13:57
Ham: An Obsession with the Hindquarter takes readers on a globetrotting tour of the whole wide wonderful world of ham in 100 recipes, from the Philippines to Spain, the Caribbean, the American South, and the authors’ home corner of rural Connecticut.
01 Mar 2010 – 13:57
Over the past few years publishers Phaidon have been establishing a presence in the cookbook market. “The Silver Spoon For Children” is their first move into the area of cooking with children. Often, books in this area of cooking, like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “The River Cottage Family Cookbook”, are written for adults as a guide to teaching children how to cook. This book’s approach involves having a child read it, and then prepare the recipes with the aid of an adult. By simplifying the recipes to their essence, and using large pictures and bright colours to grab attention, this book is one that has a great chance of engaging young minds.
The book takes its recipes from “The Silver Spoon”, and is aimed at children aged at least nine years old. The recipes have been tested by children, so parents can be reasonably confident that the recipes will work. As someone who has not been impressed by Phaidon’s cookbooks, this one has been surprisingly good.
18 Feb 2010 – 14:06
Finding a good meat book is a challenge in the feedlot of cookbooks. If you just want recipes, there’s a lot to choose from, but if you want more than that — information, tips, wisdom — satisfaction is lean. What on earth is the problem with producing a book that actually explains meat to home cooks? This feature surveys some of the recent and/or better meat books out there. (Not a feature for vegetarians, naturally.)
08 Feb 2010 – 11:33
An exciting new book by a renowned and pioneering master chocolatier for anyone serious about their chocolate, filled with innovative and unusual recipes that will challenge, intrigue, and delight the tastebuds in equal measure.
01 Feb 2010 – 14:01
David Chang, owner of the famed New York restaurants Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar and Ko, chronicles his journey from noodle-eater to noodle-maker and guides us through more than 50 of his most popular recipes that showcase the fusion of modern technique and classic Asian comfort food. Throughout the book he gives us a peek into the creative process and the story behind each dish, citing his influences, failures, and inspirations. The recipes can be daunting and the flavors sometimes need tweaking, but ambitious home cooks should have little problem replicating or improving on the dishes, though the weak instructions and badly converted measurements might lead them astray. While there has been plenty of media focus on Chang’s “bad-boy” image, he still comes across as approachable and self-deprecating at best, and at worst annoying and trying too hard, but never offensive. Fans of modern Asian cuisine and the Momofuku empire will find the book both entertaining and fascinating. [Editor's note: Don't miss our book giveaway too!]
24 Jan 2010 – 16:49
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
A meal isn’t complete without a sauce – and this is just the book to help any aspiring cook with the preparation of a huge variety of sauces, including all the classics. Michel Roux makes it as simple as possible with clear, step-by-step instructions which are illustrated throughout with beautiful photographs. With this book to hand, you’ll be able to transform your meals into something altogether more magical, whether you’ve made sauces before or whether you’re a complete beginner.
13 Nov 2009 – 14:28
Hugh Garvey and Matthew Yeomans are the creators of the popular gastrokid.com website. The book, like the website, is focussed on cooking for families. While there is an emphasis on simplicity and the use of fresh ingredients, the authors strongly encourage their readers to try new foods. They believe that parents should not prejudge what their children will or will not eat, and that finicky tastes are something to be expected. As a parent of two children, it is an attitude that I agree with. The book’s recipes cover the day’s three main meals, snacks, and picnic food. Many of the recipes are designed to allow children to be involved in the preparation, with the pleasing consequence that techniques are often simple and quick. The book is littered with bits of trivia and tips, and overall, it is a package that many families will find very useful.
23 Oct 2009 – 02:40
Japanese Kitchen Knives is a beautifully photographed guide to the three main knives (Usuba, Deba, Yanagiba) and the various cutting and filleting techniques specific to each knife. Aimed towards those interested in advanced Japanese cuisine and admirers of a traditional Japanese art, the book is one-of-a-kind. However, some steps of the techniques may be too difficult to be constrained within the smallish photographs and even with the flawless photography, diagrams are still needed for clarity.
08 Oct 2009 – 23:04
This in-depth guidebook provides detailed profiles of over 800 cheeses from France to Australia detailing each one’s provenance, producers, science, smells, and how to savour each taste.
08 Oct 2009 – 23:03
Follow in the footsteps of one of Australia’s best-loved cooks as she reveals the secrets of rewarding kitchen gardening in this inspiring garden-to-table guide.
08 Oct 2009 – 23:02
Lobel’s Meat Bible from the eponymous butchery in New York promises “All you need to know about meat and poultry”. It’s a bold promise and the book doesn’t deliver. This visually attractive “bible” is both very informative and incredibly disappointing.
25 Sep 2009 – 17:05
