52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust


William Alexander - 2010
    He tasted it long ago, in a restaurant, and has been trying to reproduce it ever since. Without success. Now, on the theory that practice makes perfect, he sets out to bake peasant bread every week until he gets it right. He bakes his loaf from scratch. And because Alexander is nothing if not thorough, he really means from scratch: growing, harvesting, winnowing, threshing, and milling his own wheat.   An original take on the six-thousand-year-old staple of life, 52 Loaves explores the nature of obsession, the meditative quality of ritual, the futility of trying to re-create something perfect, our deep connection to the earth, and the mysterious instinct that makes all of us respond to the aroma of baking bread.

Pot on the Fire: Further Exploits of a Renegade Cook


John Thorne - 2000
    Fisher" (Connoisseur). From nineteenth-century famine-struck Ireland to the India of the British Raj, from the bachelor's kitchen to the Italian cucina, Thorne is an entertaining, erudite, and inventive guide to culinary adventuring and appreciation.

Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache


Harry Eastwood - 2009
    In Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache, she has fiddled, tweaked and thought outside the box to pioneer a way of bringing exquisite cakes that remain natural and healthy into our everyday lives - by introducing ingredients from the vegetable garden. Ginger Sticky Toffee Pudding made with parsnip, or Orange Squash Cupcakes made with butternut squash are bound to amuse and delight your tastebuds. In this spirited cookery book, Harry shares her baking secrets and practical knowledge as a cook and as a food writer to prove that it is possible to have your cake and eat it.

The Lebanese Kitchen


Salma Hage - 2012
    With more than 500 recipes for meze, soups, fish, meat and vegetables, desserts, cakes, cookies, preserves and drinks, it covers the entire range of Lebanese food, which is widely regarded as the most refined of all the Middle Eastern cuisines.

Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen


Yasmin Khan - 2018
    It has evolved over several millennia through the influences of Arabic, Jewish, Armenian, Persian, Turkish, and Bedouin cultures and civilizations that have ruled over, or lived in, the area known as ancient Palestine.In each place she visits, Khan enters the kitchens of Palestinians of all ages and backgrounds, discovering the secrets of their cuisine and sharing heartlifting stories.

Casa Marcela: Recipes and Food Stories of My Life in the Californias


Marcela Valladolid - 2017
    This book captures a culture centered around food, loved ones, and gatherings with mouthwatering recipes and in vibrant photography, all shot at Valladolid's home. Mexican food really is simple at its core, if you have some extra time for slow roasting meats or to prepare a few salsas, and the results are sure to impress. There are small bites like Cod Fritters with Chipotle Tartar Sauce and Grilled Steak and Cheese Tostadas; entrees such as Red Chile Lamb Stew and Roasted Tomatillo Salmon; and even drinks and desserts for special occasions, including Strawberry Layered Tres Leches Cake. With mouthwatering recipes and evocative photography, Casa Marcela presents Mexican food in a way never seen before.

The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry


Bo Friberg - 1989
    Now skillfully revised and redesigned to meet the needs of today's pastry kitchen, this classic reference is better-and easier to use-than ever. The new edition contains more than 650 recipes, which offer a new emphasis on American applications of European techniques with yields suitable for restaurant service or for entertaining at home. It shares encyclopedic guidance on everything from mise en place preparation and basic doughs to new chapters covering flatbreads, crackers, and homestyle desserts. Throughout, award-winning Executive Pastry Chef Bo Friberg explains not only how to perform procedures, but also the principles behind them, helping readers to build a firm foundation based on understanding rather than memorizing formulas. Illustrated step-by-step instructions demystify even the most complex techniques and presentations, while 100 vivid color photographs bring finished dishes to life with a sublime touch of visual inspiration. Whether used to develop skills or refine techniques, to gain or simply broaden a repertoire, The Professional Pastry Chef is filled with information and ideas for creating mouthwatering baked goods and tantalizing desserts-today and for years to come.

Taste of Home Cookies: 623 Irresistible Delights


Taste of Home - 2009
    Take a look inside and you'll find: * More than 600 cookies for every occasion, from after-school snacks and charity bake sales to holiday cookie platters and charming hostess gifts * Twelve chapters devoted to different cookies, including shortcut cookies, big batch treats, Christmas favorites, and more * Extra recipes for brownies and bars * A chapter dedicated to "big batch baking," perfect for classroom treats and potlucks * Handy how-to tips and a resourceful guide to the art of cookie-making * Hundreds of mouth-watering photos All recipes have been tested by Taste of Home Test Kitchen home economists, so you're guaranteed a great cookie every single time you make it! REVIEW AUTHORBIO Launched in 1993, Taste of Home is the most popular recipe magazine in the world, with nearly 4 million paid subscribers. The delectable, practical recipes-more than 75 in each issue-are family favorites contributed by Taste of Home readers. The dishes, all beautifully photographed, capture special flavors of the season and are made with ingredients that home cooks are likely to have on hand or can readily find at a local supermarket. New recipe contests are announced every issue, and readers are encouraged to send their best recipes for Taste of Home's regular features, like "A Complete Meal in a Matter of Minutes," "Cooking for One or Two," "My Mom's Best Meal," "Super Snacks & Appetizers," and "Just Desserts." The magazine's unique staff of field editors is made up of more than 1,000 experienced home cooks located in each state and Canadian province, who regularly share recipes, well-liked menus and kitchen tips. Taste of Home is published six times a year and has three sister magazines, Simple & Delicious, Cooking for 2, and Healthy Cooking.

Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book


Better Homes and Gardens - 1953
    Features: Over 900 new recipes -- 1,200 in all-reflect current eating habits and lifestyles; 500 new photographs -- over 700 in all-including 60 percent more of finished food than the last edition; Dozens of new recipes offer ethnic flavours, fresh ingredients, or vegetarian appeal; Many recipes feature make-ahead directions or quick-to-the-table meals; New chapter provides recipes for crockery cookers; Efficient, easy-to-read format, with recipes categorised into 21 chapters, each thoroughly indexed for easy reference; Expanded chapter on cooking basics includes advice on food safety, menu planning, table setting, and make-ahead cooking, plus a thorough glossary on ingredients and techniques; Appliance-friendly recipes help cooks save time and creatively use new kitchen tools; Nutrition information with each recipe, plus diabetic exchanges; Contemporary food photography attracts browsers and helps cooks discover new recipes to make; Icons identify low-fat, no-fat, fast, and best-loved recipes; Every recipe tested and perfected by the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen; Revised and updated cooking charts, ingredient photos, emergency substitutions, and equivalents; Respected, reliable kitchen reference with hundreds of cooking terms, tips, and techniques.

A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes


David Tanis - 2008
    The other six months, Tanis lives in Paris in a seventeenth-century apartment, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and paying guests, and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of wellused pots and pans. This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. It’s not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals—for both the cook and the guest—are invariably the simplest. Home cooks can easily re-create any of his 24 seasonal, market-driven menus, from spring’s Supper of the Lamb (Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette; Shoulder of Spring Lamb with Flageolet Beans and Olive Relish; Rum Baba with Cardamom) to winter’s North African Comfort Food (Carrot and Coriander Salad; Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas). Best of all, Tanis is an engaging guide with a genuine gift for words, whose soulful approach to food will make any kitchen, big or small, a warm and compelling place to spend time.

Rick Stein's Seafood


Rick Stein - 2001
    Rick Stein's Seafood brings together his knowledge and expertise, and includes 200 of his tried-and-tested recipes.The book is divided into three separate sections: Techniques; Recipes and, finally, an A to Z of Fish. The techniques section covers all the main preparation methods – including how to fillet, scale and gut fish – as well as the cooking methods for each type of fish (round, flat, shellfish etc), while the A-Z of fish is a comprehensive encyclopedia of fish and seafood including US, Australian and European fish. The recipe section includes all the essential basic recipes, such as stocks, sauces, batters etc. Useful cross references link all sections.Rick Stein's Seafood has been an international bestseller and was awarded the highly coveted James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year Award in 2005.

Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries


Steven Raichlen - 2010
    Setting out—again—on the barbecue trail four years ago, Steven Raichlen visited 60 countries—yes, 60 countries—and collected 309 of the tastiest, most tantalizing, easy-to-make, and guaranteed-to-wow recipes from every corner of the globe. Welcome to Planet Barbecue, the book that will take America’s passionate, obsessive, smoke-crazed live-fire cooks to the next level. Planet Barbecue, with full-color photographs throughout, is an unprecedented marriage of food and culture. Here, for example, is how the world does pork: in the Puerto Rican countryside cooks make Lechon Asado—stud a pork shoulder with garlic and oregano, baste it with annatto oil, and spit-roast it. From the Rhine-Palatine region of Germany comes Spiessbraten, thick pork steaks seasoned with nutmeg and grilled over a low, smoky fire. From Seoul, South Korea, Sam Gyeop Sal—grilled sliced pork belly. From Montevideo, Uruguay, Bandiola—butterflied pork loin stuffed with ham, cheese, bacon, and peppers. From Cape Town, South Africa, Sosaties—pork kebabs with dried apricots and curry. And so it goes for beef, fish, vegetables, shellfish—says Steven, "Everything tastes better grilled."In addition to the recipes the book showcases inventive ways to use the grill: Australia's Lamb on a Shovel, Bogota's Lomo al Trapo (Salt-Crusted Beef Tenderloin Grilled in Cloth), and from the Charantes region of France, Eclade de Moules—Mussels Grilled on Pine Needles. Do try this at home. What a planet—what a book.

Italian Food


Elizabeth David - 1954
    For the foods of Italy, explained David, expanded far beyond minestrone and ravioli, to the complex traditions of Tuscany, Sicily, Lombardy, Umbria, and many other regions. David imparts her knowledge from her many years in Italy, exploring, researching, tasting and testing dishes. Her passion for real food, luscious, hearty, fresh, and totally authentic, will inspire anyone who wishes to recreate the abundant and highly unique regional dishes of Italy.

Great Scandinavian Baking Book


Beatrice Ojakangas - 1988
    Each country—Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland—has its specialty and no one goes hungry. In this mouthwatering collection, Beatrice Ojakangas calls on her own Scandinavian heritage and wide-ranging knowledge of baking to produce the definitive cookbook for this rich cultural heritage.Because Ojakangas stresses ease of preparation, even novice bakers will be able to make filled Danish pastries, Christmas buttermilk rye bread, or a few dozen pepparkakor, better known as gingersnaps. This handy reference highlights Scandinavian traditions too. There are recipes for sweet breads to be served with morning, afternoon, and evening coffee; for trays upon trays of cookies to serve as holiday or everyday treats; and for savory meat-and-vegetable pies.The Great Scandinavian Baking Book will warm your heart and fill your stomach.Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of more than a dozen cookbooks, including Great Whole Grain Breads (1993) and The Finnish Cookbook (1989). Her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook, and she has appeared on television’s Baking with Julia Child. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota.

Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen


Elizabeth Andoh - 2005
    Today, the author of that groundbreaking series, Elizabeth Andoh, is recognized as the leading English-language authority on the subject. She shares her knowledge and passion for the food culture of Japan in WASHOKU, an authoritative, deeply personal tribute to one of the world's most distinctive culinary traditions. Andoh begins by setting forth the ethos of washoku (traditional Japanese food), exploring its nuanced approach to balancing flavor, applying technique, and considering aesthetics hand-in-hand with nutrition. With detailed descriptions of ingredients complemented by stunning full-color photography, the book's comprehensive chapter on the Japanese pantry is practically a book unto itself. The recipes for soups, rice dishes and noodles, meat and poultry, seafood, and desserts are models of clarity and precision, and the rich cultural context and practical notes that Andoh provides help readers master the rhythm and flow of the washoku kitchen. Much more than just a collection of recipes, WASHOKU is a journey through a cuisine that is rich in history and as handsome as it is healthful. Awards2006 IACP Award WinnerReviews“This extensive volume is clearly intended for the cook serious about Japanese food.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune“. . . scholarly, yet inspirational . . . a foodie might just sit back and read for sheer enjoyment and edification.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel