2023 1.DINNER WITH JANE AUSTEN; menus inspired by her novels and letters (CICO Books, 2023, 64 pages, ISBN 978-1-80065-264-4 $19.99 CAD hardbound) is by Pen Vogler who has written many such historical British cookbooks (Tea with Jane Austen, Dinner with Mr. Darcy, Dinner with Dickens, et al). These are Regency menus and dinners that have been fully updated for modern times: the originals are next to the updates. There are five menus with notes about the times and about compelling dishes. For example, there is Mrs. Bennet's Dinner to Impress from Pride and Prejudice (fresh pea soup, partridges with bread sauce, spiced mushrooms, and everlasting syllabub). There is also a bibliography and an index. A top book for the top of your stocking stuffers. Quality/Price rating is 89 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 2.VIETNAMESE CUISINE; recipes and anecdotes from Vietnamese gastronomic culture (Firefly Books, 2023, 128 pages, ISBN 978-0-2281-0442-1 $19.95 CAD paperbound) is by Nathalie Nguyen, with great watercolour illustrations by Melody Ung. It was originally published in French in France in 2022. This edition is the third in a Firefly series (the others dealt with illustrated cuisines of Japan and of Korea. There are 30 recipes, each with text about the plate's place in culinary history. And yes, Vietnam cuisine does have its own version of peanut sauce (a no-heat recipe is included). Typical dishes include banh mi (of course), but also Vietnamese pancakes, pho bo, nem chua, and caramelized fish. There is a lot going on here: in addition to recipes, there are memoir materials, anecdotes, histories and background. For the food itself, there is in-depth coverage on techniques, utensils, and Vietnamese ingredients. It's a colourful book since all of the illustrations are watercolours of food, utensils, finished plates, meal composition, tableware, staples, condiments and sauces. These are everyday dishes. Do try to track down the other two books --can Thai or Laos be far behind? A top book for the top of your stocking stuffers. Quality/Price rating is 92 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 3.FESTIVE COFFEE SHOP DRINKS; more than 50 holiday-inspired recipes for coffees, hot chocolates & more (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2023, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-554-8 $23.99 CAD hardbound) is by Hannah Miles who has authored 46 cookbooks. Her book is mainly for the Christmas season: coffee and tea-based drinks, hot chocolates, mochas, cold brews, frappes, and creamy shakes. Some of the preps are from her earlier books on hot chocolate and shakes, while four others were furnished by Louise Pickford. Primer chapters deal with making the best base beverage, making syrups and sauces, and decorating the drink. Then each type has its own chapter. And each type seems to have its own shape of glass or mug. Gorgeous illustrations help place this book in the Christmas "giftbook" category. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 4.BEAUTIFUL BOARDS & DELICIOUS CHARCUTERIE FOR EVERY OCCASION (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2023, 136 pages, ISBN 978-1-4971-0383-2 $18.99 CAD softbound) is by Kate Woodson. She's got 100 easy-to-make recipes for meats, cheese, veggies, butter boards, and themed spreads. After a primer the chapters are mainly savoury, with 16 preps for sweet platters such as honey-almond brie, whipped honey ricotta, peanut butter and chocolate hummus, plus some dips. Most of the preps are for savouries such as meat lovers, smoked foods, Mexican, Spanish tapas, a bruschetta board, seasonal boards, French, Italian, Mediterranean, and the like. All of the platyter ideas are laid out nicely with accompanying recipes and photos. Fox Chapel did a good job of condensing all you'll need to know about platters. For two people (or more) everything here can replace TV dinners. With glasses of sparkling wine, this is actually unbeatable while you are streaming. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 5.CHARCUTERIE BOARDS; platters, boards, plates & simple recipes to share (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2023, 176 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-515-9 $34.12 CAD hardbound) is by Miranda Ballard and Louise Pickford. Both are cookbook authors for RP&S, with Ballard having the additional credit of owning five retail butcher shops in the UK. Some of Ballard's preps come from a previous RP&S book published in 2014. The boards are mainly meats with occasional garnishes of olives, peppers, capers, pickles, breads, cheese, and jams and jellies. There's an Italian board with pesto and local cheeses, a Spanish tapas board with cheeses and sauces, a French board, a Northern European board, a New York deli board, a smoked board, and more. It's a classic book for entertaining, with cold cuts of meat being the main feature surrounded by a variety of other foods. The key is a theme and a layout for the board. Ballard and Pickford provide both. And there is such a wide variety of food accompaniments that it is relatively easy to mix and match within limits. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 1.IT'S NO FUN WITHOUT RUM! 50 fabulous recipes for rum-based cocktails from mai tai to mojito (Dog 'n' Bone, 2023, 64 pages, ISBN 978-1-912983-78-0 $12.99 USD hardbound) is a publisher's book with 11 different contributors: Ben Reed has largest number of recipes (15), followed by Michael Butt (13). It's a basic handy guide to a pile of delicious rum cocktail preps. We all know daiquiri, pina colada, planter's punch, cuba libre, and hurricane. But do we know officer's nightcap? Or tiki negroni? Or graham cracker crunch? We do now. Nifty photos. A good book to serve as a host gift or stocking stuffer. Quality/Price rating is 88 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 2.FALAFEL; delicious recipes for Middle Eastern-style patties, plus sauces, pickles, salads, & breads (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2023, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-527-2 $16.99 USD hardbound) is by Dunja Gulin, a Croatian cookbook author of many vegan cookbooks. Here she has also shared a dozen preps from other food writers. Falafels are chickpeas (also known as garbanzos) ground with a variety of spices and herbs to create a sort of meatball-shaped vegetarian (or vegan) pod. You can also make falafels with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews, buckwheat, mushrooms, flaxseeds, et al. She's got different sections: one on fried falafels, another on baked falafels, and one on no-cook falafels. Then there are chapters on dips, dressings, pittas, flatbreads and crackers. She starts with the traditional chickpea falafel pockets (street food style) and moves along to undone (deconstructed) falafel salad. You can do burgers, casseroles, curries, soups, even a grazing board! Ingredients are mainly listed in Imperial measurements with some metric volumes, but there is no table of metric equivalents. A very clever single dish cookbook, well-worth exploring. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 3.MANJU'S COOKBOOK; vegetarian Gujarati Indian recipes from a much-loved family restaurant (Ryland Peters & Small, 2023, 176 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-559-3 $30 USD hardbound) is by Manju Patel who operates a family-run restaurant in Brighton (UK). As of this writing, she's 86 and still cooking for her head chef Dee. Her food categories begin with a primer on Gujarati cuisine (west coast of India, north of Mumbai) and then move through curries, breads-rice-dal, snacks, and street foods. Near the end there are sides, chutneys, pickles, sweets, and drinks. Typical dishes include khandvi, kachori (peas in pastry), eggplant curry, paneer curry, millet flatbread, chakri (crispy swirls), and dahi vada (lentil fritters coated in yogurt). This is a good Indian theme book with many colourful illustrations of fab-looking dishes. Ingredients are mainly listed in Imperial measurements with some metric volumes, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price rating is 89 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 4.THEO'S FAMILY KITCHEN; 75 recipes for fast feel good food at home (Ryland Peters & Small, 2023, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-558-6 $28 USD hardbound) is by Theo A. Michaels, who works as an Executive Chef as well as authoring six cookbooks for RP&S. He says: Feeding my family unprocessed, homecooked meals is important to me and I want to pass on my knowledge so you can do the same. It's also a book for all family members to contribute their time and energies to proper food. He opens up with How to Cook the Perfect....egg, rice, potatoes, green veggies, fish, chicken, white sauce, tomato sauce, homemade stock, shortcrust pie shell. Indeed, many bachelors could make use of this book. He's got ideas for tasty family meals on weeknights and weekends, plus some family takeout knockoffs to do at home (e.g. fish and chips, pizza, burgers, and fried chicken). Salads, sides and sweets complete the package. Ingredients are mainly listed in Imperial measurements with some metric volumes, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price rating is 88 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 5.AREPA; classic and contemporary recipes for Venezuela's daily bread (Ryland Peters & Small, 2023, 192 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-517-3 $30 USD hardbound) is by Irena Stein, owner of Alma Cocina Latina in Baltimore, and by Eduardo Egui, a Venezuelan chef living in Spain, and by David Zamudio, the Executive Chef at Alma Cocina Latina. There's a basic introduction to the bread with notes on its history, with recipes and notes on variations. There are three main chapters: seafood, vegetarian, and meat. Along the way they've got separate sections on appetizers, butters and sauces, some deserts, and drinks. It's fairly comprehensive, and then photography (food and travel) is gorgeous. The book would make a nice hostess gift. One of my faves is the fried egg arepa with spicy marinated veggies and aged cheese. Another is the fried pork arepa with kimchi. Ingredients are mainly listed in Imperial measurements with some metric volumes, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 1.HEARTY CAST-IRON AND SKILLET COOKING; 101 easy-to-make, feel-good recipes (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2023, 152 pages, ISBN 978-1-4971-0386-3 $22.99 CDN softbound) is by Anne Schaeffer, who has also written cookbooks on campfire meals, Dutch ovens, crock pots, tailgating, Amish baking, and many other topics. All of the preps here can be cooked on the stove, in the oven, and/or grilled over a fire using the Dutch oven, the skillet or cast-iron pan. Once heated, these pots maintain even cooking temps. And the cookware lasts forever, even through to the next generation plus one. They are all highly recommended for campfires, grills, and other open flame sources. Typical preps here include breakfast (bacon and potato pancakes, frittatas), lunch (tuna noodle casserole, one pot shells and meatballs), dinner (fajita enchiladas, chicken marsala), and desserts (peachy raspberry pie, cherry-cream roll-ups). I like that the type face is large so that it is easy enough for seniors to read. Also, the idea of one pot or pan appeals to the male chef for its tidiness; consequently, the book has advantages for the guys. Ingredients are only listed in Imperial measurements, and there is no table of metric equivalents. Recipe directions include instructions for all three heat sources. Quality/Price rating is 88 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 2.COOKING WITH BEER AND BOURBON (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2023, 136 pages, ISBN 978-1-4971-0389-4 $20.99 CDN softbound) is by Hunter Reed. It's loaded with 124 preps that include beer or bourbon (or both) as a major ingredient. He gives us 10 different beer types and 3 different bourbon types, plus he notes non-alcoholic, gluten-free, and vegan options. The book is arranged by course or plate (moving from sides, snacks, sauces, soups, to chilies, BBQ, sweets), but also within each section there is an arrangement of light to heavy flavours from the beer and bourbon. Thus he starts with beer battered fried mozzarella sticks as appetizers and move through the book to no-churn toffee and stout ice cream and bourbon choco-sicles. It's also a guy book in that most of the food (Irish beef stew, beer party meatballs, jalapeno cheddar beer bread) is what guys eat and drink with beer and bourbon. A readable typeface is very useful, although the print of the index is very tiny. Ingredients are only listed in Imperial measurements, and there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price rating is 89 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 3.THE GROUNDS CAFE; seasonal dishes from Murray's Century Farm (Boulder Books, 2023, 165 pages, ISBN 978-1-989417-60-7 $34.95 hardbound) is by Nick Van Mele, who also did the recipes, with contributions from the Murray family. The book goes into the importance of community, co-operation, and the interdependence they all share in producing good food. The Murrays arrived in Newfoundland in 1820 and the Century Farm began in 1860. In 2017 Murray's opened The Grounds Cafe, a farm-to-fork restaurant. This book is a collection of recipes from that restaurant. Readers will enjoy reading about the growth of the farmers, foragers, foodies, family and friends over the years up through to the modern times. Lots of memoir material and photos. It's arranged by season, beginning with spring. Each has a section of about a dozen recipes. Spring includes spring harvest salad , oyster mushroom and chive tartlet, buckwheat noodle bowl, handmade pasta with nettle pesto and cured radish. Summer brings tomato tart with basil pesto and mozzarella, charred zucchini and fennel soup, and a summer salad. The chill of fall produces tomato jam, squash risotto, apple butter, and a warm fall harvest salad with roasted pumpkin. Winter invites beet frites with garlic aioli, Cuban-style calzone, BBQ parsnip, and curried potato and root-veggie samosa with onion chutney. Delicious all round. With a shakshuka prep and veggie posters from Murray Meadows Farm this book really details the rural life in Newfoundland. Ingredients are only listed in Imperial measurements, and there is no table of metric equivalents. But, for a change, the index entries are large enough to read. Quality/Price rating is 90 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. 4.BIBIMBAP & other Asian-inspired rice & noodle bowl recipes (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2023, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-555-5 $25 USD hardbound) is largely by Louise Pickford, a food writer-stylist currently based in France with 15 or so cookbooks to her credit. Five other Ryland food authors' recipes are from Atsuko Ikeda, Jackie Kearney, Kathy Kordalis, Jenny Linford, and Uyen Luu. The book attempts to lay out plans for ease of preparation of rice and noodles: one-pot dishes in soups, salads, and stir-fries based on dishes from Korea, Cambodia, Burma, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia. Korea's Bibimbap is the iconic dish (fried egg on top of rice, seasoned veggies, kimchi, and gochujang sauce). Indeed, bibim means mixing and bap means cooked rice. The dish is often used as a base for many one bowl rice/noodle dishes. Pickford arranges her book by need: the first section is easy does it , followed by fresh & cool , soul satisfying , warming spice , and umami rich . As a tested Supertaster, I headed for that last chapter first. She's got BBQ pork noodle bowls with dipping sauce, wild garlic miso pork stir fry, mushroom udon, an ultimate banh mi rice bowl [I didn't miss the baguette at all], and duck red curry over rice among others. This is a great looking book with all the RP&S food photos in place. Ingredients are mainly listed in Imperial measurements with some metric volumes, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price rating is 89 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. BEST OF BRIDGE EVERYDAY CELEBRATIONS (Robert Rose, 2023, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0708-7 $34.95 CAD hardbound) is by Emily Richards and Sylvia Kong who have been extending the Best of Bridge franchise by creating new material for new books. They had previously written Best of Bridge Weekday Suppers and Best of Bridge Comfort Food. This latest book has 125 recipes for family and friends on the theme of everyday celebrations such as home birthdays, entertaining, neighbourhood potlucks, or just a small party for a foursome that is joyous and festive. As such it is very useful for anybody who wishes a basic cook book for the upscale kitchen. Typical dishes include breakfast sandwiches that use speedy bagels, zucchini noodle soup, Asian coleslaw chicken salad with Thai and Vietnamese flavours, instant pot beef stew -- all the warm foods that are quick and easy to make for the cooler seasons. Some updating includes more plant-based options and multi-cultural preps (spatchcocked chicken, veggie pot stickers, crispy Korean fried chicken trips, individual beef Wellington packs, tofu banh mi, cilantro lime rice). But he familiar hand-lettered font has disappeared. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements; so there is no need for a table of equivalents. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. DIABETES CREATE YOUR PLATE MEAL PREP COOKBOOK (Robert Rose, 2022, 288 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0707-0 $29.95 CAD paper covers) is by Toby Amidor, cookbook author and dietitian with eight books, some with Robert Rose such as The Best 3-Ingredient Cookbook . Here she expands on the concept of the Diabetes Plate Method for make-ahead meals. She's got 100 preps and five different meal plans spread over from the beginner to the experienced cook. Along the way she's got tips and advice for creating multiple dishes at one time and shopping, cooking and ingredient substitutions. The idea behind a meal prep is to create balanced diabetes-friendly plates of food to better control blood sugar levels. Different storage containers are noted to accommodate different styles of storing. For example, Rubbermaid offers a package of 10 containers and more, up to 44 pieces or so. Storage is either in the freezer or refrigerator, and she presents tables to allow for food safety. The basic principle is to create your plate: half of the space is for non-starchy veggies such as cauliflower or kale, spinach, broccoli rabe, and the like. One-quarter of the container is a lean protein (meat, fish, seafood, eggs, plant-based), while the remaining quarter has carbo food such as grains, starchy veggies, fruit, milk or yogurt. Add some healthy non-saturated fats and/or a tiny quantity of saturated fats such as butter. And away you go taking it easy on any appetizers or desserts that are not part of the equation. Every prep has an icon which indicates those recipes that are freezer-friendly, one-pot, vegetarian, vegan, 30-minutes or less, dairy-free, gluten-free. Typical meal plates include spicy chicken meatballs, sriracha yogurt dip, chicken noodle soup, herbed garlic-butter pork chops, or veggie-loaded meatloaf. An important chapter of the book deals with dressings, condiments, and sauces such as teriyaki marinade, BBQ sauce, pesto, peanut dressing, and mango salsa. This book is a boon for those diabetics who need to grab and go . The index is very thorough and comprehensive. My faves (I'm pre-diabetic) are the eggplant with tomatoes and cumin, and the chicken cacciatore. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both avoirdupois and metric measurements; it is the Robert Rose style. Quality/Price rating is 90 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. THE BEST 3-INGREDIENT COOKBOOK: 100 fast & easy recipes for everyone (Robert Rose, 2020, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0678-3, $29.95 CAD paperbound) is by Toby Amidor, RD, cookbook author and nutrition expert who has also authored Diabetes Plate Meal Prep for Robert Rose. It's a nifty book that relies on your pantry: the recipes call for three or fewer ingredients plus some everyday pantry items. The common pantry staples to always keep on hand include olive oil, salt, and black pepper, with occasionally water. Other items that are shelf-stable or freezer-friendly can be purchased well-ahead of the meals, and include pasta, quinoa, tinned tuna/beans/salmon, and frozen veggies. The benefits of using only three ingredients is mostly for simplification and time savings in shopping, preparation, and clean up. Each recipe has materials for three different serving sizes (usually one, two or four). She uses a variety of food icons to represent those recipes that are freezer-friendly, one pot, 15 minutes or less, vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. This book is ideal for students, single people, or those in a hurry. So she has a valuable basic primer on how to cook. She outlines some of the best recipes for just one person (with page references) such as avocado-egg toast, roasted sweet potato and chickpea bowl, thyme poached halibut and maple soy salmon. And a similar listing for two people and again, a similar listing for families. Her arrangement is typical such as smoothies and breakfasts, snacks, soups, salads, lunches, and dinners with some added sides. Dishes include pesto stuffed mushrooms, roasted red pepper and hummus wrap, breaded pork chops, black bean patties, cheesy polenta, skillet turkey with sweet potatoes and spinach. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both avoirdupois and metric measurements; it is the Robert Rose style. Quality/Price rating is 90 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. THE BEST CAST IRON BAKING BOOK: recipes for breads, pies, biscuits & more (Robert Rose, 2021, 192 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0683-7, $24.95 CAD paperbound) is by Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore, both cookbook authors, food consultants, cooking teachers and bloggers. They have written 17 cookbooks, mostly on baking more recipes and thoughts can be found at their blog www.pluggedintocooking.com. Most of the 80 preps in their latest book can also be used with 10 inch skillets and Dutch ovens. The first 30 pages address the issues of maintenance and proper care, use of parchment paper, and some pantry notes. Preps open with slow-rise breads (many are no-kneads, flatbreads/pizza, breads and rolls most of the savouries in the book). Other topics include sweet breads, coffee cakes, cobblers, biscuits, scones, pies, cookies, and brownies. Among the seven dessert recipes they've included tarte tatin and dutch babies. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both avoirdupois and metric measurements; it is the Robert Rose style. Quality/Price rating is 91 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. THE EDGY VEG; easy eats -- quick, tasty, vegan (Robert Rose, 2022, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0703-2, $34.95 CAD hardbound) is by Candice Hutchings, who produces the Edgy Veg YouTube channel and blog. This is her follow-up to The Edgy Veg: 138 Carnivore-Approved Vegan Recipes , but it is also a simpler everyday little sister to her foundational first book with about 100 new and different but easy preps. She's got a dozen brekkies (pumpkin scones, banana bread muffins, breakfast beans), a dozen salads, a dozen soups, a dozen appetizers, two dozen mains, a dozen sides, six potent potables, and nine desserts. Plus she's got an all-knowing sassy in-your-face-style, just the same as her YouTube channel. Excellent photography, typeface and index. Her four recipe icons are very useful: symbols for 15 minutes or less , one pot/one pan , gluten-free and great for entertaining . Nothing here takes longer than 45 minutes tops. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both avoirdupois and metric measurements; it is the Robert Rose style. Quality/Price rating is 92 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. CASABLANCA; my Moroccan food (Firefly Books, 2018, 2023, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-2281-0086-7, $39.95 CAD hardbound) is by Nargisse Benkabbou, a native of Morocco (www.mymoroccanfood.com) and now living in London. She's done everything such as developing new cooking techniques, recipe development, cooking schools, food photography, and guest chefing. Her book was originally published by Octopus in the UK; this is the North American reissue. Here are 100 recipes for modern and traditional dishes to be served for family and entertaining. Her primer has elements for ras el hanout spice mix, preserved lemons, harissa paste, couscous, Moroccan tea, and, of course, the tagine. Typical dishes include sweet potato and feta maakouda, artichoke and baby potato and preserved lemon tagine, zucchini and thyme and beef shin tagine, kefta and olive toast, and chicken mchermel. Great photography of the finished plates with (thankfully) few or no touristic photos. But all ingredients are expressed in avoirdupois, not metric. So 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 is 89 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. KOREAN CUISINE; an illustrated guide (Firefly Books, 2022, 128 pages, ISBN 978-0-2281-0389-9 $19.95 CAD paperbound) is by Luna Kyung, who lives in Paris and has written books about Korean food. Ahnji is a Korean illustrator and graphic designer who also lives in France, and is a co-author. Their book was originally published in French, in France, in 2021 this is the English translation. There is a lot going on here; in addition to recipes, there are memoir materials, anecdotes, histories and background. For the food itself, there is in-depth coverage on techniques, utensils, and Korean ingredients. It's a colourful book since all of the illustrations are watercolours of food, utensils, finished plates, meal composition, tableware, staples, condiments and sauces. These are everyday dishes. But just one thought: there is no pork neck bone soup recipe. I've noticed this omission in many recent Korean cookbooks, no doubt because pork neck bones are difficult to obtain, even from a butcher. The closest bone to find is either hock trotter or spare rib bone, and even these can be hard to find, especially (for the latter) in grilling season. I mention all of this because I regard pork neck bone soup (Gamjatang), along with Bipimbap, to be a quintessential Korean dish. You can easily check out the ingredients through the Internet. It is worth trying to do because of its bounty of flavours, even if you have to use spare ribs where is no real difference in flavour, although neck fans may question that assumption. Kyung's book is full of vast quantities of everyday dishes, fermented foods, noodles, party dishes, temple food, street food, lucky foods, and even North Korean specialties. This is an extremely useful book. Quality/Price rating is 92 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. FERMENTATION; history, uses and recipes (Firefly Books, 2023, 206 pages, ISBN 978-0-2281-0411-4 $39.95 CAD hardbound) is by Mathilde Fenestraz, a Parisian journalist and cookbook author, and Stephane Ros, an art historian who wrote the book's preface and the history of fermentation chapter. It was originally published in 2022 in France. This is the North American English translation release. It is mainly a good fermentation textbook, at an affordable price, giving us a history and a listing of the many varieties of fermented food with a scope embracing meat and fish, dairy products, baked goods, alcohol drinks, kombucha, kefir, and more. There is also a section from the Institut Paul Bocuse on the theory of food pairing, with nine food and drink pairings (chocolate with tarragon, shrimp curry paste with scallops, brioche with framboise beer, and the like. Yeast and bacteria are everywhere on earth: we do rely on these living organisms to improve taste and human nutrition. The 30 recipes here are easy-peasy and cover simple foods such as pickles, salmon gravlax, and pretzels. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/Price rating is 90 points by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing. * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... ---------------------------------------------------- 2022 FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR FALL 2022 [published mostly monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.3 INGREDIENT COCKTAILS; 60 drinks made in minutes (Hardie Grant Books, 2021, 160 pages, $21 hardbound) is by Kate Calder who believes that the secret of a classic cocktail is simplicity. The fewer the flavours, the better. Everything is arranged by spirit, beginning with vodka, followed by gin, rum, tequila, whiskey, and sparkling . Each has a series of snacks (about a half dozen each) to go with the drinks. Thus, gin needs sweet potato bites, chorizo, spicy mayo, baked ricotta with honey, rosemary-parmesan walnuts, et al. Typical gin includes gimplet, pink lady, negroni, dirty martini, gin rickey, et al. Great fun, especially the snacks, and a boon to the beginning cocktail drinker. Good value book too. Quality/Price Rating:91 * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.NOMA 2.0: Vegetable, Forest, Ocean (Artisan, 2022, 352 pages, $95 hardbound) is by Ren Redzepi, Mette S berg, and Junichi Takahashi. Ren Redzepi is the chef and co-owner of Noma in Copenhagen, five times recognized as the world s best restaurant. In 2021, Noma got its third Michelin star. His first book, Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine, was an IACP and James Beard Award winner. All three authors are the top culinary team at Noma, developing recipes in the kitchen lab. Indeed, Noma is possibly the world's most influential restaurant. The cookbook is laid out with narrative descriptions for the recipes. Dishes are organized seasonally: there is vegetable (May through August), forest (September through December), and ocean (January through April). Everything here is extremely inventive and extremely creative, and can be replicated with the right ingredients and the right equipment. It's all about stimulating the palate and the eye, with trompe l'oeil and unusual ingredients (e.g. reindeer brain). As the New York Times Pete Wells wrote in praising Noma s flavours, Sauces are administered so subtly that you don t notice anything weird going on; you just think you ve never tasted anything so extraordinary in your life. There are 200 preps, with gorgeous photography for each plate. It's a very challenging and admirable book, but also a terrific coffee table gift book (it weighs about two kilos) for the armchair chef and traveller. The gift book of the season! Quality/price rating: 95. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.GOOD ENOUGH; a cookbook embracing the joys of imperfection & practicing self-care in the kitchen (Workman, 2022, 298 pages, $24.95 paperbound) is by Leanne Brown, author of GOOD AND CHEAP, a bestseller cookbook. It's a mix of personal essays, stories, and about 100 recipes: this book is about the joys of imperfection . She believes that cooking can be a healing process, acknowledging fears and anxieties as well as letting them go, slowing down, and the sensory experience of creating meals to feed yourself and family. She stresses the importance of self-care and self-nourishment by proposing a gateway to calm cooking, beginning with the pantry and the mise-en-place in the good enough preparation . Chapters deal with mornings, midday, weeknights, fun, and good enough for others . Her end notes deal with leftovers, with an invitation to observe what happens to food the next day. Typical preps for weeknights involve weeknight farro casserole; fast white bean, chorizo, and hearty greens stew; leek and squash risotto with goat cheese and honey; bacon and kale risotto with fried eggs; saucy spiced chicken; and summer burgers. Try also spicy ginger-honey blondies or baklava granola or banana and date and cashew muffins. Ingredients are listed in American avoirdupois units, but there are two pages of conversions tables for the metric-inclined. One of her best concepts is the TL;DR ( too long; didn't read ) which is useful for those longer recipes. In her case, she summarizes many of them by using a TL;DR headnote and 25 words or so. Cooking does not need to be depressing. Quality/price rating: 90. 4.ASHIA'S TABLE; family recipes from India and beyond (Interlink Books, 2022, 224 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Ashia Ismail Singer, who pays tribute to her heritage with themes on her family's classics and modern spins on today's cuisine. She's got some memoirish material from childhood and multiple food experiences. Her collection emphasizes the culture: sharing platters with family and friends (kebab pastry twists, spinach squares, onion and potato bhajias); light lunches of easy dishes (masala omelet, chili sweetcorn, potato curry); dinner dishes from an everyday meal to an elaborate dinner (chili-crusted baked salmon, chicken biryani, lamb curry, machi fry); side dishes (naan, chutneys, rices, breads); and desserts (carrot halva, sticky date cake, chocolate and cardamom puddings). Well worth looking into. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Great food photos. Quality/price rating:88. 5.BAGELS, SCHMEARS, AND A NICE PIECE OF FISH; a whole brunch of recipes to make at home (Chronicle Books, 2022, 208 pages, $36 hardbound) is by Cathy Barrow, an award-winning creator of many other cookbooks and food article writer. Here, in about 90 pages, she runs through the home bagel-making process. This is followed by 50 pages of schmears, both savoury and sweet, and concludes with a variety of fish. Other faves include her takes on salads, pickles and ferments, bagel sandwiches with salads, and a bunch of menus. Her homemade bagels mostly replicate the New York City style, but she also does cover the Montreal bagel, the Pumpernickel bagel, and a variety of others such as the Jerusalem bagel, the Turkish simit, the Flagel (flattened bagel), the Pletzel, the Bialy, plus a lot of sweet bagels. The highlight of the book is actually the 18 or so schmears plus variations, and this is very easy to do at home. In fact, you can, of course, buy your own bagels and fish, but make your own schmears for an innovative brunch. Eggs, chickens, and vegan options can easily replace fish. A good, single purpose book. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89. 6.FOOT TRODDEN; Portugal and the Wines That Time Forgot (Interlink Books, 2021, 257 pages, $45 CAD hardbound) is by Simon J Woolf and Ryan Opaz, and was originally published in the Netherlands. It's a very comprehensive book on the current day Portuguese wines, as told through the personal histories of its winemakers and growers. Covered are materials dealing with both old and new winemaking techniques. There are a ton of indigenous grape varieties that seldom make it out of Portugal. There is a lot of detail and depth here. Foot treading is still popular, in a traditional sense, as the winemakers deal with varying harvests and vintages of some 250 local grape varieties. The most popular varieties appear to be the whites Encruzado, Arinto dos Acores, Alvarinho and Fernao Pires, and the reds Ramisco, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, and Baga. Nominated for many wine book awards (Andre Simon, James Beard Awards) and also chosen as the NEW YORK TIMES BEST WINE BOOK OF 2021. Quality/Price Rating: 90 7.THE MODERN TABLE; kosher recipes for everyday gatherings (Figure.1 Publishing, 2022, 192 pages, $40 hardbound) is by Kim Kushner who gives us 75 simple but delicious everyday preps, entertaining ideas, menus all within the range of kosher cuisine. It's her third kosher cookbook. She re-emphasizes both the seasonal nature of food and the healthy requirement for busy lifestyles. She's got table settings, menus (both formal and informal), floral decorations, and culinary gifts. An all-in-one package. It's all arranged by course: starters, soups, salads, fish, meats, poultry, veggies and other sides, ending with sweets and a metric conversion chart! Some good dishes to try include sesame-scallion salmon cake, sea bass with turmeric and chickpeas, veal milanese with arugula, beef bibimbap, za'tar cauliflower steaks, charred broccoli and garlic, berry frose, and Israeli-style cheesecake. Along the way there are some memoirish materials and matters dealing with the tablescape design of logistics for people. Quality/price rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 8.GENNARO'S LIMONI; vibrant Italian recipes for celebrating the lemon (Interlink Books, 2021, 192 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Gennaro Contaldo, best known as Jamie Oliver`s teacher in Italian cooking. He has been chef at many London restaurants before opening his own, Passione. He has written four major books on Italian food, appeared everywhere with his TV series, teaching masterclases, and writing magazine articles. Here he promotes the multi-purpose lemon which can refresh, brighten, cut through a rich dish, preserve, and even cook (through acidifying). Contaldo grew up with lemons in his native Amalfi Coast. Lemons are used everywhere, in virtually every dish. The flesh, pith and skin are chopped into salads. The zest can, well, add zest to any dish. Its leaves (if you have them) are used to wrap fish, meat, and cheese. But I did not see any references to seeds, nor to special types of lemons such as Meyer or Menton. There are about 100 preps, all arranged by ingredient, but starting with small plates, moving on to veggies, fish, meat, and desserts. The last thirty pages deal with drinks, preserves, sauces and dressings. There's a short history of the lemon , followed by uses for lemons outside the kitchen. He starts off with the absolutely brilliant but simple fennel and apple salad with a warm citrus ragu, followed by a pizza al limone with sausage, mozzarella and arugula. There's also rabbit baked in lemon leaves and a marmellata di limoni that is simple to prepare. There are some pasta dishes such as farfalle with capers and lemon or linguine with lemon and eggplant pesto. In addition to avoirdupois and metric weights there are avoirdupois volume measurements. But the book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. There is excellent complementary photography by David Loftus. Quality/price rating: 90. 9.AEGEAN (Interlink Books, 2020, 2022, 224 pages, $35.95 paperbound) is by Marianna Leivaditaki, who was raised on Crete and now is a London UK chef at Morito. It's a paperbound reprint. Her paean to the Aegean is centred largely on Crete as just one of the many islands that belong to Greece. Other major islands include Rhodes, Karpathos, and Kasos. As the largest and most populous island, Crete has an original cuisine that Leivaditaki delves into. She conveniently divides the book into three: the sea, the land, the mountains, with recipes and personal stories for each. And there are lots of great photos here of prawns with ouzo, orzo and zucchini, tomato and oregano fritters with feta, and the kakavia one-pot fish stew. This is the Mediterranean diet in all of its full-blown glory, with olive oils, fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, fish. A delight. Quality/price rating: 88. ---------------------------------------------------- GHETTO GASTRO PRESENTS BLACK POWER KITCHEN (Artisan Books, 2022, 304 pages, $50 hardbound) is by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker, assisted by Osayi Endolyn. All are chefs, cooks and food writers. In conjunction with the Bronx Ghetto Gastro (a culinary collective think tank with intensive experiences), they merge food, fashion, music, art, and design. They use food to create immersive culinary experiences incorporating storytelling and product design to advance health sovereignty in the Bronx by feeding the local community. Endolyn is a Beard-award writer whose work explores food and identity; she co-authored with Marcus Samuelsson, The Rise: black cooks and the soul of American food. The stylish, gorgeous large form photographic images are by Nayquan Shuler and Joshua Woods. It is all a mix of 75 recipes that stress crunch, heat, and umami; with interviews, photography and art re: the nature of Black food, the Black experience, and Black food inequality. Some may call this a part cookbook and a part manifesto, with material on a unique viewpoint that even resulted in newly-designed cookware offered through both Williams-Sonoma and Target. Most of the food preps come directly from family roots and cultural heritage, many with modern updating to accompdate a plant-based diet. In the opening pages, they produce "the makings of a Ghetto Gastro dish", that being in this case, Triple Cs -- seared cornbread, crab salad, and caviar. Instruction are given (in both imperial and in metric measurements), and it is all doable, although types of caviar are not discussed. This is followed by Chopped Stease (their version of a chopped cheese sandwich), Green Juice (juiced assorted greens with black cumin seed oil), Coco Loco (coconut ice), and Seafood City (smoked paprika romesco, frito misto), Strong Back Stew, Banana Leaf Fish,Tres Leches, and others. Quality/price rating: 92. THE FOOD SUBSTITUTIONS BIBLE; more than 8,000 substitutions for ingredients, equipment & techniques. 3rd ed. rev. and exp. (Robert Rose, 2022, 687 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0706-3, $59.95 Canadian, hard covers) has been compiled by David Joachim who has authored, edited or collaborated on more than 50 cookbooks. It was originally published in 2005, with 5,000 substitutions and again in 2011 with 6,500. This new 3rd edition has hundreds of new substitutions for existing entries and brand-new entries, e.g. bacon fat, chia, chicken salt, coquito, crab roe, date sugar, fregula, mirepoix, sorghum flour, et al. The continual globalization of ethnic foods and the COVID-19 pandemic have shown how badly home cooks all need substitutions in their cooking. Supply chains be damned! You won't have to visit a lot of specialist grocery stores. You won't have to buy a whole container just for 2 tablespoons of the required ingredient -- just substitute for something comparable, as noted in the "Bible". Joachim also has new ingredient guides and measuring tables in the appendix to cover Asiatic noodles, can and package size equivalents, and alcohol retention in cooking plus new recipes for plant-based sauces and meringues and mayonnaise. It's also physically heavier, with watercolour illustrations by Emily Isabella and heavier paper in a hardbound format meant to last longer. This is a solid reference book emphasizing, through over 1,500 complete entries, more than 8,000 reasonably approximate substitutions all of it cross-referenced and arranged alphabetically. The ingredients are listed with both avoirdupois and metric measurements. There are more than 188 recipes for larder type items and emergency substitutions for creating vegan or kosher foods such as sauces, stocks, spice mixes, herb blends, syrups, flavoured butters, cheese and vegan cheese, dips, spreads, relishes, and beverages. There are handy reference charts for metric equivalents, high altitude cooking, stages of cooked sugar, pan sizes. There are ingredient tables for edible flowers, types of salts and vinegars, oil substitutions, picking apples and pears, dried beans and lentils, olives, mushrooms, potatoes, chilies, flours, and rice. He has useful website listings and a bibliography. This is an important food resource and reference book. Quality/Price Rating: 94. ZERO PROOF DRINKS & MORE; 100 recipes for mocktails & low-alcohol cocktails (Robert Rose, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0675-2, $29.95 soft covers) is by Maureen Petrosky, an entertainment and lifestyle writer currently living in Pennsylvania. These are mindful concoctions devoted to socially-distanced happy hours at home. While Spring is the official season of the mocktail, it reminds us of better times. Lo-al (low-ABV) drinks are the obvious choices for the hotter climate of summer and the harshness of winter. As she says, "Today's zero-proof cocktails are complex and nuanced, worlds away from their sugar-saturated predeccors such as the Shirley Temple. She's got the basic preps for syrups, shrubs, aperitifs, and spritzers. No real extra set-ups are needed since most kitchens/bars have the basics anyway to handle alcohol. Mocktails are best as a day drink followed by lo-al happy hours. She's also got thirty pages of punches and pitcher drinks for that high volume party -- fourteen great recipes including spicy margaritas by the pitcher, sparkling peach punch, strawberry cucumber tonic, and jalapeno and honeydew sangria. Anything that reduces our alcohol consumption is a good necessity, such as the Michelada from Mexico. Most drinks can be tweaked upwards or downwards in quantities of add-ons. And every mocktail can have as much alcohol (if you need it) as you can pour into it simply by topping up with a bland white wine. Key bottles of lo-al include Campari, Aperol, elderflower, Pimm's No.1, Amaretto, vermouth, and sherry. This is an infinitely expandable book once you have assimilated the basics. She's got easy ways to mix up flavours. Trendy titles include Bloody M, Rosemary Pear Bellini, Grilled Pineapple Mint Mojito, Lemongrass Cilantro Highball, and Grapefruit Radler. Certainly much better than a premixed non-al pretender bottle such as a gin clone, a bourbon clone, a tequila clone, which retail for $40 or more. Just use stuff like juniper berries and rum flavouring at home. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Apart from the punches and pitchers, drinks are for one person. Quality/price rating by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing: 91. 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, filata stretched cheeses, mold-ripening, blue-veined, washed-rind, washed-curd, semi- soft, semi-firm, and hard cheeses. Other chapters deal with ethnic and regional cheeses, yogurt and kefir, butter, buttermilk and cr me 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 avoirdupois measurements, 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. 10.GHETTO GASTRO PRESENTS BLACK POWER KITCHEN (Artisan Books, 2022, 304 pages, $50 hardbound) is by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker, assisted by Osayi Endolyn. All are chefs, cooks and food writers. In conjunction with the Bronx Ghetto Gastro (a culinary collective think tank with intensive experiences), they merge food, fashion, music, art, and design. They use food to create immersive culinary experiences incorporating storytelling and product design to advance health sovereignty in the Bronx by feeding the local community. Endolyn is a Beard-award writer whose work explores food and identity; she co-authored with Marcus Samuelsson, The Rise: black cooks and the soul of American food. The stylish, gorgeous large form photographic images are by Nayquan Shuler and Joshua Woods. It is all a mix of 75 recipes that stress crunch, heat, and umami; with interviews, photography and art re: the nature of Black food, the Black experience, and Black food inequality. Some may call this a part cookbook and a part manifesto, with material on a unique viewpoint that even resulted in newly-designed cookware offered through both Williams-Sonoma and Target. Most of the food preps come directly from family roots and cultural heritage, many with modern updating to accompdate a plant-based diet. In the opening pages, they produce "the makings of a Ghetto Gastro dish", that being in this case, Triple Cs -- seared cornbread, crab salad, and caviar. Instruction are given (in both imperial and in metric measurements), and it is all doable, although types of caviar are not discussed. This is followed by Chopped Stease (their version of a chopped cheese sandwich), Green Juice (juiced assorted greens with black cumin seed oil), Coco Loco (coconut ice), and Seafood City (smoked paprika romesco, frito misto), Strong Back Stew, Banana Leaf Fish,Tres Leches, and others. Quality/price rating: 92. 11.THE FOOD SUBSTITUTIONS BIBLE; more than 8,000 substitutions for ingredients, equipment & techniques. 3rd ed. rev. and exp. (Robert Rose, 2022, 687 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0706-3, $59.95 Canadian, hard covers) has been compiled by David Joachim who has authored, edited or collaborated on more than 50 cookbooks. It was originally published in 2005, with 5,000 substitutions and again in 2011 with 6,500. This new 3rd edition has hundreds of new substitutions for existing entries and brand-new entries, e.g. bacon fat, chia, chicken salt, coquito, crab roe, date sugar, fregula, mirepoix, sorghum flour, et al. The continual globalization of ethnic foods and the COVID-19 pandemic have shown how badly home cooks all need substitutions in their cooking. Supply chains be damned! You won't have to visit a lot of specialist grocery stores. You won't have to buy a whole container just for 2 tablespoons of the required ingredient -- just substitute for something comparable, as noted in the "Bible". Joachim also has new ingredient guides and measuring tables in the appendix to cover Asiatic noodles, can and package size equivalents, and alcohol retention in cooking plus new recipes for plant-based sauces and meringues and mayonnaise. It's also physically heavier, with watercolour illustrations by Emily Isabella and heavier paper in a hardbound format meant to last longer. This is a solid reference book emphasizing, through over 1,500 complete entries, more than 8,000 reasonably approximate substitutions all of it cross-referenced and arranged alphabetically. The ingredients are listed with both avoirdupois and metric measurements. There are more than 188 recipes for larder type items and emergency substitutions for creating vegan or kosher foods such as sauces, stocks, spice mixes, herb blends, syrups, flavoured butters, cheese and vegan cheese, dips, spreads, relishes, and beverages. There are handy reference charts for metric equivalents, high altitude cooking, stages of cooked sugar, pan sizes. There are ingredient tables for edible flowers, types of salts and vinegars, oil substitutions, picking apples and pears, dried beans and lentils, olives, mushrooms, potatoes, chilies, flours, and rice. He has useful website listings and a bibliography. This is an important food resource and reference book. Quality/Price Rating: 94. 12.ZERO PROOF DRINKS & MORE; 100 recipes for mocktails & low-alcohol cocktails (Robert Rose, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0675-2, $29.95 soft covers) is by Maureen Petrosky, an entertainment and lifestyle writer currently living in Pennsylvania. These are mindful concoctions devoted to socially-distanced happy hours at home. While Spring is the official season of the mocktail, it reminds us of better times. Lo-al (low-ABV) drinks are the obvious choices for the hotter climate of summer and the harshness of winter. As she says, "Today's zero-proof cocktails are complex and nuanced, worlds away from their sugar-saturated predeccors such as the Shirley Temple. She's got the basic preps for syrups, shrubs, aperitifs, and spritzers. No real extra set-ups are needed since most kitchens/bars have the basics anyway to handle alcohol. Mocktails are best as a day drink followed by lo-al happy hours. She's also got thirty pages of punches and pitcher drinks for that high volume party -- fourteen great recipes including spicy margaritas by the pitcher, sparkling peach punch, strawberry cucumber tonic, and jalapeno and honeydew sangria. Anything that reduces our alcohol consumption is a good necessity, such as the Michelada from Mexico. Most drinks can be tweaked upwards or downwards in quantities of add-ons. And every mocktail can have as much alcohol (if you need it) as you can pour into it simply by topping up with a bland white wine. Key bottles of lo-al include Campari, Aperol, elderflower, Pimm's No.1, Amaretto, vermouth, and sherry. This is an infinitely expandable book once you have assimilated the basics. She's got easy ways to mix up flavours. Trendy titles include Bloody M, Rosemary Pear Bellini, Grilled Pineapple Mint Mojito, Lemongrass Cilantro Highball, and Grapefruit Radler. Certainly much better than a premixed non-al pretender bottle such as a gin clone, a bourbon clone, a tequila clone, which retail for $40 or more. Just use stuff like juniper berries and rum flavouring at home. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Apart from the punches and pitchers, drinks are for one person. Quality/price rating by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing: 91. 13.TINNED FISH PANTRY COOKBOOK: 100 Recipes from Tuna & Salmon to Crab & More (Robert Rose, 2021, 192 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0681-3, $24.95 CAN paper covers) is by Susan Sampson, former food editor at the Toronto Star, and who has authored other cookbooks. This is a revision of her earlier 200 BEST CANNED FISH & SEAFOOD RECIPES, for tuna, salmon, shrimp, crab, clams, oysters, lobsters, & more, published by Robert Rose in 2012. Her current book concentrates on salmon, tuna and crab (as common tinned fish) with a look at anchovies, sardines, and clams. Tinned seafood is extremely useful for stocking up during a pandemic. But we also need the variety as here in this book. Her top classics include salade nicoise, clam chowders, crab dips, tuna tetrazzini, and spaghetti with clam sauce two ways. Because she uses tinned food, there s a lot here that is useful for budget-minded students or feeding kids quickly or quick entertaining. Indeed, the emphasis is on fast and quick with ease. This is a reminder that there are other fish in the sea, such as mackerel, cod, sardines, sprats, kippers, anchovies, roe, squid and octopus. Anything you don t want to eat such as the liquid, bones (which are good for you because of the calcium) or skin (also good because of omega-3s) can be used to create fish soup. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no separate table of equivalents. Audience and level of use: students, kids, quick meal specialists. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: fish tacos; Jamaican crab and okra curry; ham and clam jambalaya; salmon-spinach-sweet potato frittata; Spanish noodles; pasta with spicy salmon and rapini; Russian salmon pie; Sicilian-style sardine pasta. The upside to this book: there s a good primer on using canned fish and seafood, as well as a history of such processing, with a discussion on smoking, oils and water ysed in tinning. Quality/Price Rating: 91. FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR FALL 2022 [published mostly monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.3 INGREDIENT COCKTAILS; 60 drinks made in minutes (Hardie Grant Books, 2021, 160 pages, $21 hardbound) is by Kate Calder who believes that the secret of a classic cocktail is simplicity. The fewer the flavours, the better. Everything is arranged by spirit, beginning with vodka, followed by gin, rum, tequila, whiskey, and sparkling . Each has a series of snacks (about a half dozen each) to go with the drinks. Thus, gin needs sweet potato bites, chorizo, spicy mayo, baked ricotta with honey, rosemary-parmesan walnuts, et al. Typical gin includes gimplet, pink lady, negroni, dirty martini, gin rickey, et al. Great fun, especially the snacks, and a boon to the beginning cocktail drinker. Good value book too. Quality/Price Rating:91 * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.NOMA 2.0: Vegetable, Forest, Ocean (Artisan, 2022, 352 pages, $95 hardbound) is by Ren Redzepi, Mette S berg, and Junichi Takahashi. Ren Redzepi is the chef and co-owner of Noma in Copenhagen, five times recognized as the world s best restaurant. In 2021, Noma got its third Michelin star. His first book, Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine, was an IACP and James Beard Award winner. All three authors are the top culinary team at Noma, developing recipes in the kitchen lab. Indeed, Noma is possibly the world's most influential restaurant. The cookbook is laid out with narrative descriptions for the recipes. Dishes are organized seasonally: there is vegetable (May through August), forest (September through December), and ocean (January through April). Everything here is extremely inventive and extremely creative, and can be replicated with the right ingredients and the right equipment. It's all about stimulating the palate and the eye, with trompe l'oeil and unusual ingredients (e.g. reindeer brain). As the New York Times Pete Wells wrote in praising Noma s flavours, Sauces are administered so subtly that you don t notice anything weird going on; you just think you ve never tasted anything so extraordinary in your life. There are 200 preps, with gorgeous photography for each plate. It's a very challenging and admirable book, but also a terrific coffee table gift book (it weighs about two kilos) for the armchair chef and traveller. The gift book of the season! Quality/price rating: 95. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.GOOD ENOUGH; a cookbook embracing the joys of imperfection & practicing self-care in the kitchen (Workman, 2022, 298 pages, $24.95 paperbound) is by Leanne Brown, author of GOOD AND CHEAP, a bestseller cookbook. It's a mix of personal essays, stories, and about 100 recipes: this book is about the joys of imperfection . She believes that cooking can be a healing process, acknowledging fears and anxieties as well as letting them go, slowing down, and the sensory experience of creating meals to feed yourself and family. She stresses the importance of self-care and self-nourishment by proposing a gateway to calm cooking, beginning with the pantry and the mise-en-place in the good enough preparation . Chapters deal with mornings, midday, weeknights, fun, and good enough for others . Her end notes deal with leftovers, with an invitation to observe what happens to food the next day. Typical preps for weeknights involve weeknight farro casserole; fast white bean, chorizo, and hearty greens stew; leek and squash risotto with goat cheese and honey; bacon and kale risotto with fried eggs; saucy spiced chicken; and summer burgers. Try also spicy ginger-honey blondies or baklava granola or banana and date and cashew muffins. Ingredients are listed in American avoirdupois units, but there are two pages of conversions tables for the metric-inclined. One of her best concepts is the TL;DR ( too long; didn't read ) which is useful for those longer recipes. In her case, she summarizes many of them by using a TL;DR headnote and 25 words or so. Cooking does not need to be depressing. Quality/price rating: 90. 4.ASHIA'S TABLE; family recipes from India and beyond (Interlink Books, 2022, 224 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Ashia Ismail Singer, who pays tribute to her heritage with themes on her family's classics and modern spins on today's cuisine. She's got some memoirish material from childhood and multiple food experiences. Her collection emphasizes the culture: sharing platters with family and friends (kebab pastry twists, spinach squares, onion and potato bhajias); light lunches of easy dishes (masala omelet, chili sweetcorn, potato curry); dinner dishes from an everyday meal to an elaborate dinner (chili-crusted baked salmon, chicken biryani, lamb curry, machi fry); side dishes (naan, chutneys, rices, breads); and desserts (carrot halva, sticky date cake, chocolate and cardamom puddings). Well worth looking into. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Great food photos. Quality/price rating:88. 5.BAGELS, SCHMEARS, AND A NICE PIECE OF FISH; a whole brunch of recipes to make at home (Chronicle Books, 2022, 208 pages, $36 hardbound) is by Cathy Barrow, an award-winning creator of many other cookbooks and food article writer. Here, in about 90 pages, she runs through the home bagel-making process. This is followed by 50 pages of schmears, both savoury and sweet, and concludes with a variety of fish. Other faves include her takes on salads, pickles and ferments, bagel sandwiches with salads, and a bunch of menus. Her homemade bagels mostly replicate the New York City style, but she also does cover the Montreal bagel, the Pumpernickel bagel, and a variety of others such as the Jerusalem bagel, the Turkish simit, the Flagel (flattened bagel), the Pletzel, the Bialy, plus a lot of sweet bagels. The highlight of the book is actually the 18 or so schmears plus variations, and this is very easy to do at home. In fact, you can, of course, buy your own bagels and fish, but make your own schmears for an innovative brunch. Eggs, chickens, and vegan options can easily replace fish. A good, single purpose book. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89. 6.FOOT TRODDEN; Portugal and the Wines That Time Forgot (Interlink Books, 2021, 257 pages, $45 CAD hardbound) is by Simon J Woolf and Ryan Opaz, and was originally published in the Netherlands. It's a very comprehensive book on the current day Portuguese wines, as told through the personal histories of its winemakers and growers. Covered are materials dealing with both old and new winemaking techniques. There are a ton of indigenous grape varieties that seldom make it out of Portugal. There is a lot of detail and depth here. Foot treading is still popular, in a traditional sense, as the winemakers deal with varying harvests and vintages of some 250 local grape varieties. The most popular varieties appear to be the whites Encruzado, Arinto dos Acores, Alvarinho and Fernao Pires, and the reds Ramisco, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, and Baga. Nominated for many wine book awards (Andre Simon, James Beard Awards) and also chosen as the NEW YORK TIMES BEST WINE BOOK OF 2021. Quality/Price Rating: 90 7.THE MODERN TABLE; kosher recipes for everyday gatherings (Figure.1 Publishing, 2022, 192 pages, $40 hardbound) is by Kim Kushner who gives us 75 simple but delicious everyday preps, entertaining ideas, menus all within the range of kosher cuisine. It's her third kosher cookbook. She re-emphasizes both the seasonal nature of food and the healthy requirement for busy lifestyles. She's got table settings, menus (both formal and informal), floral decorations, and culinary gifts. An all-in-one package. It's all arranged by course: starters, soups, salads, fish, meats, poultry, veggies and other sides, ending with sweets and a metric conversion chart! Some good dishes to try include sesame-scallion salmon cake, sea bass with turmeric and chickpeas, veal milanese with arugula, beef bibimbap, za'tar cauliflower steaks, charred broccoli and garlic, berry frose, and Israeli-style cheesecake. Along the way there are some memoirish materials and matters dealing with the tablescape design of logistics for people. Quality/price rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 8.GENNARO'S LIMONI; vibrant Italian recipes for celebrating the lemon (Interlink Books, 2021, 192 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Gennaro Contaldo, best known as Jamie Oliver`s teacher in Italian cooking. He has been chef at many London restaurants before opening his own, Passione. He has written four major books on Italian food, appeared everywhere with his TV series, teaching masterclases, and writing magazine articles. Here he promotes the multi-purpose lemon which can refresh, brighten, cut through a rich dish, preserve, and even cook (through acidifying). Contaldo grew up with lemons in his native Amalfi Coast. Lemons are used everywhere, in virtually every dish. The flesh, pith and skin are chopped into salads. The zest can, well, add zest to any dish. Its leaves (if you have them) are used to wrap fish, meat, and cheese. But I did not see any references to seeds, nor to special types of lemons such as Meyer or Menton. There are about 100 preps, all arranged by ingredient, but starting with small plates, moving on to veggies, fish, meat, and desserts. The last thirty pages deal with drinks, preserves, sauces and dressings. There's a short history of the lemon , followed by uses for lemons outside the kitchen. He starts off with the absolutely brilliant but simple fennel and apple salad with a warm citrus ragu, followed by a pizza al limone with sausage, mozzarella and arugula. There's also rabbit baked in lemon leaves and a marmellata di limoni that is simple to prepare. There are some pasta dishes such as farfalle with capers and lemon or linguine with lemon and eggplant pesto. In addition to avoirdupois and metric weights there are avoirdupois volume measurements. But the book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. There is excellent complementary photography by David Loftus. Quality/price rating: 90. 9.AEGEAN (Interlink Books, 2020, 2022, 224 pages, $35.95 paperbound) is by Marianna Leivaditaki, who was raised on Crete and now is a London UK chef at Morito. It's a paperbound reprint. Her paean to the Aegean is centred largely on Crete as just one of the many islands that belong to Greece. Other major islands include Rhodes, Karpathos, and Kasos. As the largest and most populous island, Crete has an original cuisine that Leivaditaki delves into. She conveniently divides the book into three: the sea, the land, the mountains, with recipes and personal stories for each. And there are lots of great photos here of prawns with ouzo, orzo and zucchini, tomato and oregano fritters with feta, and the kakavia one-pot fish stew. This is the Mediterranean diet in all of its full-blown glory, with olive oils, fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, fish. A delight. Quality/price rating: 88. 10.GHETTO GASTRO PRESENTS BLACK POWER KITCHEN (Artisan Books, 2022, 304 pages, $50 hardbound) is by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker, assisted by Osayi Endolyn. All are chefs, cooks and food writers. In conjunction with the Bronx Ghetto Gastro (a culinary collective think tank with intensive experiences), they merge food, fashion, music, art, and design. They use food to create immersive culinary experiences incorporating storytelling and product design to advance health sovereignty in the Bronx by feeding the local community. Endolyn is a Beard-award writer whose work explores food and identity; she co-authored with Marcus Samuelsson, The Rise: black cooks and the soul of American food. The stylish, gorgeous large form photographic images are by Nayquan Shuler and Joshua Woods. It is all a mix of 75 recipes that stress crunch, heat, and umami; with interviews, photography and art re: the nature of Black food, the Black experience, and Black food inequality. Some may call this a part cookbook and a part manifesto, with material on a unique viewpoint that even resulted in newly-designed cookware offered through both Williams-Sonoma and Target. Most of the food preps come directly from family roots and cultural heritage, many with modern updating to accompdate a plant-based diet. In the opening pages, they produce "the makings of a Ghetto Gastro dish", that being in this case, Triple Cs -- seared cornbread, crab salad, and caviar. Instruction are given (in both imperial and in metric measurements), and it is all doable, although types of caviar are not discussed. This is followed by Chopped Stease (their version of a chopped cheese sandwich), Green Juice (juiced assorted greens with black cumin seed oil), Coco Loco (coconut ice), and Seafood City (smoked paprika romesco, frito misto), Strong Back Stew, Banana Leaf Fish,Tres Leches, and others. Quality/price rating: 92. 11.THE FOOD SUBSTITUTIONS BIBLE; more than 8,000 substitutions for ingredients, equipment & techniques. 3rd ed. rev. and exp. (Robert Rose, 2022, 687 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0706-3, $59.95 Canadian, hard covers) has been compiled by David Joachim who has authored, edited or collaborated on more than 50 cookbooks. It was originally published in 2005, with 5,000 substitutions and again in 2011 with 6,500. This new 3rd edition has hundreds of new substitutions for existing entries and brand-new entries, e.g. bacon fat, chia, chicken salt, coquito, crab roe, date sugar, fregula, mirepoix, sorghum flour, et al. The continual globalization of ethnic foods and the COVID-19 pandemic have shown how badly home cooks all need substitutions in their cooking. Supply chains be damned! You won't have to visit a lot of specialist grocery stores. You won't have to buy a whole container just for 2 tablespoons of the required ingredient -- just substitute for something comparable, as noted in the "Bible". Joachim also has new ingredient guides and measuring tables in the appendix to cover Asiatic noodles, can and package size equivalents, and alcohol retention in cooking plus new recipes for plant-based sauces and meringues and mayonnaise. It's also physically heavier, with watercolour illustrations by Emily Isabella and heavier paper in a hardbound format meant to last longer. This is a solid reference book emphasizing, through over 1,500 complete entries, more than 8,000 reasonably approximate substitutions all of it cross-referenced and arranged alphabetically. The ingredients are listed with both avoirdupois and metric measurements. There are more than 188 recipes for larder type items and emergency substitutions for creating vegan or kosher foods such as sauces, stocks, spice mixes, herb blends, syrups, flavoured butters, cheese and vegan cheese, dips, spreads, relishes, and beverages. There are handy reference charts for metric equivalents, high altitude cooking, stages of cooked sugar, pan sizes. There are ingredient tables for edible flowers, types of salts and vinegars, oil substitutions, picking apples and pears, dried beans and lentils, olives, mushrooms, potatoes, chilies, flours, and rice. He has useful website listings and a bibliography. This is an important food resource and reference book. Quality/Price Rating: 94. 12.ZERO PROOF DRINKS & MORE; 100 recipes for mocktails & low-alcohol cocktails (Robert Rose, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0675-2, $29.95 soft covers) is by Maureen Petrosky, an entertainment and lifestyle writer currently living in Pennsylvania. These are mindful concoctions devoted to socially-distanced happy hours at home. While Spring is the official season of the mocktail, it reminds us of better times. Lo-al (low-ABV) drinks are the obvious choices for the hotter climate of summer and the harshness of winter. As she says, "Today's zero-proof cocktails are complex and nuanced, worlds away from their sugar-saturated predeccors such as the Shirley Temple. She's got the basic preps for syrups, shrubs, aperitifs, and spritzers. No real extra set-ups are needed since most kitchens/bars have the basics anyway to handle alcohol. Mocktails are best as a day drink followed by lo-al happy hours. She's also got thirty pages of punches and pitcher drinks for that high volume party -- fourteen great recipes including spicy margaritas by the pitcher, sparkling peach punch, strawberry cucumber tonic, and jalapeno and honeydew sangria. Anything that reduces our alcohol consumption is a good necessity, such as the Michelada from Mexico. Most drinks can be tweaked upwards or downwards in quantities of add-ons. And every mocktail can have as much alcohol (if you need it) as you can pour into it simply by topping up with a bland white wine. Key bottles of lo-al include Campari, Aperol, elderflower, Pimm's No.1, Amaretto, vermouth, and sherry. This is an infinitely expandable book once you have assimilated the basics. She's got easy ways to mix up flavours. Trendy titles include Bloody M, Rosemary Pear Bellini, Grilled Pineapple Mint Mojito, Lemongrass Cilantro Highball, and Grapefruit Radler. Certainly much better than a premixed non-al pretender bottle such as a gin clone, a bourbon clone, a tequila clone, which retail for $40 or more. Just use stuff like juniper berries and rum flavouring at home. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Apart from the punches and pitchers, drinks are for one person. Quality/price rating by Dean Tudor of Gothic Epicures Writing: 91. 13.TINNED FISH PANTRY COOKBOOK: 100 Recipes from Tuna & Salmon to Crab & More (Robert Rose, 2021, 192 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0681-3, $24.95 CAN paper covers) is by Susan Sampson, former food editor at the Toronto Star, and who has authored other cookbooks. This is a revision of her earlier 200 BEST CANNED FISH & SEAFOOD RECIPES, for tuna, salmon, shrimp, crab, clams, oysters, lobsters, & more, published by Robert Rose in 2012. Her current book concentrates on salmon, tuna and crab (as common tinned fish) with a look at anchovies, sardines, and clams. Tinned seafood is extremely useful for stocking up during a pandemic. But we also need the variety as here in this book. Her top classics include salade nicoise, clam chowders, crab dips, tuna tetrazzini, and spaghetti with clam sauce two ways. Because she uses tinned food, there s a lot here that is useful for budget-minded students or feeding kids quickly or quick entertaining. Indeed, the emphasis is on fast and quick with ease. This is a reminder that there are other fish in the sea, such as mackerel, cod, sardines, sprats, kippers, anchovies, roe, squid and octopus. Anything you don t want to eat such as the liquid, bones (which are good for you because of the calcium) or skin (also good because of omega-3s) can be used to create fish soup. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no separate table of equivalents. Audience and level of use: students, kids, quick meal specialists. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: fish tacos; Jamaican crab and okra curry; ham and clam jambalaya; salmon-spinach-sweet potato frittata; Spanish noodles; pasta with spicy salmon and rapini; Russian salmon pie; Sicilian-style sardine pasta. The upside to this book: there s a good primer on using canned fish and seafood, as well as a history of such processing, with a discussion on smoking, oils and water ysed in tinning. Quality/Price Rating: 91. ---------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR MAY-JUNE 2022 [published mostly monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * +++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.IMPERIAL WINE; how the British Empire made wine's new world (University of California Press, 323 pages, $43.85 CAD hardbound) is by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre, an historian at Trinity College in Connecticut. It's full of good material, concentrating on the development of the wine industries in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. She argues that today's global wine industry exists as a result of settler colonialism and that imperialism was central, not incidental, to viticulture in the British colonies. For the large part, the wines were ignored by the landed gentry in the UK. They failed to match up with wines from France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy. Plus they had a long transport from their origins. Canadian wineries are not covered or even mentioned, which is just as well because the only wines available from Canada were made from labrusca or hybrids. It was only after World War I that colonial wines became popular, and that was mainly because they were patriotic wines and plentiful if not cheap because of preferential import tariffs. An excellent read, well-researched. Quality/Price Rating: 91. * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.TASTING GEORGIA; a food and wine journey in the Caucasus (Interlink Books, 2017, 2021, 464 pages, ISBN 978-1-62371-8427-8 $28.95 USD softbound) is by Carla Capalbo, born in NYC, and now working as a freelance food journalist and photographer. This is an updated revised edition making its paperbound debut. She's written 14 books on the culture of producing food and wine, winning awards such as the Andre Simon for Collio as best wine book. Her photos of Georgia have won an IACP award. Here she gives us, by the numbers: 70 recipes, 60 restaurants and wine bars, 40 family wineries, 10 regional maps, and 390 original photographs, many of which detail farmers markets and family cooks. She's got top log rolling from Redzepi (noma), Ottolenghi, and Petrini (founder of Slow Food). Georgia lies between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea. It is one of the world's oldest winemaking areas, with wines made traditionally in clay qvevri buried in the ground, and searched for by lovers of natural wine. After the section on wine comes the food, beginning with the supra buffet-banquet-sharing feast and the elements of Georgian cuisine. Ingredients include ajika (capsicum paste), lobio beans, guda (sheep's cheese), tenili cheese, freshwater fish, gozinaki (honey and walnuts at New Year), jonjoli, khinkali dumplings, matsoni fermented milk, and lots more. There are only a few holiday recipes for sweets. Most dinners end with fresh fruit, nuts, or fruit leather. Preps have English and Georgian titles as well as scrips. Recipes have been edited for home cooks or otherwise simplified with substitutions. Metric and avoirdupois weights and measures co-exist in the preps. There is an impressive listing of sources and travel information, along with websites. The almost 40 page index includes a recipe planner for creating meals, a listing of the various foods by product, a listing of the restaurants and wine bars cited, an index to the wine, plus an index to the 12 regions of Georgia. And of course, there are are recipes by English title. A good book for armchair travellers, cooks, and culinary historians. Try the eggplant rolls; lobio beans stewed with herbs; beef and chickpea stew; beets with spiced walnut paste; chicken with nut sauce; corn meal with cheese; fermented cabbage and beets; mulberry and goat cheese salad; noodle and yogurt soup; and stewed nettles. The book could have been improved if it also used MORE metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 91. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.AMMU; Indian home-cooking to nourish your soul (Interlink Books, 2022, 288 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Asma Khan, owner of London's Darjeeling Express (from supper club to pop-up to restaurant) which re-creates the food of Calcutta via its all-woman kitchen. She's also part of Chef's Table (Netflix). Partially a memoir, this is Indian home cooking at its best. She had previously written Asma's Indian Kitchen (2019) as a guide to Indian feasts. But here she celebrates her mother, her Ammu, and the home-style cooking augmented by memories. She opens with some 15 suggested menus (all with page references to the recipes) covering weeknight suppers, vegan meals, dairy-free with meat, pescatarian, brunch, et al. Each has an appetizer, main and sides, and dessert. She opens with comfort foods from childhood, her cooking sessions and lessons with her Ammu, some material on celebrations, and some more material on quick and modern recipes. Many of the comfort foods use slow-cooking, so they are labour-free. Loaded with stories and photos of both people and finished plates. As she says, This is the food I cook for my family every day, meals to comfort, restore, and nourish. Quality/Price Rating: 89 4.WINE PAIRING PARTY; 16 wine profiles 80 perfect food pairings. (Chronicle Books, 2022, 160 pages, $28.95 hard bound) is by Liz Rubin. It is a great collection of folded pages, one for each wine, giving some blanket data and pairings. For Champagne, we are to look for citrus pith and red fruit. The four pairing here centre around fatty cheeses, cured meats, fried chicken, and sushi. She's also got a menu for New Year's Eve, with Brillat-Savarin, dried fruit, baguette, and a bottle of non-vintage Blanc de Blancs. There are other sections on prosecco and pet-nat sparklers. Good fun in a book priced under $30. Quality/Price Rating: 94 5.ART BOOZEL; cocktails inspired by modern and contemporary artists (Chronicle Books, 2021, 144 pages, $27.95 hard bound) is by Jennifer Croll, with illustrations by Kelly Shami. There's a couple of pages devoted to each artist (Banksy, Warhol, Picasso, Kahlo, O'Keefe, Hockney, et al-- about 60 in all) deftly illustrated and accompanied by a recipe for a cocktail expressive of that artist. There is the Yoko Ono built upon gin, Lillet Blanc, apricot brandy, grapefruit juice and grapefruit bitters. Or perhaps the Robert Maplethorpe with bourbon, lemon juice, hickory smoke, vermouth, bitters, salt and pepper. It is a good idea for a book, and we can all have fun trying the cocktails, and maybe seeing if there is a chance to mix and match. Quality/Price Rating: 88 6.CHEESE, ILLUSTRATED; notes, pairings and boards (Chronicle Books, 2021, 144 pages, $28.95 hard bound) is by cheesemaker-cheesemonger Rory Stamp. He's got 50 of the more popular or accessible European and North American cheese, with notes on pairings and tastings. There are 15 cheese board suggestions. Popular cheeses include Cheddar, Brie, Gruyere, Roquefort, Epoisses, Parmigiano Reggiano, Emmentaler, et al. The main cheese boards are by country: France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain/Portugal, British Isles, and North America, plus four entitled Boards without Borders . That allows him to present some mountain cheeses and some dessert cheeses. Another good idea book, with lots of concise data. Quality/Price Rating: 90 7.MIND AND BOWL; a guide to mindful eating & cooking (Orion Laurence King Publishing, 2022, 160 pages, $25.99 hard bound) is by Joey Hulin a UK writer. It's a book about self-awareness, with the idea that the food we eat is a relationship we have with the planet. It's vegetarian, with some exceptions such as oriental fish sauce or eggs. The first 100 pages concern mindfulness and mindful eating, food and self-awareness, health and food, storytelling and food. This is followed by basics of cooking, and including breakfast and brunch bowls, simple lunches, main course bowls, and dessert bowls. Well-thought out. Quality/Price Rating: 89 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 8.SIX CALIFORNIA KITCHENS; a collection of recipes, stories, and cooking lessons from a pioneer of California cuisine (Chronicle Books, 2022, 352 pages, $50 hard bound) is by Sally Schmitt, founder of the French Laundry restaurant of the first to create menus around local and seasonal ingredients the beginnings of the farm-to-table movement. This is her major work: a narrative cookbook with photos and historic menus for 114 preps that define Northern California cuisine. Her title refers to the six kitchens she has cooked in, including her mother's homestead kitchen, her first cafe kitchen, the Chutney Kitchen, the French Laundry, et al. These include such preps as mustard potatoes, cheese biscuit dough gods, cold cucumber soup with garlic chives and mint, basil eggs, steak a la chicana, bay shrimp and celery with avocado, scallops in tequila lime cream with cilantro gremolata, turnip soup with fresh mustard greens, spicy fig and almond torte, and more. The range is from breakfast to dinner to snacks, from appetizers to desserts, and from many to few eaters. She has a pantry, of course, and it is all laid out for us to read and to use. Good sense, and a great addition to the library of California foods and cooking. Quality/Price Rating: 89. 9.WEEKEND; eating at home: from long lazy lunches to fast family fixes (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 224 pages, $42.99 hardbound) is from Matt Trebutt, a TV presenter (BBC's SATURDAY KITCHEN) and working chef at The Foxhunter in Wales. It's a good topic for a cookbook since it goes beyond brunch and lunch to encapsulate all the weekend activities, from casual Friday nights through light lunches/brunches and celebratory gatherings and formal sit-downs. These are relaxing kitchen projects for special meals such as the laid back supper, the lazy breakfast, and (weather permitting) the outdoor grilling and parties. He's got 100 preps plus photography and a chronological arrangement from Friday night through Sunday (with a concluding chapter on desserts and drinks). The index, of course, is alphabetical by ingredient or plate name so it is easy to find alternative dishes. Friday nights embrace Portuguese chicken, coriander and garlic soup, or a hot and sour soup, or a seared tuna, or mackerel fillets, followed by prawn rolls or prawn dumplings, or the scrumptious cumin-roasted cauliflower with sichuan pepper and peanut dip. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 10.IN LOVE WITH PARIS; recipes & stories from the most romantic city in the world (Hardie Grant Books, 2021, 176 pages, $25) is by Anne-Katrin Weber, a chef, recipe developer and food stylist. It was originally published in Germany earlier in the year, and this is its English language debut. She's also got Julia Hoersch for the recipe photography and Nathalie Geffroy for the Parisian mood photography. The book is about equally split between the recipes and the stories, which makes it a perfect gift for the Paris-lover. There are 50 savoury and sweet preps here, along with culinary walks through the city (and nicely illustrated with photos). It's a good basic books on typically French dishes, with stories behind them: croque madame, coq au vin, madeleines, macarons, romano tartlets, moules marnieres, terrines, oysters au gratin, Parisian onion soup. Ah, the cafe life right in your kitchen. I've got a friend who swears by its recipe for boeuf bourguignon as the easiest and tastiest that he has ever made. Quality/price rating: 88. ---------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR FEBRUARY- MARCH 2022 [published mostly monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. DRINK BOOKS OF THE MONTH! 1a.WHEN CONCORD WAS KING! (Tellwell Talent, 2018, 163 pages, $31.87 CAD Amazon.Ca papercovers) is by Jim Warren, an acclaimed amateur winemaker who later started Stoney Ridge Winery, and who in 2000 joined the faculty of Niagara College and assisted with the development of the Vineyard and Winery Management Program, acting as both instructor and winemaker. In 1997 Jim was selected as Ontario winemaker of the year (Ontario Wine Awards) and 10 years later received the Cuvee Award of Excellence for his contribution to the wine industry. As a consultant Jim has assisted with the creation of numerous new wineries and wines in Ontario. "When Concord was King!" is a book exploring the early beginnings of the wine industry in Eastern North America, focusing on Ontario. It's more than just Concord grapes of course it looks at all the "foxy" tasting grape wines not made from V. vinifera (European varietals). V.labrusca is the most prominent; indeed, it is called the fox grape. Cultivars and hybrids here include Concord, Catawba, Delaware, Dutchess, Niagara, and Isabella. He begins with the "southern fox" North America's first wine from Muscadine. He moves through the centuries and arrives in Upper Canada in 1790. A big chunk of the book deals with Ontario developments 1880 1980. He walks us through Prohibition, the start of the LCBO, the Depression, the Second World War and Harry Hatch with Brights. It took until 1951 before vinifera was planted, when chardonnay was grafted onto phylloxera-resistant root-stock. It was later marketed as Pinot Chardonnay. This is a compelling read, made more vivid by Warren's writing style. He's got his reference material cited, a series of glosses in each chapter, and some critical notes and histories of many early Eastern North American grape hybrids. There is no index, which is unfortunate, but if you can get hold of the PDF or ebook version, then word searching should be no problem for all the names and places. Quality/Price Rating: 91. 1b.FROM CONCORD TO CABERNET! stepping stones and milestones in Ontario's wine making odyssey (soon to appear on Amazon.ca, like the above book at 1a). It's a sequel from Jim Warren, relating the rest of the story from 1980 through 2020. And it has been forty years of dramatic action. Part one deals with a short history of the immediate period before 1980, with French-American hybrids and indications of the first cottage wineries in Ontario (Inniskillin in 1975, Chateau des Charmes in 1978, and Newark (now Trius) in 1979. Part two covers 1980 through 2000, with the expansion of the cottage wineries building a wine business that was quality-driven with limited production and family-run ownership. By 1980 there were several sources of wines , such as the labrusca-based port-like and sherry-like wines sand others, the French hybrids, vinifera, and blend with Ontario and imported wines. Still, in 1981 vinifera had only a share of 5.6% of all vines. Jim has many stories about the 21 new wineries that existed between 1975 and 1990. He covers the explosion of winemaking in the Lake Erie North Shore region, Ontario icewine, the ethyl carbamate scandal, the blending with imported wine, the threat of NAFTA and government subsidies and competition all leading up to the beginning of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) after 1990. He comments on the designated viticultural areas and sub-appellations, the 2001 Asian ladybug infestation, and tax reform. This is all intriguing, insightful commentary by an insider who has been in the business for decades. The 1990s saw fruit wines, VQA expansions, consolidation within the industry, the beginnings of agri-tourism and weddings at destination wineries. The decade also saw Brock University and Niagara CAAT take on wine business courses leading to degrees and diplomas, along with the start of the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture institute at Brock and an actual producing winery at Niagara. Throughout it all we read about Jim's personal take on sales, marketing taxes, and LCBO listings, as well as life reminiscences and his own winery, Stoney Ridge. Chapter 9 opens part three the new millennium post-2000. The names and numbers grow to over 200 wineries across Ontario. But through it all we still must not forget that the five largest wineries in Ontario were responsible for 90% of that province's wine production. And that 20% of industry winemakers in Ontario are owner-operators of their own winery. Ontario winemakers and wineries are an inclusive community with new approaches such as the issue of climate change and global warming, green sustainability and organic/biodynamic principles, equality in hiring practices, making appassimento wines, making orange wines and sharing all of this with others. To this end, Jim gives a fine appreciation of Larry Paterson, the LCBO employee who took on tasting challenges to show that Ontario wines were just as good as European wines, if not better in some cases. As Jim says, The story of Ontario wine is not a myth about becoming the best or the greatest in the wine world but a saga of dinging success and soaring to new heights after a long and determined odyssey to achieve greatness . There are a variety of appendices. Appendix A looks at the current taxes, sales, and distribution of alcohol in Ontario with some great insight in its clear explanation of a complex, complicated subject [not for the faint of heart]. Appendix B lists the Ontario Wine Awards' Winemaker of the Year in chronological order. Appendix C covers the demise of various ghost wineries over the past few decades, going back to 1980. And appendix D looks at two decades of progress by VQA Ontario. This is a compelling read, made more vivid by Warren's writing style. He's got his reference material cited, a series of glosses for each chapter, and some critical notes and histories. There is no index, which is unfortunate, but if you find the PDF or ebook version, then word searching should be no problem for all the names and places. Quality/Price Rating: 95. * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.TREASURES OF THE MEXICAN TABLE; classic recipes, local secrets (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, 406 pages, ISBN 978-0-358-08676-5, $50 hardbound) is by Pati Jinich (born and raised in Mexico City), host of Pati's Mexican Table on PBS, now in its tenth season. She's won three James Beard Awards, and is the resident chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute. It's an enormous tome loaded with all of the classic recipes and local specialties found in the 32 Mexican states. Her arrangement is by food ingredient or course, beginning with soups and then moving on to tacos, quesadillas, burritos, tamales, salsas, guacamole, beans, rice, eggs, seafood, poultry, red meats (including goat), salads and veggies, and concluding with desserts. Throughout there are many cook's tips and notes, and awesome photographs of the plated food. Recipe titles and the index are in both Spanish and English. The over 200 recipes are complete and very easy to follow. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart (hey, there are sale potentials for the rest of the world). Audience and level of use: those wanting a definitive Mexican cookbook. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: baila con tu mujer, carne asada, sopes con papas y rajas, goat braised with guajillo chiles, tongue tacos, aceigas con chorizo y papas, arroz con elote y poblano, venorio con chuletas de cerdo, turkey chipotle meat loaf, zucchini and corn in poblano sauce, wedding stew, scallops in chile water. The downside to this book: to its detriment, there are no metric conversion charts. The upside to this book: larger print is a definite plus. Quality/Price Rating: 94. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.SAMBAL SHIOK; the Malaysian cookbook (Hardy Grant Quadrille, 2021, 256 pages, $55 hardbound) is by Mandy Yin, a London UK restaurant owner. Most of the 90-plus preps here came from her mother, but others were developed for her food business. There is a fair bit of material about local culture and the impact of food on its history. As part of the primer for Kuala Lumpur she suggest a pantry-larder for staples plus specific kitchen equipment. She worked early on with street food. Stall-holders are covered in food courts, many with home-style dishes and street foods. Her arrangement is standard: soups, meat, seafood, veggie, savoury snacks, and sweet snacks. Shiok means shockingly good, so Sambal Shiok means shockingly good sambal! This is a terrific book, well-illustrated with plated dishes and on-site photos. Try spiced lentil fritters, satay burgers, spiral curry puffs, or peanut gado gado salad, or coconut rice with egg and sambal. All are delicious. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 4.GRAINS FOR EVERY SEASON; rethinking our way with grains (Artisan, 2021, 368 pages, $55 hardbound) could easily have been titled Grains for Every Reason since it has so many adaptable features in the recipes for eating whole grains anytime. Y=The author is Joshua McFadden, a Beard winner, and Martha Holmberg. This is about cooking and consuming gluten grains such as barley, wheat, rye, farro, freekeh and gluten-free such as brown rice, millet, corn, oat, buckwheat, teff, amaranth, quinoa and even mixing the two categories together. Try Quinoa and Watermelon Salad with Pistachios and Spicy Pickled Peppers or Lamb and Bulgur Meatballs in Lemony Yogurt Sauce. Crispy Quinoa Tempura for Vegetables is a good example of blending rice, quinoa, and wheat. Well worth a look. Quality/Price Rating: 91 5.LET'S EAT ITALY! Everything you want to know about your favorite cuisine (Artisan, 2021, 400 pages, $75 hardbound) is by Francois-Regis Gaudry and friends . It follows up on his successful Let's Eat France . This current book was written in French and published in France in 2020. It weighs about 5.5 pounds and measures 13.5 inches by 10 inches. It IS a coffee table book without the table. Just add legs. OK: the specs 295 topics, 1221 specialty foods, 244 iconic recipes, hundreds of profiles of Italian food icons, historical anecdotes, cultural references, illustrated step-by-step instructions for preparing the classics of risotto, gnocchi, and pizza dough (among others). The book thus covers 130 different styles of fresh pasta (including 20 different styles of stuffed pastas), dozens of salumi, dozens of olives, breads, cheeses, and even different regional styles of breakfasts. A reference book for the foodie. Quality/Price Rating: 92. 6.THE FAIR TRADE INGREDIENT COOKBOOK (Whitecap, 2021, 246 pages, ISBN 978-1-770503304 $34.95 paperbound) is by Nettie Cronish, multiple vegetarian cookbooks author. Here she concentrates on Fair Trade food that is available in North America. The goals of Fair Trade (applicable to developing countries) are for a fair deal : long-term dependable contracts with buyers, sustainable environmental practices, workplace standards, fair wages, democratic decision-making. Her purpose is to convince you to buy fair trade ingredients and to look beyond the price tag. She opens with fair trade certifications and producer locations, followed by the recipes arranged by ingredient: free trade bananas, free trade coconut milk, free trade coffee, chocolate, cocoa, quinoa, sugar, and olive oil. This latter is one of the longer chapters, about twice as long as most of the others. Typical olive preps include brown rice beet burgers, bean soup with leeks and freekah, muhammara, red lentil soup with fair trade spices, roasted cauliflower with cumin and turmeric, baby potato salad, watermelon-olive-manchego cheese salad, olive, fig and pecan dip, shakshuka, and a score more in the olive oil section. The listing of ingredients for each recipe is in a smaller typeface than anything else on the same page, thus also making the listing appear more grey than black, and doubly hard to read. All preps are in both metric and avoirdupois volume mesurements. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 7.JAPANESE CUISINE; an illustrated guide (Firefly Books, 2021, 128 pages, $19.95 softbound) is by Laurie Kie and Haruna Kishi. Kie has written many other Japanese cookbooks; Kishi is a Japanese illustrator. This little nifty reference work contains many recipes, anecdotes, histories, stories, maps, techniques, stylings, utiensils, native ingredients all wonderfully illustrated with watercoloured drawings. It can answer many questions: how to make sushi, miso soup, bento boxes; how to use Japanese knives, chopsticks, cooking vessels, seaweed. There is a special section on ramen and its many distinctive regional variations. Very lovingly produced, right down to the Japanese pictographs. Quality/Price Rating: 91. 8.TASTE TIBET; family recipes from the Himalayas (Interlink Books, 2022, 256 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa, co-owners of Taste Tibet restaurant and festival food stall in Oxford, UK. Yeshi specializes in soups and stir-fries -- also, the book shows that there is more to food in Tibet than momos (although there are eight recipes for momos and a lively discussion of their impact). As is typical with other Interlink food books, stress is on both the country's cuisine and cultural history, along with stories and photos of the region. There are over 80 preps here for the family's home cook. Background material covers the nomadic Himalayan food culture of the Tibetan Plateau; there is also a wealth of detail about the relationship between the environment and local diets. Chapters include such as street food faves, food as medicine, mindful eating, breakfast, cold dishes, and a glossary of ingredients, along with a pronunciation guide. A very well-put together package. Quality/Price Rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 9.CHERYL DAY'S TREASURY OF SOUTHERN BAKING (Artisan, 2021, 400 pages, ISBN 978-1-57965-841-0, $55 hardbound) is by Cheryl Day, who has written many other baking books such as The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook (from her place in Savannah, Georgia), Baking for Breakfast and Party Cakes . These preps here are both savoury and sweet baked goods, over 200 of them in a recipe collection that acknowledges the the nature of from-scratch Southern baking. Many are family treasures from Day's great-great-grandmother who was an enslaved pastry cook specializing in biscuits and cakes. It's arranged by category, beginning with hot breads and crackers, moving on to coffee cakes, Bundt cakes, muffins, scones, breads, layer cakes, cupcakes, pies, cookies, brownies, grits and grains, custards and cobblers, jams and preserves. Southern food is a melange of many cultural influences. She's got three kinds of chess pies chocolate, buttermilk, and raspberry chess pie bars. She's got a listing, with text, of her Ten Southern Baking Rules. These rules include temperature checks, mise en place, ingredients, measuring, creaming butter and separating eggs. There's a chapter on baking equipment as well. So here we will find the traditional and classic recipes for hush puppies, skillet cornbread, chess pies, calas, popovers, griddle cakes, cheese straws, spoonbread. Preps are scaled in metric weights but there are also American volume measurements. So while preparations have their ingredients listed in either avoirdupois or metric measurements (but not both), there is no table of equivalents. Audience and level of use: for the serious home baker. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: mini baked Alaskas, bacon cheddar scones, lemon blueberry cake, sea salt crackers, benne crackers, cardamom-spiced peach cheese, carmelita bars. The downside to this book: both metric and American measurements are used, but one is for volume and the other for weight. The upside to this book: comprehensive. Quality/Price Rating: 89. 10.BITTMAN BREAD; no-knead whole grain baking for every day (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, 244 pages, ISBN 978-0-358-53933-9 $50 hardbound) is by Mark Bittman, author of the How to Cook Everything series and participant in many television food shows, and Kerri Conan, a collaborator with Bittman since 2004 developing recipes, testing, producing, et al. Bittman has six Beards and four IACP Awards, plus other honours. Here, the theme is goof-proof breads. As the cover says, This is the least fussy, most flexible way to make 100% whole grain bread...it's a sourdough upgrade to no-knead bread. With simple techniques and starter, the home baker can expand into sandwich breads, baguettes, ryes and seeded breads, pizza, waffles, cookies, beignets, and even tortes. They have created a schedule for the baker to maintain a starter that's almost indestructible. We get the history and the development of whole grain baking since the beginnings (in 2006) of Sullivan Street Bakery's Jim Lahey's manner of making bread with no kneading. This book starts off easily with a starter and making a beginning loaf, transitioning to whole grain baking, and then Bittman bread, and variations. Everything is nicely scaled in grams and easy to produce. You just need a schedule. Quality/Price Rating: 91. 11.10-MINUTE CHINESE TAKEOUT; simple, classic dishes ready in just 10 minutes (Hardie Grand Quadrille, 2022, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-743-1 $30 hard covers) is by Kwoklyn Wan, a UK chef who now teaches and demos Chinese cooking. Here he tells all, how to replicate Chinese takeout food at home in minutes. Alongside a basic pantry of five essentials (salt, pepper, soy sauce, sugar and oil), one can make a feast of easy dishes using the bare minimum. All the major favorites are here, from Laksa curry soup to spicy pepper omelette to miso saucy pork to General Tso's chili tofu to sweet soy beef noodles. All ingredients are readily available in local supermarkets. Wan has step-by-step instructions expert tips, and classically good photography. It's all arranged by major ingredient or course, from soups through apps, seafood, poultry, meats, veggies, and desserts. 80 preps in all. Condiments are discussed in then larder section. Do it yourself, stay home, cook at home, and have fun with such as Bang-bang chicken salad, fried fish in Cantonese-style chili sauce, minced pork noodles, boozy scallops with water spinach, or even deep-fried Sichuan king prawns all done in 10 minutes. Wan has also written CHINESE TAKEOUT IN 5; 80 of your favorite dishes using only five ingredients it too has 80 different preps. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88. ---------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR NOVEMBER 2021 [published mostly monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.THE MARTINI; perfection in a glass (Artisan, 2021, 150 pages, $22.65 hardbound) is by Matt Hranek, who also wrote the definitive THE NEGRONI. It's a great basic guide, covering gin, vermouth, bitters, garnish and even vodka (if need be). All the gin preps here can easily become vodka preps. It all depends on how much juniper-forward tastes you would enjoy. There's a cultural history of the drink, barware and glassware, various techniques (stirred, shaken, et al), and a whole pile of over 30 illustrated variations to try out. The martini is the consummate cocktail: writers, actors, politicians. You could start with the Martinez from 1849, but it's a lot sweeter since it uses sweet vermouth. It's more like a gin Manhattan without the bourbon. The concluding section has a listing of appropriate snacks, an espresso martini, and a listing of global places to savour this drink. Quality/Price Rating: 93. * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.GASTRO OBSCURA; a food adventurer's guide (Workman Publishing, 2021, 440 pages, $55 hardbound) has been pulled together by a food crew headed by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras. It's part of the Atlas Obscura family, a firm which seeks out the weird/wonderful delights of the world. With Gastro Obscura, it is the weird/wonderful food and drink of the world. Not everything here is edible for humans, but it is food for other living things. Curious people can explore what food and drink reveal about the places where they're made and the people who make them. Typical are a beer made from fog in Chile, threads of God in Sardinian pasta, histories of food conventions such as the Roman fish sauce factories, rice puddings, tea-houses. The arrangement is by continent, with Europe up first. Canada gets 26 pages, sub-arranged (like the other countries) by regions. There are lots of cultural bits about the Atlantic provinces, such as rappie pie (NS), seal flipper pie (NL), screech and iceberg ice (NL), cod tongues (NL) but only Thrills and bagged milk from Ontario. Illustrations include photos, food product adverts, action shots, and finished plates. This is a great reference book, created to be read over and over again. Hugely addictive. Quality/Price Rating: 94. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.PORTUGUESE HOME COOKING (Interlink Books, 2021, 304 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Ana Patuleia Ortins, who has a degree in culinary arts and teaches Portuguese cooking. She's also written Authentic Portuguese Cooking. She makes strong use of her family background from the Alto Alentejo region. In common with many cookbooks, it is arranged from soup to nuts, ending with material on wines and cocktails. And in common with many books in this Interlink series, it is loaded with photos of food and family. Typical pantry ingredients include onions, garlic, tomatoes, paprika, bay leaves, red pepper paste, cumin, chili peppers, cilantro, olive oil, vinegar and wine. Just add meat and veggies and fruit, and then choose a cooking method (braise, saute, roast, etc.). It is not really that simple, but then it is home cooking without the molecular work, the sous vide, and other typical restaurant procedures. Her petiscos (little dishes) are smaller versions of mains: chicken pies, clams cataplana, fireman's linguica, fresh cheese, salt cod cakes, shrimp rissoles, graciosa-style tortas. Her family's region is well-known for wheat, olives, pork, wine and a cork industry. Quality/Price Rating: 91 4.MACEDONIA: THE COOKBOOK; recipes and stories from the Balkans (Interlink Books, 2021, 272 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Katerina Nitsou, who grew up in a large Macedonian-Canadian community in Toronto before moving on to Le Cordon Bleu, the LA Times Test Kitchen, catering and private chef in California and subsequently living in Australia. It's a great little book in the renowned Interlink series of regional cuisines. Macedonian food has been described as a rich mosaic of influences fro, Middle East and Mediterranean foods, tempered by the rest of the Balkans. It's arranged by course, and each of the 100 preps has both an English and a Macedonian name. First up are the small plates of mezze, then salata, supa, meso (meats), zhivina (poultry), riba (fish), zelenchuk (veggies), leb (breads), slatko (sweets, and zimnica (preserves). There are descriptive notes, culture, stories, memoirs, and many photographs. Typical dishes include leek crepes (palachinki so praz), lekja supa, pilinja pecheni (braised quail), and kozinak (Easter bread). Quality/Price Rating: 92 5.GRIST; a practical guide to cooking grains, beans, seeds, and legumes (Chronicle Books, 2021, 448 pages, $50 hardbound) is by Abra Berens, a Michigan-based chef, author (her Ruffage was a Beard Nominee), and former farmer. So she's travelled from grower to eater, and is connecting more people to the source of their foods. She's got more than 80 recipes for 28 different types of grains, legumes and seeds, and more than 160 variations, and more than 55 recipes for condiments of sauces, dressings, and pantry items that can mix-and-match multiple flavours. These are all basic preps, with at least three variations for each recipe that are useful for substitutions, seasonal produce, or whatever is at hand. Everything here can be considered a go-to dish. It's a marvelous reference book with international global scope in preps and flavours. Indeed, she promises a week's worth of lentils without any boredom. She details creating a myriad of fresh bean salads. The book is nicely illustrated with photography, line drawings, stories about the grains, and more stories about farmers who produce them. She's added a glossary of terms, a list of sources, a vegetable cheat sheet, and good common sense. Quality/Price rating: 92 6.BARE MINIMUM DINNERS; recipes and strategies for doing less in the kitchen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, 232 pages, ISBN 978-0-358-43471-9, $27.99 paperbound) is by Jenna Helwig, food director at Real Simple magazine and the author of four previous cookbooks. This is a useful entry in the quick & easy cookbook field, with the emphasis on 30 minutes of less. Fewer ingredients means less cleanup, and we are all for that. If you have a good set-up, pantry and a mise en place (along with some notable short cuts), it is all amazingly successful night after night. Lots of salads and meatless cooked dishes can cut times. She opens with the set-up: equipment, pantry, dried herbs and spices, freezer, best ingredients, handling food waste, and meal planning. The best ingredients descriptions cover the foods that are used over and over again: grated parmesan cheese (and other cheeses), tomato paste, hot sauce, red peppers, olive oil, cabbage, scallions, cherry tomatoes, yogurt. She's divided all the preps into minimum time (under 30 minutes), minimum ingredients (seven or fewer), single pots and pans, slow cookers, and easy sides. Audience and level of use: harried parents. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: quinoa pilaff, quick cukes, savory fruit salad, sesame-soy cauliflower rice, shrimp boil. The downside to this book: preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. The upside to this book: excellent presentation. Quality/Price Rating: 89 7.THE MODERN PRESERVER'S KITCHEN; cooking with jam, chutney, pickles and ferments (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-538-3, $47 hardbound) is by Kylee Newton, a New Zealander living in London with her own preserver company (Newton & Pott) which specializes in small batch production and sells to high end UK stores. She covers both sweets and savouries, with excellent photography and layout. In addition to the basics of preserving she's got 70 mains in which to use them. Typical are pickled pea frittata, breakfast kimchi eggs, smoked chicken liver pate with blackberry and apple chutney and toasted brioche, and some peach and mint jam mini-galettes. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, and just about everything is scaled. Quality/Price Rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 8.ALL DAY BAKING; savoury, not sweet (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-174379699-3, $35 USD hardbound) is by Michael James with Pippa James. They had opened Tivoli Road Bakery in Melbourne, and in 2019 set up another bakery at a dairy farm while acting as a consultant and giving baking classes. It comes heavily endowed with no fewer than 11 logrollers. They cover the savoury-salty side of pastry, with pies, sausage rolls, pasties, loaves, tarts, breakfast rolls, quiches, galettes, and others. They've got the basic primer and the pantry, finishing with the techniques. Try the ham and cheese palmiers or the kimchi and cheddar puff pastry tarts. There is also pumpkin and blue cheese galettes, butter chicken pie, Thai green curry sausage rolls and fish pie. They have vegan and gluten-free options, and variations for wholemeal and rye flour. The book is arranged by course or time of day from brekkies onwards. All preps are scaled and there is both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Quality/Price rating: 90. 9.NATURALLY, DELICIOUS DINNERS (Gibbs Smith, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 968-1-4236-5826-9, $40 hardbound) is by Danny Seo. It's his third cookbook, also developing from his NBC show, Naturally, Danny Seo . It is all about sustainability and naturalness in cooking. He has a great, relaxing style of discourse. He's starts with some good ideas for breads, biscuits, pizza, straws, dinner rolls, scones, spelt breads, skillet breads, flatbreads, crostata. This is followed by veggies, salads, soups, pastas, one pot dinners, and desserts. For something different, try the pomegranate-citus aquafaba pavlova. 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. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 10.BEST AMERICAN FOOD WRITING 2021 (HarperCollins, 2021, 217 pages, $24.99 papercovers) has been edited by Gabrielle Hamilton and Silvia Killingsworth. It's one of a The Best American Series of writings. (travel, mystery, science, et al). The scope is USA only, although the topics can be universal or at least global. As is common with all of these annual series, the date on the cover is the year after the writings, so the material here was actually published in 2020. The series began in 2018 (covering 2017) and edited by Ruth Reichl. There are 24 essays here, reprinted primarily from periodicals that published in 2017. Topics include pandemic effects on food industry, (restaurants, grocery stores, shelters), being quarantined with a Michelin-starred chef boyfriend, fundraising, et al. Contributors include Bill Buford, Priya Krishna, Jonathan Kauffman and Amy Irvine. What I like about it is that there are several pages at the back listing other notable food writing , so you can actually track the writings down via a public library or the Internet. Quality/Price Rating: 89. 11.FIRESIDE FOOD FOR COLD WINTER NIGHTS (Ryland Peters & Small, 2015, 2021, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-277-6, $24.99 US hard covers) is by Lizzie Kamenetzky, a UK food stylist and food editor who is now freelance in the culinary field. It was originally published in 2015 as WINTER CABIN COOKING. This revised edition has 75 preps of substantial food, particularly stuff that can be done by guys: gluhwein, fondue, strudels, dumplings all come to mind. Preps can be left to simmer or bake, and can also keep the cabin warm. I did not see anything specifically meant for a fireplace such as a wiener or marshmallow roast, but there are stews and soups that can be made in the dying embers, with a pot of course. The chapters are arranged by type, with dumplings and noodles, soups and stews, cheese, brunch and small plates, meats, desserts, and of course drinks such as hot toddies. Very Teutonic, to go with the Alps. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents to handle the American expressions of volume (e.g., teaspoons). A good book for skiers, chalet lovers, winter freaks. Some interesting recipes: parmesan and ricotta cheesecake; brisolee; Tiroler grostl; poached salmon with green mayonnaise; rosti; schnitzel with warm potato salad; cassoulet. Quality/Price Rating: 88. ---------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR SEPTEMBER, 2021 [published mostly monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.BEER & VEG; combining great craft beer with vegetarian and vegan food (Dog 'n' Bone, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-912983-40-7 $34.99 hardbound) is by Mark Dredge, who has authored other beer books such as Craft Beer World , Beer and Food and Cooking with Beer . He recently switched to a veggie diet, so it was the perfect time to start up a book dealing with beer and veggies. Some of the contents deal with what craft beer is all about, notably through the styles of beer you are likely to encounter, and these are together with food pairing notes. He then turns it around with notes on beer pairing for various courses and cuisines (e.g. blueberry pancakes with Imperial stout, avocado on toast with Pacific pale ale or Belgian blonde, southwestern tofu scramble and breakfast potatoes with Session IPA or Witbier). He also includes desserts of cherry pie, peach cobbler, apple strudel, sticky toffee pudding, cr me brulee, and lemon and olive oil cake. The balance of the book is the recipe section: breads, brunch, mains, sides, snacks, baking, desserts. Most of the preps are vegetarian; all have a vegan option, and the rest can be easily converted from vegetarian to vegan. So it is meatless but with some egg/dairy/honey. It's a needed book, well-worth a look into. Preparations have their ingredients listed mostly in avoirdupois measurements with some metric, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Try the beer naan bread, beer marinara sauce, Dubbel drunken noodles, chickfu burger and sambar ketchup. Quality/Price Rating: 92. * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.AMBER & RYE; a Baltic food journey (Interlink Books, 2021, 256 pages, $45 hard covers) is by Zuza Zak, an award-winning Polish storyteller cook who has published books and articles dealing with Eastern Europe as her beat. She has also appeared on the Food Network. Her PhD studies are focused on exploring Eastern European food from a socio-cultural perspective, as a cultural anthropologist would. The Baltics are between Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, with many culinary influences. There is also a confluence with Poland bordering Lithuania (she's got some Baltic DNA in her). So here she's got guidance around the capitals of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with local stories from the chefs, the cooks, the greengrocers, the farmers. In addition to the stories on food and travel, she's also incorporated poetry, literature, song, and proverbs. The arrangement is loosely by course, from apps through snacks, soup, mains, salads, sides, fermented foods, desserts and beverages. There are extensive notes on ingredients and a bibliography for further reading. Typical preps are rhubarb and rose meringue tart, potato-fennel-fish bake, charred pork chop with apple and sea buckthorn sauce, fermented beet slaw, crayfish salad, creamy barley groats with asparagus, fermented wild garlic and buckwheat soup, and nettle leaf salad. Quality/price rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.A GOOD MEAL IS HARD TO FIND; storied recipes from the deep South (Chronicle Books, 2020, 160 pages, $23 CAD hard covers) is by the team of Martha Hall Foose (recipes) and Amy C. Evans (illustrations). Both are also storytellers. Each of the 60 preps here are preceded by vignettes about Southern living, such as Francine's doughnut, Edna's blind date at a BBQ, or Camille's egg salad at a bridge club. Dee-lightful eccentricities, arranged by course (morning glories through lingering lunches through afternoon pick-me-ups, dinner dates and late-night takes...plus, of course, anytime sweets . Great recipes and paintings (acrylics on wood panels) merge into whimsical stories based on whimsical characters. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price Rating: 88. 4.ZERO PROOF DRINKS & MORE; 100 recipes for mocktails & low-alcohol cocktails (Robert Rose, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0675-2, $29.95 soft covers) is by Maureen Petrosky, an entertainment and lifestyle writer currently living in Pennsylvania. These are mindful concoctions devoted to socially-distanced happy hours at home. While Spring is the official season of the mocktail, it reminds us of better times. Lo-al (low-ABV) drinks are the obvious choices for the hotter climate of summer and the harshness of winter. She's got basic preps for syrups, shrubs, aperitifs, and spritzers. Mocktails are best as a day drink followed by lo-al happy hours. She's also got thirty pages of punches and pitcher drinks for that high volume party. Anything that reduces our alcohol consumption is a good necessity, such as the Michelada from Mexico. Most drinks can be tweaked upwards or downwards in quantities of add-ons. And every mocktail can have as much alcohol (if you need it) as you can pour into it simply by topping up with a bland white wine. This is an infinitely expandable book once you have assimilated the basics. She's got easy ways to mix up flavours. Trendy titles include Bloody M, Rosemary Pear Bellini, Grilled Pineapple Mint Mojito, Lemongrass Cilantro Highball, and Grapefruit Radler. Certainly much better than a premixed non-al pretender bottle such as a gin clone, a bourbon clone, a tequila clone, which retail for $40 or more. Just use stuff like juniper berries and rum flavouring at home. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Apart from the punches and pitchers, drinks are for one person. Quality/price rating: 88. 5.FOOLPROOF BBQ; 60 simple recipes to make the most of your barbecue (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 144 pages, $28.99 hard covers) is by Genevieve Taylor. It's a manual to home BBQ, with an emphasis on year-round fail-safe grilling. Material embraces equipment and techniques. The whole range of meats is covered: chicken, pork, beef, lamb, fish/seafood, veggies, even desserts. Well-worth a look, and a pretty good book in the Foolproof series. Quality/price rating: 87 6.FOOLPROOF ONE POT; 60 simple and satisfying recipes (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 144 pages, $28.99 hard covers) is by Alan Rosenthal. It's another entry in the publisher's Foolproof series. It's open and shut: throw a lot on ingredients into a single pot or pan. These are the acoustic versions of the electric pots: no slow cookers or instant pots here, although the preps can be adapted to that equipment, Most recipes here are low and slow on top of the stove; some are pot bakes for the oven. There are both savoury and sweet preps. Vegan and vegetarian recipes are marked as such. There are two types of pot needed deep and wide-shallow. Browning meats is a plus, as are side dishes which are mainly potatoes, rice, whole grains and pasta. Easy-peasy. Quality/price rating: 87. 7.DUMPLINGS AND NOODLES; bao, gyoza, biang biang, ramen, and everything in between (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2020, 192 pages, $35 hard covers) is by the indefatigable Pippa Middlehurst (winner in 2018 as Britain's Best Home Cook) who actually makes all her own noodles and dumpling pastas. Her book is divided into three parts: dumplings, noodles, sauces plus sides and snacks. Great photographs of Pippa at work, a section on how to use this book, a pantry one can live with (variety of sauces, oils, pastes and vinegars) , types of equipment needed, and cooking from frozen. Dumpling wrappers and noodles are easily bought. She's got six meal planners for course suggestions, ranging from a Friday night in to a Vegan dinner to something for the kids. There are only two recipes for dumpling dough (these are all that you will need): fa mian and jiaozi-- both richly illustrated with photos and texts on technique. There are plenty of sauce recipes, such as dan dan, spicy sesame, crunchy topping, XO sauce, chilli sauce, and others. Typical preps include okonomiyaki (my fave), spring onion pancakes, rainbow soba salad, ramen eggs, and yakisoba. Not only for the adventurous cook but also for the armchair chef. Highly recommended, especially as a chef's reference book. Quality/price rating: 92. 8.BOWLS & BROTHS; build a bowl of flavour from scratch, with dumplings, noodles and more (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 176 pages, $35 hard covers) is the follow-up book by the indefatigable Pippa Middlehurst. These are broth-based preps with layering, seasoning (sauces, crunchy bits, aromatics), and ultimate versatility: constructing a bowl from the bottom up for max texture and flavour. She continues along the lines of her Dumplings and Noodles book, from ramen to rice bowls. The layout and illustrations continue on from her first book, with separate chapters on noodles, hotpot, dumplings, rice and sweets. A lot of what she covers comes from foraging in her freezer and refrigerator plus a quick look at her shelf pantry for extras. The principles are exceptionally useful and have a wide application to what you can find at home. Not only for the adventurous cook but also for the armchair chef. Highly recommended, especially as a chef's reference book. Yum-yum to both books. Quality/price rating: 92. 9.CHINESE TAKEOUT IN 5; 80 of your favorite dishes using only five ingredients (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-653-3 $30 hard covers) is by Kwoklyn Wan, a UK chef who now teaches and demos Chinese cooking. Here here tells all, how to replicate Chinese takeout food at home in minutes. Alongside a basic pantry of five essentials (salt, pepper, soy sauce, sugar and oil), one can make a feast of easy dishes using the bare minimum. All major favorites are here, from Tom Yum Soup to Prawn Toast, Sweet Chilli Salmon and Lemon Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork Balls or Beef in Oyster Sauce, Eggplant Fritters and Chilli Ginger Crispy Tofu. All use only five key ingredients, all of which are readily available in local supermarkets. Wan has step-by-step instructions expert tips, and classically good photography. It's all arranged by major ingredient or course, from soups through apps, seafood, poultry, meats, veggies, and desserts. The condiments section has those notorious sauces such as wasabi mayo, five spice wedges, and lucky seven seasoning salt. Do it yourself, stay home, cook at home, and have fun with such as Chinese-style BBQ wings: 10 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to cook. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 10.ISLAND EATS; signature chefs' recipes from Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea (Figure 1, 2021, 200 pages, $38.95 hard covers) is from the team of Dawn Postnikoff and Joanne Sasvari, both food and drink writers and editors (they are with Edible Vancouver Island magazine). This is the latest in the Canadian food city series from Figure 1 there are now 10 of them: Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto. Ottawa, Winnipeg et al. And they are exceptional arm chair traveller books. The tried and true formula is to present details and photos about about the best restaurants in the region followed by a house specialty recipe usually with a pix of the finished plate. For example, Glo Restaurant + Lounge, led by Andrew Fawvett. Does a Tan Tan City Salad using chicken breasts, and a Spicy Kung Pao Tofu bowl. The Butchart Gardens does an Okanagan Cherry Panzanella and a Maple Bourbon Verrine. Forty-one restaurants or businesses, arranged alphabetically. Terrific presentations for that Western Canada food fan. Quality/price rating: 92 11.FLAVORS OF THE SUN; the Sahadi's guide to understanding, buying, and using Middle Eastern ingredients (Chronicle Books, 2021, 352 pages, $50 hard covers) is by Christine Sahadi Whelan, culinary director of her family's 130 year-old importing firm in Brooklyn. There are about 120 relatively simple preps here, including the range from starters through desserts. It's all arranged by context: bright, savory, spiced, nutty, and sweet, along with nine special menus for that holiday gathering or outdoor summer party, brunch, meze, buffet and/or cocktail party. The basic flavours (found all over the Middles East) that suggest these foods are found in sumac, urfa pepper, halvah, pomegranate molasses, and preserved lemons. Lots of scrumptious photos and salivating texts. They give us much detail on what to look for in buying foods and what to serve with what foods. Highly recommended. Quality/price rating: 90 * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 12.EASY BREAD; 100 no-knead recipes (Robert Rose, 2009, 2021, 222 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0684-4, $24.95 soft covers)is by Judith Fertig, an American food writer (specializing in the regional cuisine of the North American heartland), book author, and recipe developer. It is a fairly easy and useful compilation of preps, being based on the Sullivan Street Bakery s (and others ) lead recipe in the New York Times a few years back. Half of it was originally published in 2009 by Robert Rose as 200 FAST & EASY ARTISAN BREADS; no-knead, one bowl . The basic premise is to create a biga, to let the bread breathe on its own. This means no proofing, no kneading, and no baking on the same day. You can wait several days. The result is a more interesting kind of bread, here made with instant or bread machine yeast. (Bread machines are not called for in this book, but the bread machine yeast is needed). Arrangement is by type of bread, such as whole-grains, seeded, filled, flavoured, slow-rise, gluten-free, festive breads, brioche, bagels, buttery yeast breads, and more. Recipe preparations have their ingredients listed in both avoirdupois and metric measurements. Some interesting or unusual recipes include slow-rise herbed polenta dough, orange and fennel fougasse, sun-dried tomato and feta flatbread, Italian Asiago boule, and slow-rise sour Graham dough. Quality/Price Rating: 88. ---------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR SUMMER 2021 [published monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.WINE TIME; 70+ recipes for simple bites that pair perfectly with wine (Chronicle Books, 2021, 192 pages, ISBN 978-1-4521-8186-8 $32.95 hardbound) is by Barbara Scott-Goodman, a food book author. The book's title is a bit of a misnomer since wine is not discussed. As she says, Almost all food goes well with wine...what matters most is that you enjoy the wine you buy and drink. With that in mind, she goes ahead and makes recommendations for wine types based on grape varieties. With black bean, mushroom and cheese quesadillas, she suggests Zinfandel. With roasted cauliflower, try a Vernaccia. With zucchini fritters, perhaps a Sauvignon Blanc. She does have a whole section on wine cocktails, including: Champagne pom fizz, Kir Royale, Autumn Bellini, Prosecco and ginger spritz, and a half dozen other fizzy drinks (including a white wine, orange and mint sangria). Arrangement is by food categories: snacks and bites (such as orange-scented olives & feta cheese), dips and spreads (such as tuna tapenade), cheese and cheese boards, veggies, bruschetta and toasts (such as chicken livers with red onion sauce), seafood (crudo, ceviche), meat (charcuterie, sliders, deviled ham), sauces and condiments. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90 * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.THE KITCHEN WITHOUT BORDERS; recipes and stories from refugee and immigrant chefs (Workman Publishing, 2020, 212 pages, $33.95 hardbound) is from the New York City catering collective EAT OFFBEAT, an outfit that features off-the-beaten-path cuisines and thereby creates jobs for refugees and immigrants. And 2% of the cover price of each book sold globally will benefit the International Rescue Committee. Here are 70 authentic preps for food from countries torn by strife: Syria, Iran, Eritrea, Venezuela, and others. Each recipe has a chef profile and photographic portrait of a displaced person seeking a link between food and home. Thirteen chefs are thus highlighted. Arrangement is by course, from appetizer through dips, salads, soups, grains, veggies, meat, desserts and drinks. Typical home versions of classic local food include momos from Nepal, beef kibbeh from Syria, potato kibbeh from Iraq, fatayer hand pies from Iraq, cachapas from Venezuela, kuku sabzi from Iran, red pepper soup from Central African Republic, Algerian couscous, veggie couscous from Sri Lanka, jollof rice from Nigeria, et al. Stories are attached to each prep as well as chef backgrounds. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes (this is a global resource), but at least it had metric conversion charts. Quality/price rating: 92. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.NO RECIPE? NO PROBLEM! How to pull together tasty meals without a recipe (Storey Publishing, 2021, 352 pages, ISBN 978-1-63586-258=4, $19.95 US paper covers) is by the remarkable Phyllis Good, creator of the Fix-It and Forget-It cookbook series. She is reputed to have about 15 million copies of her books in print. The name of the game here is freestyle cooking : no net, no measurements just instinct. She's got 250 tried -and-true tips and tricks, largely for reassurance. It is all based on three major questions: what am I hungry for? What do I have on hand? How much time do I have? But of course, the first thing is: you've got to know the elemental techniques of cooking. There's a lot of experimenting and improvisation here, plus substitution and watchfulness. The basis of freestyle cooking is to do the recipe as written ONCE, and then do it again from memory. And then do it again with substitutes or additional foods. Hey, it's easy. It works: keep it all simple, flexible, organized, and don't get frightened. There's a lot of material here dealing with equipment and food longevity. It's worth it. It's just too bad that the book arrived near the end of the current pandemic...but we'll all be prepared for the next one. All of the recipes are basically just techniques, with no measurements. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 4.APRES ALL DAY; 65 cozy recipes to share with family and friends (Chronicle Books, 2021, 224 pages, $39.95 hard covers) is by Kelley Epstein, a personal chef and food blogger (Mountain Mama Cooks) in Utah who's been cooking for local families, Sundance Film Festival-goers, and seasonal visitors for about 15 years. Here she gives us info about cooking through the winter months where all one does is eat-ski-sleep-repeat (except for the cook). Everything here is perfect for mountain living. The chapters are divided into time periods: morning apres, midday apres, slope-side apres, happy hour apres, family-style apres, apres the apres, and thirsty apres. Kelley makes her own trail mix, which is basically nut-filled pretzels, walnuts and almonds, dried cherries and other fruit, and chocolate. She's got a list of high-altitude baking resources plus places to buy food and/or consume food. Very convenient for the upcoming winter. Quality/Price Rating: 89. 5.MY PLACE AT THE TABLE; a recipe for a delicious life in Paris (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, 239 pages, $39 hardbound) is by Alexander Lobrano, a food and travel writer (articles and books) now living in Paris and the South of France. The subtext is how does a timid boy from the suburbs of Connecticut become one of the most influential dining critics in France? He's also met enough high flying performers along the way to get a considerable number of log rollers: Ruth Reichl, Bill Buford, Alice Waters, Devil Lebovitz, Alain Ducasse, He's adept at shaking up the bistro scene, commenting on exciting new dishes made with international ingredients. At the end, he's got 15 pages devoted to his fave 30 hangouts in Paris, ranging from simple through complex (and priced accordingly). His memoir is absorbing and well-worth reading, although it lacks an index to tie it all together. Quality/Price Rating: 88. 6.CLASSIC COCKTAILS; the very best martinis, margaritas, manhattans, and more (Artisan, 2021, 112 pages, $14.95 hardbound) is by Nick Mautone. It's a utilitarian guide to the 40 most popular and iconic cocktails. These are the basics, suitable for all levels in its conciseness. The primer has opening notes on the right tools and the right techniques, followed by a series of drinks based on the type of alcohol, from gin through vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila, brandy [just two: sidecar and alexander] , and wine (including sparkling wine). 'Nuff said. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 7.CYPRUS CUISINE (Whitecap, 2021, 274 pages, $34.95 papercovers) is by Christina Loucas, a Victoria BC-based creator of Afrodite's Kitchen, a website devoted to Cypriot food. It was originally published in 2016 in Italian, and here it is translated into English. It is a very good well-researched summary of Cypriot food: she's got 80 detailed recipes that range from classic to contemporary. Food in Cyprus has been heavily influenced by the spice trade and its location in the Mediterranean near the Middle East. It's part memoir, part travel guide, and part cookbook like so many other regional cookbooks. She has the basic history of food in Cyprus, the larder/pantry needed to maintain a kitchen, some drinks (tea, lemonades, coffee), and then moves on to breads and pastries such as halloumi mint scones, tsoureki (Easter orange bread), kattimeri (crepes), and koulouria (sesame bread rings). Next up in the meal are soups, salads, small bites, mains, condimenti, cakes and sweets. Her book also concludes with some suggested dinner menus for 2, 4 or 6 persons, followed by a listing and description of local markets in Limassol and Nicosia. It is a bright book, loaded with exceptional closeups of finished plates. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 8.SUMMER; a cookbook (Artisan, 2021, 234 pages, ISBN 978-1-57965-946-2 $24.95 hardcovers) is by the team of Marnie Hanel and Jen Stevenson, authors of such outdoor cookbooks as The Campout Cookbook and The Picnic (the latter a 2016 IACP award winner). Both are food writers living in Portland, Oregon. The book is meant for lazy days and magical nights. The key to success here is careful planning: the minimum is to make sure that you have everything yopu need before the expedition begins. Of course, if your cottage or whatever is right on the water or beach, then it is no problem . Chapter one covers from the beach bag to bonfire, with thirty pages of organizing. The balance of the book is fairly straightforward in its arrangement, from beach bites through sides, salads, mains, desserts, and beverages. And with nifty little watercolours by Emily Isabella. Typical preps include grilled oysters with miso-scallion butter, tarragon crab salad on watermelon, and raspberry-rose water pool float doughnuts. Great fun, from a simple breakfast to a firepit. Seven menus are suggested, including a brunch, a clambake, and a paella party. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents (needed here in the case of US volume measurements). Quality/Price Rating: 89. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 9.BASQUE; Spanish recipes from San Sebastian & beyond (Hardie Grant Books, 2016, 2021, 256 pages, $32.99 hard covers) is by Jose Pizarro (a Basque chef who owns three restaurants in London. It's a well-illustrated and photographed travelogue-cookbook and a great introduction to the Basque cuisine and country. It's all arranged by ingredient: meat, fish, veggies, desserts, concluding with a collection of Basque menus: two for pintxos, others for a simple three course menu and for a feasting menu for friends. Typical are roasted chicken wings with oregano and garlic, cured duck ham with pomegranate salad, griddled marinated quail with pickled shallots, piquillo peppers stuffed with oxtail, sukalki (beef stew), sardines a la plancha, pan-fried hake with wild chanterelles, and pan-fried porcini with egg yolk. It's a major contribution to the arena of Spanish cookbooks. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 10.THE MAGIC OF TINNED FISH; elevate your cooking with canned anchovies, sardines, mackerel, crab and other amazing seafood (Artisan books, 2021, 208 pages, ISBN 978-1-57965-937-0, $33.55 hardbound) is by Chris McDade, owner-chef of Brooklyn's Popina, a western Mediterranean-styled restaurant with some US influences. He's got a short intro for preserved fish, principally tinned but also in glass jars. This is followed by a discussion on what to look for and a list of his 12 fave tinned products. Of necessity, his book is arranged by type of fish. Anchovies is first up, followed by sardines, mackerel, shellfish (sea urchin, oysters, clams, mussels, crab), squid, octopus, trout and cod all with appropriate recipes fir cooking use. The photos also show the colourful labels of the tinned goods. At the end there is a US resources list for online ordering, if needed. Most of what he calls for is from sustainable fishing. One of my fave tinned fish is mussels, and through the index you can find preps such as mussel salad and potato chips on a brioche bun, or a mussel salad with fennel, chickpeas, and dill vinaigrette. Not everything here is seafood: there is roasted lamb with anchovies, rosemary and potatoes, and for pork, there is roasted pork loin with tonnato sauce. Cheese is also prominent (e.g. fusilli with sardines, 'nduja and pecorino). The 75 recipes include elevating mac and cheese with crab, and snacks such as anchovies, bread and butter. Comfort food includes smoked trout chowder. The book is a bit restrictive in that there is no tinned salmon, and no tuna, herring, shrimp, sprat, or caviar (or any other roe). But there is enough here to get you started. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric and fewer US volume measurements in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 11.FLORENTINE; the true cuisine of Florence. 2D ed. (Hardie Grant Books, 2016, 2020, 272 pages, $42.99 hard covers) is by Emiko Davies, who, in her mid-twenties, moved to Florence to study art restoration and photography (she did the location photography for this book). Her book is a travelogue-cookbook she has also written two other Italian food cookbooks, and continues to write about regional Italian food and travel for numerous publications and her own blog. There is a brief history of Florence and its food and culture, a Florence city guide and address guide, glossary, and bibliographic references. Preps and dishes are strewed about such walking tour topics as La pasticceria (pastry shop), Il forno (bakery), Il mercato (market), la trattoria , il macellaio (butcher), with typical dishes such as panino con insalata belga, pecorino e miele (panino with Belgian endive, pecorino cheese and honey), crostone con salsiccia e stracchino (crostone with sausage and stracchino cheese), piselli all Fiorentina, insalata di farro, frittata di finocchi (fennel frittata). She's good at telling the story of food in Florence plate by plate. Yet another great regional cookbook. Quality/Price Rating: 91. 12.CLUCK OINK BAA MOO; how to choose, prepare and cook meat and poultry (Ryland Peters & Small, 2015, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-353-7, $24.95 hard covers) is by Miranda Ballard, who runs a food company with her husband in the UK (Muddy Boots). Together they opened The Modern Meat Shop in London. Her book was originally published in 2015 under the title Modern Meat Kitchen ; this current book is the 2021 revision. It's a basic book on choosing, preparing and cooking meats at home. There is also information on sourcing meat that is farmed responsibly. All of these are covered in the primer areas. Typical recipes of the 90 preps reflect a UK orientation, such as Scotch eggs and haggis, game and gammon, but there is also turkey, chilli con carne, and pork and beans. Korean-style butterflied lamb caught my eye, as did game rillettes. At the end there is a source list for both UK and US ingredients and equipment. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes instead of imperial/US, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 86. 13.THE SCIENCE OF WINE; from vine to glass. 3rd ed.(University of California Press, 2005, 2012, 2021, 224 pages, ISBN 978-0-520-37950-3, $48.38 CAD hard covers) is by Jamie Goode, UK wine writer and columnist. The first edition in 2005 was the Glenfiddich Drink Book of the Year. It's a great introduction to the scientific and technical innovations applied to grape-growing and winemaking. He explains how the practical applications of science affects the quality, flavour and perception of wine. In addition, there is also some material on Mother Nature such as the newly re-written climate change and global warming chapter, and how this is affecting wine production and styles. As the book is about the science of wine, he also covers biodynamics, health benefits, and screw cap closures. About half the book is totally new or extensively re-written and updated to this third edition (published nine years after the second edition): a discussion of when things go wrong , vine immunity and breeding for resistance, yeasts and bacteria, non-saccharomyces, phenolics, extraction and maceration, whole cluster and carbonic maceration, wine faults, evolution of levage, flotation, and sweet wine. This is an immensely accessible book, written for the lay person, and with a glossary and bibliography at the end. Quality/price rating: 92. ---------------------------------------------------- AN ADDED VALUE FOR MY SUBSCRIBERS --- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR JUNE 2021 [published monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Prices listed below are in US or CAN currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. THE NEGRONI; a love affair with a classic cocktail (Artisan, 2021, 160 pages, $22.95 hardbound) is by Matt Hranek, who has done major research in this area. The Negroni is a great Euro-cocktail with its botanicals from the bitters, the vermouth, and the gin. The best ones have a balance of bitter and sweet. This current book comes well-endorsed by Chef Michael Ruhlman: This is one of the best books devoted to a single cocktail I've read. Hranek begins with the components of Italian bitters (I think Campari has a stranglehold here), moving on to Italian red vermouth (Antica Formula Carpano or Punt e mes) and then gin. Garnishes, ice, and equipment come next, followed by 31 recipes for the drink and 11 food snacks. Terrific illustrations, mostly posters. He's even got a list of the best places in Europe to enjoy the Negroni! Quality/Price Rating: 93 * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.THE IMMUNITY COOKBOOK; how to strengthen your immune system and boost long-term health, with 100 easy recipes (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2020, 233 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-679-3, $42.99 CAN hardbound) is by Kate Llewellyn-Waters, a certified nutritionist with an MSc and decades of experience throughout the UK. Here, for these pandemic times, she stresses the importance of immunity as a protection against illnesses and viral diseases. She logically begins with a description of how the immune system works, and then goes on to detail that all disease begins in the gut. She lays out the most effective and efficient strategies, such as eating knowledgeably to improve one's immunity. Intermittent fasting, exercise, managing stress, importance of sleep, and the power of light. That's the first 60 pages: then she goes on for the recipes through another 160 pages. It's all about creating your own healthier lifestyle choices and effective mindfulness. The most important item is making the connection between gut health and disease and immunity and then doing something about it. Audience and level of use: those looking for a change or trying to get their gut together. Some interesting or unusual recipes: tuna, fennel and bean salad; halloumi kebabs with raita; spicy bulgur with roasted peppers; artichoke and mushroom spelt; spiced kedgeree. The downside to this book: The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Also, the typeface is too much grey and is too small. The upside to this book: excellent recipes, all workable Quality/Price Rating: 90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.STRANGER GINS; 50 things to drink while you watch TV (Dog 'n' Bone, 2021, 64 pages, $13.99 hardbound) has been compiled by Carol Hilker, a Chicago-based food writer. All of the shows are series and include old and new. Thus, there's Twin Peaks (recommended drink: Jacoby's Coconut). Fleabag (Hot Priest), Mad Men (Dirty Don Martini), and Seinfeld (Festivus)...But no Sopranos. She's got recipes and reasons for each show. PS: I'm not ashamed to admit having seen all of these shows but drinking just wine. Quality/Price Rating:87 4.THE EVERYTHING GUIDE TO THE INSULIN RESISTANCE DIET; lose weight, reverse insulin resistance, and stop pre-diabetes. (Adams Media, 2021, 270 pages, ISBN 978-1-5072-1420-6, $25.99 softbound) is by Marie Feldman and Jodi Dalyai, both of whom are registered dietitians and diabetes educators. Both use nutrition in their daily work to help patients in the areas of weight loss and diabetes. Much has already been written in the media about both diabetes and pre-diabetes, but this book begins a bit earlier with insulin resistance . The key here is weight loss and, of course, lifestyle pattern changes. These alone would go a long way to end the path to diabetes. They've got 150 recipes and a 10-week plan for healthy eating and increased activity. Based on their researches and patients they have worked with, you can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes. The book could have been improved if it had also used metric in the recipes, but at least it had metric conversion charts. Quality/price rating: 88. 5.ROOT & NOURISH; an herbal cookbook for women's wellness (Tiller Press, 2021, 240 pages, $39.99 hardbound) is by holistic nutritionist and recipe developer Abbey Rodriguez and Ayurvedic health counselor Jennifer Kurdyla. Together they have collaborated on a presentation centering around kitchen herbs and spices to promote good health, longevity and beauty. Plant medicine has a rich history in everyday life, and through food and self-care can be beneficial. After a discussion about the basics and the herbal pantry, the book has three main divisions: digestion, mental health, and hormonal health. Each is further divided by recipes for breakfasts, mains, sweets and teas and drinks. There's a concluding list of suppliers, a bibliography for further reading, and a listing for daily rituals that embrace rest and sleep, movement, connection and spirituality. Preps include matcha bites; dark chocolate fig oatmeal bites; herbal lullaby tea; cauliflower pizza with cashew cream, fennel, arugula and honey; spaghetti squash boats with basil and oregano; vanilla bean sweet potato banana pancakes. Preparations have their ingredients listed only in US avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents (needed for the rest of the world). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 6.HOW TO GRILL VEGETABLES; the new bible for barbecuing vegetables over live fire (Workman Publishing, 2021, 326 pages, $33 paperbound) is by Steven Raichlen, author of a renowned BBQ cookbook series (they've won five Beards and three IACP awards). He's also done five TV food series. His book purports to bring live fire or wood smoke to every imaginable vegetable : fire-blistering tomatoes, cedar-planking eggplant, hay-smoking lettuce, spit-roasting Brussels sprouts on the stalk, grilling corn a seemingly endless number of ways, cooking onions in the embers. 115 recipes in all, which also includes chapters on grilling breads, pizza, eggs, cheese, and desserts. More than comprehensive. Small note: this is not strictly a vegan book there is some bacon and a few other items. If you are kosher, then these are smaller than an olive. A lot of these dishes can also be done indoors as pan-frying or sauteeing, such as the sandwiches. The important thing is to get the ladies on board to BBQ and the guys as well, to get some healthy food into the body. After the intro to grilling and the pantry, the arrangement is by food format: starters, dips, chips, salads, slaws, soups, breads, veggie small plates, sides, eggs and cheese, desserts plus the inevitable appendices of sauces, seasoning, condimenti, and the like. A spiffy looking glossary and conversion tables complete the book. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes (come on, join the world!), but at least it had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 94. 7.CYPRUS CUISINE (Whitecap, 2021, 274 pages, $34.95 papercovers) is by Christina Loucas, a Victoria BC-based creator of Afrodite's Kitchen, a website devoted to Cypriot food. It was originally published in 2016 in Italian, and here it is translated into English. It is a very good well-researched summary of Cypriot food: she's got 80 detailed recipes that range from classic to contemporary. Food in Cyprus has been heavily influenced by the spice trade and its location in the Mediterranean near the Middle East. It's part memoir, part travel guide, and part cookbook like so many other regional cookbooks. She has the basic history of food in Cyprus, the larder/pantry needed to maintain a kitchen, some drinks (tea, lemonades, coffee), and then moves on to breads and pastries such as halloumi mint scones, tsoureki (Easter orange bread), kattimeri (crepes), and koulouria (sesame bread rings). Next up in the meal are soups, salads, small bites, mains, condimenti, cakes and sweets. Her book also concludes with some suggested dinner menus for 2, 4 or 6 persons, followed by a listing and description of local markets in Limassol and Nicosia. It is a bright book, loaded with exceptional closeups of finished plates. Typical dishes include octopus wine stew, lamb orzo stew, and pickled caper shoots, coriander smashed olives, and of course purslane salad. Quality/price rating: 91 8.SKEWERED; recipes for fire food on sticks from around the world (Dog 'n' Bone, 2021, 160 pages, $24 hardbound) is by Marcus Bawdon, UK website owner of CountryWoodSmoke and appearing on other social media channels along with demos at BBQ festivals and a magazine editorship. His first book was Food and Fire . Here are 60-plus preps for the grill; all of them skewered on a variety of metal, bamboo, and wooden sticks. Their sizes range from Argentine churrasco blades to bite-size Japanese teriyaki skewers. Of course, any kinds of foods can be skewered and cooked in this manner especially marshmallows. Preps are global, from all over the world, and thus they reflect local spicing levels....Bawdon's got the primer down pat, along with troubleshooting tips. Recipe arrangement is by region: South America, North America, Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, India, Far East, Africa and Oceania. Check out baharat lamb skewers from the middle east, tandoor-style paneer skewers from India, and miso & sesame king oyster from the far east. Each prep includes a recommended heat level for the embers and a choice of skewers to use. With modifications, you can use the skewers indoors on a grill oven-top...No problem as they say.....The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart....thus more international cookbooks can be sold this way throughout the world. Quality/price rating: 89 9.THE SECRET INGREDIENT COOKBOOK; 125 family-friendly recipes with surprisingly tasty twists (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, 296 pages, $43 hardbound) is by Kelly Senyei, creator of Just a Taste internet food site. She appears regularly on the Food Network and had previously worked for Gourmet and Epicurious. Some heavy-duty logrolling is also involved. She's got a big pantry with essential ingredients (different flours, salts, vinegars, sugars, pastas) and some fridge items. To Kelly's mind, secret ingredients punch-up dishes. Thus, if you make shake 'n' bacon bites, then you could/should add Dijon mustard as a secret ingredient , berry breakfast pastries require the addition of cardamom, skillet sweet potato hash is enhanced by beet greens, weekday snack mix calls for tahini, and the spicy goddess flatbread needs jalapenos. Good concept for a family cookbook. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart time to join the rest of the world. Quality/price rating: 88. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 10.LAZY DAY BRUNCHES; relaxed recipes for the morning (Ryland Peters & Small, 2021, 144 pages, $20 hardbound) is a publisher's book with 65 preps by 11 food writers, principally Carol Hilker (23 recipes) and Kathy Kordalis (15 recipes). It's arranged by course, from fruit and grains through pancakes & waffles, eggs, salads, sides, pastries, preserves and drinks. A handy compilation. Quality/Price Rating: 86 11.MORTAR & PESTLE; 65 delicious recipes for sauces, rubs and marinades (Ryland Peters & Small, 2021, 144 pages, $20 hardbound) is a publisher's book with 65 preps by 22 food writers. Valerie Aikman-Smith leads off with 13 different recipes. It's arranged by course, and includes sauces and condiments, snacks and small bites, poultry and game, meat, seafood, and veggies. Another handy compilation. Quality/Price Rating: 86 12.THE SPICY PLANT-BASED COOKBOOK (Adams Media, 2021, 256 pages, $22.99 paperbound) is a project of Simon and Schuster no direct author seems to be indicated. This should not, of course, detract from the book which is a very valuable contribution to vegan food writing. Its subtitle says all: more than 200 fiery snacks, dips, and main dishes for the plant-based lifestyle . The importance is amplified by the types of dishes such as flaming hot guacamole, vegan cheese fries, spicy pad thai, and others. If there is one thing that will bring a guy over from an animal-based diet to a vegan it's going to be SPICY FOOD . There are hot sauces galore here (basic Chinese Hot and Sour soup, kimchi cabbage, lime-soaked poblanos, Mexican hot chocolate. Arrangement is by meal course, after a primer on sauces, spreads, salsa, and spices. First up is breakfast there's enough heat for the full day here! Followed by appetizers and snacks, salad, soups, stews, chilies, mains, sides, and desserts. At the very end there is a useful US/Metric conversion chart. Preparations have their ingredients only listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is a table of metric equivalents. Quality/price rating: 92 13.SUMMER DRINKS; over 100 refreshing recipes to enjoy in the sunshine (Ryland Peters & Small, 2021, 144 pages, $20 hardbound) is an other publisher's project for Ryland Peters & Small. Here 15 UK chefs and food writers give us all the preps (with proper attribution found at the back of the book). The most prolific are Ben Reed (24, a quarter of the total) and Laura Gladwin (20). Julia Charles was the editorial director on this one, and she contributes 13 preps. Arrangement is by style: aperitifs, cocktails, spritzes, coolers, slushies, floats, punches, pitchers, mocktails and juices. More than enough preps for three months of summer! Quality/price rating: 89 14.SUMAC; recipes and stories from Syria (Interlink Books, 2019, 2021, 248 pages, $45 hardbound) is by Anas Atassi, who emphasizes his family's food traditions and culture. He's a Syrian chef now living in the Netherlands (this book was originally published in Dutch in 2019). Here are 80 classic and contemporary recipes strewn about various chapters such as breakfast, mezze (his mother's annual soirees), street food, grains, veggies, meats-poultry-fish (midsummer BBQs) , and desserts (the Ramadan table). Each prep has a story with some illustrations, plus a Syrian name for the dish. Excellent photography and layout, more about food than about travel. Preps are perfectly adaptable for the North American kitchen: Sumac is an essential ingredient in Syrian cooking; it is used everywhere. This is a nifty exploration of a series of influences from the Ottomans, the Persians, and the French. Take a look at lamb koftas in tahini sauce or shorbat ameh (lamb shanks) or musakham wraps. The book could have been improved, though, if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90 15.THE SCANDI KITCHEN MIDSOMMAR (Ryland Peters & Small, 2018, 2021, 176 pages, $29.99 hard covers) is by Bronte Aurell, Danish restaurateur, who runs ScandiKitchen Cafe and shop in central London along with her Swedish husband. She has also been published widely. It was originally published in 2018 and this is the 2021 reissue update Here she has a summer introduction to Scandinavian food through 65 dishes for all occasions. The contents begin with a summer pantry/larder, and move on to breakfast, open sandwiches, smorgasbord with soups and salads and light dishes, followed by dinner and desserts. There is even a chapter on fika (get-together with coffee with cakes). Try the breakfast open sandwich, shrimp and asparagus open sandwich or traditional Danish apple trifle as individual servings. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Quality/price rating: 87. 16.ZERO WASTE; 60 recipes for a waste-free kitchen (White Star Publishers, 2020, 2021, 160 pages, $22.95 hardbound) is by Cinzia Trenchi, who also did the photography. It was originally published in Italian, and this is the 2021 English translation. She emphasizes that everything should be organic and preservative-free. She's got original ideas and preps for making dishes made with food scraps that no only taste good by also look great. It is all arranged by type of dish: one section deals with vegetable-based dishes, another with protein-based recipes, and a third with fruit-based recipes. There is also a small section at the end concerning leftovers, such as bread and rice, etc. Lovely dramatic illustrations showing ease, times, and preparations. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. 17.BATCH COOKING; save time, save money (White Star Publishers, 2018, 2021, 160 pages, $22.95 hardbound) is by is by Cinzia Trenchi, who also did the photography. It was originally published in Italian in 2018, and this is the 2021 English translation. She emphasizes that everything should be organic and preservative-free. She's got original ideas and preps for making larger dishes made with the bounty of the season. Batch cooking is a meal planning system that involves preparing a week's worth of meals in just a few hours.. These are stored in the fridge, freezer or pantry, and can be for both food that is eaten at home or out. Organization and a great selection of glass/plastic containers are needed. Sous vide and vacuum bags are also useful, but they tend to not be reusable. So here are 68 recipes with her own photos, for making easy dishes to organize your meals with, from breakfast onward. The week can be planned, and indeed the book is divided into 4 weeks. There is plenty of choice, and very few preps need to be repeated. Ir's a great book for the harried homemaker: do it all on Sunday and just eat out of hand for the rest of the week. Each week is divided into breakfast, individual portions , and snacks. Voila! Typical are roast little tuna with artichokes and fresh orange salad, smoked salmon parcels stuffed with mixed berries, pumpkin and barley broth, and caper bread with vegetable and mayo. Lovely dramatic illustrations showing ease, times, and preparations. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. ---------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR MAY 2021 [published monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Most prices listed below are in US currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.ZERO PROOF COCKTAILS; 90 non-alcoholic recipes for mindful drinking (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, 256 pages, $32 hardbound) is by Elva Ramirez, a freelance lifestyle journalist and consultant, formerly with the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. The book notes, as consumers become more mindful and re-examine their relationship with alcohol, the no-proof movement is gaining more and more prominence . Here is a collection curated by Ramirez, with preps and notes of cocktails and mocktails from an international assortment of bartenders and bars. It's all arranged by taste, from bright and refreshing through fruity and floral, tangy and tropical, rich and decadent, and even vegetal and savoury. Forty contributors and their deets are noted. Recipes for a huge selection of syrups are given, and the author also presents a short history of temperance movements. A great book gift for any time of the year, with such as Seedlip spice and all things nice, morning grove fizz, almost famous, and the red passion. Quality/price rating: 89. * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.ROSE REISMAN'S MEAL REVOLUTION; recipes inspired by Canada's new food guide (Friesen Press, 2020, 275 pages, ISBN 978-152556662-2 $34.95 softbound) is by Rose Reisman: and award-winning entrepreneur, caterer, cookbook author of 20 books, with a nutrition degree and an MBA in marketing. She does a Personal Gourmet food delivery service (extremely useful in pandemic times) and a Kids Lunches for elementary schools. The full intent of her latest book is to use the 2019 Health Canada CFG as the basis for changing up your home cooking with new recipes for the weekly rotation and new ideas for healthier living. The Guide reduces one's dependency on meat and dairy for protein, substituting plant protein. Her 165 preps emphasize more plant-based meals for healthier nutrition and immunity. As she says, The toll of the pandemic is being felt by many and being mindful about food is especially important now. It means making healthier choices more often, making positive changes to daily eating habits such as taking the time to eat together, and tuning into the emotional reasons for why you're eating. The food preps are easy to make, with chapters arranged by bowls, instant pots, and sheet pans, as well as the traditional breakdowns by ingredient (meat, poultry, seafood, veggies) or course (breakfast, soup, salad, desserts, snacks). Typical are the bowl of arugula-quinoa-black bean-charred tomato pilaf or salmon poke bowl or gluten-free carrot loaf with dried dates and apples. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no overall table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 93. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.PEAS LOVE & CARROTS: the cookbook (Artscroll/Shaar Press, 2020, 432 pages, ISBN 978-1-4226-2578-1 $50 hardbound) is by Danielle Renov. It grew out of her social media and website work at www.peaslovencarrots.com. From her kitchen in Israel she transforms classic Jewish cooking to new approachable recipes. Her own background includes Moroccan ancestry, so she is able to draw on the entire Middle Eastern experience. Her site is full of tips and advice, cooking tutorials, and good food knowledge; her book is a permanent extension of the better elements of that digital site. Here are 254+ recipes with 180 full-colour photos. She opens with a whole pile of tips, especially on how to read a recipe, and closes with the conversion tables. In between there are lots of vignettes that relate to each prep. Good reading. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there are tables of metric equivalents at the end. Audience and level of use: those looking for a comprehensive modern Jewish cookbook. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: roasted sweet potato, apple and leek soup; slow roasted deckle; bourbon braised short ribs; Korean flanken roast; shakshuka for a crowd; sfinge (Moroccan donuts); orange blossom syrup. The downside to this book: only two lamb recipes The upside to this book: generous selection of relevant and contemporary recipes. Quality/Price Rating: 88 4.A TABLE: recipes for cooking + eating the French way (Chronicle Books, 2021, 304 pages, ISBN 978-1-7972-0223-5 $43 hardbound) is by Rebekah Peppler, a Paris-based food writer and stylist who contributes to the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, and others. She specializes in simple but sophisticated French food and French living. So we've got two books here: one on the food and one on the style or manners. Pre-pandemic she usually hosted impromptu gatherings on a weekly basis, and this goes to the preparation of this book as the blurb notes: a go-to repertoire of new French dishes that reflect a modern French table. The 125 recipes embrace the classic dishes, the regional dishes, and the merging dishes of new cultures from previous colonies of Algeria to Indochina. It is also a travel book with materials about the different elements of food as found in Paris. All of her feasts at home are in three parts: before (85 pages) with aperitifs and snacks, during (130 pages) with mains and sides, and after (60 pages) with deserts and digestifs. There's a bit about wine, but not much. The main wines of Paris appear to be Muscadet and Beaujolais, both compellingly fresh and aromatic. Expensive wines are usually Champagnes.` The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Audience and level of use: those who enjoy a Parisian environment as a backdrop to their food. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: Basque chicken, Alsatian cheesecake, salade nicoise for a crowd; lamb tagine; green shakshuka; bigger banh mi. The downside to this book: I wanted more on wine The upside to this book: good arrangement Quality/Price Rating: 89 5.CULINARY HERBS; Grow. Preserve. Cook! (Whitecap, 2021, 278 pages, ISBN 978-1-770-50335-9 $34.95 softbound) is by Yvonne Tremblay, a recipe developer for major food companies and food marketing boards. She specializes in herbs, and has also written other cookbooks on preserves. And chutneys. This current book focuses on growing, harvesting, and using herbs. The primer includes a discussion on fresh vs. dried herbs, the various herb mixtures (bouquet garni, herbes de provence, fines herbes), and how to cook various herbs. Her glossary of 19 herbs includes a basic 17 and two categories of lemon and mint family herbs. Recipes are arranged by course, from appetizers through soups, salads, mains, sides, desserts with an excursion through crackers, biscuits and breads ending with herbal beverages and preserves. The book could have been improved if it had also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Audience and level of use: gardeners and home cooks Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: veal saltimbocca alla Romana; braised lamb shanks with rosemary; Thai mango salad; mint julep; herbed wine; rosemary apple cider jelly; strawberry lavender jam. The downside to this book: needs more metric The upside to this book: a good reference collection, very comprehensive. Quality/Price Rating: 88 6.THE EVERYTHING GUIDE TO THE INSULIN RESISTANCE DIET; lose weight, reverse insulin resistance, and stop pre-diabetes. (Adams Media, 2021, 270 pages, ISBN 978-1-5072-1420-6, $25.99 softbound) is by Marie Feldman and Jodi Dalyai, both of whom are registered dietitians and diabetes educators. Both use nutrition in their daily work to help patients in the areas of weight loss and diabetes. Much has already been written in the media about both diabetes and pre-diabetes, but this book begins a bit earlier with insulin resistance . The key here is weight loss and, of course, lifestyle pattern changes. These alone would go a long way to end the path to diabetes. They've got 150 recipes and a 10-week plan for healthy eating and increased activity. Based on their researches and patients they have worked with, you can lower your risk for type 2 diabetes. The book could have been improved if it had also used metric in the recipes, but at least it had metric conversion charts. Quality/price rating: 88. 7.THE ITALIAN DELI COOKBOOK (Hardie Grant Quadrille, 2021, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-596-3 $50 hardbound) is by Theo Randall, who had worked at River Cafe (UK) and Chez Panisse (USA) before opening his own UK restaurant in 2006. He has also been a guest on many UK TV shows. This is his third book on Italian cooking, and it deals with the Italian pantry. Keep well-stocked shelves and you'll never go hungry you can make a meal out of anything found in the kitchen. A perfect pandemic selection. Everything can be purchased ahead of time from Eataly or similar delis (no matter how small), and the arrangement of the book follows the shelves. First up are eggs, which are sort of an anomaly since they are fresh . Nevertheless, this section is followed by cheese (good storage for dairy!), salumi, tinned fish, smoked fish, jarred veggies and pulses, dried pasta, olives, herbs, rice, Italian sausages, olive oil and other oils, vinegars, flour, wine, and coffee. From all of these you can make dishes of pasta, pizza, and panini for a start. The only reservation I have of this steady diet is a concern about the amount of salt and other preservatives. It's best to look at labels. Never buy pesto: you can make your own and preserve it. The same with ragu and other sauces. The index has a double whammy for the older folks: tiny tiny typeface and grey ink. Not every reader is a millennial. Anyway, self-confession time: we've got all these ingredients at our house and we have been using the Italian pantry for over 40 years. The book could have been improved if it had also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. 8.BOARDS, PLATTERS, PLATES: recipes for entertaining, sharing, and snacking (Artisan, 2021, 160 pages, $24.95 hardbound) is by Maria Zizka, co-author of the excellent Tartine All Day cookbook. Here she gives us 30 boards/platters/plates for all manner of events, ranging from the basic charcuterie board and cheese board through appetizer board, Parisienne party size board, cauliflower pakora, beachside, Lebanese lunch, vegan rainbow, bagna cauda party size, and even six boards for dessert. Very well-presented with illustrated examples of layouts of boards and identification of all the components. Fish and seafood are also added, as for the beach or for the grand aioli. Well-worth a look. Quality/price rating: 89 9.ONE-BOWL MEALS: simple, nourishing, delicious (Artisan, 2021, 160 pages, $24.95 hardbound) is by Maria Zizka, co-author of the excellent Tartine All Day cookbook. Here she has given us 30 combinations organized by base (oatmeal, chia, yogurt, grains, noodles, greens. The basic formula is start with a base, build with a protein, and add a sauce, and then a couple of toppings, and some crunchy garnishes. Thes one-meal bowls can be protein-enhanced, or made vegan, or made gluten-free. She's got the ideas all laid out for us. Yummy photos too. Quality/price rating: 89 10.TABLES & SPREADS (Chronicle Books, 2021, 288 pages, $27.95 USD hardbound) is by Shelly Westerhausen Worcel with Wyatt Worcel. She's a vegetarian food blogger; he's an aquaculture graduate. Together they have compiled a go-to guide for snacks, small gatherings, and inviting feasts. They present 21 inspired design ideas, with timelines, shopping lists, and diagrams. Plus of course the recipes. The duo's got some tips for choosing a theme and styling the food in a creative manner. Linens, flowers, and music complete the picture. Platters can be as small as a burrata bar or a creamy polenta spread, or just a selection of delicious dips. Some typical themes embrace a savoury focaccia party, a mezze spread, pierogi dumplings, breakfast nacho buffet, Dutch baby party, and the like. Taking their notes and ideas you can create many more tables and spreads. There's one spread for bought sliced meat and sausages, but the recipes themselves are all vegetarian. Quality/Price rating: 90. 11.NEGRONI (Ryland Peters & Small, 2021, 64 pages, $13.85 hardbound) is by David T. Smith and Keli Rivers. Here are more than 30 classic and modern recipes for Italy's iconic cocktail. Variations make use of dry and aged vermouths, along with ports and sherries and white bitters. One for the cocktail friends. Quality/Price rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 12.VEGAN RECIPES FROM JAPAN (Grub Street, 2020, 208 pages, $32.95 hardbound) is by Malte Hartig and Jule Felice Frommelt. He's a trained chef with a PhD on Japanese food and culture and Zen Buddhism; she's a freelance food photographer and recipe developer. Together they write about what is essentially shojin ryori : the traditional dining style of Buddhist monks in Japan, made without any animal products. So it becomes a perfect vegan diet. Foods are based on tofu, seaweed, seasoned veggies and wild mountain plants. Balance and alignment are brought to the body, mind and spirit. The preps are simple and humble, seasonally done with Japanese ingredients such as miso, soy sauce, sake, mirin, dashi, and mostly steamed or grilled or deep fried. The arrangement is by season, beginning with spring, and there are many cultural/social background notes, along with a glossary and other references. Quality/Price rating: 91 13.ARZAK + ARZAK (Grub Street, 2020, 256 pages, $49.95 hardbound) is by Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena Arzak. The Restaurante Arzak has been in San Sebastian since 1897, and it has had three Michelin stars since 1989. It has also been included on the World's 50 Best Restaurant list since the ranking's early days. Elena has been there since 1994 after working her way through the kitchens of Troisgros and El Bulli, among others. This is a lavishly produced book celebrating the research and the gastronomy of one of the finest restaurants in the world. This is the beginning of the New Basque Cuisine. Copious photographs and generous texts illuminate every phase of their daily work together and with the 64-member team, and includes a separate chapter on their research and research methods. Finally, at page 113 we arrive at the beginning of the 64 recipes which Jaun Mari and chef Elena worked out together over the past 10 years, with great colour photographs of ingredients and finished plates. It begins with hake and chickpea paint, moves on to veal cheeks stew, nectarine and squid vines, and ends with honeymead and fractal fluid. It would be pretty hard to find a better gift book for the gastronome. Quality/Price rating: 93. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 14.MARGARET COSTA'S FOUR SEASONS COOKERY BOOK (Grub Street, 1970,2020, 361 pages, ISBN 978-1-911667-00-1 $29.95 CAN softbound) is now back in print. It was originally published in 1970 as one of the first books to emphasize seasonal eating. It's divided into the four seasons, beginning of course with Spring when all is new or has been renewed, and then subdivided by mini-essays on some ingredients and methods, such as sorrel, lamb, casseroles, and puddings. Costa was a food and travel writer for Gourmet and the Sunday Times magazine, as well as a food consultant for Marks & Spencer. Delia Smith writes a foreword in an appreciation of this reissue which celebrates the book's 50th anniversary. Found are the special preps such as liver with Dubonnet and orange, and scallop and artichoke soup. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no overall table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 90 15.THE CURIOUS BARTENDER: Cocktails at Home (Ryland Peters & Small, 2021, 208 pages, $42.99 hardcovers) is by Tristan Stephenson, not only a drinks writer and author but also a brand ambassador and consultant in the UK world of cocktails. This work covers malt, bourbon and rye types of whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, tequila, brandy, sherry, wine and amari with histories, an exploration of the barrel-aging process, and a trip to major distilleries throughout the world (but principally the UK and the US). All the 75 recipes have been previously published in prior Curious Bartender books, but have been collated for this new volume. So there is the primer which deals with equipment, glassware and kitchen ingredients, followed by a collection of 7 distilled alcohol bottles and 6 alcohol add-ons (triple sec, maraschino, amari, vermouth, amontillado sherry, and absinthe). Under Making a Drink there are good notes on shaking, stirring, building, and blending. If you have his other books, then you might not need this one. He's got some classic and iconic preps for cocktails, such as the Boilermaker. His notes follow the rising tide of brown spirits that has returned after many years of clear spirits. There are lots of colour photos and a description of each business (along with tasting notes) including what to watch out for. Typical are sherry cobblers, champagne cocktail, Americano, sidecar, pisco sour, margarita, et al. At the end there is a bibliography (including his previous 11 books) for further reading. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89. ---------------------------------------------------- AN ADDED VALUE FOR MY SUBSCRIBERS --- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR APRIL 2021 [published monthly since 2000] ============================================ By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Most prices listed below are in US currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.WINE FROM ANOTHER GALAXY (Quadrille, 2020, 354 pages, $65 hardbound) is by Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew, MW, co-founders of Noble Rot magazine and restaurants in Bloomsbury and Soho. They also own a wine importer, Keeling Andrew & Co. It's an unusual wine book, based on their writings in Noble Rot magazine. Part one is the Shrine to the Vine with primer-like detail on how wine is made, noble grapes, how wine ages, wine cellars, desert island wine lists. How to serve wine, how to order wine in a restaurant, even a hilarious alternative wine aroma wheel. Part two is the road trip travel through Europe the people and places behind their fave wines: France, Hibernia, Italy, Germany, Greece, ending with English sparklers. And it ends with a listing of their top wines, about 99% of which are from France (who knew?). An interesting book for the millennial wine lover. Quality/Price Rating: 91 * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.THE FRENCH LAUNDRY, PER SE (Artisan, 2020, 400 pages, $100 hardbound) is by Thomas Keller, a major cookbook author with material from all of his reaturants, and the first US chef to have two Michelin Guide three-star-rated restaurants. The French Laundry is in Yountville, California, and per se is in NYC. Both are connected by video, and both exchange ideas. The major secret to Keller's success has been acquiring the best top notch ingredients from their food connections: the farmers, fishermen, foragers. Here are the major 70 prep recipes plus photos and descriptions for home use and entertaining, plus 40 more recipes for the basic techniques of saucing, dehydrating, broths, compound butters, and more. Food stories and essays complete the package. Typical plates include smoked sturgeon rillettes and celery root pastrami. Not only is this a coffee table book, at 28.5 cm. square in size -- it IS a coffee table by itself.....For the foodie in your life. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 92 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS 3.IT'S WINE TIME (Dog `n` Bone Books, 2005, 2020, 64 pages, $13.95 hardbound) is by Chris Losh. It was previously available as Pick the Right Wine Every Time , and it is now back in print as a nifty little work that details everything you've always wanted to ask about red, white, rose and sparkling wine. The food section now also includes matching with vegetarian dishes, written by Fiona Beckett. Coverage extends to specific themes of drinking at home (lunch, BBQ, before and after dinner), splurging at dinner parties, eddings, holidays, and parties in general, drinking while out at bars and pubs, date nights, picnics, gifts, and restaurant wine lists. Quality/price rating: 89. 4.HELP YOURSELF; a guide to gut health for people who love delicious food (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020, 369 pages, ISBN 978-0-358-00839-2 $40 hardbound) is by Lindsay Maitland Hunt, author, editor and recipe developer. The book comes well-endowed with eight log rollers, mostly award-winning writers and restaurant owners. She gives more than 125 gut-friendly recipes plus science-backed advice for wellness in body and mind. Some memoir material makes it also a journey back to health. Like all such books, you've got to want to do it without being scared. It's basically a flavour-forward approach to microbe-friendly eating, prioritizing plant-based whole foods (veggies, beans, nuts, eggs) as well as fish, some meat and dairy (both of which can be excluded). You could feel better if you could eliminate the bloat, the stress, and the exhaustion. If you have already been diagnosed, then this book can be used to treat chronic diseases such as diabetes, autoimmune disease, leaky gut, allergies, joint pain and inflammation. The recipes emphasize cutting down processed sugars and salts, while increasing flavours. The first 80 pages cover the basics of the preparations for the new life style. This is followed by the recipes, nutritional indexes and resources. Typical dishes include various roasted veggies such as roasted celery root, roasted romanesco, lemony roasted broccoli rabe, grilled romaine, and then moves on to breakfast, soups, stews, mains, sides, drinks, and desserts. Also, there are some snacks and dips, as well as seeds to assuage hunger. As with most North American Cookbooks, the book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 5.CARPATHIA; food from the heart of Romania (Interlink Books, 2020, 224 pages, $49.95 hardbound) is by Irina Georgescu, a Romanian food writer with a blog (Small Bites). Romania is a well-travelled through country with many melting pot dishes. I was very impressed with a Romanian food documentary from some years back, about farmers who grew just two crops (potatoes and cabbages) and tried to work with a depressed market for those two items. So I used this book's index to find caraway sauerkraut clorba with potatoes, potato bread in cabbage leaves, and potato moussaka. There were more preps with cabbages, including sauerkraut. Her book concentrates on small plates (from her blog), breads, street food baked goods, and a broth soup augmented by bors (sour fermented wheat) or by ciorba (vinegar, pickled brine). The heart of Romanian cuisine is carefully explored with material on pork, coarse polenta, broth, garlic, cheese, yogurt, pickles, and wine. Desserts are based on the Austro-Hungarian empires. She concludes with some notes on the seasons and superstitions in Romanian cuisine, the culinary heritage, and the cultural food values. 6.WHY WE COOK: Women on food, identity, and connection (Workman Publishing, 2021, 232 pages, $33.95 hardbound) has been pulled together and edited by Lindsay Gardner, who also illustrated the book with her watercolours. These are essays, interviews, recipes, and stories from 112 women in food. Sections deal with Memorable Meals, Kitchen Portraits, Home Cooks, Profiles, and advice from contributors. Included are such well-known names as Ruth Reichl, Deborah Madison, Dorie Greenspan, and Anita Lo. The 11 preps are eclectic but not indexed. There is a contributor idex with notes and credits. The main section delves into such matters as what is your fave part of the cooking process? , how do you overcome creative ruts? , and what kitchen tools do you love most? . There are activists here, as well as food truckers, bakers who give back, women in wine, and even ice cream innovators. This is a terrific gift book for any occasion. 7.FOODIE BREAKS: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales (Dog'n'Bone, 2020, 144 pages, $19.95 flatbound) is by Richard Mellor who had previously written Foodie Breaks: Europe. In this book he examines 25 cities and towns with 250 (10 each) essential eating experiences within his UK homeland. With pictures, it provides a snapshot of 25 culinary UK hotspots with recommendations to try establishments. He's got the best places for breakfasts and brunches, street food, gastropubs, inexpensive diners, and cool places to drink. This is a quick, easily digestible summary for your British traveller. 8.AEGEAN (Interlink Books, 2021, 224 pages, $50 hardbound) is by Marianna Leivaditaki, who was raised on Crete and now is a London UK chef at Morito. Her paean to the Aegean is centred largely on Crete as just one of the many islands that belong to Greece. Other major islands include Rhodes, Karpathos, and Kasos. As the largest and most populous island, Crete has an original cuisine that Leivaditaki delves into. She conveniently divides the book into three: the sea, the land, the mountains, with recipes and personal stories for each. And there are lots of great photos here of prawns with ouzo, orzo and zucchini, tomato and oregano fritters with feta, and the kakavia one-pot fish stew. This is the Mediterranean diet in all of its full-blown glory, with olive oils, fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, fish. A delight. 9.HOW WILD THINGS ARE; cooking, fishing and hunting at the bottom of the world (Hardie Grant Books, 2021, 241 pages $42.56 hardbound) is by Analiese Gregory, and partly biography by Hilary Burden, and recipes and memoir material from the chef- author herself. First rate photography is by Adam Gibson. Gregory grew up in coastal New Zealand (there are sections here on her youth and on New Zealand cooking) but on a whim she later moved to Tasmania in 2017 after forgoing France. This story is featured as the bulk of the book: living on a somewhat isolated island far from the mainstream. Her credits include working in some of the top notch restaurants of the world. But here she is doing a reno of an old 110-year old farmhouse while foraging and hunting and cooking. She's got 40 recipes, including ferments, all mixed in with narratives. Many of the preps are unique, such as sea urchin farinata, abalone fritters, chargrilled oyster mushrooms with wakame sabayon, and oca (yam) with spelt and roasted pears. Try also the confit lamb ribs with date syrup. Some of the book was written during the recent pandemic. An excellent book for Oz and Kiwi expats. 10.PARWANA (Interlink Books, 2021, 256 pages, $52 hardbound) is by Durkhanai Ayubi, with recipes by Farida Ayubi and Fatema Ayubi.. These are stories and preps from an Afghan kitchen -- Parwana Restaurant in Adelaide, Australia, which opened in 2009. The 100+ recipes have been family-held for years, and embrace both day-to-day preps and celebrations: rice, curries, meats, kebabs, naan flatbread, halwah, dumplings, Afghan pasta, sweets, chutneys, pickles, soups and breads. Everything is complemented by food photography and family photos as the text convincingly shows the interrelationship between food, people and communities over time and place. There's morabayeh anjir (whole fig jam), torshi bemasalah (pickled veggies), shorwa thin soup with vegetables, aush thick soup with noodles, and banjaan borani (braised eggplant with yogurt dressing). 11.BITTER HONEY; recipes and stories from the Island of Sardinia (Hardie Grant Books, 2020, 256 pages,, $58 hardbound) is by Letitia Clark, a seasoned UK chef with a great resume that includes pastry and baking. She moved to Sardinia with her then-boyfriend (also a cook) to work a rural farm and produce Sardinian recipes. Although Italian, there is a strong French influence from this part of the Mediterranean (e.g., the onion soup prep is straight French Onion Soup). As she says, it's all about traditions, stories and memories, with insight into people's lives, habits and histories. Age-old methods and tools means that just about everything is cooked very slowly. So this is all home-food with great photography by Matt Russell. Topics are arranged by theme: apertivo, terra, merenda, mare, verdure, grano, and dolci e bevande. There 's a Sardinian pantry, which includes bay leaves, borage, capers, chestnuts, limoncello, myrtle, guanciale, and oranges. Lots of local food and colour here a good book for your Mediterranean food lover who has everything (when was the last time you saw a Sardinian cookbook?) 12.PIE ACADEMY; master the perfect crust and 255 amazing fillings with fruits, nuts, creams, custards, ice cream and more: expert techniques for making fabulous pies from scratch (Storey Publishing, 2020, 470 pages, $48 hardbound) is by Ken Haedrich who runs the Pie Academy and has authored more than dozen cookbooks. He's also won a Julia Child Cookbook Award. Since the subtitle is fairly explanatory, I don't really need to add much more: there's a lot of primer material about pie making and doughs (the first 86 pages) followed by pies arranged by fruits such as berries, apples, pear, pumpkin, cranberry, et al. Then come the nuts, custards, hand pies of minis and turnovers, icebox pies, and cream pies. The ingredients are by volume but there is a metric conversion chart. There are even some savoury pies using cheese and eggs. A good-looking gift for the baker in the family! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 13.EAT BETTER FOREVER; 7 ways to transform your diet (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020, 416 pages, ISBN 978-1-5266-0280-0, $39.60 hardbound) is by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef and author of the River Cottage books (as well as a TV presenter in the UK). These are his healthy habits for life, with over 100 recipes. So his primer details the value of whole foods, varies foods, go with your gut, reduce refined carbs, factor in fat, think about your drink, and eat mindfully. This way you will lose weight and also be more healthy. These are all displayed in the first 200 pages, followed by 200 pages of recipes arranged by course (breakfast, lunch boxes, salads, soups, et al). He advocates for pestomega (nuts and herbs) for a sauce, nutty citrus hummus, bean pate, et al. A very well-packed book which includes Waldorg yogurt, red cabbage with carrot and clementines in a salad, seedy and nutty date and lime bites, and artichoke with white beans and radicchio gratin. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. 14.THE DOUBLE HAPPINESS COOKBOOK; 88 feel-good recipes and food stories (Figure.1, 2021, 312 pages, $37.99 hardbound) is by Trevor Lui, who has been cooking since he was seven, when he first manned the grill at Highbell, his father s North York Chinese restaurant. This memoir and cookbook has developed Toronto boites which include Kanpai Snack Bar, La Brea Food and Popa. Typical are ramen carbonara, udon-stuffed meatballs, the Last Samurai, and bulgogi beef tostadas. A lot of it falls into the category of street food trucks, but the range does include vegetarian, choicen and egg dishes, family style comfort foods, rice and noodles. Many preps are contributed by his fellow chefs, and there are food stories for just about every recipe. A good gift book too. Quality/price rating: 91. 15.NOURISH ME HOME; 125 soul-sustaining elemental recipes (Chroncile Books, 2020, 305 pages, ISBN 978-1-4521-7585-0 $50 hardbound) is by Cortney Burns, New England chef and co-author of a Beard Award cookbook, Bar Tartine . With seasonal variations, there are simply hundreds of nourishing preps here, stressing veggies but also dealing with (as she says) feathers, scales and fur . It's a down-home and down-east book with such as herby smashed sardine dip with crudites, shallot soup with charred broccolini and Roman gnocchi, chicken wings in garlic butter, and salt-baked fish. There is a huge larder section of 30 pages, with ideas, tips and preps for a pantry to punch up flavour with pickles and fermented condiments, infused vinegars, oil preservations, drying spices and veggies, infused salts, concentrated juices and syrups, and some sauces ranging from fresh ricotta through to kombu dashi. There's even an alchemy section for cocktails and mocktails. There are some menus, but I think we also need more of them. Do try the buckwheat dumplings with roasted cabbage and hasselback butternut squash. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 16.SOURDOUGH FROM SCRATCH; slow down, make bread (Hardy Grant Quadrille, 2020, 2021, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78713-695-3, $24.99 flexiboard covers) is by James Morton. It is based on (and has been extracted from) a larger book published in 2020, Super Sourdough . This is a basic guidebook at a decent price for an easy procedure that just takes time sitting around and must be routinely fed in even less time than a household pet. And no walking either the perfect pandemic time occupier. The hardest part is just setting up a schedule for the various procedures. Sourdoughs work on their own but you do need to know how to take care of your starter. This is your refrigerated pet: yeast. Morton has a glossary of key ingredients and key recipes, plus advice on how to take care, how to get a perfect crust and crumb, and a long chapter on troubleshooting. He's got nine core recipes, including pretzels, crispbread, Danish rye, brioche, Frisco style white bread, and (of course) the levain. Everything is scaled (in metric) with bakers' percentages. A great looking basic manual, welcomed because of its troubleshooting section. Quality/price rating: 93. 17.THE NOODLE BOWL; over 70 recipes for Asian-inspired noodle dishes (Ryland Peters and Small, 2015, 2020, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-235-6, $19.95 hardbound) is by Louise Pickford, a food writer now living in France with over 15 cookbooks to her credit (many for Ryland Peters & Small). It was originally published in 2015 as Oodles of Noodles , and is back again in a revised format. Here she runs through the basic types of wheat noodles, buckwheat, rice sticks, sweet potato, flat rice, cellophanes, vermicelli, rice paper, buckwheat, and more. There are 70 recipes here for mostly Asian noodles. After the basics, she delves into separate chapters called for in soups, salads, apps, stir-fries and curries. Each prep has a full colour photo. A very good, well-prepared book. Some interesting preps include steamed rice noodle dumplings with scallops; vegetarian spring rolls; shio ramen with pork and eggs; num banh chok; seared salmon and green tea noodle salad. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88 18.EGGS ALL DAY (Ryland Peters & Small, 2016, 2021, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-346-9 $27.99 hardbound) is a publisher's book with recipe contributions from 34 different cookbook writers. But mostly they are from Miranda Ballard, Tonia George, Shelagh Ryan, and Laura Washburn. It ws originally published in 2016 as 100 Ways with Eggs . These are 100 ways to do eggs (boiled, baked, fried, scrambled) from breakfasts to salads, hashes, desserts and cocktails. There is also included the usual food safety notice for when dealing with raw eggs. Pea, basil and feta fritters with roast tomatoes caught my eye, as did matambre (Argentine stuffed flank steak). The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 87. 19.WINTER DRINKS (Ryland Peters & Small, 2020, 144 pages, $19.95 hardbound) has been pulled together by Julia Charles. It's a publisher's package of previous preps by several food and drink writers, most notably Louise Pickford with 17 and Julia herself with 16. Eleven other writers also contributed. So here are 75 recipes to warm our hearts, with hot drinks, toddies, part cocktails, and mocktails. Included also are hot chocolates, warm milks, coffee drinks and teas, as well as restorative mulls, revivers and soothers. My fave is the sparkling cocktails. My wife likes the sparkling mocktails. Chacun a son gout. Quality/Price Rating: 89 20.PERSIANA; recipes from the Middle East and beyond (Interlink Books, 2014, 2021, $49.95 hardbound) is by Sabrina Ghayour. It's a needed reissue of a Middle East food and culture book, with 100 preps for dishes from the Mediterranean Sea's south and eastern shorelines. All of the dishes are modern and accessible, covering the range from mezze through breads, soups, tagines, roasts, salads, and desserts. Dishes include fava beans with garlic, dill and eggs (baghala ghatogh), smoked eggplants with garlic (mirza ghasemi) and lamb-butternut squash-prune-tamarind tagine. Many dishes are from the eastern end of Iran-Persia, and some of the variations come African shores. Food culture notes accompany all dishes. Quality/Price Rating: 88 21.TOP 100 FINGER FOODS; 100 preps for a healthy, happy child (Atria Books, 2010, 160 pages, $16.95 hardbound) is by Annabel Karmel, UK media personality who also writes about cooking for families. She has six other books, about half devoted to babies. Yes, this is NOT a book about finger food as in cocktail parties or buffets. So here is material about baby food, nutrition, and the like. It's meant as a recipe book for foods to be enjoyed by 9 month and older babies, covering a range from breakfast through veggies, fish, chicken, meat, snacks, and sweets. Typical are salmon fishcakes, fluffy finger-sized pancakes, carrot and cheese muffins, parmesan chicken strips, meatballs, and cereal bars. Children at this age experiment a great deal: going to want to touch, hold, drop, and, occasionally, throw their food. Thus, finger foods become increasingly important since they will have trouble with forks and spoons. She does a great job of emphasizing chewing techniques as important to jaw and speech development. She also deals with choking. Basically, the first approach is to start with steamed soft veggies before moving on to more chewable items. You can read all about it. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89 ------------------------------------------------- FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS IN REVIEW FOR JANUARY, 2021 [published monthly since 2000] ====================================== By Dean Tudor, Gothic Epicures Writing, deantudor@deantudor.com Creator of Canada's leading wine satire site at http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.ca Reviewer Timeline: Cookbook Reviewer, Library Journal, 1969-1974; Cookbook Columnist and Lead Reviewer, The Booklist (American Library Association), 1974-1985; CBRA Cookbook Reviewer, 1975-1985; Freelance Cookbook Reviewer, 1985-1999; Gothic Epicures Writing Lead Cookbook Reviewer, 2000+ These food and wine book reviews are always available at www.deantudor.com and http://gothicepicures.blogspot.ca Most prices listed below are in US currency as printed on the cover. I do this because many of my readers are American. CAN prices are inserted for Canadian produced books. In times of US-Canadian currency fluctuations, parity, and online bookstore discounts (plus the addition of GST or HST) prices will vary upwards or downwards every day. * DRINK BOOK OF THE MONTH! * ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.GIVE ME LIBERTY AND GIVE ME A DRINK; 65 cocktails to protest America's most outlandish alcohol laws (Artisan, 2020, 168 pages, ISBN 978-1-57965-968-4 $22.95 hardbound) is by C. Jarrett Dieterle, a drinks writer who has reported on spirits, booze history, and questionable regulations for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, et al. He's the editor-in-chief of www.drinksreform.org. He exploits some of the most outdated, bizarre and loony laws regarding alcohol consumption in the USA. Such things as $1 margaritas in New Mexico (they're illegal). Utah cocktails are mixed behind a barrier called Zion curtain . Happy Hour was banned in Massachusetts in 1984. All of this trivia is combined with 65 preps for innovative cocktails. For example, the mezcal-based One Pint, Two Pint has been inspired by Vermont's ban on beer pitchers. Or The Boiling Point as a beer cocktail that is illegal in Virginia. At the end he has lists of even more restrictions, plus some resources for finding greater details. My own personal fave is the Lukewarm Lawmaking (a gin rickey). Audience and level of use: those looking for something new Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: see above The downside to this book: too short The upside to this book: a very good collection of deviance from the law on alcohol. Quality/Price Rating: 92 * FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH! * 2.A FIELD GUIDE TO CHEESE; how to select, enjoy, and pair the world's best cheeses (Artisan, 2018, 2020, 272 pages, $37.95 hardbound) is by Tristan Sicard. It was originally published in French by Hachette in 2018; this is the English translation for the North American market. Over half of the book is devoted to the listing of cheeses. This is arranged by style: fresh cheeses, whey cheeses, soft with different rinds, pressed cheeses, blues, stringy, runny and flavoured cheeses. The rest is for how cheese is made, where to find cheeses, and how to taste cheese, aroma wheels, alcohol pairings, different cheese platter services for 3 or 5 or 7 cheeses, and how to wrap cheese for storage. Excellent reference tool with international coverage (not all cheese is French-based), Quality/Price Rating: 93 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * MORE FOOD AND DRINK BOOKS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.INTERMITTENT FASTING DIET; guide + cookbook (Alpha Books, DK Publishing, 2020, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-9766-6 $25.99 paperbound) is by Becky Gillaspry, creator of www.drbeckyfitness.com. She's a chiropractor with two YouTube channels and teaches a range of college medical courses. This is advice and tips on fasting strategies with more than 50 food preps and four flexible meal plans. The major idea is to shift the eating window to allow for proper balance in fasting for nutritional increases. You'll want to avoid gaining weight or slowing metabolisms. Gone, for the moment, are the three meals a day AND the six meals a day food patterns. These are replaced by time-restricted eating such as the proportions of 12:12 or 16:8 or 20:4, where you can fast safely for 12 hours, or 16 or 20. In our family, 16 hours fasting (which includes 8 hours sleep) seems to work best. This is easy to accomplish: a late breakfast or brunch at 10:30 or so followed by an early dinner at 5:30 or 6. She discusses all of these, along with caveats (e.g., diabetes) that should be looked at with the guidance of physicians. Some of the best meal plans may be low-carb meals, or a ketogenic diet, or dairy-free, or vegetarian. Gillaspry lays it all out, and you the reader gets to decide. It's all very effective. Every recipe is loaded with nutritional data. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 91. 4.MEDITERRANEAN DIET COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNERS; meal plans, expert guidance, & 100 recipes to get you started (Alpha Books, DK Publishing, 2020, 192 pages, ISBN 978-1-4654-9767-3 $25.99 paperbound) is by Elena Paravantes, a registered dietitian and expert on the Mediterranean diet, active as a writer, consultant, hanging out at her website www.olivetomato.com. It is all pretty basic stuff, but it does get you started . The principles and rationales are nicely explained for the authentic Mediterranean diet, which started as wine, bread and olives centuries ago. But a 1948 study of Crete produced evidence of a strong nutritional setting for wild greens, beans, vegetables, fruits, bread, homemade wine, and olive oil. In the 1950s, the focus shifted to southern Europe. By 1993 Oldways had created a food pyramid based on Crete, and the rest is (as they say) history. So she carefully explains what to eat and how often to eat it, proposing a two-week getting started Mediterranean diet meal plan, The come the preps in cookbook order: breakfasts, veggies and beans, pasta/rice/savoury pies, seafood and some meat, salads, snacks and desserts. There's briami (sheet pan roasted veggies), Mediterranean black-eyed pea stew, caponata (Sicilian eggplant), tiropita Greek chese pie), kagianas (scrambled eggs with feta and tomatoes), gigantes (roasted butter beans), and fakorizo (lentils with veggies and rice). Not surprisingly, many of the preps are Greek and Sicilian or south of Italy. She concludes with a bibliography for more reading. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price Rating: 88. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * THE RESTAURANT/CELEBRITY COOKBOOK... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...is one of the hottest trends in cookbooks. Actually, they ve been around for many years, but never in such proliferation. They are automatic best sellers, since the book can be flogged at the restaurant or TV show and since the chef ends up being a celebrity somewhere, doing guest cooking or catering or even turning up on the Food Network. Most of these books will certainly appeal to fans of the chef and/or the restaurant and/or the media personality. Many of the recipes in these books actually come off the menus of the restaurants involved. Occasionally, there will be, in these books, special notes or preps, or recipes for items no longer on the menu. Stories or anecdotes will be related to the history of a dish. But because most of these books are American, they use only US volume measurements for the ingredients; sometimes there is a table of metric equivalents, but more often there is not. I ll try to point this out. The usual shtick is favourite recipes made easy for everyday cooks . There is also PR copy on demystifying ethnic ingredients . PR bumpf also includes much use of the magic phrase mouth-watering recipes as if that is what it takes to sell such a book. I keep hearing from readers, users, and other food writers that some restaurant recipes (not necessarily from these books) don t seem to work at home, but how could that be? The books all claim to be kitchen tested for the home, and many books identify the food researcher by name. Most books are loaded with tips, techniques, and advice, as well as gregarious stories about life in the restaurant world. Photos abound, usually of the chef bounding about. The celebrity books, with well-known chefs or entertainers, seem to have too much self-involvement and ego. And, of course, there are a lot of food photo shots, verging on gastroporn. There are endorsements from other celebrities in magnificent cases of logrolling. If resources are cited, they are usually American mail order firms, with websites. Some companies, though, will ship around the world, so don t ignore them altogether. Here s a rundown on the latest crop of such books 5.RUSTICA; delicious recipes for village-style Mediterranean food (Ryland Peters & Small, 2020, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-280-6 $27.95 hardbound) is by Theo Michaels, a BBC MasterChef UK competitor who has now authored five cookbooks and cooks professionally while making appearances on UK TV. Here Michaels encourages us to eat like a villager, which means consuming veggies, fruit, nuts, grains, pulses, and fish/seafood. At the same time, meat consumption is cut back and so is food waste. So this is a rustic cuisine full of delights such as chamomile gelato, Greek walnut cake, roasted radicchio, tomato panzanella, parmesan polenta, and oven roasted hake on citrusy greens. It is all straightforward with chapters following food courses, from breakfast through desserts, although he does make a diversion through lighter dishes for summer and warming food for winter. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89. 6.EATING FOR PLEASURE, PEOPLE, & PLANET (Interlink Books, 2020, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-62371-953-1 $49.95 hardbound) is by Tom Hunt, an award-winning British chef (Poco), writer, and food waste expert offering no-waste recipes. His book deals with plant-rich, zero waste, climate cuisine. He's also a director or member of several food associations which deal with hunger and poverty. Here his message is basically eat well, waste nothing , concentrating on sustainable diets for everyday cooking that consider how we farm, trade, eat, and dispose of food. The first part of the book (in 50 pages) deals with a roots-to-fruit manifesto for eating for pleasure, eating whole foods, and eating the best food you can (better farming, Fairtrade). The recipes are divided into morning meals, slow food fast at lunch and dinner, family meals, feats plates, new ways with salads, and sweet treats. At the end there is a roots-to-fruit pantry: aquafaba, green sauces, umami powders, kombucha, stocks, barley water, pickles and preserves, apple cider vinegars, bread and pastries, and plant-based milks. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 90. * THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an easy format. Here are some recent re-editions ... 7.VEGETARIAN TAGINES AND COUSCOUS; 65 delicious recipes for authentic Moroccan food (Ryland Peters and Small, 2012, 2020, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-240-0 $19.95 hardbound) is by Ghillie Basan, cookery writer specializing in Middle East cookbooks and articles. It s a timely book, originally published in 2012 with meat as East Tagines one of the Easy series from this publisher and it fits in the one-pot mode of ease, although there are other recipes here for traditional or classic accompaniments. Of course, there s a primer on tagines. There are also a range of couscous and skewers, salads and soups, plus appetizers. You can always use a heavy-based casserole dish instead of a tagine. She's got an onion, olive and egg tagine with zahtar, tagine of butter beans, cherry tomatoes and black olives, plus couscous with braised fennel, zucchini, and orange. Preparations have their ingredients listed in partial metric and full avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of metric equivalents. Quality/Price Rating: 89. 8.LA PAELLA; recipes for delicious Spanish rice and noodle dishes (Ryland Peters and Small, 2015, 2020, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-236-3 $19.95 hardbound) is by Louise Pickford, well-known UK food writer with stints in Australia and now living in France. Some of the recipes had appeared in an earlier book of only 64 pages. Rice is a versatile ingredient, and Spanish cooks transform it into an array of dishes from simple comfort food to grand feasts to be shared on special occasions. This book brings together delicious rice dishes from all over Spain, from regional classics that are now known around the world to unusual local specialties. There is something for every taste and every occasion, with recipes containing meat, poultry, fish and shellfish, as well as vegetarian options. There is the classic Paella Valenciana from that region. Paella de marisco y chorizo (Seafood paella with chorizo), and how to make the most of garlic and saffron in the preps. As well as traditional regional paellas, there are also other styles of rice dishes, such as Arroz caldoso con langosta (Creamy rice with lobster), Arroz caldoso con almejas (Clam soup) or Arroz al horno con garbanzos y pasas (Baked rice with chickpeas and raisins). She has comments on the Spanish pantry, fried dishes, sweets, and suppliers (but only for the US and the UK). The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88 9.BISTRO; classic French dishes to cook and enjoy at home (Ryland Peters and Small, 2010, 2020, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-282-0 $19.95 hardbound) is by Laura Washburn, who translates French cookbooks into English and tests recipes, as well as writing cookbooks. It was originally published in hard covers in 2003 (as Bistro) and in 2005 (as French Desserts), and then again in 2010 as The French Country Table. Here are the classic recipes for French onion soup, tians from Provence, soupe au pistou, goat cheese tart, Belgian endive salad, pork in cider, cassoulet, and the like. For desserts, there are tarte tatin, souffl , clafouti, tarte au citron, napoleons, oeufs a la neige, mousse, and parfaits. These are all part of the 60 uncomplicated home cooked recipes. Everything is relatively easy to make if you apply yourself. Good sharp photography, as always from Ryland. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89 10.CINNAMON, SPICE & WARM APPLE PIE; over 65 comforting baked fruit desserts (Ryland Peters and Small, 2010, 2013, 2020, 160 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-276-9 $19.95 hardbound) was originally published in 2010 as a collection of recipes from the RPS stable of food writers. It has been updated to include 34 preps from Maxine Clark, 20 from Ross Dobson, and 14 from Laura Washburn. Five other writers contributed the rest. Baked fruit desserts embrace crumbles, streusels, cobblers, bettys, crisps, clafoutis, slumps, puddings, pies, tarts, tartlets, strudels, dappys, pandowdys, and some cakes. No mention of grunts or buckles in this book, nor the dump, the grump, or the sonker or the dumpling. [there's probably more names] Many dishes can be mixed and matched with different fruits. The book could have been improved if it also used metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 89 11.NATURAL WINE; in introduction to organic and biodynamic wines made naturally. 3rd ed. (Cico Books, 2014, 2020, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1-78249-100-2, $27.99 US hard covers) is by Isabelle Legeron, the first French woman to become a Master of Wine. She runs the RAW Natural Wine Festival in London, and consults with restaurants and promotes natural wine. There is still a large argument raging in the wine world over what is a natural wine. Some believe that it should be applied only to organic and biodynamic farms; others think it should also mean sustainable or green , etc. The key would simply be to get rid of the word natural and just have organic or biodynamic and sustainable . It is only the organic and biodynamic wines that appear to be legally certifiable. There are no controls over the rest of the natural wording on the label. Indeed, some organic wineries just press organic grapes and then use regular winemaking techniques. They can still call their wines organic. I know of many farms who use the term natural to reflect their organic practices, because they just do not have the money nor the wait time to apply for certification. Legeron offered one of the first books meant for the general reader to cover O & B wines. In general, wine is a process, but it is also an industry. Wineries try to be consistent from year to year because they have a product to sell. The weather determines many of the corrections the winemaker needs to take, such as more acid, earlier/later picking, more sugar, more irrigation, etc. A natural O & B winery rolls with the punches and produces wine as is . The author takes us through the year and discusses wine faults, stability, health issues, taste, fermentation, sulphites, and a load of contentious issues. She's assisted from time to time by other writers such as Nicolas Joly, Tony Coturri, and 11 others. She gives notes on many wines, sorted by types (bubbly, red, white, orange [this is an addition from the previous editions], rose, sweet, and even co-ferments). Not surprisingly, France has the most listings, followed by Italy: these are the two leaders by production. Quebec in Canada has two mentions, one an orange wine made from seyval blanc and the other a chardonnay. Other additional sections cover a glossary, lists of associations and wine fairs, restaurants and stores for the US and UK, and a bibliography Some interesting or unusual facts: soils harbor 80 percent of the world's biomass. Earthworms alone, for example, amount to about the same weight as all other animals combined. Quality/Price Rating: 90. 12.PIES, GLORIOUS PIES; brilliant recipes for mouth-wateringly tasty pies (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2012, 2020, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-84975-261-9, $24.95 US hard covers) is by Maxine Clark, a prolific cookbook author for this publisher. This is its second edition, based on the 2012 publication. The British love their pies, and Clark, who lives in Scotland, details a useful primer on how to construct different pie doughs and roll them out. She gives us separate chapters based on purpose: there are everyday pies, posh pies, portable pies, and sweet pies. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric (mostly, anyway) and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no separate table of equivalents. Some interesting or unusual recipes in this 50 prep package include steak and kidney pie; lamb shank shepherd s pie; ham and apple pie; simple sausage lattice slice; ricotta and green herb torta; pasta, parmesan, and cherry tomato pies; golden fish pie. There are more savoury pies than sweet pies here. A good book for pie lovers and novice cooks, especially with the usual RPS photography. Quality/Price Rating: 89. 13.HOME-COOKED COMFORTS; oven bakes, casseroles & other one-pot dishes (Ryland Peters & Small, 2010, 2020, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-78879-283-7, $19.95 USD hardbound)is by Laura Washburn Hutton, a well-versed award winning UK food writer fluent in French (she translates many French cookbooks) with a cooking school in south-west France. It was originally published in 2010, and the current book now contains 65 preps for one-pot comfort food. This is the acoustic version since instant pots or slow cookers are not involved. The cuisine is international (curries, Asiatic dishes, Moroccan tagines, and some faves from the American southwest. All easy and comfortable, just perfect for the pandemic lockdowns. It's arranged by main ingredient: meat, poultry, fish and shell fish, and vegetarian. And mostly savoury. Basic include chili, goulash, gratin, braise, meatloaf, shanks, and more. The book could have been improved if it also used more metric in the recipes, or at least had a metric conversion chart. Quality/price rating: 88. ----------------------------------------------------