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Showing results for tags 'Cookbooks'.
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My son is installed in his new college apartment with a far better stocked kitchen than I had throughout college. He has a microwave, oven, electric stove, blender, stand mixer, crockpot, rice cooker and electric griddle. He is part of the generation who believes that he doesn't need any lessons from Mom because everything is available on the internet. (You'd think all those Pinterest fail photos might have clued him in, but not yet.) I've offered, he's passed. He has a copy of my much loved Chinese Menu Cookbook, which teaches classic techniques bit by bit. He also has Carol Field's Italian Baker; loves to make bread but usually goes with recipes he finds on the internet, with mixed results. I'm looking for another cookbook for him with simple recipes and meticulously edited technique descriptions. I'm thinking Maida Heatter level detail, but for savory dishes. Does anyone have suggestions?
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I got the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and it reads really well - but haven't made the time to try any of the recipes yet. Has anybody made anything from it, with or without success? -
Is anyone else working their way through the wonderful cookbook "Plenty" by Yoatam Ottolenghi? I bought it after visiting a couple of his restaurants during a trip to London some time back. Basically, it is a compendium of all the great vegetarian recipes he has published in the Guardian over the years. The measures, etc. are in U.K. measurements, but I make easy work of them with my OXO kitchen scale. Also, some of the ingredients are called by their British names, but that is something you get used to quickly -- i.e. capsicum = peppers, aubergine = eggplant, rocket = arugula, courgette = zucchini. Each chapter is divied up by type of veggie, and the photos are amazing. I am not a vegetarian, but these recipes have made me eat meat much, much less meat because they are so satisfying. So far we have made: Quiona salad with favas, radishes - WONDERFUL! Stuffed onions - onions simmered in broth, separated into "petals" and stuffed with breadcrumbs and feta (among other things) -- interesting, good, but not great. Vegetable Paella - OK, I lived in Spain and love a good paella. The idea of a vegetable only paella was somewhat horrifying to me. But, man, it was GOOD! Perhaps one of the best things I have eaten in the last 6 months. Castelluccio lentils with oven dried tomatoes and gorgonzola -- Also amazing, nice summer main course, hearty but not greasy. Soba noodles with eggplant and mango -- One of the most refreshing things I have ever eaten. I can't wait to keep cooking 2-3 dishes from this book each week. Which leads to this post -- anyone else have this book and cooking from it? Suggestions on what I should make next (everything in the books looks great, so it's hard to choose!) Anyone want to trade cooking experiences from "Plenty" on this topic?? -
Sometimes when you do crazy things like this, your entire life can change. Allan has now finished a book about his multi-year odyssey called "Forks: A Quest For Culture, Cuisine, and Connection" - Three Years, Five Continents, One Motorcycle, and has run a successful Kickstarter campaign to get it published, and now, he's taking it a step further. Seriously, this guy had lost everything. He had no job, was divorced, pretty much sold everything he had or put it into storage, and said "bye bye." He took off to the north, crossed the Arctic Circle, then went back all the way to Tierra del Fuego and beyond - it's one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard - the part when he shattered his leg (he spent several days being transported with almost no painkillers, just getting to a place where he could be airlifted (and thank goodness he took out insurance for that)) is absolute Hollywood material. I could not be happier for Allan - he is a genuinely good human being, and deserves any good things that come his way. This book, "Forks," is very relevant to this website because it's done in three parts: 1) Travel photography - There aren't many better travel photographers than Allan Karl. This pictures are incredible, capturing the humanity of wherever he rode. These pictures aren't about mountains; they're about people, nationality, culture, and friendship. 2) Recipes - For each country that Allan rode through, he is publishing classic national and regional recipes, along with photos of the dishes. I've seen a prototype of this book, and the recipes are well-worth knowing about (they are *the* classics for their respective countries). 3) Vignettes - This could *really* be trite, but it's not at all because this pasty white boy from California got his eyes completely wide opened by people of all colors and ethnicities who became his drinking buddies the very day he rode into town. This book is worth owning, and I'm not only going to buy a copy, I'm going to donate to Allan's Kickstarter campaign - this is only the second time in my life that I've done something like this because in general, I'm not that big on Kickstarter unless it's for health reasons; I'm making an exception here. Allan, I hope you sign in here and say a few words. Even if people don't donate (and I'm absolutely *not* asking or expecting anyone to do so), I think they'll be genuinely interested in your story. This is going to be one hell of a book. A write-up by Carla King here. Another by TravelEater here. I remember so well when Allan was in the planning stages of his trip. His brother Jon was like, NO! And I was like, YES! This whole story just oozes with life, and what life is all about.
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- Allan Karl
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I flew through this Christmas present in a couple of days. This is a riveting read although some may be intially put off by his hip-hop vernacular. Stay with it and you get a poignant story of a guy who's lived a crazy life so far. Restaurant latchkey kid, door-to door jewelry hustling with his parents, juvenile delinquency, lowrider, gambler, financial worker, cooking school at the CIA, hotel chef, food truck and now restaurant owner. Given his success creating the Kogi Taco food truck and subsequent restaurants in Los Angeles all celebrating hybrid cusine, the recipes are all over the map as well in a good way, tweaking comfort food classics with some different techniques/ingredients. I've already made the gumbo (his tribute to Emeril Legassse's Essence Of Emeril cooking show that kickstarted him from a partying low-life to his cooking career) and it turned out great. The flanken short ribs for the Korean grill classic kalbi have been marinating overnight and are on the menu for today.
