johung

Hi all, Does anyone know if any Thai cookbooks with good lists of noodle soup (not the fried ones, which we regularly see in common cookbooks)? The reason is I'm looking for a cookbook that contains good recipes for the likes of beef noodle soup, special pork noodle soup (dark soup, pork slices, with eggs), boat noodle, that you can find in some really authentic Thai-style food court stalls in big Western cities due to extremely high Asian student populations. I already have David Thompson's Thai Food on my bookshelf, and Murdoch Book's The Food of Thailand, Tommy Tay's Noodles Rice and Something Nice, and Thai Cuisine by Sisamon Kongpan. None of them spend too much time on noodle soup. Thanks,

Hi all, I have read a few promotional biographies of Roy Guste (former owner of Antoine's restaurant in New Orleans and author of "Antoine's Restaurant Cookbook". It appears that Guste had been working on a new book called "The New Orleans Cookbook" that "explains the history of the development of true cuisine of New Orleans, Creole Cuisine, with some 800 recipes of all levels of dishes from the simplest and most often prepared of local recipes to renditions of the famous dishes of the great New Orleans restaurants." (taken from Guste's personal website http://www.royguste.com/ ) Does anyone know if this book is still in the works or been canned due to external factors? Thanks,

Famed Auckland restaurateur Simon Gault has released his third title Nourish (Random House, Auckland, November 2008) a collection about dishes prepared at his various Auckland ventures. This is the first cookbook published in NZ that shows the impact of postmodern molecular cuisine pioneered by Ferran Adria.

Adrian Richardson of La Luna Bistro in Melbourne has just released a new cookbook Meat (Hardie Grant Books, Prahran, November 2008) about his recipes at the restaurant. Standard meat reference recipes along with his tips of what cuts of meat to choose from. Good reference for anything to do with meat from chicken to venison. Perhaps Australian reviewers can reveal more about Richardson since I don't know much about him...

I'm not really convinced that the Australian buyers do get it better. What it boils down to is that you're paying $35 to $75 extra for a box. A very nice box mind you, but it's still just a box. It might have been a lot better if Australian buyers got an option on buying a limited edition with a box or a standard hardcover without a box. That would have made it cheaper, and I probably would have bought the book locally. As for the book, it's general Asian cooking, but with an emphasis on Cantonese food. There are three main sections, chapters within each section, and recipes that are relevant to each chapter. The book is divided as follows: Finding Balance And Harmony In The Kitchen -Cooking Equipment -Asian Ingredients Basic Techniques And Recipes -Sauces, Dressings, And Pickles -Stocks And Soups -Salads -Braising And Boiling -Steaming -Stir Frying -Deep Frying -Tea Smoking -Curry And Spice Pastes -The Shared Table Advanced Recipes And Banquet Menus -Tofu And Eggs -Pork -Beef And Lamb -Poultry -Seafood -Vegetables -Noodles And Rice -Fruit And Sweet Things There's already a few recipes that I'm keen to try like the tea and spice smoked duck (page 148), the grilled beef with spicy dip (page 222), and the double boiled pigeons with shiitake mushrooms (page 269). Mind you, I reckon that a few of the Chinese cooking fundamentalists will get upset at some of Perry's adaptations of Chinese food. But hey, they can worry themselves sick over authenticity, whilst the rest of us can just cook up something tasty. ← Hehehehe, the gourmets back "home" (Hong Kong and Greater China) never have many good words to say with regards to the Asian food prepared by the "gweilos". They would rather Westerners stick to "traditional" Western food (pre-international cuisine cream and butter types).

I saw this at Borders and it is a whopping NZ$165. Searched through amazon.co.uk and Perry's own official website and it seems what we have just seen is a "limited edition" of the first print. The "normal" edition is hardcover and is selling at GBP30.00 RRP in Britain - identical to his previous work Good Food.

Peter Gawron has released Saffron: Food from the Central Otago Heartland (Auckland, Godwit, 3 October 2008). Originally from South Australia and subsequently trained in Sydney, Gawron and his wife now run the renowned Saffron restaurant in Arrowtown (within the Queenstown-Arrowtown tourist region). It is touted as the first regional cookbook published in New Zealand. The food is extremely seasonal due to the very different climates between summer (searing hot) to winter (bitterly cold). Many recipes are prepared with local ingredients Gawron harvests by hand in season (including crab apples and stone fruit borne of trees dating back to the 19th century gold mining days, snow berries, different wild mushroom, wild raspberries and gooseberries, game birds from Bendigo Station, alpine honey from Halfway Bay Station and others). In a sense it is very similar to Steven Snow's Byron: Cooking and Eating (Sydney, Murdoch Books, 29 August 2008) which also showcases seasonal ingredients in preparation of Pacific Rim dishes.

The New Zealand Woman's Weekly has published the latest New Zealand Woman's Weekly Cookbook edited by Julie Le Clerc (Auckland, Penguin Books, 29 September 2008). Basically it is a compandium of recipes published since Le Clerc became the editor of the food section in 2006. Organized into seasons and incorporating a few foreign ingredients, it is Pacific Rim cooking and very decent. Haven't bought it yet, but I find them to be very contemporary in feel.

David Veart has just released a history of New Zealand cooking called First, Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking (University of Auckland Press, Auckland, 15 September 2008). It is a semi-scholarly look at history of NZ's cuisine from the field of anthropology. The primary source of the study is cookbooks published in NZ over the ages as being reflective of NZ cuisine's changes. Despite the drab sounding and being published by an obviously academic printing press, it is quite light-hearted and contains a few recipes of cookbooks of years ago, as well as a run through of current NZ cookbooks. Of particular interests to readers from across the Tasman is the fact culinary personnels, practices, ideas, and publications have always flowed freely between the two sides of the Tasman right from the beginning, despite NZ at times being more conservative and more loyal to the British cuisine after Australia has abandoned them altogether. IMHO this is the most up to date book available on the subject of NZ cuisine. Many other articles are either tourist fluffs, or are written as if time stood still at 1979. It is quite interesting to know that the modern day NZ cuisine is basically a lot of Mediterranean takes, modified Asian dishes, modified British old favourites, and traditional baking recipes, in fact not too unsimilar to Australian food these days.

Oh, I do agree that it has evolved. It would be a shame if it hadn't, about four decades later. My point is only: are we still in it or no longer in it? It is merely a point of history, language and looking at things on a large scale: if we had left the Nouvelle Cuisine era at some point, we'd be in another era, with a different name and definition, based on entirely different principles. I do not see those principles, there was no revolution, albeit a soft one, and whatever evolutions and variation were certainly an enrichment but were never important enough to bring on a new era in cuisine. Which is why I wrote that we are still in the Nouvelle Cuisine period. If I can think of a new and important element, it is the growing popularity of "green" cooking, organic food, emphasis on produce, vegetable gardens, eco-consciousness, etc. — quite a big thing, and one I do welcome with gratitude, but nothing that questions the persistence of Nouvelle Cuisine as an international style. ← The way I see it, the only serious alternative style to the group of cuisines that started as nouvelle cooking is molecular/postmodern cooking from Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal and Co. The use of deconstruction style of preparation, unusual pairing that defies convention, breaking boundaries for the sake of breaking boundaries all borrow from postmodern intellectual currents, and all fly in the face of seasonal, cooking so that products keep tasting as it is, that are the hallmarks of nouvelle style cooking. Pacific Rim cooking is basically the application of nouvelle cuisine in the Asia-Pacific settings - perhaps the French training is minimized and more Asian influences. And I would say molecular/postmodern is still too new and recent to say whether it is developing into a popular and enduring style of cooking. For instance, it has yet to make a big scene in NZ and Australia. Most restaurants that offer molecular cuisine has a mix of 20% dishes based on molecular cuisine and 80% Pacific-Rim/nouvelle. In much of East Asia, even much of the Pacific Rim cuisine is still awaiting to be accepted (because of the thought: "Why do we need to listen Western imitations on Asian traditions? We can just go back to our mother's cooking for the real taste of it! We want Escoffier etc.", and I'm not sure if many non-English speaking Asians are aware who Ferran Adria is yet, let alone knowing what molecular cuisine is doing.

Hi all, Since a lot of you are from France or are experts on dining in France or French cuisine in general, there is a question about nouvelle cuisine that I always find it puzzling. From the literatures I read, nouvelle cuisine is a lighter approach to cooking than classical cuisine, for example, less fat is supposedly used and also steaming, which is deemed healthier, is used as well, and also influences from many non-Western cuisines are also adopted. The dishes are stacked in a more aesthetic manner. But modern Pacific Rim cuisine, like the ones you see on US West Coast, New Zealand and Australia circa 2008 likewise have many fusion influences, and they are also presented in an artistically pleasing way as well. Is there really a difference between nouvelle cuisine and today's Pacific Rim cuisine? I heard from many claims that nouvelle cuisine is dead, but its legacy is interwoven into the cuisine today. is there still anyone who is doing nouvelle cuisine? Thanks,

From a New Zealand perspective the traditional and mainstream cooking at most homes in this country is slightly different from the United States, but not as different as Germany or certainly China. I would recommend people to read: 1. Alison Holst The Best of Alison Holst (CJ Publishing and Hodder Moa Beckett, Auckland, 1991; New Holland reprinted, Auckland, 2007) and The Ultimate Collection (New Holland, Auckland, 2000). These two together contain over 2,000 of the old traditional New Zealand cooking, and ethnic cooking that already found acceptance in NZ kitchens by 1990. An equivalent to The Joy of Cooking. 2. Lesley Christensen-Yule and Hamish McRae A Cook's Bible (Penguin, Auckland, 2007). Absolutely starting from beginners level but leads you to serious gourmet level of cooking. Adapted from The New Zealand Cook written by the same authors for professional cooking students so it is a heavy in subject title. The recipes are more cutting edge than Holst's with more Pacific Rim style dishes. 3. Australian Woman's Weekly Cook (ACP Publishing, Sydney, 2006), Kitchen (ACP Publishing, Sydney, 2007), and Bake (ACP Publishing, Sydney, 2008). The trilogy covers every major cooking techniques and almost all dishes a typical Australian home kitchen needs or wants in early 21st century. Seasoning is less sweet than NZ cookbooks and more cosmopolitan in foodstuff, but very useful for NZ kitchens as well. 4. Marie Claire series, written by Michele Cranston, Kitchen (Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2004) and Seasonal Kitchen (Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2007). Largely same territory as Australian Woman's Weekly but more gourmet-ish at times. A luttle bit analogous to Bon Appetite recipes but with an Australian perspective. Don't expect to find presently unfashionable dishes like roast leg of lamb, chicken a la king, or crepes on these two titles. Mention must be made of the Edmonds Cookbook series. It is THE authoritative cookbook for most New Zealanders. I found it at times too stodgy (for example many recipes still call for distilled white vinegar for non-pickling purposes, which will destroy the dish), and they are vendor-specific recipes as the series started out and still is released to market Edmonds and related products. For these reasons I don't recommend it to others above the above titles. The latest publication The Edmonds Illustrated Collection (Goodman Fielder NZ, Auckland, 2007) has updated the recipe collection into the 21st century while still maintaining the best of traditional baking recipes that the Edmonds cookbooks are famous for. It is a good improvement, but I would hesitate if you already have other titles I recommended above. My two cents. Most books may require specialist NZ online booksellers to purchase. Even Australian online bookselling services, let alone the UK ones, don't normally sell NZ's books.

One newish cookbook in NZ but not introduced here until now is A Cook's Bible by Lesley Christensen-Yule and Hamish McRae (Penguin, Auckland, 2007). It is a fundamental overview of how to cook from a first decade of the 21st century NZ viewpoint. Christensen-Yule and McRae are with the Auckland University of Technology's School of Hospitality and Tourism and both co-authored The New Zealand Chef for training professional chefs. This book is a more serious introduction to cooking than Alison Holst and certainly Allyson Gofton. It starts by discussing how to choose fresh food items and proceeds to covering all fundamental cooking and preparation techniques. Some techniques, such as lardons or preparing making pate, are probably unlikely to ever be used in most NZ homes but they are included as some serious cooks may use them, but others, such as how to chop garlic and how to steam, will likely be of immense help to young people (in both age and heart) who have never had opportunity to learn them properly. Recipes range from traditional favourites such as roast beef to 21st century Pacific-Rim such as stir-fried paua (abalone) with celery and fresh herbs. Asian noodles are treated as "normal" i.e. non-ethnic ingredients as pasta. My impression is the dishes tend to lean on what restaurant or gourmet will try, and certainly it will find more resonance in urban restaurants and wineyard restaurants than West Coast country style cooking. If your concept of NZ cuisine remains at colonial goose, pavlova, fish and chips, and lamb and mint sauce levels you will find this book too "Jafaish" (the derogatory term the rest of NZ uses on Auckland) and Pacific-Rim rather than native NZ. Otherwise, I believe 90% of people will enjoy what it showcases: mainstream NZ cuisine in 2007. Edit: From amazon.co.uk this title will be released globally on 4 Nov this year http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooks-Bible-Teache...21182596&sr=1-1 .

Hi all, Just received my copy of Henri-Paul Pellaprat's Great Book of French Cuisine. The colour photos were taken of the same vein as the Asian-published western cuisine cookbooks that I own, although they don't cover the same dishes that I have in mind. I think I will just forget about tracking books with the same recipes now, but rather, try to find either (a) old school haute cuisine French cookbooks regardless of any photos rae included; or (b) any good/comprehensive French cookbooks (of the 4 varieties and including cutting edge). Currently I have these on my list of consideration: 1. Joel Robuchon 2. Larousse Gastronimique 3. Alain Ducasse's encyclopedias and other works of Ducasse 4. Flammarion's French cook series 5. Jacques Pepin 6. Cordon Bleu 7. French Culinary Institute's The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine 8. Chefs specializing on French style food based in the US, such as Daniel Boulud, Vong, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Anthony Bourdain, etc 9. Guy Savoy 10. Madame Evelyn Saint-Ange's La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange 11. Anne Willan's The Country Cooking of France Anyone else have good suggestions? I'm not really too keen on Juila Child. Thanks.

Thanks for more suggestions. I managed to track down a completely new copy of Henri-Paul Pellaprat's Great Book of French Cuisine, not the 2003 one revised by Jeremish Tower but rather his original work and translated in the 1960s/70s into English. It says it has 1100 pages and 2000 recipes and a least 280 colour photos and originally published in the 1970s and reprinted in 1994. I suspect it is the book with fancy colour photo of dishes like - pigeon de prince Rainier (a braised stuffed pigeon dish with foie gras, veal, truffles) - journedos a la nantua sauce (steak with a shrimp/prawn infused butter) - fondants de volaille en francais (a stewed chicken mousse dish, with foie gras and truffles, with a thick cream-based sauce, and garnished with chicory and cabbage sprouts) Should be an interesting read IMHO.

Thanks, and this is what I gather from reading Granger's books. He seems to be very similar to Le Clerc in the type of food he cooks.

Oh, both of Bennett's books are already on my bookshelf and I think his recipes are entertaining but probably feel a little too snotty to my liking. His in your face lecturing about organic GE-free local food is what makes it feel really awful to me. It is not as bad as Alice Waters, but I prefer Serge Dansereau at a similar level - more subtle, and less confrontational.

Hi all, I have been reading and using Julie Le Clerc's work for inspiration over the years. She often combines traditional Kiwi dishes (improvised by more international/lighter takes), some straight-from-overseas dishes, and some invented-in-NZ-using-newly-available-exotic-ingredients dishes together in her publications, for example, lamb shanks with field mushrooms, scallops in the half-shell with hazelnut pesto, etc are some of her sample dishes. Is there someone that is her equivalent in Australia? On one hand, she's not heritage conventional like Alison Holst, using all Heinz/Watties-commercial-brand-canned-or-frozen-products and preparation a la food-in-a-minute style like Allyson Gofton, or contemporary heavily Kiwi-ized like Annabel Langheim, and yet she has not reached the Alice Waters or Shannon Bennett-level obsession with locally-raised-organic-prepared-from-scratch-and-must-match-in-season ingredients either. I suspect Marie Claire's books or Karen Martini's two books would be pretty close, but I would welcome if there are other suggestions.

Speaking of new cookbooks, does anyone know if there will be new specialist chefs/restaurant cookbooks released in the immediate future, in either New Zealand or Australia?

On the New Zealand front, things have been a little quiet so far this year, and most of the touted books are from Australia or the UK. Julie Le Clerc has released a combined title @ home, with love that binds the cafe @ home and feast @ home together under one single title. Martin Bosley has released his first cookbook Martin Bosley Cooks (Published by Random House New Zealand, 15 August 2008) and should be being put on the bookshop shelves as we are speaking. Bosley is the chef-owner of the Martin Bosley’s restaurant in Wellington and it was awarded the 2007 Restaurant of the Year [in New Zealand] by the Cuisine magazine. This book records his recipes geared towards home cooks that were previously published in the Listener magazine. My very superficial impression is that it is probably not breaking a lot of new grounds if you are already relying on the likes of Stephanie Alexander, Karen Martini, and Shannon Bennetts for cooking inspiration. The recipes are probably indistinguishable from the Australian counterparts apart from NZ ingredients, and overlap a lot with Julie Le Clerc on the cherry-picking-global-cooking style. Still, if you are a fan of Bosley it is worthwhile to get a copy.

Hi all, I have been trying to locate the complete Grand Livre de Cuisine series in English. From his French website and my very limited school French I believe he has published 5 titles for the series: 1. "Classic" Cuisine 2. Desserts and Pastries 3. Mediterranean 4. Bistro and Brasserie 5. Contemporary style Apparently volumes 1 and 2 have been published but I have not been able to find any English version for volumes 3 to 5. Dropped an enquiry to Ducasse's website but no response. Does anyone know if we will ever need to go to the French original for the complete series, or will we see an English version some day? Thanks in advance and any help will be much appreciated. Regards,

Yep it would be great if it is still in print, but if there is really nothing like this any excellent 2nd hand condition would be fine.

Hi all, Are there still some old school high-end classic French cookbooks available? I have considered Escoffier and Larousse but I seem to recall some book in 1980s Asia that had recipes taken from a 1960s and 1970s book. They come with lots of colour photos for very old-school haute dishes. Would it be Henri-Paul Pellaprat's book or something else?

Thanks everyone for the contributions.

I quite like the Zuni Cafe cookbook for Californian cooking. Alice Waters' book would be the obvious choice. Wolfgang Puck's books are also pretty decent from my own perspective. Can't say if you can define a "native" New York cuisine though. There are excellent French and Italian cuisines, and of course other ethnic cuisines, but there is nothing in New York that approaches the "native" type of food as you get Neil Perry at Sydney standing for Australian cooking. Same for Chicago. It is now like a second New York on everything such that Charlie Trotter's cookbooks, goodas they are, aren't really "New Midwestern cooking". I second that John Folse book on Louisiana cooking. I think Lagasse's cookbooks are acceptable but Folse's work is definitely without rival.