Omnivore Books on Food

A restaurant I love in S.F. serves fired chicken salad - strips of fried chicken breast with great fresh salad greens & a blue cheese dressing - attractive and SO delicious.

Okay, some gorgeous 2009 ones out of the UK I just got into my store: Ripailles by Stephane Reynaud Dashi and Umami with foreword by Heston Blumenthal, et al. Borough Market Meat and Fish Wild Food by Ray Mears Marco Pierre White's Great British Feast Quite lovely, as the Brits would say.

Also, it depends on the author of the individual volume. For instance, Provence the Beautiful was written/edited by Richard Olney, so that makes a huge difference in the quality. Same goes for the old Time/Life series of cookbooks - the Provence edition was written by M.F.K. Fisher, and the whole "Good Cook Time/Life" series was edited by Olney.

Hi everyone, I was lucky enough to host Peter Reinhart at my cookbook store, Omnivore Books, last weekend in San Francisco. He gave an amazing talk about bread, and a customer from chezus.com was thoughtful enough to videotape it. Here is the link to the video: http://www.chezus.com/video/omnivore-books...hart/video.html. In the video, he talks all about baking bread and his journey through writing his award-winning cookbooks: Whole Grain Breads, Crust and Crumb, and The Bread Baker's Apprentice. He talks about the science and spirituality of bread and is quite entertaining. Enjoy - he's a wonderful speaker! Celia

Okay, I love this sort of stuff! Marcia Adams, who used to have a show on PBS, has a fabulous cookbook that I adore, called Cooking from the Heartland. It is out of print, but I do have a lovely copy of it at my shop in S.F. - I always stock it when I can find it because it's one of my favorites. Every chapter covers a different Midwestern state (incl. Ohio), and has history of recipes as well as easy to follow, great recipes, and a list of resources for ingredients and farm stands across the Midwest. I'm not at my store today, but I think it's about $25. If you want it, e-mail me at omnivorebooks@comcast.net and I'll arrange to send it to you. Best Cincinnatti Chili recipe ever! Celia

Flo just gave a talk on baking at my bookstore on Saturday, and I have to say she is the nicest person I have ever met. I asked her about how she does recipe testing for her books (she's working on a new one!), and she said she tests them all herself extensively. Peter Reinhart, on the other hand, invites anyone to test his bread recipes for his new book, and give their comments by e-mail. Celia www.omnivorebooks.com

Check out Steve Sando's book, Heirloom Beans (Chronicle Books) - he's the head honcho at Rancho Gordo, a fabulous dry bean producer! Tons of recipes for dried beans.

I just got in a shipment of cookbooks from Grub Street Press, an English press that now has American distribution. They have reprinted many famous English authors like Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David, Elisabeth Luard, et al., and also are printing newer English titles. The reason for my post is that the books all have UK and American measurements, printed side by side, which I notice many of you often seem to search for. There's a beauty I'm salivating over called "English Puddings: Sweet & Savoury"...just f.y.i. Celia Sack Omnivore Books on Food San Francisco

There's a great book called "The Asian Grocery Store Demystified." Also a companion on Indian grocery stores - talks all about products, brands, etc.

Yes, I have it in front of me at my cookbook store in S.F. - it is both in metric and "housewife." Also, his "Eggs" book, which I sell in the English version, is in metric (Wiley edition is American measurements).

I heard a rumor that Martin Picard (Au Pied du Cochon) is coming out with a new cookbook. I own a cookbook store in San Francisco called omnivore Books, and am trying to keep up with all the new ones coming out. Just got in Gerald Hirogoyen's Pintxos, about Basque appetizers. Looks fabulous.