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I am working on a project about Howard Mitcham, a chef and writer from my home state of Mississippi. I would be most appreciative of any input any of you might have on "Mitch". Thank you so very much. Jesse Yancy

I could not find much through search - I am looking for Fusion books recommendations. I quite like Fire: A World of Flavour by Christine Manfield and am looking to expand my horizons, especially in the Japanese meets West type of cooking. Thanks Bojana

I'm considering buying Florence Lin's Complete Book of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings and Breads. It's out of print but it's possible to get hold of it but it's expensive. I've seen some brief reviews on this site and basically, most of them rate it quite well if not highly. I would like to hear what people who've got this book think of it? Have they tried making noodles from the recipes provided? Have they made any of the noodle soups/dishes and how did they turn out? And also, how to you rate the dumplings and bread recipes? It's a shame that they don't do a re-print. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I just had to re-sign up since it's been awhile I wanted to let you all know the awesome news that I will be releasing a book at the end of the year about my time learning the charcuterie and butchery of Spain. It's called Charcutería: The Soul of Spain, and will have a foreword by James Beard award-winning chef José Andrés. The book is going to have a bunch of traditional techniques and recipes for Spanish charcuterie and pork butchery, as well as recipes and other little tricks I picked up working with the folks in the Extremaduran countryside. My photog and I just got back from visiting Spain for the photoshoot and the guys up in Asturias did a little video about it. Here's the link to the video: http://www.whereisasturias.com/?p=6602 And a link to our FB page (Lots more photos... please like!): https://www.facebook.com/charcuteriaspain?ref=ts&fref=ts Please feel free to write me if you have any requests or questions for the book--really trying to make something that my fellow meatheads and sausage nerds can get into. Ciao, jeff PS: As a little offering to my hopefully-new eGullet pals here's a sexy photo from the Jamón slicing shoot. Tatoos and meat...

A friend recently asked a group of us foodies what he should do with his late spouse's collection of cookbooks, including a wide range of recipe collections published and sold for every sort of fundraising, apparently hundreds of them, collected over decades. He doesn't want to send them to languish at the local goodwill, but is there a better option for a large collection of stuff that requires a lot of effort and time to sort for the hidden gems amidst the not-so-great stuff?

I've just recetly started to use sherry in my cooking, and thus far it's been to add flavor to soup, stock, and sauces, and to deglaze pans. I know there are different styles of sherry, and certainly a wide range of prices and, perhaps, even quality. However, for the described purposes, does the style, price, and quality make much, if any, difference. Rightg now I'm using a bottle of Amontillado that I picked up at TJ's for about $7.00 or so, and it seems to be OK. Any comments would be very welcome. Thanks!

I have just bought 4oz of fresh Perigord Truffles and have a question about whether the truffles should be warmed to release their maximum flavour or simply shaved ontop of the dish. Two weeks ago I got ahold of a Burgundy Fall truffle and was struck by the fact that when we shaved it ontop of an omelet the flavour was not nearly as strong as when we made another omelet and rolled the shaved truffles inside. With the Perigord Truffles I plan to use them to make truffled mashed potatoes. I had planned on shaving them over the individual servings at the table but now I am wondering if it would be better to fold them into the potatoes before serving them.

I have been doing a lot of searching online and to be honest I haven't been able to come up with very much, I love baking breads and pastries and I would like to learn more about Austrian baking/pastry given the fact that to me that areas techniques is what most pastries are based on. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Chef Grant Achatz is publishing a series of e-cookbooks on iTunes with recipes from his Chicago restaurant, Next. For those who might not know of it, Next serves a single prix-fixe menu that changes seasonally. The first e-book was recently released with Next’s inaugural menu, based on the theme of Paris: 1906. As described on iTunes: “Paris: 1906 includes the exact recipes for every dish served as documented by our chefs, over 200 photos, and short essays describing the key dishes and concepts” Achatz plans a new e-book for each menu. At $4.99 for each one, not a bad price if it’s a good product, and the reviews are good: Apple web site with a link to iTunes for full reviews and download. In general I'm not jealous of those who dine at places where I cannot, but I would have done much to have dined at Next for this menu. If anyone has it or gets this ebook (or any future edition) I’d really love a report. I'm grinding my teeth, this is enough to make me want to run out and buy an iPad, I can’t imagine using it on my phone or ipod.

I'm not from Texas and have actually eaten very little in Texas over the years. Sad to admit, Texas is basically on the southern route from Ontario to Utah for us. (Don't hate me because I am an ignorant Canadian. ) We stopped in Terre Haute, IN, for a decent cup of coffee at the local bookstore and I decided to buy one cookbook to read both to myself and out loud to my DH on our current trip and it was the The Homesick Texan by Lisa Fain. I have been following her blog for some time now and had decided to get the second book but the store had only the first. Bought it. Read extensively from it. Going to get the second book also. I had already made a strawberry ice cream from Fain's blog and now have made Tex-Mex Meat Loaf with Chipotle-Tomato Glaze and the Tomato Cobbler. Both were great successes. The photo was not. While in Moab, UT, where you can't buy the more 'Mexican' ingredients anyway, I think I'll make a lot more of her recipes. Can't buy those ingredients back home in the far frozen north either. Well, like achiote paste, epazote, traditional chorizo, all the cheeses, etc. Anyone else cook from this book?

I am looking for good online collections of sausage/bacon/ham recipes and reviews on the quality of the recipes. So far I've located: Jason Molinari's excellent blog: http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/ Len Poli's Collection: http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm The Spicy Sausage: http://thespicysausage.com/sausagemakingrecipes.htm

I just received a copy of "The Cook's Book - Concise Edition" edited by Jill Norman, and now I'm curious, what's the difference to the full edition? Supposedly it has 648 pages compared to 496 in this edition, and it appears to be much larger in size if the info on us.dk.com is correct. Other than that I can't find any info what the difference might be. It's a neat book with lots of photos about techniques etc, and lots of recipes. As with any DK book production values are high. If the contents are the same, I'm happy with the smaller version, but I'd really like to know what I might be missing on those 150 or so pages. If it's just filler, I don't care. If it's some fantastic recipes, I do care.... Anybody here know both editions? Google was so far of no help. Lots of the full edition are to be had used as well, I'd be happy giving this one as a gift and ordering the full edition, if it's worth it. Thanks! Oliver

There has been a wide variety of cookbook and food references published during the first decade of this century. Excluding Food Literature, what are your top 10 cookbooks and references during the first decade?

Dear all, Almost two years ago you all discussed the release of the first edition of Pastry In Europe. Time flies and we already released the third edition: Pastry In Europe 2011. I'm wondering who's already has a copy or ordered one and what you think about it? Somebody any comments on the 2010 or 2009 edition. Looking forward to hear your comments. Thanks a lot, Joost van Roosmalen Pastry In Europe

Im a big fan of America's test kitchen, and have most of their books (aside from the fact that they reprint many recipes through several books and dont tell you about that ) some time ago they had a "Meat" cookbook which I dont own but would like to look at, probably from the library. I can recall the exact name does this ring any bells? its not the grilling and BBQ book sometimes they are hard to track down: under Chris Kimball? America's test kitchen? Cooks illustrated? hopefully this will ring a bell here. thanks

It looks like MC is sold out. Some sellers say no more copies until July. Obviously, the demand has caught people by surprise for this $500 set of books. So, here's the (hypothetical) question. How high would you go to get a copy in your hands in the next few days? THIS IS A HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION people. I don't have any to sell. How crazy are the foodies here? And, not only do I want to know high high you'd go, but what you'd sacrifice to get one? Sell you car? Sell you iPhone? Sell your mother? Eat Ramen for a year?

Quay (http://www.quay.com.au/) is considered one of the best restaurants in Australia and in the world. This book is even better. The layout and photographs are impressive. All dishes are interesting and personal. The recipes are detailed and well written. The dessert section is on par with the rest (the "guava snow egg" is stunning). Better if I stop here with the superlatives. If you love the Alinea and the Noma books, then consider this a blind buy, it's on par with those 2 books. On amazon.co.uk it costs 20£, a total bargain. Teo

Martin Bosley is the chef of his eponymous restaurant in New Zealand: http://www.martin-bosley.com/ I've never been to New Zealand, so unfortunately I don't have first hand experience on his food, but I read great comments, so when I heard he published his new book based on restaurant recipes (he published another book a couple of years ago, but more for the homecook), I bought it. This is the press release, with some images of the pages: http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/data/media/documents/press%20releases/Nov_2010/Martin%20Bosley_Media%20Release.pdf The book is divided in 2 sections: the first one is for Brasserie Flipp (the place where he worked before the new restaurant), the second one is for the eponymous restaurant, for a total of about 300 pages. I still haven't tried any recipe, but till now I'm really satisfied. There are many interesting ideas, recipes are detailed and well written, and the photographs are high quality. Even "simple" dishes, that could sound trivial to someone, are well thought and inspiring: for example there are a ton of fish tartares, each one with creative pairings. They put a lot of efforts also about the dessert sections. And I like the attitude of chef Bosley: his photo is not polished, and he included the photos of each person of his staff. You can buy the book directly from the restaurant. It costs 90 NZ$ plus shipping (I spent 60 NZ$ for shipping to Italy). A bit expensive, but if you are interested in books of high end restaurants, this is a good add to your collection. Teo

I would be interested to buy some Peruvian cookbooks, like the series named Nuestros Grandes Chef published by El Comercio, or some books published by the University of San Martin de Porres. I wrote to both editors, but never received any answer. Is there any forum user living in Peru and willing to help me? Of course I would pay something for the help. Thanks in advance. Teo

Even with all the attention being lavished on Modernist Cuisine, I find it hard to believe no one has been cooking from Ideas in Food! The first preparation I made from it was red wine vinegar; before reading the book, I'd been reluctant to use cider vinegar as the starter (even though it's the easiest vinegar to find with a live mother), but they convinced me to stop being such a purist about it. I've been regularly feeding my red wine vinegar over the past few weeks, it's thriving, and I love the flavour. I've used it in everything from vinaigrette to Sauerbraten. Last night I made the macaroni and cheese recipe. The version in Modernist Cuisine calls for sodium citrate and carrageenan; the version in Ideas in Food just calls for evaporated milk, which already has disodium phosphate and carrageenan in it. I think this is a really elegant solution if you don't want to spring for the specialty chemicals. Better still, the recipe worked like a charm, and was fast and delicious. I'm looking forward to playing with different kinds of cheese, but I think it's safe to say I'll be keeping a can of evaporated milk handy at all times from now on. Edit: Society-friendly Amazon link.

I just got a copy of Grace Young's "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge"—I enjoyed cooking from "Breath of a Wok" and wanted to continue on that path. Does anyone else have this book? Have you cooked anything from it? Here was dinner tonight: Spicy Dry-Fried Beef (p. 70) I undercooked the beef just a bit due to a waning propane supply (I use an outdoor propane-powered wok burner), but there's nothing to complain about here. It's a relatively mild dish that lets the flavors of the ingredients (and the wok) speak. Overall I liked it, at will probably make it again (hopefully with a full tank of gas).

[Moderator note: The original "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 1)] I wouldn't pay much attention to the Amazon estimated shipping dates. It is unclear to me that they have any real basis. All of the books in the first printing will ship from China to in the US, Canada or Europe in the next 3 weeks, and a few thousand are currently somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. So far about 2/3 of the first printing has been pre-ordered. So everybody currently on order ought to get books from these shipments. A second printing is being ordered. You'd think that traveling thousands of miles by boat would be the majority of their journey. But that isn't really the case. So far they have had several snafus in getting the books out. Some distributors shipped books to the wrong distribution center. Some decided to ship books by train from Seattle to various places in the middle of the country. Some shipped to one distribution center, then decided that the books were too heavy for the equipment at that center, so they proceeded to ship them by truck to another distribution center. One distributor seems to have lost track of 150 books - hopefully this is just a computer error. It is frustrating, and I am trying to get it all fixed for future shipments. As as result, the first batch of books has been in the US since early February but took another 3 weeks or so to reach customers. I'm sorry about that, but there is not much I can do. In principle the remainder of the books ought to reach customers in March, but I suspect that it will take until some point in April due to various silly delays in the book distribution system.

A few years ago, for the most part, I stopped buying tomatoes "out of season." In other words, I quit buying tomatoes if they weren't grown locally during Mother Nature's natural growth cycle. While I am sure that the Producer's and Marketing Teams will tell us that tomatoes harvested in January are at the "peak of their flavor," is a tomato picked weeks in advance in preparation for a 3,000 mile journey really compare to the flavor of a local tomato in season? Sure, I tried the "tomatoes on the vine," the "salad" tomatoes, the "hydroponic" tomatoes and the "organic" tomatoes and while some of them had passable flavor, they never compared to the local tomatoes I buy in August. (I may buy a Roma tomato or two in December to slice and add to salad, but that's it). Right now we still have the remnants of last week's snow and a new dusting is expected tonight. Fresh, local tomatoes won't show up in our markets for at least 4 months around the end of June and the crop will last through mid-September. I gladly cook with quality canned tomatoes during the dormant months. (Just last week I made a delicious braised veal dish with canned San Marzano tomatoes). It begs the question; have you ever found a tomato "out of season" that compares to a fresh, local tomato "in season?"

I've made two recipes out of this book, the red beans and rice and BBQ shrimp (which aren't really BBQ'd). I would defined make both again. Sorry but no pictures Can't wait to try more..

It's been a year and a half since we spent a week in San Sebastian wandering the streets and eating way too many pintxos and i'm looking for a good cook/recipe book on the classics and some of the more modern ones hitting the fancier bars. Most of these were simple things, like raw salmon on mayo on toast or anchovies on toast with roast red pepper, etc. I know this seems quite simple (and it is!) but still looking for a good guide to get started. Any suggestions? Amazon has a couple but the reviews and pictures don't give me a good sense of what is in them. thanks