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Janice Wong is the chef and owner of 2am Dessert Bar in Singapore, one of the few dessert restaurants in the world. This is her first book, and involves on her plated desserts. Visually it's great, the packaging and photos are stunning. I haven't tried any recipes, but after reading some they seem consistent. My main complaint is that this book has few dishes (about 30), it has about 120 pages, and a good amount are occupied by full 2 pages photos. So overall this book is on the pricey side (about 55 US$ plus shipping), but I'm happy to have bought it. As far as I know you can buy it only through the official website: http://perfectioninimperfection.com/ and until now it went under the radar of all the press. Teo

I finally succumbed to my desires yesterday and purchased an ipad, and one of the first apps I bought was the CIA's Professional Chef. It's amazing. I imagine this is what cookbooks are like on Star Trek. The whole textbook is at your fingertips. There are videos to show techniques, pop up tips and even quizzes at the ends of chapters. You can highlight passages and add notes, and share those notes with an online community. I've barely scratched the surfaces of what's in the book, but already it seems like an indication of where cookbook apps are going to be headed in the future. Has anybody else got this? Planning on asking your loved ones to buy it for Christmas?

Hi, I saw this book at the bookstore and was tempted to buy it due to the nice packaging. I couldn't look inside so I was wondering if anyone here has it and can give some feedback? It's by Phaidon and yeah, the packaging is great. Thanks.

The original The Italian Baker was a groundbreaking book with it's well researched recipes and techniques on rustic Italian breads and pastries. It was a huge influence on my style of baking and I'm excited to see there is an updated version. I'll be picking up a copy in the next couple of weeks but I was wondering if anyone has gotten their hands on the new version and can comment on how much it has evolved?

Any online references listing ingredients textures?

Back in the late 80's, I was lucky enough to spend a year living in Panama City, working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research institute (STRI) as a research assistant. While there, I fell in love with the food. The best tamales I have ever had (and very different from Mexican tamales). Fantastic ceviche. Wonderful, filling soups. Some of the best Chinese food I have ever had, believe it or not, since many Chinese helped build the Panama Canal, so there is a large Chinese population. Wonderful fresh breads similar to Cuban breads. Wonderful fish dishes with coconut from the San Blas Islands. A sort-or tamale casserole called tamale de olla. I have not been able to find either a good Panamanian cookbook or a good Central/Latin American cookbook with a decent selection of Panamanian recipes. I have found a few recipes here and there on the internet, but none I have really loved. Does anyone know of any good cookbooks with Panamanian recipes? English preferred but my Spanish, although rusty, is good enough to do OK with a Spanish cookbook. Thanks!

For those who cant afford the 4,000 to use the volatile compounds in food database does anyone know a open source with the same data? Flavour.net has some stuff but I'm really looking for a bit more relevant data. Any thoughts?

My copy arrived yesterday. Creativity with twists, turns and backflips and some of the best plating and styling I've ever seen. I've seen some good looking food in my day but this is exceptional. The details and complexity of each dish are staggering, so be prepared for some high-end cooking without compromise. Having a dinner party in a few weeks and the entrée and main will be straight out of here. Will report back with photos.

Donald's Link's excellent 2009 book, REAL CAJUN (Potter) has terrific recipes for Black Eyed Peas and Limas, but nothing for the region's most popular Red Bean. What gives?

Just got my copy of the Milk Bar cookbook a couple days ago, seems we egulleteers have been slacking on creating a topic for this new book! I just made up a batch of cereal milk (So rich! So delicious! Can't wait to try it in my coffee in the morning) and the dough for cornflake-chocolate chip-marshmallow cookies is chilling in the fridge(Corn flake crunch being a component for that recipe). I've eaten a bunch of the dough and am enjoying the salty sweet excess that it promises. Also, I'm having a really hard time sitting still and typing this. Time to run across the room! SUGAR RUSH!!!! YEEHAA! Ahem. Lots of interesting techniques and ingredients I've never used before, probably because I very seldom make sweets. The milk powder is an interesting flavor boost and I'm also looking forward to trying some of the recipes with glucose. I've never used it before and it seems like an interesting goo. I picked it up at a Michael's craft store for half the price of Amazon, so if you're looking for glucose you might check craft stores yourself. Anybody else cooking Tosi's creations at home?

I'm in consideration for a position at a Latin small plates restaurant and need to bone up on examples of "modernizing" traditional Central & South American food. Can anyone more experienced in this area recommend books or blogs on latin cuisine using contemporary platings and variations on the traditional stuff?

After working at many restaurants that have local foragers come in to sell product and now reading through the Noma cookbook I'm very interested. I do so much gardening for the heirloom faire but always see wild greens and flowers here in the Bay Area California. Of course the standard google search came up with a list of books to buy but I was looking for recommendations from fellow forum members!

Anyone picked up a copy yet? I've never been to the steakhouse--altho' flipping through the book, that's something I must correct when I head to the UK in '012--but this is a nice book. Obviously beef centric, altho' there are also recipes for other beasts--chicken, lamb, veal, goose, pork and shellfish. What's nice is that for a meat-centred book, the steak and burger recipes are less recipes and more detailed breakdowns of the technique. Indeed, the book as a whole has a lot of recipes (for cocktails as well as savoury dishes and puddings) but there's also a lot of room given to relevant techniques. Altho' being a steakhouse book there's obviously no discussion of sous vide, etc. A nice touch, too, that I'd never thought of before: the burger patties are made with ground meat and bone marrow. Genius. The breakfast section alone should mean that this book is sold in sealed black plastic and kept behind the counter and only sold after a waiver has been signed. I love this kind of book and I love this kind of food. Already this is one of my favourite British cookbooks. Tonight I'm cooking a T-bone steak (using their method, which differs somewhat from my usual) and some of the sides. Preparing a marinade for the 'Tamworth pork ribs', too.

I am getting MC for Christmas, and I'd like to try some of the recipes in the book. I'd like to document my experiences in a blog but it would be of little use for non MC owners if the recipes are not (partially?) described along with results, thoughts, etc. In one extreme, I am sure simply transcribing all the recipes into a blog would not be OK, but I wonder if one can use a recipe as a post topic, describing the recipe and adding some value without risking being sued or DCMA'd. Any guidance?

I tried the pumpkin soup, the recipe is listed in the FT article that was linked on page 1 (but I do have the book). I make pumpkin soup regularly and was interested to know how Heston's version would compare. Making the soup base is straightforward, but before the seasoning stage it tasted very sweet and fairly bland (I used kabocha, thinking the roasted half would caramelise well). I then made the big mistake of adding the two main seasoning ingredients - 40g balsamic and 40g sesame oil - all at once and without tasting in between. Maybe I have unusually potent sesame oil but the end result just tasted like sesame. I appreciated the tang from the balsamic but overall it didn't taste like pumpkin at all. It needed quite a lot of salt to get it even vaguely balanced. I thought that the extras - the hazelnuts and red pepper - might bring the balance back but nope. Just a big bowl of very smooth, buttery but unmistakably sesame soup. I got through half a bowl. My wife had one spoonful and declared it disgusting. I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter (weighing everything on a gram-accurate digital scale) but I obviously messed up somewhere. I'm tempted to try the recipe again because I can't believe it turned out so badly. Next time I will definitely, definitely, add the sesame oil and balsamic a little at a time and will taste it as I go! Schoolboy error... I would love to hear from others who have tried the soup to see what they think. It's a simple recipe and as it's listed in the FT article, you don't even need the book...

Just purchased the ibooks version of this new book. It contains the recipes from the book plus a number of instructional videos on how to prepare some of the dishes. Looking at the book, it is good to see sous vide entering the mainstream as just another cooking technique rather than some technological marvel. Neil Perry tells how they prepare the dishes in the restaurant, which is often sous vide, with times and temperatures. He then provides instruction on how to cook the dishes if you don't have the equipment. This is a steak house book written by a chef whose original flagship restaurant, Rockpool, has been in the San Pellegrino World's top 50 Restaurants. I'd totally recommend it either in paper or electronic form. ps. for our US friends, the measurements come in metric, imperial, and cups.

I was wondering if anyone else had purchased the book "Zumbo" or was using it? I just received my copy today. I bought it on-line from the Adriano Zumbo store at http://adrianozumbo.com/new-book-zumbo/ (it came signed by the man himself) But it is also available from other Australian retail outlets such as http://www.readings.com.au/collection/adriano-zumbo Or internationally at http://www.amazon.com/Zumbo-Adrian/dp/1742665713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317859251&sr=8-1 (not yet available internationally I think) For international readers, Adriano Zumbo is a very well known Australian pastry chef who has spent time learning the craft with Pierre Herme and others. He has his own stores now in Sydney, Australia. http://adrianozumbo.com/adriano/ He became more of a household name through his numerous appearances on Masterchef Australia with extremely challenging pastry pieces for the contestants to create and has since had his own (short) series on SBS TV. He also does a lot of food festivals around Australia. His Masterchef recipes are challenging and can be located at: http://www.masterchef.com.au/guest-chef-adriano-zumbo.htm (See the list on the right of the screen under "Adriano Zumbo Recipes") And his SBS recipes are at: http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/zumbo/recipes/page/i/1/h/Recipes/ (Click through the different episode tabs near the top of the screen) His reputation is for being a little "different" - which comes through in the books layout and graphic design - with his pastries and so for me (who owns a number of pastry books already), this was a welcome addition to my collection as it has some unusual flavours/combinations - eg., sticky date, strawberry bubblegum and chocolate mayonaisse macarons to name just 3. The book is broken up into 6 sections: - Zumbarons (macarons which he is probably most well known for) - Chocolates - Pastries - Gateaux de Voyage - Cakes - Desserts with basic recipes and a glossary at the back. For a pastry book, the book is good value - $50 (or less at some spots) for a 250+ page, hardcover, book with colour photos on pretty much every page is pretty cheap compared to some others out there. I'll be spending the next few days reading through it and then I'll be trying a few things from it - it'll be nice to make an Australian Pastry Chef's recipes for a change

As mentioned in my eG foodblog, Anne Willan’s The Country Cooking of France is one of my favorite cookbooks (together with Les Halles, Lucques, and a few others). It’s very complete and covers regional specialties as well as a wide variety of techniques. I like the fact that the recipes are authentic and contain detailed instructions. Every time I think of a French specialty that I miss, I can find a recipe for it in this book. It won a James Beard award in 2008 in the international cookbook category. Here is some additional information from the publisher: Renowned for her cooking school in France and her many best-selling cookbooks, Anne Willan combines years of hands-on experience with extensive research to create a brand new classic. More than 250 recipes range from the time-honored La Truffade, with its crispy potatoes and melted cheese, to the Languedoc specialty Cassoulet de Toulouse, a bean casserole of duck confit, sausage, and lamb. And the desserts! Crêpes au Caramel et Beurre Salé (crêpes with a luscious caramel filling) and Galette Landaise (a rustic apple tart) are magnifique. Sprinkled with intriguing historical tidbits and filled with more than 270 enchanting photos of food markets, villages, harbors, fields, and country kitchens, this cookbook is an irresistible celebration of French culinary culture. As I was using this book few days ago, I thought that I should start a thread about it. I’ve been cooking from it regularly since I bought it a couple of years ago. Hopefully other people will join me. Pumpkin and leek soup with foie gras This is a simple but flavorful soup. The pumpkin is boiled with leeks and potatoes until soft, and then pureed in a blender. The soup goes from a simple and comforting dish to a great course that could be served in a dinner party thanks to the addition of a slice of seared foie gras. I used a cast iron skillet and it only took a minute or two per side to cook the foie gras. D’Artagnan sells frozen foie gras slices that work great in this application. Lastly, the soup is topped with thinly sliced chives. There is no cream in the soup, but the foie gras more than compensates for it!

This is a new book out on chocolate, has anyone read it/is it worth investing in?

This is turning out to be a great fall for cookbooks. First we had Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal releasing simple, family meal books, and now Jean-Georges Vongerichten has joined the game. Has anyone heard any early buzz on this book? Edit to add... and it looks like Alain Ducasse will have a simple recipe book out next spring. I am really happy this trend of great chefs writing simple books is catching on. Dan

Nancy Silverton with Matt Molina and Carolynn Carreno have produced a terrific new cookbook based upon the Mozza restaurants! Lots of good photos, many menu and food ideas, plus a nice narrative will probably make this one of the best of the year. There is a whole section devoted to "Nancy's Pizza Dough". As one might imagine and has been written about, this is a most special dough and is Ms. Silverton's stock in trade! She is most upfront in the book: Of course, she does not want to give away her recipe so every pizza restaurant or chain in L.A. or across the nation copies the recipe. She certainly has every right and privilege to do so and did not substitute silently. I might imagine there are dozens and dozens and dozens of cookbooks with recipes where a certain ingredient is forgotten or the timing is altered or the scaling is different from the author's actual dish. I commend Ms. Silverton for her being so honest.Ms. Siverton has a book worth buying and using.

Just picked up a copy of this neat new book at CostCo for $18, not expecting too much, but I must say, it's a really nice book! Nice production value, great photos, layout, organization. Hardcover, not too big, not too small. Short primers about each meat they cover, beef, pork, lamb, veal. Including a drawing of the animal indicating what's from where. No poultry and the veal chapter is the shortest with 12 recipes, but I'm still glad to see veal covered at all in a mass market book (published under the Williams-Sonoma brand), as I have to go to a specialty butcher to even buy veal. Maybe this is going to change? Sure would be nice. Each recipe has a little introduction, most have a "handwritten" note from a butcher explaining something. Clean layout, if there are things like pork and bbq sauce, each part has a headline in the ingredient list, the explanations are well done from what I read so far and easy to follow. Some really nice recipes as well! Recipes range from bbq over roasting to stews and pan fried, a nice mix of things. Now, if you have a bunch of meat books (ahem, like me) you probably don't need this (but might want it anyway, LOL), but it would certainly make a great gift or book for somebody expanding on what they do with meat. And all the bits and pieces of meat info thrown in are certainly worth reading, I always find something new in those things, even though I owm just about any book that has the title meat in it Check it out, lists at 29.95 but cheaper online or at CostCo right now, at least at ours here in Concord. Worth the money.

I want to call it a plancha...because it sounds cool. It may not technically be a plancha - it's my reversible cast-iron stove top grill; you know the one - one side is flat and the other is ridged. Whatever it's called, I hardly use it...I guess because the grill side isn't really grilling, and if you've used the grill side and want to use the flat side, when you turn the sucker over all the drippings that dripped when you were "grilling" now get incinerated. But now I want to focus on using the flat side and yesterday I pulled it out of it's slot, heated it up and made breakfast, starting with griddling some Flying Pigs Farm's shoulder bacon... And finishing with some French toast, having been inspired by Fat Guy's French toast topic... The French toast came out quite good. The bacon, of course, was a no brainer. Do you own a plancha? If so, what do you use it for?

I'm surprised not to see a thread about Bauer's new ice cream book. So I thought I'd start one. Speaking as an ice cream novice, it's a revelation. Not just because the recipes are easy to make and taste good, but because Bauer has an artist's eye (or palate?) for flavor combinations. I've made 10 or so flavors and they're all great.

I would like to expand my knowledge about the history of cooking in various countries in the world outside Europe, mainly Japan, China, India, the Persian area, but I'm open for everywhere. So I'm looking for books that deal about how a cooking style developed in relation with the area; I'm not interested in recipes, but in historical and sociological issues. Just for example, I'd like to read a book that tells the story of Kaiseki style, how it was born and developed, how the Japanese culture influenced it (Shintoism, temple cooking and so on). I'm more interested on the high end cooking styles, like Kaiseki and Imperial Chinese. But I'm quite ignorant and don't have any references on these matters. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance. Teo