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Peterson's Sauces


paulraphael

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Anyone have the new edition? The 2nd edition is probably favorite cookbook of all time. I only glanced at the new one long enough to see the list of things he chose not to do: expand the asian section, add a section on newer "molecular" techniques, etc..

That seems strange. It's what's been going on since the last edition. Has anyone spent time with the new book?

Edited by paulraphael (log)

Notes from the underbelly

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I too just got the third edition, and the second edition also one of my favorite books, but I have barely looked at it yet. Indeed, I went to look something up today and I grabbed the second edition. Looking forward to discovering the third edition with you, Paul.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I have the new edition, not that I had any earlier editions, and I love it. I took it away with me on an all "girl" weekend at a cottage and I barely got it a glance as everyone else lined up to read it. It is a fond of info and insignts. Quite the best cookbook I have read in a long time.

"Flay your Suffolk bought-this-morning sole with organic hand-cracked pepper and blasted salt. Thrill each side for four minutes at torchmark haut. Interrogate a lemon. Embarrass any tough roots from the samphire. Then bamboozle till it's al dente with that certain je ne sais quoi."

Arabella Weir as Minty Marchmont - Posh Nosh

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  • 2 months later...

My quick take on the matter: if you only have the first edition, it's worth upgrading if only because the second edition is so much more comprehensive (especially on account of the addition of pasta sauces) than the first. The third edition is more modern and better laid out than the second, but I wouldn't call it an essential upgrade. Still, if you're a total sauce freak you should have the latest.

The language from the publisher is accurate:

Many of the sauces have been lightened, the old French names have been dispensed with, and useful charts have been included throughout the book. The author has also standardized the terminology for the consistency of liquids (for instance, in the Liaisons chapter, a chart showing thicknesses ranges from "water" to "mayonnaise") because it is the consistency that is the most important -- and the hardest -- to show. An updated bibliography and source list of purveyors are also included, and the insert includes beautiful all-new 4-color photography.

Whether or not it was good to dispense with the French names is an open question. The new charts are a nice touch. The bibliography and purveyors appendices might be helpful to some. The photography is, in my opinion, nice but inessential.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I found the second edition at a used book store for a mere $9. I have not looked into into it too much just yet. Are there any stand-outs I should look into?

Thanks!

Dan

"Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea." --Pythagoras.

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