What food-related books are you reading? (2016 -)

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Tonight I finished The Minimalist Kitchen by Melissa Coleman. 

I’ve taken this book and put it on my wish list. Then very shortly after removed it from my wish list. I have rinsed and repeated many times. 

 

 Let’s face it. I am delusional to ever think I could live with a minimalist kitchen.

[kayb]

A while back, I bought Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, With Recipes,   based on @Toliver's alert that it was sale for $1.99. I read it this week. It's not on sale any more, but it's worth the $16.99 it's going for now.

 

I'm not from Appalachia, but all "my people" came to West Tennessee from there, albeit a century before I showed up. And they brought recipes with them. This book was like going home, for me. I've bookmarked recipes for a dozen dishes I remember from childhood, and could probably make from muscle memory alone, but the bookmarks will remind me to do it. It's also an interesting look at the resurgence of local food culture in the area, with its epicenter, of course, in Asheville, NC. It talks a lot about Early Girl restaurant there, and if you ever visit, do NOT miss breakfast there, and also mentions the Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro in Townsend, TN, whose recipe for blueberry pie is not to be dismissed.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and was sad to see it end.

 

[teonzo]

Tommy Banks - "Roots"

This book has been a nice surprise. Banks is the chef of an English countryside pub with 1 michelin star. I would say his cooking style is influenced by the Nordic movement: big focus on local vegetables, similar plating style, modern techniques, while at the same time being close to his pub roots. The book is divided into 3 major seasons (intead of the usual 4). Each season has some pages dedicated on describing it, then a good amount of recipes. Dishes are grouped by the vegetable that stars in it, for example there are some dishes based on garlic, others on rhubarb and so on. The focus is on poor ingredients, not on the usual stars of fine dining.

My favourite dishes are the desserts, they are on the "not so sweet" side, full of inventive and using many unusual ingredients (like blackcurrant leaves).

Dishes (plateware) are wonderful too, there are some two colored dishes that have a great scenic impact.

Don't judge this book from the photos on Amazon, they are the worst ones.

@gfron1: this book is for you, there are acorns too!

 

 

 

Teo

 

[gfron1]

44 minutes ago, teonzo said:

Tommy Banks - "Roots"

 

@gfron1: this book is for you, there are acorns too!

Teo

 

Thank you - that wasn't on my radar. 

[heidih]

David Lebovitz's blog ost this week about "The Gourmands' Way"  intrigued me. Any comments if you've read it?   https://www.amazon.com/Gourmands-Way-Americans-Paris-Gastronomy/dp/0374103151/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=davidleboviswebs&linkId=a86328c34acc356e37107718147e4c4a&language=en_US

 

https://www.davidlebovitz.com/plum-flaugnarde-clafoutis-custard-french-prune/

[teonzo]

Jason Atherton - Social Sweets

Atherton is an English chef with a restaurant empire, a couple of his restaurants have a michelin star.

This dessert book is aimed to the home cook, but it's a bit different than the usual stuff. Most of the time chefs pick some of the stuff they make at their restaurants and simplify them to the extreme. In this case Atherton chose the desserts that can be made at home, without dumbing them down.

The book is divided in these sections: breads & muffins; biscuits; classics; restaurant desserts; ice cream & sorbets; cheese; basics.

Breads & muffins and biscuits are relative simple sections, any casual home cook can approach them without much troubles.

Classics is in the middle: some recipes are pretty straightforward, others require good skills.

Restaurant desserts is the longest section, this is aimed to the advanced home cook or even the professionals.Recipes call for solid skills and are time consuming, since each dessert is composed of a lot of different components. Desserts are creative and with unusual pairings, one example: basil sorbet, strawberries, yuzu yoghurt and black pepper meringue. As a professional I really liked this section, you could make these desserts at a michelin star restaurant and no one would complain.

I loved the cheese section too, since this subject is too often overlooked. This is less involved than the restaurant desserts, but there are a good amount of fine plates.

If you are an advanced home cook looking for some new adventures in pastry, then it's a great book.

If you are a casual home cook and want to stay there then you can find some good stuff, but it's the minority of the pages.

If you are a professional then you can find many great plated desserts and something more.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[liamsaunt]

 

Inspiring.  I recommend. 

[IowaDee]

Jose Andes is a God!  I adore that man.  

[heidih]

1 hour ago, IowaDee said:

Jose Andes is a God!  I adore that man.  

 

Ye exemplifies the best of the food world!

[suzilightning]

1. I just devoured Ann Hood's book Kitchen Yarns in a little less than two days.  I did not want to put it down.  Her writing is lyrical and poignant.  Now I have a new list of things I need to read!

[eugenep]

Reading "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle 

 

If you are a fan of Provencal food, this is a good book 

[heidih]

2 hours ago, eugenep said:

Reading "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle 

 

If you are a fan of Provencal food, this is a good book 

Yes he definitety paints vivid word pictures.  The dog!  A similar style that I enjoy are Marlena de Blasi's 1000 Days in Venice and  1000 Days in Tuscany

Edited March 20, 2019 by heidih (log)

[Owtahear]

[Owtahear]

 

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Owtahear (log)

[rotuts]

@Owtahear

 

 

an exceptional book

 

if you enjoy cooking

 

some here have an alleges to FR

 

no matter 

 

friends gave this book for Christmas 

 

and Im sure it was written for me..

 

hope there is a similar book for Spain , and one for Italy

 

Id suggest some very old books 

 

i have the both in Hardback , w black and white pics :

 

Waverly Root

 

a corespondent , for some time  on the Paris edition , in English  Tribune or so 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Food-France-Waverley-Root/dp/0679738975

 

and

 

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Italy-Waverley-Root/dp/0679738967/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RYVHBF46XMMZ2ZN6REAG\

 

bit dated , indeed

 

but the food of these  fine places 

 

and some fine history   of the Food

 

look for them in your library , 

 

but they are a bit old.

 

if your read them now

 

you are not going to find the Best Places to eat

 

three underlines for the town /city

 

but a remarkable understanding of the Food Philosophy 

 

for each Nation

 

allergic ot not.

[brucealan1]

We are looking to read diet related foods book where we can get dysphagia patient's solution using food and diet.

Edited April 4, 2019 by brucealan1 (log)

[suzilightning]

On a whim, and desperate for something to read, I picked up Frances Mayes' book See you in the Piazza.  Travelogue with recommendations for places to eat with a few recipes in out of the way places all over Italy.  I don't want this to end.

[TdeV]

On 9/7/2018 at 9:15 AM, kayb said:

an interesting look at the resurgence of local food culture in the area, with its epicenter, of course, in Asheville, NC.

 

I'm going to Greenville, NC next week, taking the scenic route. I'll put breakfast at Early Girl restaurant  on my list! I'm not sure how I'm coming home but I'll keep Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro in Townsend, TN on my list too.

[kayb]

You will not regret Early Girl, I promise. It's marvelous.

 

I have not been to Dancing Bear, but it gets good reviews, and I've made the blueberry-goat cheese pie from there (recipe is online somewhere). I find it too goat cheesy -- so I use half goat cheese and half cream cheese, and it's outstanding. 

 

If you are a fan of sweet tea, a chain of hot dog joints called Pal's up in that part of the world (well, in East TN) has what people say is marvelous. I don't drink sweet tea (take away my Southerner credentials!) so I don't know. And if you're looking for a place to stay the night, the General Morgan Inn in Greeneville is a nice, old-and-redone hotel downtown. Would be maybe an hour from Asheville.

 

[Darienne]

It's not a new book, 2015, and I'm on only page 27, but already I'm stunned by what I'm reading: Mark Schatzer's The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor.  

 

Where have I been?  I knew that food had changed...but stupid me I just repeated that phrase without really thinking about it seriously.  I didn't fathom the depths of the changes,  that they had been so orchestrated, so deliberate.  (I think I've been too busy in the medical  and pharmaceutical world where the situation has a similar pattern with terrible effects and family concerns made this necessary.)  

 

Because Ed and I are war babies we can remember food as it was to some extent.  One of my clearest memories was eating chunks of pumpernickel bread in sour cream and cottage cheese with Papa, my Mother's Father.   You can't get any of these ingredients today which taste the way they used to.  

 

Fascinating book in a horrible way. 

 

Added:  on page 50 now...no changes in the way I feel...

Edited July 22, 2019 by Darienne (log)

[Anna N]

The Art of Flavor by Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel.  He is a chef (Coi) and she is a perfumer. Offers some interesting, doable recipes to hone one’s understanding of how to build flavour. 

[Owtahear]

[teonzo]

Stabiner Karen - "Generation Chef"

This book tells the story of the first year of Huertas, a restaurant in New York. It deals with the emotions by the owners and some staff members, the business side, the media side... Lots of details for the amount of pages.
One thing I did not like is that the author talks about other restaurants that opened at the same time and had really few ties with the main story. Seems like the author followed a bunch of restaurants that were opening at that time to write a book "first year of restaurant X", then at the end she decided for Huertas. That's ok, but I don't see the point of adding the other references, breaking the story continuously.
Second thing I did not like is that most of the dynamics are the usual ones in this business, so someone who worked in restaurants will find lots of things he/she experienced first hand. The parts dealing with the New York scene (finding a space, dealing with liquor licenses, the media impact on a business) were very interesting, all the rest was like a story I already heard / lived.
I would suggest this book to people entering this business (to see that things are much more different than what TVs show) or amateurs who want to get a glimpse inside a professional setting. I would not suggest this book to professionals, it borders on the boring side.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[IowaDee]

I'm about halfway through Ten Restaurants That Changed America by Paul Freedman.  I'm enjoying it a lot considering I have only been to one of the places.   The restaurants included are:

Le Pavillon

Antoine"s

Howard Johnson's

Schrafft's

Mamma Leone's

Chez Panise

Sylvia's

The Mandarin

Delmonico's

The Four Seasons

 

As you might have guessed, Howard Johnson's is the only one I have been to.  And yes, the all you can eat fried clams changed my life.

 

[suzilightning]

Just finished Chop Suey Nation by Ann Hui.  I galloped through this book in about a day and a half.  The sub-title is The Surprising History and Vibrant Present of Small-Town Chinese Restaurants from Victoria BC to Fogo Island, NL.

Good read and reminds me of Jennifer 8 Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles.

I now have some places to check out on our next trip to NB and NL!!!!