These books/resources made it to the top of my stack

[Anna N]

 We have topics devoted to cooking from a single cookbook. These are the "Cooking With" topics where a member or a group of members make many recipes from a single cookbook. We have topics devoted to books that cover single cuisines.  We have topics devoted to listing recent releases. You get the idea. But I do not believe we have a topic devoted to those who dip into and out of various cookbooks from week to week and month to month. And yet my reading of the various threads suggests to me that this is the way many of us do indeed use our recipe resources.

So I would like to see us share our current favourite resource(s) and indicate what we made from each. A resource can be a book, a blog, a recipe site or anywhere you find recipes.

I'll start.

 

The following books made it to the top of my (virtual) bedside stack this month:

 

Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard.  (There is a "Cooking with" topic on this and I posted the recipes I tried there.)

 

Land of Rice and Fishes by Fuchsia Dunlop.  ditto

 

Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird by Gabriel Rucker et al. So far I have made the duck confit which is considered an ingredient so it is in the fridge awaiting further work on my part.

 

 

I will add more shortly.

Anyone else want to play?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smokeydoke]

Sure! I'll play.

 

My recent go-to has been Dorie Greenspan. I just made her World-Peace cookies and they are amazing, best cookies ever, imo. I've also made her Crispy Cookie bars which were amazing. She's batting 1000, can't wait to try more recipes, not to mention she gives good instructions in her recipes.

 

I've also been cooking from Polpo, a Venetian cookbook. I've had mixed results but mostly positive. 

 

And lastly, I've been smitten with Smitten Kitchen. Blogs rarely interest me, but her recipes work! They've all been very good so far and it's free!

 

You can check out my EYB to read all my reviews. I try to update everytime I cook something new.

 

I'm not as enamored with Land of Fish and Rice but I've only tried a handful of recipes. I'm much more interested in her Sichuan cooking book.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Smokeydoke (log)

[Anna N]

Another book that I pre-ordered and anxiously counted down the days and hours until its release is:

 

River Cottage A-Z Our Favourite Ingredients and How to Cook Them by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall et al.

 

Tonight I made "Cauliflower Clafoutis with Ham and Parsley". 

 

Here.

 

No cauliflower in the house so I subbed some broccoli and some par-cooked carrots. 

Edited December 17, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[chefmd]

On December 16, 2016 at 9:00 PM, Anna N said:

Another book that I pre-ordered and anxiously counted down the days and hours until its release is:

 

River Cottage A-Z Our Favourite Ingredients and How to Cook Them by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall et al.

 

Did you pre order paper version?  Kindle version is currently available.

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, chefmd said:

Did you pre order paper version?  Kindle version is currently available.

Nope. The Kindle version. It was released on Dec 15.  Do not think I would be able to lift the paper version.  In a childish way I am somewhat disappointed.  I would never describe myself as a particularly visual person except where cookbooks are concerned. The paucity of photographs in this book, especially when it describes usual ingredients, seems somewhat counter to its attempt to be encyclopaedic.  On the other hand, if you are willing to expend the time to dive deeply into it, you will learn some nifty uses of ingredients that you may not have thought about.  You might also come across ingredients that are completely new to you although these tend to be native to the British Isles.  Sorry. A rather long-winded response to a very simple question.   I am feeling loquacious this Sunday morning as I look out at the impassable condition of the roads and sidewalks following a night of freezing rain. 

[MelissaH]

52 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I am feeling loquacious this Sunday morning as I look out at the impassable condition of the roads and sidewalks following a night of freezing rain. 

Lucky you, with an excuse to stay in and read!

[MollyB]

My current favorites are guided by a need for relatively quick, good recipes that fit in with a busy work schedule plus a five-yr-old and a puppy. These are the cookbooks I've been turning to a lot lately:

 

Mexican Everyday, by Rick Bayless. We keep a jar of his green chile adobo in the fridge so we can make his skillet tacos recipe in about 15 min on a weeknight. We also love the risotto-style rice and beans with poblanos and the same green chile adobo.

 

The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Feeling Great, by Pam Anderson. A silly title but a great cookbook for quick, healthy, tasty recipes. We make the crustless quiche in one of its variants pretty regularly, The dinner packets - you choose a protein, vegetables, and a simple sauce and can cook them quickly on a gas grill - are also a regular weeknight meal for us. 

 

Soup Makes the Meal: 150 Soul-Satisfying Recipes for Soups, Salads, and Breads, by Ken Haedrich. Lots of great soup recipes, arranged by season of the year. There's a fabulous (not healthy) cauliflower and cheese soup, and a spinach and rice soup that we make all the time. (I actually have it in my lunch today.) We haven't tried many of the breads, but the salads are really good. There's one with radishes, apple, and celery

 

 

[Anna N]

@MollyB

 

I am so excited to see that you have joined the topic in exactly the spirit I was hoping for. I hope others will also share as you have done. Thank you. 

[TicTac]

53 minutes ago, MollyB said:

My current favorites are guided by a need for relatively quick, good recipes that fit in with a busy work schedule plus a five-yr-old and a puppy. These are the cookbooks I've been turning to a lot lately:

 

Mexican Everyday, by Rick Bayless. We keep a jar of his green chile adobo in the fridge so we can make his skillet tacos recipe in about 15 min on a weeknight. We also love the risotto-style rice and beans with poblanos and the same green chile adobo.

 

The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Feeling Great, by Pam Anderson. A silly title but a great cookbook for quick, healthy, tasty recipes. We make the crustless quiche in one of its variants pretty regularly, The dinner packets - you choose a protein, vegetables, and a simple sauce and can cook them quickly on a gas grill - are also a regular weeknight meal for us. 

 

Soup Makes the Meal: 150 Soul-Satisfying Recipes for Soups, Salads, and Breads, by Ken Haedrich. Lots of great soup recipes, arranged by season of the year. There's a fabulous (not healthy) cauliflower and cheese soup, and a spinach and rice soup that we make all the time. (I actually have it in my lunch today.) We haven't tried many of the breads, but the salads are really good. There's one with radishes, apple, and celery

 

 

 

Would be curious to hear more about this green chile adobo.  Sounds interesting.

 

Cheers.

[blue_dolphin]

44 minutes ago, TicTac said:

 

Would be curious to hear more about this green chile adobo.  Sounds interesting.

 

Cheers.

 

The Green Chile Adobo from More Mexican Everyday is marvelous stuff.  It retains its brilliant green color and bright flavor for ages in the fridge.  As @MollyB says, it's wonderful in the risotto-style rice and beans and I've put it on everything from breakfast eggs to sandwiches to quesadillas to cooked chicken or fish.  It's good stuff.  There's a recipe on his website here.

[MollyB]

The Green Chile Adobo really is great. Thanks for finding the recipe online, @blue_dolphin. And for correcting me that the recipe is from More Mexican Everyday. 

 

I have a lot of cookbooks where the authors tell you that certain recipes are something that you will always want to have a jar of in your fridge - this is one of the first times I've found a recipe where that has been true.

[Anna N]

 Still reading through River Cottage A-Z. Ran across a recipe for Pan Haggerty, a British take on potatoes gratin. I  was unprepared to tackle the recipe as written but the ingredients appealed to me. I took the spirit of the recipe, potatoes, onions and cheese  and made a version that was fast and easy. I tossed some halved tiny red potatoes with some peeled and halved shallots, roasted them until nicely browned and tender and then topped them with some Cabot cheddar. A brief sojourn under the broiler and dinner was ready:

 

 

 

[suzilightning]

11 hours ago, Anna N said:

Cabot cheddar.

Do you get some of the specialty bars up where you are like White Oak, Alpine or Orne Meadow?

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, suzilightning said:

Do you get some of the specialty bars up where you are like White Oak, Alpine or Orne Meadow?

None that I know about.  This cheddar reached me via Buffalo.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My personality is a bit like that of Toad in Wind and the Willows:  the current passion here is pasta.  (Last week it was Peruvian peppers.)

 

Accordingly I just took delivery from amazon of Bugialli on Pasta, along with a couple other Bugialli books!  And having just finished Marc Vetri's Mastering Pasta I am now devouring Pasta by Antonio Carluccio.  There are a few other pasta books home from the library waiting to be read.  Not that I didn't already have a decent enough collection of pasta books on the shelf.

 

Tonight I plan to try a modernist inspired pasta with a pinch of xanthan gum, if I can find it, to accompany my chicken Marsala.  I say "If I can find it" because I recall the xanthan gum lives somewhere in an unmarked canister.  I may be having spaghetti with baking powder or spaghetti with cream of tartar.

 

Full disclosure:  last night's dinner involved Peruvian aji amarillo.  Think of The Lima Cookbook and French fries.

 

 

[Smokeydoke]

Right now I'm enamored with Diana Henry, I'm reading through Simple now and every recipe sounds fascinating.

 

[Anna N]

24 minutes ago, Smokeydoke said:

Right now I'm enamored with Diana Henry, I'm reading through Simple now and every recipe sounds fascinating.

 

I, too, am a huge fan of Diana Henry. 

[Anna N]

Another book that has once again risen to the top is Hugh's Three Good Things.  By Hugh Fearnley-Whttingstall, this is a truly inspirational book.  Based on the premise of three ingredients that work together, it covers everything from appetizers to desserts. Much more sophisticated than the simplistic "three ingedient" concept that is offered as an answer to "what to eat when you hate cooking" philosophy.  Hugh assumes that you care about what you eat beyond fulfilling a physiological need. Think garlic, parsnip and blue cheese soup or leeks, cheese, bread (a toastie) or chocolate, prunes, brandy (pudding). You get the idea. Most, if not all, of the recipes are accompanied by a photograph and most are easy enough to pull together. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

Another book that has once again risen to the top is Hugh's Three Good Things.  By Hugh Fearnley-Whttingstall, this is a truly inspirational book.  Based on the premise of three ingredients that work together, it covers everything from appetizers to desserts. Much more sophisticated than the simplistic "three ingedient" concept that is offered as an answer to "what to eat when you hate cooking" philosophy.  Hugh assumes that you care about what you eat beyond fulfilling a physiological need. Think garlic, parsnip and blue cheese soup or leeks, cheese, bread (a toastie) or chocolate, prunes, brandy (pudding). You get the idea. Most, if not all, of the recipes are accompanied by a photograph and most are easy enough to pull together. 

 

Just placed a hold!  Had I seen this before I came home from work I could have pulled a copy from the shelf.  Not that I don't have half a dozen pasta books to finish reading first.

 

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Just placed a hold!  Had I seen this before I came home from work I could have pulled a copy from the shelf.  Not that I don't have half a dozen pasta books to finish reading first.

 

Do tell what you think when you get it. 

[kayb]

Top of my list when I get back home (I'm in Nashville being grandmama, and my daughter's kitchen is, well, less than well stocked...) is Paul Hollywood's Bread. Specifically, the rye. I just have had a taste for rye bread since I read that recipe. Numerous other things in that book sound excellent, too.

 

I'm also going back to that odd sandwich book I grabbed on Kindle a couple of months back, "Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings." Some of the fillings sounded pretty good, albeit the proportions seemed to be sized for the Jolly Green Giant. But they do sound like good jumping-off points.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On ‎12‎/‎31‎/‎2016 at 5:48 AM, Anna N said:

Do tell what you think when you get it. 

 

Well, Anna, I am well into the book and except for your post I would have no clue as to Hugh's last name.  It is a glimpse into an alien world where gas mark is venerated but no condescension is made to Fahrenheit.  Most of these three item recipes would not make it past the six, twelve, or even twenty item checkout lanes at the local supermarket.

 

Which is not to say some of the recipes are not interesting.  I have been sticking in bookmarks.  Though I must reiterate my hands on experience of British cuisine is bacon in cans from Denmark and custard in packets from Bird's.

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Well, Anna, I am well into the book and except for your post I would have no clue as to Hugh's last name.  It is a glimpse into an alien world where gas mark is venerated but no condescension is made to Fahrenheit.  Most of these three item recipes would not make it past the six, twelve, or even twenty item checkout lanes at the local supermarket.

 

Which is not to say some of the recipes are not interesting.  I have been sticking in bookmarks.  Though I must reiterate my hands on experience of British cuisine is bacon in cans from Denmark and custard in packets from Bird's.

 

 

Yeah. I don't believe it was ever meant to be a "3 ingedient" type cookbook. 

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I must reiterate my hands on experience of British cuisine is bacon in cans from Denmark and custard in packets from Bird's.

 

What?

My "hand's on experience" is living in the UK from 1953 until 1996, largely because I'm British, and I have never in my life knowingly eaten canned bacon from anywhere. Don't even remember seeing it.

 

A simple Google search for "canned bacon" only seems to return American examples. And this denigration of British cuisine coming from a country that gave us Spam, Coca Cola and all the other junk food which has lead to a world-wide obesity epidemic?

I'll grant you that Bird's custard is or was popular, but it wasn't universal. Even my cooking challenged mother made her own. We kids preferred Bird's.

I'd just add that it isn't Britain that is guilty of making no condescension to Fahrenheit. It's pretty much the world. The USA is one of the very few countries (maybe three) which still uses that - I think the others are Chad and some other country which has changed its name three times since I last looked at a map last week.

Edited January 13, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Okanagancook]

My family used to buy canned Danish bacon in Toronto in the late 1950's early 1960's.  Don't remember where they bought it.  It was a treat if remember correctly.  Thinly sliced and quite strong tasting, perhaps a little salty.

Haven't see it lately.