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By mixmaster b
I am interested in getting some cookbooks that cover the basics of pastry and baking--not bread, necessarily, but dessert, cakes, cookies, etc. I searched a few other cookbook threads but did not have luck on finding books on pastry.
My interest is in fairly classic French and European style baking, and I need a book that covers technique. Pictures would also be much appreciated--I like both the step by step pix or great pictures of the end product.
Right now, I have Desserts and Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. (I love these and have had good results from the recipes, but feel I should start with a more classic approach.) La Varenne Pratique has provided some good starting points, but I would like to find a book with more focus on baking.
I was thinking about the Payard book. Any comments? Suggestions would be much appreciated! In case it applies, I am a home cook and am slightly more skilled than a total beginner.
Thanks!
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By liuzhou
Congratulations are due to Fuchsia Dunlop, whose "Food of Sichuan" has just been published in a Chinese language version - a rare honour here. I've ordered a couple of copies as gifts for local friends who loved the Engish version, but struggled with some language issues.
《川菜》，
中信出版社。
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By Brooke Dojny
Fried Clams (From the New England Clamshack Cookbook)
Serves 4 as Appetizer.
Reprinted with permission from The New England Clamshack Cookbook by Brooke Dojny, 2003
Vegetable Oil or solid white shortening for frying, such as Crisco
2-1/2 pt shucked, medium-sized whole-belly soft-shell clams
1-1/2 c evaporated milk
1-1/2 c yellow corn flour
3/4 c pastry flour, cake flour or all-purpose flour
tartar sauce
lemon wedges
1. Heat the oil or shortening over medium heat in a deep fryer or heavy, deep pot until it reaches 350 degrees F.
2. Rinse the clams gently if they are muddy, and dry on paper towels.
3. Pour the evaporated milk into a large bowl. In another large bowl, stir together the corn flour and pastry flour.
4. Using your hands, drip about one third of the clams into the milk, letting the excess liquid drain off. Dredge the clams in the flour mixture, using your hands to make sure each clam is evenly coated. Transfer to a colander or large strainer and shake gently to remove the excess flour.
5. Slide the clams into the hot fat and deep-fry until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the size of the clams. (Cooked clams can be kept warm in a slow oven while you finish the remaining frying.)
6. Serve with tartar sauce and lemon wedges.
Keywords: Seafood, Appetizer, American
( RG468 )
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By Mutleyracers
Hi all. I hope you are well. I am just into baking bread due to lockdown and need help. Ideally I would like modernist bread but the wife is not quite agreeing to that yet. So I would like some where to start for now until she comes around to the idea. After she has tasted all my amazing breads I make.
I would like this to be in metric rather than imperial.
Thank you
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By Burmese Days
Hello everyone,
This is my first post, so please tell me if I've made any mistakes. I'd like to learn the ropes as soon as possible.
I first learned of this cookbook from The Mala Market, easily the best online source of high-quality Chinese ingredients in the west. In the About Us page, Taylor Holiday (the founder of Mala Market) talks about the cookbooks that inspired her.
This piqued my interest and sent me down a long rabbit hole. I'm attempting to categorically share everything I've found about this book so far.
Reading it online
Early in my search, I found an online preview (Adobe Flash required). It shows you the first 29 pages. I've found people reference an online version you can pay for on the Chinese side of the internet. But to my skills, it's been unattainable.
The Title
Because this book was never sold in the west, the cover, and thus title, were never translated to English. Because of this, when you search for this book, it'll have several different names. These are just some versions I've found online - typos included.
Sichuan (China) Cuisine in Both Chinese and English Si Chuan(China) Cuisinein (In English & Chinese) China Sichuan Cuisine (in Chinese and English) Chengdu China: Si Chuan Ke Xue Ji Shu Chu Ban She Si Chuan(China) Cuisinein (Chinese and English bilingual) 中国川菜：中英文标准对照版 For the sake of convenience, I'll be referring to the cookbook as Sichuan Cuisine from now on.
Versions
There are two versions of Sichuan Cuisine. The first came out in 2010 and the second in 2014. In an interview from Flavor & Fortune, a (now defunct) Chinese cooking
magazine, the author clarifies the differences.
That is all of the information I could find on the differences. Nothing besides that offhanded remark. The 2014 edition seems to be harder to source and, when available, more expensive.
Author(s)
In the last section, I mentioned an interview with the author. That was somewhat incorrect. There are two authors!
Lu Yi (卢一) President of Sichuan Tourism College, Vice Chairman of Sichuan Nutrition Society, Chairman of Sichuan Food Fermentation Society, Chairman of Sichuan Leisure Sports Management Society Du Li (杜莉) Master of Arts, Professor of Sichuan Institute of Tourism, Director of Sichuan Cultural Development Research Center, Sichuan Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Base, Sichuan Provincial Department of Education, and member of the International Food Culture Research Association of the World Chinese Culinary Federation Along with the principal authors, two famous chefs checked the English translations.
Fuchsia Dunlop - of Land of Plenty fame Professor Shirley Cheng - of Hyde Park New York's Culinary Institute of America Fuchsia Dunlop was actually the first (and to my knowledge, only) Western graduate from the school that produced the book.
Recipes
Here are screenshots of the table of contents. It has some recipes I'm a big fan of.
ISBN
ISBN 10: 7536469640 ISBN 13: 9787536469648 As far as I can tell, the first and second edition have the same ISBN #'s. I'm no librarian, so if anyone knows more about how ISBN #'s relate to re-releases and editions, feel free to chime in.
Publisher
Sichuan Science and Technology Press 四川科学技术出版社
Cover
Okay... so this book has a lot of covers.
The common cover A red cover A white cover A white version of the common cover An ornate and shiny cover There may or may not be a "Box set." At first, I thought this was a difference in book editions, but that doesn't seem to be the case. As far as covers go, I'm at a loss. If anybody has more info, I'm all ears.
Buying the book
Alright, so I've hunted down many sites that used to sell it and a few who still have it in stock. Most of them are priced exorbitantly.
AbeBooks.com ($160 + $15 shipping) Ebay.com - used ($140 + $4 shipping) PurpleCulture.net ($50 + $22 shipping) Amazon.com ($300 + $5 shipping + $19 tax) A few other sites in Chinese
I bought a copy off of PurpleCuture.net on April 14th. When I purchased Sichuan Cuisine, it said there was only one copy left. That seems to be a lie to create false urgency for the buyer. My order never updated past processing, but after emailing them, I was given a tracking code. It has since landed in America and is in customs. I'll try to update this thread when (if) it is delivered.
Closing thoughts
This book is probably not worth all the effort that I've put into finding it. But what is worth effort, is preserving knowledge. It turns my gut to think that this book will never be accessible to chefs that have a passion for learning real Sichuan food. As we get inundated with awful recipes from Simple and quick blogs, it becomes vital to keep these authentic sources available. As the internet chugs along, more and more recipes like these will be lost.
You'd expect the internet to keep information alive, but in many ways, it does the opposite. In societies search for quick and easy recipes, a type of evolutionary pressure is forming. It's a pressure that mutates recipes to simpler and simpler versions of themselves. They warp and change under consumer pressure till they're a bastardized copy of the original that anyone can cook in 15 minutes. The worse part is that these new, worse recipes wear the same name as the original recipe. Before long, it becomes harder to find the original recipe than the new one.
In this sense, the internet hides information.
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