On 4/4/2022 at 12:56 PM, hotsaucerman said:please report back on both the bagels & schmears and korean american books if possible!
I wanted to cook more from these books before responding but I've done a little so I might as well share my thoughts thus far.
Bagels, Schmears and a Nice Piece of Fish - As @Vapre says, Cathy Barrow is an engaging a writer. The book is full of family memories, stories and photos which I didn't expect but make it a fun read.
I've made 2 batches of bagels and have been quite pleased with the results. The rest of the book would be pretty useful for pulling together a bagel platter or buffet spread even if you decide to buy the bagels instead of making your own.
I reviewed about a dozen bagel recipes from other cookbooks and I believe this one does a good job at distilling the bagel recipe down to the basics, retaining the important use of barley malt and an overnight, refrigerated rise, both of which are key to good flavor. Most of the other recipes include additional steps (use of sponges or preferments, bulk rises, manual kneading, additional RT rises, Stella Parks uses a tangzhong and mixes her dough in a food processor, Vetri uses bagel boards, etc.) which may or may not add value but this is a solid start and her clear timing schedule makes it easy to have bagels ready when you want.
The first section of the book breaks down the ingredients and process and is followed by recipes for basic New York bagels and several variations, including bagel dogs and a bialy recipe. It's well worth referring back to that first section the first few times through. The book also includes her tips for freezing - within 4 hrs and reheating plus recipes for bagel chips bagel croutons should any happen to go stale.
The schmears section starts with recipes for making your own cultured cream cheese or making a "master schmear" by adding a little sour cream or creme fraiche and lemon juice to commercial cream cheese and is followed by a number of savory and sweet schmears that range from standard to fairly unique. I've made the scallion cheese and lox cheese and I'll be trying the one with salt preserved lemon, the hot honey & marcona almond and the dried apricot, coconut and thyme versions.
The third section has recipes for making home cured or smoked fish and a range of salads/spreads, pickles. That's followed by a sandwich section and a couple of salads that use bagels.
Korean American - There's quite a generous excerpt from the book, including several recipes, available via Amazon's "Look Inside" feature which give a good sense of the book so I won't say too much here. I bought this one because I enjoy Eric Kim's writing so I knew I'd enjoy reading it and that has certainly been the case. Eric worked on the book with his mom after moving back home to Atlanta during the pandemic. Lots of sweet family and personal stories that revolve around food and plenty of "Korean mom" tips tucked here and there in the recipes.
The 9 recipes I've cooked from the book make me think of what my Korean friend's kids would eat on their own- that's because I started with simple toasts and easy breakfast dishes, as I usually do when dipping into a new book. This link should take you to my posts. There are lots of more sophisticated recipes in the book and I look forward to cooking more of them.
I wouldn't recommend this to someone whose focus is solely on the recipes and gets annoyed by extraneous writing in cookbooks. The recipes here are well written, interesting, beautifully photographed and as personal as the stories but the writing is the star, for me.
