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The Yogurt Cookbook is one of those great-sounding ideas you can’t believe hasn’t been done before. In fact, it has – this book is a re-issue (newly photographed and designed). It’s a far-ranging book, trotting across Central Asia and Europe, and there are a lot of good ideas. Is it a keeper? Read on to find out.
Also, my 12-year-old son has a very in-character cameo appearance in this week’s story.
Click here to read today’s review of The Yogurt Cookbook in the Boston Globe. (Hit the paywall? Use this PDF link.)
On CookShelf, the cookbook-rating app this week, I’ve got a story on husband-and-wife cookbooks, as well as many more data points and analysis of The Yogurt Cookbook and all the latest cookbooks. Treat yourself to a copy of the app that’s a zine for cookbook fanatics! It’s available for both iPhone/iPad and Android device and updated every Wednesday .
Leftover rhubarb + leftover cherries + leftover tapioca + leftover pie dough + random idea + rainy day = exactly 4 rhubarb-cherry tartlets
To be baked off some time before dinner today, but shh – don’t tell the kids. It’s a surprise.
Full of Flavor brings up a classic cooking paradox: Many of us like the idea of improvising more in the kitchen – of changing things up, swapping things out, being creative. And Maria Elia wants to help, with a book that urges you to “Create…like a chef”! But there’s the rub. If you really want to go all buckaroo in the kitchen, are you going to turn to a cookbook to tell you how? If you really want your independence, are you going to ask someone to prescribe variations on a roast chicken for you? Hmm. Conundrums aside, it’s a solid cookbook, and it does live up to its title.
Click here to read today’s review of Full of Flavor in the Boston Globe. (Hit the paywall? Use this PDF link.)
For many more data points and analysis and recipe links of Full of Flavor - and well over 200 other cookbooks – help yourself to a copy of CookShelf, the cookbook-rating app. It’s available for both iPhone/iPad and Android device. And it’s updated just about every Wednesday with more news about the latest, greatest cookbooks – essential reading for every cookbook lover.
With all the hubbub of summer roundup, I didn’t get round to posting my last Boston Globe review, which is of Deborah Madison’s magnum opus. It’s a formidable book, and arranged intelligently, by plant family. Doesn’t that make sense? Onions cook alike, and so do brassicas, just for a start.
And just in time for the farmstand / farmers’ market / CSA season, too!
Meanwhile, of course you’re wondering: has “Vegetable Literacy” been loaded onto CookShelf, the cookbook-rating app? Can I read your reviews on my iPhone/iPad or Android device? Why yes, it has! And yes, you can! This Wednesday and just about every Wednesday, CookShelf gets updated with new material, so be sure to accept all updates when they are offered to get the latest cookbook news.
Click here to read my review of Vegetable Literacy in the Boston Globe. (Hit the paywall? Use this PDF link.)
There is almost nothing I love better than radish butter on toast, on a cool spring morning when the radishes are new.
First you toast the bread, on just one side. How do you toast it on just one side? You use a toaster oven, laying the slice on a piece of foil or a tray, so the down side is protected. The nubbly, nutty, toothy crumb of multi-grain bread suits the purpose better than anything else I can imagine.
While the bread is toasting, you slice very cold unsalted butter as finely as you can, 1/32nd of an inch thick. It’s going to melt, but just barely. If your knife’s not sharp, you can use a peeler. Or grate it on a box cutter.
When the toast is just stiff and barely gilded on its up side, you take it out and wave it around a bit till it’s only just warm to the touch. The butter goes on the untoasted side, where it clings and subsides a little, but doesn’t melt.
Next you salt the butter just enough. (With Maldon salt if you’ve got it and like it, or any other salt if you don’t.)
Then you shingle on the radishes, sliced just as fine as you can so you can see the watery morning light through them. These are two French breakfast radishes I just rooted from their beds. One was imperfect – dented, stained, and crooked – before it met the knife. But when you take that first bite, your eyes closing with your teeth, you see that what seemed broken was actually whole all along.
And now…on to the many runners-up in this bounteous season of cookbooks. First, let’s review the top 10, originally posted here with write-ups:
Now, on to the shortlist!
Exciting New Bakery-Cafe Book
Flour, Too: Indispensable Recipes for the Cafés most Loved Sweets & Savories, by Joanne Chang
Transporting Lowcountry Vacation-in-a-Book
Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen, by Matt Lee and Ted Lee
Botanically Literate and Versatile Reference
Vegetable Literacy, by Deborah Madison
Intriguing Re-Boot of Played-Out Category
Modern Mediterranean: Easy, Flavorful Home Cooking, by Melia Marden
All-in-One Chinese Cookbook
Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking, by Fuchsia Dunlop
Solid Grilling Reference; Also Useful as a Doorstop
The Grilling Book, by Adam Rapoport and the editors of Bon Appétit
125 Reasons You Did Not Need to Eat Bacon
Bacon Nation, by Peter Kaminsky & Marie Rama
One-Stop Shopping, Soup to Nuts, for the Gluten-Free
Gluten-Free Girl Every Day, by Shauna James Ahern with Daniel Ahern
Euro-licious, Designy Browse Book
Home Made Summer, by Yvette van Boven
Wear Your Food, Don’t Eat It (mostly beauty products made from food)
Gifts from the Garden: 100 Gorgeous Homegrown Presents, by Deborah Robertson
Dandelions – If You Can’t Weed ‘em, Eat ‘em.
Cooking with Flowers: Sweet & Savory Recipes with Rose Petals, Lilacs, Lavender, and Other Edible Flowers, by Miche Bacher
Yes, There *Are* Still Pastas You Haven’t Yet Made
Pasta: Classic and Contemporary Pasta, Risotto, Crespelle, and Polenta Recipes, by the Culinary Institute of America
Protein-filled Book for Manly Cooks with Manly Style
Guy Gourmet: Great Chefs’ Amazing Meals for a Lean & Healthy Body, by Adina Steiman & Paul Kita
Arty British Vegetable Lovers’ Book
River Cottage Veg, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Quirky Dolce Vita Book
Friends at My Table: Recipes for a Year of Eating, Drinking, and Making Merry, by Alice Hart
Best Gift for the Beach Cottage
Fish Market: A Cookbook for Selecting and Preparing Seafood, by Kathy Hunt
Irresistible Little British-style Baking Bites
Short & Sweet: The Best of Home Baking, by Dan Lepard
Sweets, not Sweat
Slice & Bake Cookies: Fast Cookies from Your Refrigerator or Freezer, by Elinor Klivans
This Time You Really *Will* Like Quinoa
The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook: 125 Delicious Recipes from Amaranth to Quinoa to Wild Rice, by Judith Finlayson
Highly Suggestive Writing About a Dairy Product
Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese: A Guide to Wedges, Recipes, and Pairings, by Tenaya Darlington
Look, It’s a Ginkgo Tree! Can I Eat it?
Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat, by Ellen Zachos
Don’t you just love cookbooks and cookbook reviews? Download a copy of CookShelf, the cookbook-rating app, for yourself! It’s updated every week with reviews of the latest and greatest in cookbooks – and new best-of lists.
Don’t forget to download CookShelf so you can be the first to see my top 10 summer cookbook picks!
Don’t forget to download CookShelf so you can be the first to see my top 10 summer cookbook picks!
