Cookaholics Bulletin Board

In some respects the antithesis of gourmet cuisine, but in terms of a following, this old cookbook remained popular over a few decades: More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre. I have a copy coming in a box of "stuff" from the States. It is a Mennonite cookbook, and is aimed at economical but healthy meals along with some observations by the late author about life and respect for the world's resources and cultures. While it relies, according to one review, on some things not in fashion today such as margarine, all the recipes are "from scratch" so substitutions are easy. I am looking forward to reading next year.

My New Orleans by John Besh is a fairly interesting, if massive, compendium of cajun/creole and modern recipes. Each chapter focuses on a particular ingredient season (crawfish, crab, tomatoes) or holiday (mardi gras, new years). Recipes range from the creole traditional to modern takes which are remarkably similar to California cookbooks. Not sure it's worth the substantial cover price, but good as a library checkout, gift purchase or discount buy.

Vefa's Kitchen, named after the author Vefa Alexiadou, is a Webster's sized tome stuffed with several hundred -- possibly as many as a thousand -- Greek recipes for just about everything. Surprisingly few pictures for a Phaidon cookbook, but if you're looking for a classic Greek recipe from almost any part of Greece, it's probably in there -- if you can find it. The recipes are mostly simple and straightforwards. The meze section is especially stellar, having meze selections for all four seasons.` Unfortunately, the sweets section suffers from the brevity of the instructions.

I would tend to choose Glorious Foods of Greece or Culinaria Greece ahead of this tome. But if you have four or five inches of cookbook shelf space and want to have a really comprehensive Greek cookbook, here it is.

A Cook's Journey To Japan was written for me. This is the first time I've ever held a vegetarian-friendly, short-attention-span, don't-have-time-to-get-to-Nijiya-market-so-how-can-I-substitute Japanese cookbook in my life. Most Japanese cookbooks I read require multiple prepare-days-ahead ingredients in each recipe; not so this one, which is eminiently suitable for weeknight Japanese meals, while still having a strong ethnic flavor. Has large sections on vegetables and seafood, and lots of pictures. I'll try cooking something with it over the holidays, and if that works out I'm buying a copy.

Link: http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9784805310113-0

The Georgian Feast by Darra Goldstein is an excellent all-in-one book on the best food of the Caucasus, and in fact the only really usable pure Georgian cookbook I found casing the San Francisco and Jackson County library systems. (there were NO cookbooks for the "other" Georgia, but perhaps that's not surprising.) Endorsed by both the Georgian Head of State and Paula Wolfert, the first third of the book is a primer on Georgian history, culture, and food, which I'll admit I didn't read.

Recipes are clearly laid out and easy to follow. In may cases, the author gives substitutions for obscure or difficult-to-prepare Georgian ingredients. Popular recipes, such as Kachapuri and Lobia, are each given with several variations, although for some reason the author omits the "quick homemade kachapuri" I have from other cookbooks. Considering it's in Eastern Europe, Georgia has a surprising amount of vegetarian food.

Recommended. I won't be buying it only because I have chapters on Georgian food in two other cookbooks.

Fuzzy,

How much overlap is there in Georgian and Ukrainian cuisine? Since my German forebears detoured in the Ukraine for a generation or two, a lot of why my family thinks is their traditional German cuisine is actually Ukrainian. I like most of the Ukrainian-influenced food, including my grandmother's very borscht-alike vegetable soup.

Darcie,

I don't know. I imagine there's quite a bit of overlap, since they're right next to each other. I expect that the further north you go, the less middle eastern influence there is, and the more cuisine centers around root vegetables and meat.

Borscht is not actually a Georgian dish though as far as I can tell from restaurants and cookbooks; their vegetable soups tend to be lighter.

McGee is a great reference and awesome read. Wholeheartedly agree.

Molly Stevens - All About Roasting

I have not prepared anything from this book, but have read through it about a 1/2 dozen times. The first part of the book gets into a lot of principles of convection, radiation, conduction. She talks about the "why's of using certain pans. I tend to like this kind of format alot - give the principals, theory, etc. and then build on them with real examples. Anyone of Reinhart's bread books (i.e. Bread Baker's Apprentice) does the same thing.

I am looking forward to doing the standing rib roast. The method of seasoning so far in advance, plus using dry mustard is very intriguing.

Ken

Thanks, Ken!