A Year of Pies : a seasonal tour of home baked pies (M)
by
Ashley English

"*Starred Review* In her back-of-the-book acknowledgments,
nutritionist-author English thanks husband Glenn for
his pie-eating prowess, six months straight. Obviously, there's a
reason why many would volunteer for that kind of hardship, judging from
the more than 60 recipes alone. English's talent is twofold: repurposing
a traditional dish while staying true to its food legacy and giving us
foolproof instructions and color step-by-step photographs for making
piecrusts right.

Also, her approach, as with all good chefs, is
seasonal, as is her collection, divided into winter, spring, summer, and
autumn. Interspersing savory with sweet, she proffers some intriguing,
gotta-make-this kinds of pie: rosemary-bourbon sweet-potato pie,
ratatouille and polenta pie, carrot pie, and buttered-rum shoofly pie.
Tools and ingredients, along with an all-too-brief history of this
delectable entree-dessert, make up her first chapters, with most space
dedicated to recipes, great color photographs, tips, and variations for
many." Booklist
Skirt Steak : women chefs on standing the heat and staying in the kitchen (M)
by
Charlotte Druckman
"After food journalist Druckman wrote the article "Why Are There No Great
Women Chefs?" for food and culture journal Gastronomica, she was moved
to further investigate the culinary gender gap in the United States. The
answer to the question she poses is not that there are no great women
chefs, but that most are unknown to the general public. Here she
compiles the responses from interviews with 73 female chefs. They talk
about what life is really like in the kitchen, the difficulties they
face working in a male-dominated industry, and how they balance their
demanding careers with motherhood, and offer advice for prospective
chefs.
 |
photo courtesy Charlotte Druckman |
Druckman also addresses the media's role in covering (or not
covering) female chefs, how the industry has changed over the years, and
where it is headed. VERDICT Chapters are broken down by topic and
feature responses from multiple chefs, rather than presenting each
chef's interview as a whole individually, which can be confusing and may
prevent readers from connecting to the individual personalities.
However, Druckman's book offers a different perspective and new insights
than other available books about (primarily male) chefs. A valuable
addition to food literature." - Library Journal
Talking with My Mouth Full : my life as a professional eater (M)
by
Gail Simmons
"Chef, author, and television Food Network personality Simmons recounts
her life. Toronto-born before becoming a dedicated New Yorker, she had a
unique upbringing in a family that valued the pleasures of good food.
One of the aspects of her youth that sets Simmons apart is her deep
attraction to South African food, developed on family visits to
relatives there. She fell in love with dried meat strips (beef, chicken,
antelope, and ostrich), which she recalls with great sensory detail.
She also spent time in Spain and on an Israeli kibbutz. Returning to
North America, Simmons enrolled in culinary school and labored in Le
Cirque's illustrious kitchens. Equal to her passion for cooking, her
love for writing led to a career in food journalism, and she became an
editor at a food magazine. In an emotionally affecting sketch, she
reflects on the devastation wrought by her beloved elder brother's
mental illness." - Booklist
Consider the Fork : a history of how we cook and eat (M)
by
Bee Wilson
"*Starred Review* At every turn, Wilson's history of the technology of
cooking and eating upends another unexamined tradition, revealing that
utensils and practices now taken for granted in kitchen and at table
have long and remarkable histories. The knife evolved from primitive
humans' need to reduce food to manageable portions. Thermometers helped
make home ovens practical. Some of the first pleas for animal rights
arose from the use of caged dogs to turn spits in front of kitchen
hearths.
.JPG)
Most societies weigh recipe ingredients, but Americans continue
to measure ingredients by volume. Wilson traces this deviation back to
the difficulty of lugging scales westward across the frontier. Wilson's
book teems with other delightful insights, laying to rest such questions
as what Chinese parents say to their children to persuade them to
finish their food, since they can't employ the typical American
admonition about children starving in China. (Answer: Don't disrespect
the sweat of the hardworking rice farmer.)" - Booklist
Gran Cocina Latina : the food of Latin America (M)
by Maricel E. Presilla

"Presilla is a Cuban-born chef and renowned culinary historian who won the 2012 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. Her latest, a bible of Latin American cuisine, presents more than 500 recipes for both authentic and modern dishes, from adobos and sofritos, to popular empanadas, tamales, and ceviches, to the less familiar cachapas (corn griddle cakes) and picadillo (a seasoned beef hash).
Expertly blending history with travel narrative and memoir, Presilla brings Latin American food culture to life. The comprehensive treatment makes it difficult to isolate information about individual countries, but most readers won't mind. VERDICT An indispensable reference. Highly recommended." - Library Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment