Cooking
The Visual Food Lover's Guide is a terrific resource that I can't stop leafing through. In fact, it has taken up residence next to my bed along with a few other treasured tomes. It has the basic information on how to buy, prepare, cook, serve and store over 1,000 types of food. It also gives you the rundown on nutritional information. It's nowhere near as personal or opinionated as Jane Grigon's Vegetable Book, but with hundreds of entries it is much more comprehensive.
I really like that there's a color illustration of each item and some photos for techniques like how to make bread or pry open oyster shells. The entry for anise has an illustration of the flowering plant, star anise seeds and pods. That level of detail is what makes it so worthwhile. They've also done a great job making sure that produce and seafood from different geographic locations are included. My only complaint is that the mushroom section is a bit thin. I would have loved to have seen mushrooms such as hedgehog, lobster and lion's mane included.
The book is in a very convenient small paperback format. I do wish there was an iPhone app so I could it take it with me everywhere! There are still plenty of ingredients that I have yet to explore, and this reference book is a great way to familiarize myself with them before I buy or cook. In fact, I think I could use a copy in my car for my excursions to ethnic markets.
Another must have book for the curious and creative cook is The Flavor Bible. A big congratulations to Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg on the one year anniversary of this landmark book. It has thousands of combinations of ingredients that are tried and true. It actually pairs well with the Visual Food Lover's Guide. It has gotten me out of a rut many times and opened my eyes to some new ways of thinking about ingredients. Like The Visual Food Lover's Guide, it belongs on the shelf of anyone looking to learn more about ingredients and create their own recipes.
- Reading Up On Campania & Italy
Not to rub it in or anything, but I recently spent 10 glorious days in Italy discovering the charms of the Campania region, home of Naples and the Amalfi coast. But there is so much more to the region than that. I already had a soft spot for Sorrento,...
- Books To Give And Get
Sometimes when I review a book I keep it. Other times I give it away. Recently a couple of books that I reviewed fell into that second category. First off a pocket version of Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide. This is the...
- San Francisco Food Lover's Guide: Review
You might have noticed all my caveats about the Zagat Survey the other day. I have none to report for the fourth edition of Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide. As the last edition did, this one shall sit right next to the Zagat...
- Zingerman's Guide To Good Eating
When I was growing up I hated sports. I especially hated any sport where a ball could hit me in the head because usually it did. When I was in the outfield during softball and someone yelled "go farther back" I made it as far back as the library where...
- Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide:book
I remember reading "The Food Lovers Guide to Paris" by Patricia Wells back in the early 1980's. It was a revelation to me. Someone who knew and loved food so well took the time to catalog all the best places in Paris for eating and shopping for food....
Cooking
The Visual Food Lover's Guide
The Visual Food Lover's Guide is a terrific resource that I can't stop leafing through. In fact, it has taken up residence next to my bed along with a few other treasured tomes. It has the basic information on how to buy, prepare, cook, serve and store over 1,000 types of food. It also gives you the rundown on nutritional information. It's nowhere near as personal or opinionated as Jane Grigon's Vegetable Book, but with hundreds of entries it is much more comprehensive.
I really like that there's a color illustration of each item and some photos for techniques like how to make bread or pry open oyster shells. The entry for anise has an illustration of the flowering plant, star anise seeds and pods. That level of detail is what makes it so worthwhile. They've also done a great job making sure that produce and seafood from different geographic locations are included. My only complaint is that the mushroom section is a bit thin. I would have loved to have seen mushrooms such as hedgehog, lobster and lion's mane included.
The book is in a very convenient small paperback format. I do wish there was an iPhone app so I could it take it with me everywhere! There are still plenty of ingredients that I have yet to explore, and this reference book is a great way to familiarize myself with them before I buy or cook. In fact, I think I could use a copy in my car for my excursions to ethnic markets.
Another must have book for the curious and creative cook is The Flavor Bible. A big congratulations to Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg on the one year anniversary of this landmark book. It has thousands of combinations of ingredients that are tried and true. It actually pairs well with the Visual Food Lover's Guide. It has gotten me out of a rut many times and opened my eyes to some new ways of thinking about ingredients. Like The Visual Food Lover's Guide, it belongs on the shelf of anyone looking to learn more about ingredients and create their own recipes.
- Reading Up On Campania & Italy
Not to rub it in or anything, but I recently spent 10 glorious days in Italy discovering the charms of the Campania region, home of Naples and the Amalfi coast. But there is so much more to the region than that. I already had a soft spot for Sorrento,...
- Books To Give And Get
Sometimes when I review a book I keep it. Other times I give it away. Recently a couple of books that I reviewed fell into that second category. First off a pocket version of Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide. This is the...
- San Francisco Food Lover's Guide: Review
You might have noticed all my caveats about the Zagat Survey the other day. I have none to report for the fourth edition of Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide. As the last edition did, this one shall sit right next to the Zagat...
- Zingerman's Guide To Good Eating
When I was growing up I hated sports. I especially hated any sport where a ball could hit me in the head because usually it did. When I was in the outfield during softball and someone yelled "go farther back" I made it as far back as the library where...
- Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide:book
I remember reading "The Food Lovers Guide to Paris" by Patricia Wells back in the early 1980's. It was a revelation to me. Someone who knew and loved food so well took the time to catalog all the best places in Paris for eating and shopping for food....