Compared to general-use cookbooks, those with a specific focus, such as this one, are directed at a narrower audience. They tend to be tougher to write because the consumer who picks it up expects more than a mere compilation of recipes. Mary Bell delivers! Her first chapter covers the where's, why's and how's of jerky, even including its background history. She continues by going into more specific topics of preparation and storing the chewy morsels, covering a variety of methods and equipment which may be employed to achieve a variety of results.
What follows are about 100 pages of recipes. I was amazed to see how many different kinds of foods may be preserved this way. Sure, I've been making beef jerky for years, usually with a teriyaki marinade...and for variety, I'd add garlic this time, maybe curry powder the next. Who would have thought to write a jerky cookbook? I'm glad Mary did, though.
Don't get me wrong. If I'd given it a little thought, I would have come up with the idea of substituting pork or poultry for the beef. But never would I have considered using ground meat...or believe it or not, vegetarian jerky.
A few years ago, my husband and I were driving up the California coast, enjoying the scenery and the quaintness of the region, not to mention the clear blue waters of the Pacific near the Oregon border. Every few miles, we would see signs advertising little country stores that sold salmon jerky. We were intrigued enough to stop and sample some and wound up buying a bag to munch on while we drove or to eat at roadside tables in the forests of Northern California. Well, that had been our intention. It was so good, we polished off the bag fairly quickly. Unfortunately, we saw no more of these businesses the rest of our trip.
I've been looking for a recipe for this delicious snack ever since. I've done web searches, posted requests in a number of food newsgroups, asked friends, and talked about it to everyone I knew, but I came up with no way to duplicate it. Finally, I got Mary's book and there it was. (Can you tell how excited I am?) Not only salmon, but she also covers trout, cod, tuna, catfish, halibut, sole and other small panfish.
Vegetarian jerky? Sure...and you'll be amazed at what she's come up with. We're not just talking about vegetables, either.
And to finish it all off, here's a grabber for ya...jerky desserts!
No pictures and very few illustrations, but you don't miss them in this book. Matter of fact, I imagine all the jerky would start looking alike after awhile.
The format is great: easy to read, with the ingredients listed in boldface slightly larger than the instructions, and each recipe includes a little sidebar that enhances its corresponding dish, either informationally or via interesting anecdotes.
Very nicely done and highly recommended.
