Gastronomy Books - Page 18

Bourbon at its Best: The Lore and Allure of America's Finest Spirits

Ron Givens

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A 'must read' for anyone who has ever sipped a glass of one of America's finest whiskies 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Bourbon is a favored beverage whose enduring popularity in the American bars and homes continues from generation to generation. Now bourbon expert Ron Givens has written a fascinating, descriptive, and informative book focusing exclusively on this alcoholic masterpiece in all its varied subtleties in "Bourbon At Its Best: The Lore & Allure Of America's Finest Spirits". Beginning with a succinct introduction, Given's continues with describing the process of how bourbon is made from mashing, fermentation, and distillation, to barreling, aging, and mingling. There are chapters devoted to the major distillers, legendary brands, the diversity of drinks that incorporate bourbon as an ingredient, and so much more. Enhanced with the inclusion of an Index and a Bibliography, "Bourbon At Its Best" is profusely illustrated throughout and includes such historical oddities as why all but one of the makers of 'straight bourbon' are located in a small region of Kentucky. A highly recommended addition to community library collections, "Bourbon At Its Best" should be considered a 'must read' by anyone who has ever sipped a glass of one of America's finest whiskies.

Editorial Review:

Whether they drink it straight, on the rocks, or in classic cocktails, Americans love their bourbon. Bourbon at Its Best is the most comprehensive guide to this drink available, with detailed descriptions of these elixirs, from the tried and true ways in which they are made to the amazing range of flavors they deliver. Bourbon at Its Best reveals the flavorful history of this red-white-and-blue spirit, from its rural origins as "corn likker" to its rough- and- tumble days as moonshine to its downright genteel status as a premium liquor. Readers will find out what makes bourbon different from other whiskeys of the world and how to truly savor all of its better qualities. They'll experience the magic of bourbon-making first-hand, traveling to classic distilleries in America's heartland. Perfect for both newcomers and connoisseurs, Bourbon at Its Best is an entertaining, informative tour of this intoxicating world.

The Gastronomical Me

M. F. K. Fisher

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A great book for readers of all backgrounds! 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful.

Do the former critics not read Tolstoy because he was a Count? I was born into a working class neighborhood in New York, and this is one of my favorite books. Being a gourmand is an enlightened point of view, a matter of personal taste. In my opinion this is Ms. Fisher's very best book. The writing, and the personality, are exquisite. Especially in the chapter about her Father and a childhood journey, and the discovery of her crush on a fellow boarding school student (female) and her love of oysters, at the same time! Am I the only one who feels that I've shared all of those wonderful meals with her when I put down this book? Great to pack along when you are traveling, even if you've read it before!

Editorial Review:

In 1929, a newly married M.F.K. Fisher said goodbye to a milquetoast American culinary upbringing and sailed with her husband to Dijon, where she tasted real French cooking for the first time. The Gastronomical Me is a chronicle of her passionate embrace of a whole new way of eating, drinking, and celebrating the senses. As she recounts memorable meals shared with an assortment of eccentric and fascinating characters, set against a backdrop of mounting pre-war tensions, we witness the formation not only of her taste but of her character and her prodigious talent.

The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection (Modern Library Paperbacks)

Robert Farrar Capon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Full-throttle joy of living 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the most exceptional books I've read. Bold, funny, grumpy, and wise, it is a beautifully-written cookbook and dazzling radiance of commentary.

To read this fine book is like sitting on a stool in Capon's kitchen, listening to this old-school master talk (as he slow-cooks) on subjects as diverse as onions, knives, wine, love, dinner parties, and baking soda ("the Most Extraordinary Ordinary Thing in the World").

The thing I most appreciate about this book is its unapologetic, hurricane-force, declaration of JOY with life and life's Creator. "Supper of the Lamb" is almost operatic in its celebration of God, real foods, the earth, and wine. The book is a zero-tolerance zone for synthetic foods, ideas or people.

BE WARNED: "Supper of the Lamb" was first published 37 years ago. The language flow is so beautifully full that it's a little like eating lamb after decades of consuming malted milk balls and pork rinds.

Editorial Review:

From a passionate and talented chef who also happens to be an Episcopalian priest comes this surprising and thought-provoking treatise on everything from prayer to poetry to puff pastry. In The Supper of the Lamb, Capon talks about festal and ferial cooking, emerging as an inspirational voice extolling the benefits and wonders of old-fashioned home cooking in a world of fast food and prepackaged cuisine. This edition includes the original recipes and a new Introduction by Deborah Madison, the founder of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and author of several cookbooks.

The Physiology of Taste (Penguin Classics)

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The standard English edition of a landmark eccentric classic 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 23 people found this review helpful.

The standard edition of this work in the US, and a lively one. Jean-Anthelme de Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) is known for this book and for pithy maxims like "Adam and Eve sold themselves for an apple. What would they have done for a truffled fowl?" (That of course in the days when the truffles that most people heard of were real ones, not chocolate candies that look like them; and also when the real ones were much more plentiful and less expensive.) Memorable are the wonderful anecdotes of the kindly old priest and his "austere" meatless menu ("The Curé's Omelet," with "theoretical notes" afterwards) and of Brillat's scheme at a country inn to enhance a humble dish. This wide-ranging book established its author as an original and knowledgeable voice in French food writing, to be compared with Carême and Grimod de la Reynière.

Brillat-Savarin, among other roles, was the basis of Marcell Rouff's _The Passionate Epicure,_ a fictional book gently combining food and sex (naturally, as a friend of mine remarked, since it's French), which was widely read in English when the translation appeared in 1962. Marcella Hazan and (I believe) Julia Child cited it in their cookbooks. In his preface to the 1962 Rouff, Lawrence Durrell (himself a fashionable author at that time) explained that many in the Brillat-Savarin family "died at the dinner table, fork in hand" and that Brillat's sister Pierrette, two months before her hundredth birthday, spoke at table what are to food fanatics easily the most famous last words ever: "Vite! Apportez-moi le dessert -- je sens que je vais passer!"

Fisher's translation and notes are a lively part of this edition of Brillat-Savarin (happily reprinted recently). Some booksellers offer newer editions by different English translators; I don't know why. This semi-scholarly translation and editing, executed in France during the post-war period described in her autobiographical _Two Towns in Provence,_ was the work that established Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher among US gastronomic writers. Her later status as Official Food Celebrity encouraged journalists to cite her automatically (whether they had read her work or not), but at least this time, publicity and merit coincide.

Editorial Review:

Brillat-Savarin's unique, exuberant collection of dishes, experiences, reflections, history and philosophy raised gastronomy to an art form. First published in France in 1825, this remarkable book reflected a new era in French cuisine: the advent of the restaurant, which gave the bourgeoisie the opportunity to select their dishes with precision and anticipation. Yet the author also gives his views on taste, diet and maintaining a healthy weight, on digestion, sleep, dreams and being a gourmand. Witty, shrewd and anecdotal, "The Physiology of Taste" not only contains some remarkable recipes, it is an elegant argument for the pleasures of good food and a hearty appetite.

Pizza: A Global History (RB-Edible)

Carol Helstosky

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Editorial Review:

You can pick Chicago deep dish, Sicilian, or New York-style; pan crust or thin crust; anchovies or pepperoni. There are countless ways to create the dish called pizza, as well as a never-ending debate on the best way of cooking it. Now Carol Helstosky documents the fascinating history and cultural life of this chameleon-like food in Pizza.
Originally a food for the poor in eighteenth-century Naples, the pizza is a source of national and regional pride as well as cultural identity in Italy, Helstosky reveals. In the twentieth century, the pizza followed Italian immigrants to America, where it became the nation’s most popular dish and fueled the rise of successful fast-food corporations such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Along the way, Helstosky explains, pizza has been adapted to local cuisines and has become a metaphor for cultural exchange. Pizza also features several recipes and a wealth of illustrations, including a photo of the world’s largest and most expensive pizza—sprinkled with edible 24-karat gold shavings and costing over $4000.   Whether you love sausage and onions on your pizza or unadorned cheese, Pizza has enough offerings to satiate even the pickiest of readers. 

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The Fireside Cook Book: A Complete Guide to Fine Cooking for Beginner and Expert

James Beard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Fireside Cook Book is designed for people who are not content to regard food just as something one transfers periodically from plate to mouth. It is for those who recognize that a simple family meal (as well as a dress-up dinner party) can be a pleasure and a special event.

The wide variety of I-can't-wait-to-try-it dishes in the book are presented according to a new and different theory. You will find here no attempt to overwhelm the cook with all the recipes ever concocted. Instead, you will find clear, easy-to-follow instructions for the basic preparation of every food, followed in each case by fascinating variations. The basic recipes and variations add up to 1,217 tested dishes -- simple enough for the novice, delicious enough for the most meticulous master chef, complete enough for the most imaginative menus without a repetition.

A detailed chapter is devoted to the art of outdoor cookery, another to the preparation of hors d'oeuvres, cocktail snacks, and supper snacks. There is an entire section of suggested menus subdivided into cold weather meals and summer doldrum hints. There is also a complete section on wines and liquors.

The 36 full-color pictures and the nearly 400 other color pictures are themselves full of helpful invention. Handsome double-page spreads employ visual-aid methods to give practical details about, and special uses of, cuts of meat, varieties of wine, and types of fish.

Here, in short, is a book that is an indispensable addition to every American home in which good food is appreciated. It is a book to use constantly, to pore over with delight, and give to all friends from whom you can reasonably expect a future dinner invitation.

Food And Culture: A Reader

Counihan Carole

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Interesting collection. 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Food and culture are examined in 28 essays by noted anthropologists and other social scientists in this uneven but valuable survey.
Reading some of the academese is like treading molasses, but the collection is redeemed by such gems as Brumberg's examination of the Victorian roots of anorexia nervosa, Sobo's study of the social meanings of obesity in Jamaica, and Harris' "The Abominable Pig". Other writers explore such issues as breast-feeding, "industrial food", and hunger.
Very interesting and worthwhile for those interested in the deeper meanings of food and eating.

(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable feature of this page. This reviewer does nor employ numerical ratings.)

Editorial Review:

Food and Culture: A Reader, is a solidly established classroom and reference text for scholars and students across the humanities and social sciences. It has been assigned in courses in anthropology, cultural studies, folklore, food studies, history, literature, philosophy, sociology, archeology, American studies, and more. Food and Culture remains significant because it demonstrates the centrality of cultural anthropology to the study of food. It is unique in providing an interdisciplinary collection of classic and cutting-edge articles in the field of food and culture studies that combine theory with ethnographic and historical data.

Moonshine: Recipes * Tall Tales * Drinking Songs * Historical Stuff * Knee-Slappers *How to Make It * How to Drink It * Pleasin' the Law * Recoverin' the Next Day

Matthew Rowley

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Now here’s a volume you can really drink to!  Something’s brewing in these pages, and it’s moonshine—a word that evokes fascination, curiosity, and a warm sense of nostalgia. Never before has there been such a richly illustrated, thorough, and entertaining celebration of the history of making fine distilled spirits. Take a trip through moonshining’s past: travel from its beginnings as a pioneer staple to the dark days of prohibition, from quickly produced urban rotgut to today’s carefully handcrafted artisanal libations. Get in on the fun with how-to instructions that take into account all legal regulations and requirements before covering ingredients, building a still, basic distilling techniques, and dozens of recipes, all adapted for the beginner. Whiskies, brandies, grappa, schnapps: they’re all here, along with dozens of page-turning quotes, song lyrics, and vintage photographs and illustrations.
“Making whisky or brandy is not the least bit difficult. Making something you’d want to drink…well, that may take some practice.”   —Matthew B. Rowley

Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet

Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon

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Editorial Review:

The remarkable, amusing and inspiring adventures of a Canadian couple who make a year-long attempt to eat foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their apartment.

When Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon learned that the average ingredient in a North American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate, they decided to launch a simple experiment to reconnect with the people and places that produced what they ate. For one year, they would only consume food that came from within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver apartment. The 100-Mile Diet was born.

The couple’s discoveries sometimes shook their resolve. It would be a year without sugar, Cheerios, olive oil, rice, Pizza Pops, beer, and much, much more. Yet local eating has turned out to be a life lesson in pleasures that are always close at hand. They met the revolutionary farmers and modern-day hunter-gatherers who are changing the way we think about food. They got personal with issues ranging from global economics to biodiversity. They called on the wisdom of grandmothers, and immersed themselves in the seasons. They discovered a host of new flavours, from gooseberry wine to sunchokes to turnip sandwiches, foods that they never would have guessed were on their doorstep.

The 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted, attracting media and grassroots interest that spanned the globe. The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating tells the full story, from the insights to the kitchen disasters, as the authors transform from megamart shoppers to self-sufficient urban pioneers. The 100-Mile Diet is a pathway home for anybody, anywhere.

Call me naive, but I never knew that flour would be struck from our 100-Mile Diet. Wheat products are just so ubiquitous, “the staff of life,” that I had hazily imagined the stuff must be grown everywhere. But of course: I had never seen a field of wheat anywhere close to Vancouver, and my mental images of late-afternoon light falling on golden fields of grain were all from my childhood on the Canadian prairies. What I was able to find was Anita’s Organic Grain & Flour Mill, about 60 miles up the Fraser River valley. I called, and learned that Anita’s nearest grain suppliers were at least 800 miles away by road. She sounded sorry for me. Would it be a year until I tasted a pie?
—From The 100-Mile Diet


From the Hardcover edition.

A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine, 1650-1800

Susan Pinkard

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Editorial Review:

This book traces the development of modern French habits of cooking, eating, and drinking from their roots in the Ancien Regime. Pinkard examines the interplay of material culture, social developments, medical theory, and Enlightenment thought in the development of French cooking, which culminated in the creation of a distinct culture of food and drink.