Reference Books - Page 23

Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Chateau-Style Wines

Daniel Pambianchi

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vehicule Press Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $13.37

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Spirits
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Wine -> Wine & Winemaking
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Editorial Review:

From crushing grapes to bottling wine, this essential handbook enables the home winemaker to make informed decisions about ingredients, equipment, and the winemaking process. Precise step-by-step instructions lead both novice and advanced winemakers through all of the important procedures, including selecting and working with new equipment, determining the best material for specific styles, analyzing the product, monitoring acidity levels, and common troubleshooting problems. Using accessible charts and tables to offer detailed instructions for making Pinot noir, port, and sparkling wines, this newly updated edition also covers often overlooked topics, such as ice wines and blending varieties.

The Milk Soy Protein Intolerance Guidebook/Cookbook

Tamara Field

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vantage Press Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $8.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Diets & Weight Loss -> Diets -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

I love this cookbook! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This cookbook is full of ideas that I might have never tried if my daughter wasn't diagnosed with MSPI. Some recipes call for margarine, and I have yet to find a margarine without milk or soy, but I leave it out or substitute olive oil, and all my recipes have come out fine. A great resource for those of us adjusting to milk and soy allergies.

Thank you for the discussion space! 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The discussion space that Tamara Field started through Quick Topic has been a terrific find!! I recommend any families who are dealing with Milk Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI) or Multiple Food Protein Intolerance (MFPI) to check it out. In the discussion space the Total Elimination Diet (TED) is also discussed.

Good news & bad news. 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The good news: This book is enthusiastic, upbeat, and has some very helpful information, including giving you some ideas for substitutions in the kitchen, if milk & soy are a problem. The bad news: If you're buying this book for the recipes, look out. If you're flexible in the kitchen, you won't have too many problems, but if you're the kind of cook who follows a recipe to the letter, you'll probably have some disappointments. Whatever you do, read the recipes all the way through before you start. In short, I rarely use this cookbook, but it does have some good points, and one can learn from it. Good for Mrs. Field. It takes guts and hard work to tackle a cookbook like this one.

The Physiology of Taste (Penguin Classics)

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin Classics Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $7.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Gastronomy -> Essays
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference

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

Editorial Review:

You can't properly call yourself a gourmand (or even a minor foodie) until you've digested Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's delectable 1825 treatise, The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. Brilliantly and lovingly translated in 1949 by M.F.K. Fisher (herself the doyenne of 20th-century food writing), the book offers the Professor's meditations not just on matters of cooking and eating, but extends to sleep, dreams, exhaustion, and even death (which he defines as the "complete interruption of sensual relations"). Brillat-Savarin, whose genius is in the examination and discussion of food, cooking, and eating, proclaims that "the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star."

Chocoholics will be satisfied to know that "carefully prepared chocolate is as healthful a food as it is pleasant ... that it is above all helpful to people who must do a great deal of mental work...." He examines the erotic properties of the truffle ("the truffle is not a positive aphrodisiac; but it can, in certain situations, make women tenderer and men more agreeable"), the financial influence of the turkey (apparently quite a prize in 19th-century Paris), and the level of gourmandise among the various professions (bankers, doctors, writers, and men of faith are all predestined to love food). Just as engrossing as the text itself are M.F.K. Fisher's lively, personal glosses at the end of every chapter, which make up almost a quarter of the book. These two are soulmates separated by centuries, and Fisher's fondness for the Professor comes through on every page. As she notes at the end, "I have yet to be bored or offended, which is more than most women can say of any relationship, either ghostly or corporeal." --Rebecca A. Staffel

Mennonite Community Cookbook: Favorite Family Recipes

Mary Emma Showalter

Amazon Price: $19.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Herald Press Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $11.10

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> Amish & Mennonite

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A classic! 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

OK, it's a little old-fashioned, but it's a relic of a bygone age, and many of the recipes deserve to be given new life.

The weaknesses are mostly in some of the main-course recipes that, by all appearances, can be extremely fatty and greasy. Speaking as someone who just lost 30 pounds, I don't need that! But they're probably good for an occasional indulgence.

The cookie, cake and pie recipes are the book's strongest point. Saucepan Fudge Cake is easy and unbelievably good, and Rochester Cake (also labelled as Grandmother's Favorite Cake) is outstanding, a layered spice cake with a raisin filling and topping. It's a great favorite of mine for parties.

The recipes for pickles, jams and jellies will probably interest a lot of people in reviving the dying art of home canning.

There are recipes that probably don't work at all in today's world, or are probably not up to modern tastes. A Russian "birthday cake" is pumpernickel bread, sliced and spread with cottage cheese, and the recipe is probably presented more as a historical curiosity than anything else. Another recipe, for a "Pork Cake", is something like a cross between a fruitcake and a meatloaf and will probably make modern cooks gag.

Still, there are many good good good recipes in this book. Hearty old-fashioned fare, not something to base one's diet from, but a great addition to a cook's library.

Editorial Review:

Showalter has collected 1,100 recipes--tantalizing dishes brought to this country directly from old Dutch, German, Swiss, and Russian kitchens--from hundreds of Mennonite women noted for their excellent cooking. Each chapter is introduced by the author's own nostalgic recollection of cooking in her grandmother's day. Color photos and illustrations throughout.

The Ethnic Food Lover's Companion: A Sourcebook for Understanding the Cuisines of the World

Eve Zibart

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Menasha Ridge Press Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $4.15

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Gastronomy -> History
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference

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

Intelligent, witty and entertaining! 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This book is a must-have for any lover of ethnic cuisine as well as all the "foodies" that enjoy the inside scoop on the American dining scene. Eve Zibart provides bacground, cultural tips, recipes, and recommended dishes from ethnic cuisine from around the world. Her writing style is intelligent yet witty and always accessible. The practical tips alone are worth the price of the book. How do you use chopsticks? How do you eat Ethiopian food? This book is a delight from cover to cover and a valuable addition to any food lovers library.

Editorial Review:

Nowhere is America's rich ethnic and cultural diversity more apparent than in its restaurants. Every city and region of the United States has a unique cultural heritage - whether it's Cuban, Thai, Spanish, Italian, Indian, French or German - reflected in its dining choices. So what do you order in an ethnic restaurant, and how do you eat? The Ethnic Food Lover's Companion provides all the information you need to make every ethnic dining experience a pleasant and memorable one. In this book you will find information about what to expect in any type of ethnic restaurant; detail profiles of each ethnic cuisine, including key ingredients, spices and methods of preparation; cultural tips to put you at ease with the customs and etiquette of each cuisine; representative dishes of each cuisine defined and described; recommended complete meals from appetizer through dessert and easy recipes you can prepare at home.

Perfect Vegetables: Part of "The Best Recipe" Series

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: America's Test Kitchen Amazon Marketplace: 67 new & used starting at $6.20

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference

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

Editorial Review:

Perfect Vegetables is the work of Cook's Illustrated magazine, a publication devoted to providing the "best" American recipes. Like the magazine, from which its contents is largely drawn, the book offers super-tested recipes--as many as 18 tries for stuffed tomatoes, for example--for an A to Z vegetable range, artichokes to zucchini. The book also includes dozens of technique and equipment notes ("Stir-Fry Basics," is one), plus a short section on vegetable soups. An impressive recipe range is here and accounted for--classic dishes like grilled eggplant and braised fennel, plus "newer" formulas for the likes of Grilled Red Peppers with Mint and Feta and Glazed Curried Carrots with Currants and Almonds. Are these the ultimate versions of the dishes included? Certainly they represent exhaustive investigation--and most cooks will find the Perfect Vegetables take, which offers many technical refinements (preheat your baking sheet to ensure golden oven-baked fries, for example) enlightening.

Vegetable entries begin with a detailed discussion that highlights the cooking methods for each that ensure best results. (Steaming, for example, gets the nod for artichokes, as it yields the "deepest, most pronounced flavor.") Master recipes follow, such as that for steamed artichokes, plus formulas for tasty accompaniments like Lemon Mint Vinaigrette, or variations, such as Roasted Baby Artichokes with Roasted Garlic Aïoli. Techniques are beautifully illustrated with line drawings and photos. The ingredient and equipment investigations, which often include ratings, are mini consumer reports. Devotees of Cook's Illustrated and those new to its "obsessive" approach to dish making, should happily embrace this encyclopedic compendium. --Arthur Boehm

Vino Italiano Buying Guide - Revised and Updated: The Ultimate Quick Reference to the Great Wines of Italy

Joseph Bastianich, David Lynch

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Clarkson Potter Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $8.14

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Spirits
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Wine -> Buying Guides
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Wine -> Wine & Winemaking

Fine Cooking Annual: A Year of Great Recipes, Tips & Techniques

Fine Cooking

Amazon Price: $23.07 List Price: $34.95 Not yet published By: Taunton

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Refined but not beyond the reach of home cook 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have had success with the Steak with Bourbon Sauce and the Parmesan Smashed Potatoes. I am looking forward to trying more recipes from this cookbook. Every recipe has a picture giving you the suggested presentation, plus there are informative inserts on ingredients and techniques. I hope the authors create a cookbook like this for every year

Editorial Review:

Why is Fine Cooking consistently ranked as one of the top five most popular cooking magazines published today? Because not only does it offer thousands of devoted readers delicious and dependable recipes, but it shows them how to do more in less time. This delectable, year-end collection serves up dozens of the magazine's most mouth-watering dishes, conveniently organized by course and ingredient. The recipes cover every course, including appetizers, soups, sandwiches, pastas, an extensive variety of entrees -- from poultry and fish to beef and pork -- side dishes, and an array of tempting desserts. And as the magazine is famed for, plenty of how-to techniques, tips, and short-cuts are included. For cooks of all skill levels, Fine Cooking Annual, Vol. 3 will solve a year's worth of "what's for dinner" dilemmas.

From Julia Child's Kitchen

Julia Child

Amazon Price: $13.99 List Price: $13.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Gramercy Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $6.72

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> European -> French

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

Just like new 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Book received very quickly & in even better condition than advertised, just like new. Did not expect to get it before Christmas and it showed up a week earlier than anticipated. Outstanding!

Good basic cookbook 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have purchased several of her books and I like this one the best. I particularly like her use of fresh herbs. I began growing herbs and find that they make a huge difference in flavor.

A couple of years ago my sister came for Thanksgiving and I made the turkey using her method of mirapoix, wine and fresh herbs (someone had posted it on an internet site before I bought the book). Only change I made was to add a lot of fresh sage. The family is still talking about what a wonderful flavor the turkey and the gravy had.

Editorial Review:

One of the first and most important—and most successful—cookbooks by America's beloved Julia Child. Using a very accessible approach to French cooking from an American point of view, here are recipes and techniques for the beginner as well as the more advanced cook, using easily available ingredients for everything from soups and appetizers to dessert. Black and white line art and photographs throughout.

The Union Square Cafe Cookbook: 160 Favorite Recipes from New York's Acclaimed Restaurant

Danny Meyer, Michael Romano

Amazon Price: $25.05 List Price: $37.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Cookbooks Amazon Marketplace: 111 new & used starting at $1.62

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Reference

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I have two words for you: BAR NUTS 5 out of 5 stars.
33 of 33 people found this review helpful.

I probably would violate some copyright law if I put the short and simple recipe for Bar Nuts into this review, but I'm really tempted. They are far and away the most delicious little snacky to have around when guests arrive. Once you've provided them to your friends, they will insist you bring them to every future gathering. And make them right as folks arrive: the aroma that perfumes the whole house is intoxicating, and the nuts, hot out of the oven, disappear really, really quickly, so make plenty.
Damn, they're SO GOOD.
Okay, the rest of the cookbook is a winner, too. It was given to me as a gift from a friend who visits NYC frequently and dines at this restaurant, so, ta-da, I have a 1st edition sighed by both Meyer and Romano, owner and executive chef. The cooking is a beautiful mingling of French, Italian and other Mediterranean cuisines.
Lots of great photos to help with presentation.
Yumilicious, especially the Bar Nuts. Don't forget `em!

Editorial Review:

Danny Meyer is the owner of the three-star New York City Union Square Cafe, and Michael Romano has been chef there since 1988. Together they've compiled some of their best-loved recipes, some of which have been on the menu since the restaurants opening, peppering them with clever notations and excellent wine suggestions. Their style is Italian-inspired new American and includes dishes like Orange-Fennel Osso Buco and Ratatouille-Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms. There's also an entire section devoted to mashed potatoes. Prepared with everything from over-dried tomatoes to eggplant, ginger and garlic, the restaurant's variations on this distinctly American dish are among its most popular offerings. The book won the 1995 Julia Child Cookbook Award in the First Book Category.