Caribbean & West Indian Books - Page 5

Calypso Coolers: Recipes for 50 Caribbean Cocktails and 20 Tropical Treats

Arlen Gargagliano

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The sun caresses your skin as you gaze upon the sparkling turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Soft white sand cushions your toes, and willowy palms dance in the warm breezes. As you lift your drink, you inhale the sweet aromas of coconut and lime juice. No matter where you are, no matter what the season, Calypso Coolers conjures up the magic of tropical seaside ecstasy.

Like its predecessor, Mambo Mixers, this colorful collection of 50 cocktails and 20 appetizers inspired by the Caribbean is an invitation to party paradise. All the classic island libations are here—daiquiris, tropical punches, fruit martinis—along with equally tantalizing concoctions like the Dominican Hurricane, made with rum, passion fruit nectar, and pineapple juice; the Dark and Stormy, a mixture of rum and ginger beer; and the Brown Cow, a silky combination of milk and coffee liqueur. The accompanying snacks—from Juanita’s Yuca Fritters to Puerto Rican Corn Sticks and Jamaican Jerk Chicken—feature local flavors that are as varied and vibrant as the area’s people and offer a lively complement to the cocktails.

Illustrated with eye-catching photographs and complete with pairing and serving suggestions, Calypso Coolers will give every occasion that first-day-of-vacation feeling.

Royal Caribbean International Holiday & Entertaining Cookbook

Rudi Sodamin

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Editorial Review:

With millions of well-pampered guests who have enjoyed the superior hospitality provided aboard Royal Caribbean International ships, you could say the cruise line knows what it takes to be the perfect host. Now its Master Chef and guru of entertaining, Rudi Sodamin, is providing his time-tested secrets for planning, preparing, and presenting the perfect holiday fare and creating a celebratory atmosphere. Chef Sodamin's talent, culinary mastery, and energy are evident throughout this lively volume. You will be inspired by his passion for entertaining family and friends--and the ships' guests.

The Royal Caribbean International Holiday & Entertainment Cookbook provides detailed menus for delectable holiday and special-occasion meals. In addition, there are a wealth of imaginative tips to create the perfect ambiance, with place setting, centerpiece, decorating, and lighting ideas tailored to each celebration. The gorgeous food photography and colorful, fun design enhance the recipes and suggestions provided.

Set the stage for an intimate and romantic Valentine's Day with special lighting, tableware, and linens and a luscious menu of seafood risotto, tenderloin in a peppery sauce, and chocolate dipped fruit.

Throw a fun-filled summer soiree that will transport guests to an exotic location--if only for one night--with refreshing fare and fruity rum-based cocktails.

Create the perfect Thanksgiving feast--fool-proof roasted turkey with cornbread and sausage stuffing, butternut squash soup, cranberry relish, and brandied pumpkin pie--in a setting that exudes the autumn season.

Hosting holiday celebrations and parties should be fun. This enthusiastic volume helps make it so.

Beyond Gumbo : Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim

Jessica B. Harris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Creole food," writes Jessica B. Harris, author of The Africa Cookbook and Iron Pots & Wooden Spoons, "the preeminent taste of the Atlantic Rim of the New World, is a triumphant food that comes from sorrow's kitchens. It was conceived in the kitchens of the hemisphere's big houses, casas grandes, fazendas, and plantations, and nurtured over coal pots and three-rock stoves in the slave cabins and shanties of the black shack alleys." Creole food is composed rice dishes, abundant hot sauces, dumplings and fritters, seasoning pastes like sofrito and Bajan seasoning. All that and much, much more. Harris cracks the subject wide open with Beyond Gumbo, her beautifully written, carefully researched, lovingly created seminal work.

There's a helpful glossary of ingredients right up front, and sources for the more obscure spices and the like. Her chapters break out as "Appetizers," "Soups and Salads," "Condiments and Sauces" (this chapter alone is worth the price of the book), "Vegetables," "Main Dishes," "Starches," "Desserts," "Beverages," and "Menus." You'll find Green Mango Salad from French Guyana; Black Bean Soup from Cuba; Creole Tomatoes and Olives from New Orleans; Spinach and Green Bananas from Guadeloupe; Corn Stew from Costa Rica; Quechua-style Chicken Stew from Peru; Roast Pork with Passion Fruit Sauce from Costa Rica; and Aunt Sweet's Seafood Gumbo from New Orleans.

The flavors are compelling, layered, often highly spiced--this is the food where Africa, Europe, and the New World all came together, the original fusion food. And there is no better guide on this glorious adventure than Jessica B. Harris. She brings scholarship and passion to her subject. Her self-discovery is another ingredient in this rich stew served over rice. Ashé! --Schuyler Ingle

Walkerswood Caribbean Kitchen

Virginia Burke

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Editorial Review:

Caribbean cooking is gaining recognition as a distinct cooking style, and dishes such as Jerk Chicken are turning up on menus far and wide. All the traditional island recipes are here—Dip and Fall Back (mackerel with coconut sauce), Stamp and Go (saltfish fritters), Jerk Chicken Rundown, and Pepperpot Soup. As well as wonderful photographs of the food itself, Walkerswood Caribbean Kitchen is enlivened with specially commissioned location shots of the sunny, smiling Caribbean.

A Taste of Cuba: Recipes From the Cuban-American Community

Linette Creen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Don't Buy it 2 out of 5 stars.
13 of 19 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this book many years ago, and for many years it has sat in my buffet (where I put all cookbooks whose recipes I don't like). I am Cuban, as over 400 years of my ancestors were, and I found nothing in this book that reminded me of anything I grew up eating. Instead, I strongly suggest you buy "Memories of a Cuban Kitchen" by Mary Urrutia Randelmann. This book provides true Cuban food.

Best English Language Cuban Cookbook 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

As a Cuban born American, I know real Cuban cooking when I taste it, and this book has brought my family and friends countless kitchen joys. Simple, direct and easy to follow --- with little embellishment that serves to improve the recipes themselves --- "A Taste Of Cuba" allows us to experience the true essence of Cuban cookery. Unlike the "chic Cuban" styles of Asia de Cuba, Patria, chino-latino, Green makes no daring attempts to improve on the real thing, and that's the best way to enjoy this colorful delicious food over and over again! From standards like "Arroz Con Pollo" and "Lechon Asado" to "Camarones enchilados" and "ropa vieja" Green's passion for the condiments shines through. INstead of embellishing the dishes she realizes they're best left to the natural scents and zeitgeist that the best Cuban cooks - our abuelas and mami's - know is at the heart of the matter. Only "Cocina Criolla" - Nydia Villapol's(sp?) 60's classic is better or tastier or truer to the food's indigenous roots (alas, that's only available in SPanish, but every Cubano should proudly display a copy in their homw!) Linnette Green has done a fine job of mixing together the magical qualities of a legendary cuisine - fresh ingredients, attention bordering on love, colorful presentation, and a passion for the dishes themselves. Here, her characters are malangas and mangoes, frijoles and arroz, but "Like Water for Chocolate" her memories and passion stir the senses making your tastebuds soar! A WINNER!

Editorial Review:

Cuban food is vibrant, earthy, sensuous food: cool avocado salads, enticingly spiced seafood, tropical rum drinks. In this unique cookbook, nearly 200 recipes celebrate the diverse melange of Cuban, Chinese, Spanish, African, and Portuguese influences that make up the popular cuisine of Cuba. Line drawings.

Lucinda's Authentic Jamaican Kitchen

Lucinda Scala Quinn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Can't believe the ignorance 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I must say, I'm floored by some of these negative comments. But then again, I shouldn't be -- idiocy is alive and kicking. Do you have to be Italian to write an Italian cookbook? Or French to write a French one? As someone who is intimately involved with cooking and restaurants, I can tell you the notion that good cooking is "in the blood" is a bunch of nonsense. Some Jamaicans (my parents were born there)appeared to be captivated by this notion.

I've scoured this book, and the recipes are enticing. Judge the author on the quality of her work. If not, go live in a cave and take your hidebound ideas with you. By the way, everyone has their ideas of what "authentic" means. I can cite multiple variations of lots of "traditional" recipes. No one owns "authenticity."

P.S. A true Jamaican knows Jamaica is an enormously diverse country.

Editorial Review:

The cohost of the PBS series Everyday Food unlocks the secrets of Jamaican cooking in a gorgeous, gifty full-color package

Where classic Jamaican foods like "jerk" chicken were once unknown to American consumers, today Caribbean food products and restaurants are increasingly familiar and popular. Now this cookbook shares Jamaica's authentic cooking styles, exciting flavor combinations, and lively spirit of island culture. It's filled with soul-satisfying recipes that are easy to make, beautiful food and atmospheric photos, and vivid descriptions of Jamaica's roadside vendors, jerk stops, and other scenes-a must for Caribbean food lovers and culinary adventurers.

Lucinda Scala Quinn (New York, NY) leads the food department of Martha Stewart Living, Wedding, and Kids magazines, and cohosts the new PBS series Everyday Food. She travels regularly to Jamaica to pursue her passion for Jamaican food.

The Real Jerk: New Caribbean Cuisine

Lily Pottinger, Ed Pottinger

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

Editorial Review:

There’s a Jamaican phrase, "Out of many, one people," that is reflected in the style of cooking from the Carib-bean: distinct, bold flavors coming together to create an electric experience. Such is the case with The Real Jerk. This is new Caribbean cuisine, cooking borne out of tradition, steeped in history, and brought into a new world where styles and tastes fuse to become something entirely different.

The Real Jerk: New Caribbean Cuisine includes such favorite recipes as jerk chicken, curry goat, oxtail, shrimp creole, and ackee and codfish (Jamaica’s national dish). There are also vegetarian dishes, a chapter with kids’ favorites, desserts, soups and salads, and all things Caribbean.

Alongside the recipes and menu suggestions are stories about the tales behind the traditions, the history of the hearth, and anecdotes about Caribbean living, whether in the islands, or on the mainland, all surrounded by black-and-white photographs and illustrations, and full-color images of the best Caribbean cooking to be had this side of the islands.

Let The Real Jerk transport you to new Caribbean cuisine: a blend of tastes and cultures unlike any you’ve visited before.

Lily and Ed Pottinger are the proprietors of The Real Jerk, Toronto’s premier Caribbean restaurant. They first opened the restaurant in 1984 and have since consistently topped "favorite" and "best of" lists.

Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile's Hunger for Home

Eduardo Machado, Michael Domitrovich

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

Editorial Review:

Tastes Like Cuba is the moving account of an exile searching for the identity he's lost and becoming someone else in the process.". An internationally acclaimed playwright, Eduardo Machado has grappled with questions of identity, loss and resistance throughout his life and work. He has—more than any other playwright—been able to convey the experiences of both the Cubans who chose to stay in Cuba and those who chose to leave. His fearless style and unabashed politicism in the face of dissent have made him a controversial figure to the Cubans and Americans on opposite sides of an intense conflict.

In his memories and in his more recent travels to Cuba, he has found that the most natural means of connecting with today’s Cuban experience is through food. Machado says, “When I taste something I haven’t tasted in twenty years, I can’t resist that connection to the past, to the conflict, to the identity that is mine. I know the feeling as I taste the flavor. There are no arguments, no political controversies, just the real sensation. If it’s that complex, it must be Cuban.”

To any exile, food represents not only the lost comfort of home, but the best chance to reclaim it. The stories of Machado’s life—from child of privilege in pre-Revolutionary Cuba; to exile in Los Angeles; to actor, director, playwright and professor in New York—are interleaved with recipes for the meals that have enriched him. Every recipe has been updated for the modern home cook, enabling us to recreate the flavors of traditional Cuban dishes such as Machado’s favorite roast pork and his grandfather’s arroz con pollo, as well as the ‘cuisine’ of necessity he encountered in 1960’s suburban America: Velveeta, SPAM, and other processed wonders. What emerges is a larger picture of what it means to be a Latino in America today. For anyone who has ever longed for a home, real or imagined, Tastes Like Cuba delivers a fascinating story of two worlds—and one delectable life.

Great Chefs of the Caribbean: From the Television Series Great Chefs of the Caribbean (Great Chefs)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Carribean in my kitchen.... 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Ahh, the pictures alone are mouth watering. I suggest you might want to have a snack before reviewing this yummy experience. Have you ever been to the Caribbean? This book helped prepare me for my vacation and at times a simple meal accompanied with a light Caribbean beat, takes me back, back to my enchanted place. My favorite recipe is Grilled Baby Lamb Chops by Chef Norma Shirley at the Warfside in Jamaica. And yes I will say with the detailed instructions, after the second try, I nailed this morsel. I have prepared a few dishes for guest who are natives of the East Coast (I am from California ;o), two friends are from New York, another from Florida) and even they taste flavors that remind them of restaurants you can't find in California. Some of the ingredients are hard to find, but they do assist with information to substitute as well as where to look if you insist on having the ingredients as authentic as possible. The only bad part is, you will have no leftovers, everyone will eat everything. Buy it, for the sake of calories!

Bahama Mama's Cooking

Jan Robinson

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Use this Book for Awhile and You too ill be Cooking Like a Bahama Mama 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The other day I went through my cookbooks, to see if I could weed some out, because I have too many to mention. It's hard getting rid of a cookbook, especially one with a few recipes in it that you've come to love. But I've scanned the recipes I need to keep forever into my MacBook. However, there were an even dozen I couldn't part with. These are books I turn to time and time again, even though I consider myself somewhat of a gourmet chef.

BAHAMA MAMA'S was one of the one's I kept because over the last couple years I've found myself going to it time and again. I make "Mama's Best Gingerbread" all the time. Like most of the recipes in this book, it's easy and impossible to screw up and it tastes delicious. For a quick and good gumbo I've done the "Crawfish Gumbo" on page 59 and like it a lot. True, I consider myself somewhat of a gourmet, but I don't always have the time to spend in the kitchen I'd like, so sometimes it's nice to have a recipe book on hand that you can count on for tasty and authentic meals.

I've served the "Stuffed Tomatoes" here so often that I know the recipe by heart and I've found they go very well with the "Whiskey Chicken on page 105, which is just about my hubby's favorite meal. This is a terrific cookbook and I think you'll find if you use it for any length of time, you too will be cooking like a Bahama Mama.

Editorial Review:

140 recipes.

Traditional Bahamian cooking is imaginative and creative, It offers something to suit all tastes. There are wonderful blends of spices in these delicious breads, vegetarian meals, side dishes, salads, appetizers, meats, beverages, soups and desserts. Simple to prepare.