Amazon.com
In Tapas, a collection of 100-plus recipes for Spain's savory small dishes, chef José Andrés writes of journeying during his military service to Cádiz, in southern Spain, where he was "able to see the wonders of frying first hand." The passion that would lead an on-leave soldier to investigate a cooking technique infuses the book, which is something new under the sun. In chapters based on characteristic ingredients, such as fish, rice, and eggs, readers are introduced to authentic yet reproducible tapas of great and flavorful immediacy; these simple dishes, which include the likes of Tomato Toast with Spanish Ham, Pan-Fried Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp, Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Cabrales Cheese, and Spring Leeks with Mushrooms, are instantly inviting. They'll also fit into a wide range of menu slots, as hors d'oeuvres, brunch and supper fare, or as side dishes. In well-written notes, Andrés provides context and something more--a sense of a living culinary tradition, which he loves, deftly presented to best advantage. Writing, for example, of the poor quality of most stuffed olives, a favorite tapa, he exhorts readers to make their own. "Simple ingredients prepared in a simple way--that's the best way to take your everyday cooking to a higher level," he says. Amen, and an invitation to cook--and understand--wonderful food. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
The first major Spanish cookbook in two decades, from José Andrés, recently named America’s Chef of the Year by Bon Appétit.
Tapas are Spain's gift to the world of great cooking: a fresh and fun way to eat with friends and family—and easy to make at home. Using simple Mediterranean ingredients, a tapas feast is a perfect combination of little dishes packed with big flavors. Tapas by José Andrés is the first major book in a generation to celebrate this world-renowned way of eating, from a man who is the best possible authority: an award-winning Spanish chef in America, with seven highly acclaimed restaurants to his name. Recently named Bon Appétit's Chef of the Year, José is a new star in American cooking, as well as the nation's leading expert on Spanish cuisine. Having worked as a chef in the United States for two decades, he's also a thoroughly American cook who draws on American ingredients for his inspiration, and is a master at translating his native Spanish cooking for this country's kitchens. His simple and delicious recipes include:
• Fish such as American Red Snapper Baked in Salt; Monkfish with Romesco Sauce; and Basque-Style Stuffed Maryland Blue Crabs
• Chicken including Catalan-Style Chicken Stew; Chicken Sautéed with Garlic; and Chicken with Lobster
• Pork such as Chorizo Stewed in Hard Cider; Figs with Spanish Ham; and Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples
• Rice dishes including Lobster Paella; Black Rice with Squid and Shrimp; and Traditional Rice with Clams
All these recipes are full of tremendous flavor and creativity, as well as in-depth ingredient notes and a rich atmosphere that will transport you to the lush countryside, hip cafés, and sun-drenched coasts of Spain—and back again to dinner at home.
This is a breakthrough cookbook from an extraordinary chef.
Customer Reviews:
Tapas:.......2007-09-16
When we traveled in Spain we discovered many different Tappas that everyone liked! I felt that these recipes required ingredients that we cannot buy in Indiana. Big cities on each coast might have squid and octapus ready to go but we do not. Not very many recipes appealed to us. Thank you. C.S.
Great source for tapas recipes for your next tapas party.......2007-07-04
José Andrés is a wonderful chef and teacher in this book devoted to the tapas of Spain. His recipes range from simple to fairly complicated but the flavors are amazing. His recipes are easy to understand and follow. The hardest part may be in finding some ingredients in local markets, but there are many recipes with items commonly found in your local grocery store. The book is nicely illustrated with pictures that make one hungry and ready to cook.
A wonderful book.......2007-04-16
I've always liked tapas, but I never knew much about their history and preparation until I came across this book. I have to admit that I've never read a book about food cover-to-cover, but this one was written so beautifully that I was just captivated.
ESPERABA MAS DEL LIBRO, IT'S OK BUT..........2007-03-18
I REALLY WANTED TO RECEIVE A MORE TRADITIONAL CONTENT ABOUT TAPAS, THERE'S A GOOD CONTENT BUT POOR ABOUT TRADITIONAL TAPAS FROM SPAIN, IT'S MORE LIKE A "FUSION CUISINE". THE PICTURES AND MATERIAL OF THE BOOK IS A VERY GOOD QUALITY.
los fogones de jose andres.......2007-02-05
A beautiful, passionate cookbook. My parents (who are my culinary and literary superiors) visit his one restaurant frequently when in DC and have met him a handful of times. The last such time they brought back a signed copy for me and I absolutely love it. The recipes are fantastic, but I will not pretend that they are simple. I love the fried eggs with potatoes and chorizo. I definitely need to get to his restaurant!
Book Description
An evocative feast for all the senses, A Taste of Old Cuba combines a Cuban expatriate's charming and vivid memories of a childhood on the idyllic island before Castro's revolution with more than 150 recipes for delicious, authentic, and traditional Cuban dishes.
Customer Reviews:
I bought it so I could cook my favorite recipe!.......2007-08-08
Years ago I used to frequent a great Cuban restaurant near where I worked. My favorite dish there was "picadillo" which is basically a hash made with ground beef, garlic, onions, cilantro, and spices (and served over white or yellow rice). It was my favorite. So, when the restaurant closed its doors for ever, I tried to duplicate the dish at home but never came close. One day I picked up A Taste of Old Cuba and lo and behold it had the picadillo recipe (all the ingredients were available at the supermarket). I cooked up the recipe as soon as I could and it was the exact dish that I used to have at the Cuban restaurant. Eventually I tried about 20 other recipes from the book, however, they were not as good as the other Cuban dishes I've had in the past. Some of the recipes resulted in little flavor. I recommend two other books: Memories of a Cuban Kitchen and Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban.
Solid and authentic.......2007-04-21
She provides accurate information on the life and eating habits of Cubans. Solid recipes
Marrying into a cuban family .......2006-09-04
Marrying into a Cuban family I knew absolutely nothing about cooking Cuban food and was constantly hearing the way His mom cooked this or that, This book and some natural talent at cooking has given me rave reviews from my Even my Widowed father in law. who ask me to look for it in Spanish IE why I am here now
Thank you Maria
Divine.......2006-08-10
Everything I have made from this book tastes exactly like the food in the famous Cuban restaurant "Versailles" in Miami, which to me is the essence of classic 1950s Cuba. This is not a "30-minutes meals" type of book. All the recipes aren't necessarily simple, though some are, but they are very authentic and Mrs. O'Higgins does a good job of explaining the procedures.
Some of the recipes that I have tried are the Ropa Vieja, el Picadillo Clasico, of course the black beans, Arroz con Pollo, Tambor de Platano and the Andalusian Chicken Breasts, which is delicious, and all the recipes have been a success.
Aside from the classic recipes, the book is dotted with "recuerdos", or reminiscences of life in early and mid-century Cuba and pictures of Mrs. O'Higgins family, making for a very enjoyable and endearing read.
Miami Expatriot -- This keeps me sane!.......2006-02-24
It's hard to find good Cuban away from Miami [and I assume Cuba.] The recipes in this book smell and taste like my favorites from Calle Ocho; I prepare a dish, and I'm not homesick for a good 24 hours!
Customer Reviews:
Great spanish cook book in English.......2007-05-14
Great book for anyone wanting to learn how to cook Puerto Rican Food
Newyurican cookbook.......2007-02-07
Good Book for all your basic cooking,To many refer on other pages of this book .
Puerto Rican Cooking.......2007-01-29
Wonderful book to own. I love Latin inspired recipes, and they are all in here. I also own "Daisy Cooks", and between these two books I can entertain my Puerto Rican friends here in South Florida as if I was Hispanic myself (which I am not). The ingredients are easy to get in ethnic and Supermarkets, so are the spices, herbs, the meats, the fish etc. Many storebought, premixed "Spanish" meals in bags or in the freezer section can be incorporated, so as to appear as made from scratch. Yummy either way!
Very Authentic.......2006-12-06
I have owned this book for several years. Everytime I use it my home takes on the aroma of my Grandmother's house. I highly recommend this book for your yourself and your friends.
This book brought a taste of home to Kansas.......2006-05-14
I live in Kansas and am very familiar with Mexican cuisine, my boyfriend is from New york City and grew up with Puerto Rican cuisine at home, he has asked me for years to make different things for him, things his mother made (I quickly discovered Mexican food was not similar at all, besides I am not Mexican, a homestyle meal for me would have mashed potatoes and gravy, Roast beef and green beans). She makes her recipes from memory and has not been a good resource, this book has all of the foods that remind him of home, things that he considers traditional. The recipes are titled in English and Spanish so I can search the book for a recipe that sounds similar to what he has described and he can see the title in Spanish and knows exactly what it is. There are recipes for Traditinal Chicken and Rice, Pasteles, Fried pork chops and Salchichas con Arroz. All things he missed very much I can hardly keep him out of the food before it is done. There are also recipes which appeal to me that include fruit and tend to be lighter dishes that sound more Caribbean to me. At the very beginning of this book there is a section covering the Puerto Rican pantry that describes exotic ingredients and gives recipes to make many of them if you cannot find them in the store and substitution ideas. When I first bought this book I had a very hard time finding the ingredients, I have since become familiar with the Mexican markets that carry many of the specialty items and discovered the Asian market has been a very important resource. I may not always enjoy the traditional food but he insists that it tastes almost as good as his mother's so the author definitely used traditional flavors and recipes and added some updated ones to appeal to a wider audience, we've both been happy with this book it was an invaluable find.
Book Description
During the latter half of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s, television talk shows, infotainment news, and screaming supermarket headlines became ubiquitous in America as the âtabloidizationâ of the nation’s media took hold. In Tabloid Culture Kevin Glynn draws on diverse theoretical sources and an unprecedented range of electronic and print media in order to analyze important aspects and key debates that have emerged around this phenomenon.
Glynn begins by situating these media shifts within the context of Reaganism, which gave rise to distinctive ideological currents in society and led the socially and economically disenfranchised to access new forms of information via the exploding television industry. He then tackles specific daytime talk shows and tabloid newscasts such as Jerry Springer and A Current Affair, reality-TV programs such as Cops and America’s Most Wanted, and two different supermarket tabloids’ coverage of the O.J. Simpson case. Tabloid Culture is the first book to treat these diverse yet related media forms and events in tandem. Rejecting the elitist dismissal of sensationalist media, Glynn instead traces the cultural currents and countercurrents running through their forms and products. Locating both reactionary and oppositional meanings in these texts, he demonstrates how these particular media genres draw on and contribute to important cultural struggles over the meanings of race, sexuality, gender, class, ânormality,â âtruth,â and âreality.â The study ends by discussing how the growing use of the Internet provides an entirely new realm in which such material can circulate, distort, inform, and flourish.
This innovative and provocative study of contemporary mainstream media culture in the United States will be valuable to those interested in both print and television media, the cultural-political influence of the Reagan era, and American culture in general.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Illuminating Examination of What Others Fear To Touch.......2005-12-03
Please do not listen to the other review of this book: it is clearly written by someone who hasn't read Glynn's carefully argued, very interesting examination of "trash" television. "John Q. Public," as he calls himself in the review, seems to make it sound so simple -- networks play things because they get ratings. But what Glynn answers in a way that all of John Q's love for PBS can't is WHY they get ratings. The answer to this question has so often been astoundingly shortsighted and downright insulting: "People watch trash TV because they're stupid, don't know any better, and never will" or something as asinine and simplistic as that.
But Glynn digs into the populist in a very interesting way, and what he finds is that these shows frequently validate everyday experiences and knowledge of everyday, working class viewers in ways that many instances of "high culture" on television don't. Glynn's point is not at all about aesthetics or artistic value (as John Q. Public assumes, having not read the book, that it is), as he largely leaves this question for the reader to answer: his point is about not just disregarding all these programs AND all their viewers because one has made such artistic judgements. In "trash" TV, Glynn finds many democratic tendencies.
At times, Glynn can overdo it, and at other times, his enthusiasm to defend overlooks, or rushes through, disturbing political content of the shows (such as inherent racism or sexism), but most of the time he is remarkably careful to balance such tensions.
This is an academic text, and so may not be ideal for everyone, though it is reasonably accessible. So, if you want to go beyond complaining that such television shouldn't exist, and if you're actually interested in why it does, and why so many people turn to it, I highly recommend this book. I share the reviewer "John Q Public's" regard for PBS, though I feel it has turned its back on many Americans, and on the real John Q Publics, so to speak. Glynn's book looks at what those John Qs are watching and starts to ask the reasons why. (For more on PBS and "the masses," though, I'd highly recommend Laurie Ouellette's *Viewers Like You?*)
Customer Reviews:
Good Book.......2006-06-26
Most all of the Taste of Home books are good, and this one is no exception. I look forward to any new ones they might have in the future.
Book Description
Until now, very little about the recent history of the Mapuche, Chile’s largest indigenous group, has been available to English-language readers. Courage Tastes of Blood helps to rectify this situation. It tells the story of one Mapuche communityâNicolás AilÃo, located in the south of the countryâacross the entire twentieth century, from its founding in the resettlement process that followed the military defeat of the Mapuche by the Chilean state at the end of the nineteenth century. Florencia E. Mallon places oral histories gathered from community members over an extended period of time in the 1990s in dialogue with one another and with her research in national and regional archives. Taking seriously the often quite divergent subjectivities and political visions of the community’s members, Mallon presents an innovative historical narrative, one that reflects a mutual collaboration between herself and the residents of Nicolás AilÃo.
Mallon recounts the land usurpation Nicolás AilÃo endured in the first decades of the twentieth century and the community’s ongoing struggle for restitution. Facing extreme poverty and inspired by the agrarian mobilizations of the 1960s, some community members participated in the agrarian reform under the government of socialist president Salvador Allende. With the military coup of 1973, they suffered repression and desperate impoverishment. Out of this turbulent period the Mapuche revitalization movement was born. What began as an effort to protest the privatization of community lands under the military dictatorship evolved into a broad movement for cultural and political recognition that continues to the present day. By providing the historical and local context for the emergence of the Mapuche revitalization movement, Courage Tastes of Blood offers a distinctive perspective on the evolution of Chilean democracy and its rupture with the military coup of 1973.
Average customer rating:
- Have bought copies for everyone I know who would like to cook Chinese
- Just like the food my Grandpa used to cook
- This book rocks!
- Getting in touch with my roots
- Impress Your Friends
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Every Grain of Rice: A Taste of Our Chinese Childhood in America
Ellen Leong Blonder , and
Annabel Low
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asian
| Regional & International
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Chinese
| Asian
| Regional & International
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Rice & Grains
| Cooking by Ingredient
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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ASIN: 0609601024
Release Date: 1998-05-26 |
Amazon.com
There's something of a warning for all readers in this book: blend too well with the American melting pot and you may lose the way things tasted when you were a child. Such was almost the case with Ellen Blonder and Annabel Low, who grew up together in Chinese families in California.
"For all the time we spent helping in the kitchen while we were growing up," Blonder writes, "we missed the next step of mastering the recipes on our own; we lost our connection to the old ways of cooking. We can teach our daughters how to deal with corporations, but we couldn't pass down the simplest technique for dealing with taro root."
While compiling a collection of favorite family recipes meant as a wedding gift, Blonder and Low realized there was a deep hole in their heritage: when push came to shove, they really didn't know how their parents had prepared a lot of their favorite foods. Fortunately for their families and any other families that open and use this book, their rediscovery developed into a gem of a book.
Blonder's illustrations alone are worth the price of the book. The reminiscences open up a chapter of American immigrant history too often hidden, and the recipes and careful instructions for assembling the dishes bring the special foods of a particular village in China to anyone's table.
There may well be better Chinese cookbooks on the market, but Every Grain of Rice is special for the implied invitation to sit down and eat with the two authors, their families, and all their ancestors stretching back in time to the place where the recipes were originally developed. Invitations like that don't show up every day. The experience may turn readers back to their own favorite foods, and their own heritage, and encourage them to save what they can while the information is still available. That, in and of itself, is a very special sauce to add to any dish. --Schuyler Ingle
Book Description
Fried Green Tomatoes with Flank Steak. Pan-Fried Prawns in Ketchup Sauce. “Stand Back” Chicken. Turkey Jook. Sticky Rice with Sausage and Taro Root. These are the foods that say “family” and “home” to Ellen Blonder and Annabel Low. In
Every Grain of Rice they have collected more than 120 outstanding recipes for the delicious homestyle and special occasion dishes they remember so vividly from their childhoods but have rarely found in conventional Chinese cookbooks. Studded with recollections from their years as part of an extended Chinese-American family and with Ellen Blonder’s exquisite watercolor drawings, it is a remarkable debut from two major new talents on the culinary scene.
An aunt and niece who are separated in age by only 16 days, Annabel and Ellen were raised virtually as sisters, dividing their time between Ellen’s family farm and the renowned cafe where Annabel’s father was chef/proprietor. From him, and from their mothers, aunts, and uncles, Ellen and Annabel learned to make such satisfying everyday fare as Steamed Minced Pork, Wonton Soup, and Uncle Bill’s Chow Mein, as well as more elaborate dishes as Sweet-and-Sour Whole Fish and festive bamboo-leaf-wrapped Jeng. Special occasions and family gatherings were marked by steaming trays of dim sum and pork-filled Bao, Low Hop Joe’s glistening Soy Sauce Chicken, and the magnificent Boned Stuffed Duck. In chapters ranging from “Comfort in a Bowl” on soups and jooks to “Fish and Seafood” and “Bearing Gifts,” which features foods for holidays and family celebrations, the authors cover the range of traditional Chinese cooking as it was prepared in their childhood homes. The more than 120 recipes and variations offer careful explanations of unfamiliar techniques along with suggestions for replacing hard-to-find ingredients and lowering the fat count of many dishes, and each recipe and story is illustrated with Ellen’s delightful watercolor paintings.
With a comprehensive glossary of ingredients and detailed listing of equipment and techniques,
Every Grain of Rice is a perfect introduction to the art of Chinese cooking and a moving celebration of food and family.
Customer Reviews:
Have bought copies for everyone I know who would like to cook Chinese.......2007-06-09
This is a beautiful and touching cookbook. The authors realize in midlife that their Aunties, Parents, and Grandparents are passing on and that they, the next generation, are ill-equipped to pass on the traditions and share the skills of making the food they remember growing up. So they set about remedying the situation by cooking with their relatives until they can recreate the recipes and understand the philosophy behind much of the food that has meaning to them.
I am not Chinese, but I grew up in a Chinese area of San Francisco and so have many of the same fondnesses for Chinese cooking, and this book is the first one I have found (and I have MANY Chinese cookbooks!) that has a Tomato Beef Chow Main recipe (and an excellent one, I might add - exactly what I remember from the local restaurants I ate at as a kid).
If you have ever tried to make wontons and failed, try this book. If you enjoy cookbooks which combine short, personal stories with the recipes to give the recipes a context and a meaning, then buy this book.
The illustrations add so much to the amazing recipes, too. This makes an excellent gift for anyone missing Chinese home cooking, or for anyone who has a weakness for dim sum.
The authors also have a book on cooking dim sum which is excellent as well. I prefer this one mostly because I prefer cooking meals to dim sum type foods and because I have such fond memories of so many of these foods, but I found both books easy to follow and both have produced truly excellent results on the first tries.
HIGHLY Recommended.
Just like the food my Grandpa used to cook.......2004-09-23
The best Chinese cookobook bar none. Easy to follow recipes. Taste like the stuff my grandfather used to cook.
This book rocks!.......2004-05-01
Great little stories but the REAL gems are the recipes. Not only do they work, they also deliver in the flavor department!
I've been looking for a good char sui pork recipe since I was a teen. I've tried a bunch and I've been burned by them all, except the recipe in this book. Fabulous (and it freezes well too!)
Great book.
Getting in touch with my roots.......2002-07-13
After having moved away from home for a number of years, I started to realize and appreciate the important role of food to Chinese culture, family and traditions. Much to my chagrin, I had learned very little about the Chinese family kitchen while growing up. While I was nourished by the comfort foods my mother and aunts had made for us, I had very little knowledge of the mechanics of producing these offerings of love.
Blonder and Low have done an impressive job of bringing back to the memories of my childhood, where food plays such a central role in Chinese family life. I have tried many of the recipes in this book and most of them have turned out just the way I recall my mother making them.
And most of all, the stories and anecdotes demonstrate how Every Grain of Rice inextricably links culture and food to Chinese traditions. The authors recall momentous occasions such as Chinese New Year and donning their "best" clothes; the excitement of receiving little red "luy see".
This book is all about comfort foods. It's about home cooking in the Chinese family. You will rarely find these dishes in a restaurant. My cousin was looking through this book and disdainfully noted how the recipes were so "chop suey". I don't know if his description is correct, but you will rarely find these dishes in a restaurant. Perhaps he was comparing it to the sometimes over-complicated and sophisticated, "gourment-style" Chinese cookbooks. It is certainly not that. It is purely about childhood memories of growing up Chinese in North America.
Impress Your Friends.......2001-10-06
As the Caucasian parent of children adopted from Asia, I'm always interested in cookbooks that offer a healthy dose of cultural ed along with the recipes. This one does both things beautifully -- I have enjoyed the stories and the pictures very much. I have also made dozens of the included recipes, always with excellent results. (Living in an urban center with easy access to Chinese ingredients helps, but the difficulty level of many of these dishes is not as high as with some other Asian cookbooks I own, and should not be too scary even for beginning cooks.)
The ultimate endorsement has to come from Chinese-American friends at the weekend school I attend with one of my kids. After having some of them over for a Lunar New Year party and serving the soy sauce chicken, steamed whole fish, and several other dishes from the book, I have gained a small reputation at the school as "that white woman who can cook Chinese food." The following year I made the steamed New Year's Cake (nian gao, in Mandarin) and took it to weekend school. Two of the faculty actually asked me for the recipe. I vow that one day soon I'm going to get the bamboo leaves out of my freezer, gird my loins, and cook up a batch of those time-consuming Jeng. Authors Ellen and Annabel have convinced me that the results might just be worth the effort.
Book Description
Every year, more than 600,000 passengers climb aboard Holland America's luxury ships and travel the seas in search of new and extravagant adventures. Promising an unforgettable and world-class culinary experience, Holland America has written a cookbook that makes it possible to re-create its magical meals at home. Holland America's Master Chef Rudi Sodamin has compiled more than 100 favorite recipes from each of the line's 14 vessels, offering a comprehensive menu for all times of the day along with elaborate yet easy-to-follow recipes for refreshing drinks and cocktails. From savory Dungeness Crab Cakes with Lime Ginger Sauce to velvety Roasted Shallot and Butternut Squash Soup with Beet Crisps to mouthwatering Wild Mushroom, Spinach, and Feta Cheese Strudel, Sodamin will keep you eating and dining in high style while landlocked. Including a timeline and history of Holland America, A Taste of Excellence Cookbook is the perfect cookbook for the lovers of the sea.
Customer Reviews:
A Taste Of Excellence Cookbook.......2007-01-12
Delicious and Easy to prepare recipes,and great "WOW!" presentations! The book has lots of photos too.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful icon-shattering survey, vital for serious food fans.......2001-11-13
What a delight to find this amazing classic back in print, in a reprint
edition with new comments by the authors. This will spare thousands
of food enthusiasts the perennial burden of scouring the used-book
market for copies of it. (I ordered several copies of the reprint at once
for gifts and to have on hand.) People who were following food
writing at the time will recall the stir created by the Hesses' book when
it first appeared in the late 1970s. The book is iconoclastic, even
subversive, in the same sense as Prometheus's gift of fire to mankind.
In this case the gift is not fire but perspective, or a sense of history.
Co-author John Hess was himself a senior and very experienced
food writer and editor, but he has a scholar's dislike of pretentious
misinformation being quoted around until it becomes conventional
wisdom. Karen Hess is a food historian noted elsewhere for her
work on the mysterious "Martha Washington" cookbook.
Their book addresses questions like: How did things like iceberg
lettuce and phony "gourmet" products displace centuries of fine
immigrant and indigenous cooking wisdom in the US? Who helped
to "sell" such changes, only to be celebrated later (Orwellian-style)
for contributions to US cooking? Moreover, it is remarkable to see
how many "innovations" in US cooking since about the time this book
was written consist actually of rediscovery of principles widely known
100 or 200 years ago, as the book documents in detail.
The casual reader should be forgiven for not having heard of all
of this in the general media. Journalism in the US about food (and not
only about food) is lately graced with legions of people blissfully
and confidently unconscious of anything that preceded their own words.
Such people will gush uncritically about food pundits like Craig
Claiborne (distinguished on the basis that the gushing writers
have heard of them) without any real research or perspective.
These writers would not do so if they read the Hesses' book.
From the Hesses', and other, evidence it seems that around the
1950s, "gourmet" became a convenience-food-industry euphemism for
"sucker" in the US. "That flabby midget called Cornish game hen was,
next to chocolate-covered ants, the gourmet racket's funniest joke on a
gullible public. It has no more taste of game than a wad of cotton," say
the Hesses. Such game hens are one of several gimmicks Craig
Claiborne is quoted pushing; canned beef gravy and instant whipped
potatoes are others. Claiborne receives especial attention here,
though James Beard, the Rombauers, Fannie Farmer, even JC Herself,
are not spared. Yet this criticism is constructive, at least for the reader,
with positive counterexamples.
It is an angry, or perhaps indignant, book but an informed one,
meticulous in its documentation of sources. The bibliography by itself is
valuable, sort of an annotated miniature of Katherine Bitting's epic 1939
"Gastronomic Bibliography" (also cited; that book is very expensive
on the used market; I know because I own one; even its 1980s reprint is
expensive and I am told, unlike the original, is printed on acid paper).
Feast Your Eyes!.......2001-08-20
After reading this book for the first time in the early 1980s, it changed the way I thought about both choosing what to feast upon and how to prepare it. I always wondered why I hated vegetables as a child. Having read the book, I realized that my mother--loving though she may have been--had cooked vegetables to death by boiling everything until it was soft, tasteless and unappetizing. When I began learning to cook for myself, the beauty of this text came through for me. Now I appreciate vegetables because I prepare them simply and let the flavor come through. I recommend this book to anyone who is a "picky" eater (and even to those who are not). Once you know why you don't like a variety of foods, you may discover that it's not the food you learned detest, but the way Mama cooked it for you!
fascinating and tragic.......1998-10-15
An impassioned, lively, fascinating look at the American table. The Hess' are knowledgeable, erudite and highly opinionated. Many disagree with their negative view of American eating habits, but it is hard to argue with them on the facts. Read it and think!
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The New Spanish Table
Tapas (Revised): The Little Dishes of Spain
Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing
Amuse-Bouche: Little Bites That Delight Before the Meal Begins
