Tag: Cooking

Cozy, Food & Drink, Mystery, New Releases

A Recipe for Murder by G.S. Revel Burroughs

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Death has never tasted so good.

“You lot are bloody crime writers. If anyone can get away with murder, it would be one of you.”

An invitation to Burnham Manor, home of celebrity chef, television presenter, and bestselling crime writer Max Wilde, is the pinnacle of a crime novelist’s career. This year’s guests include Sanjay Chakrabati, India’s pre-eminent crime writer; Margaret Hemshaw, author of many bodice-ripping 17th century crime tales; Sydney Fletch, a young rising star in the crime world, and Gareth Sebastian Black, a self-published phenomenon. Also on the guest list is former Detective Inspector Jack Finney, famous for solving the Painswick Poisoning case.

This year’s annual gathering has an extraordinary twist…

On the menu this year will be the deliciously deadly Fugu, carefully prepared by a celebrated Japanese chef. Those who partake of this starter will be hoping that it doesn’t contain any of the poison, tetrodotoxin, one of the world’s deadliest toxins. Or perhaps the guests would enjoy a Soupçon of Suspicion or a serving of Murderous Mushrooms? Also on the menu is the deservedly entitled Poisoned Quail and a helping of Bella-doner kebab, made from some of the world’s finest ingredients, all washed down with a glass of Sparkling Cyanide. When Max Wilde is found dead in bed the following morning suspicion naturally falls on those present. Who slipped the inimitable Max Wilde a dose of hemlock and why? As the list of suspects increases the body count starts to rise…

My Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this take on the English country-house murder trope freshened up for modern readers. I especially enjoyed the clever use of the deadly fugu fish preparation technique and the inclusion of our current fascination with celebrity chefs. The author has written a witty, clever murder mystery featuring characters you love to hate and a couple of very engaging “detectives.”

Added to the wonderful characterizations is authentic and very capable writing. This is an author I would read again and will recommend.

Publication Date: September 5, 2024
Published By: Mr. E Entertainment
Thanks to Book Sirens for the review copy

Food & Drink, Historical

The Lost Supper by Taras Grescoe

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

In the tradition of Michael Pollan, Anthony Bourdain, and Mark Bittman, an exciting and globe-trotting account of ancient cuisines—from Neolithic wines to ancient Roman fish sauce—and why reviving the foods of the past is the key to saving the future.

Many of us are worried (or at least we should be) about the impacts of globalization, pollution, and biotechnology on our diets. Whether it’s monoculture crops, hormone-fed beef, or high-fructose corn syrup, industrially-produced foods have troubling consequences for us and the planet. But as culinary diversity diminishes, many people are looking to a surprising place to safeguard the future: into the past.

The Lost Supper explores an idea that is quickly spreading among restaurateurs, food producers, scientists, and gastronomes around the world: that the key to healthy and sustainable eating lies not in looking forward, but in looking back to the foods that have sustained us through our half-million-year existence as a species. 

Acclaimed author Taras Grescoe introduces readers to the surprising and forgotten flavors whose revival is captivating food-lovers around the world: ancient sourdough bread last baked by Egyptian pharaohs; raw-milk farmhouse cheese from critically endangered British dairy cattle; ham from Spanish pata negra pigs that have been foraging on acorns on a secluded island since before the United States was a nation; and Neolithic wines from long-lost grapes uniquely capable of resisting quickly-evolving pests and modern pathogens.

From Ancient Roman fish sauce to Aztec caviar to the long-thought-extinct silphium, The Lost Supper is a deep dive into the latest frontier of global gastronomy—the archaeology of taste. Through vivid writing, history, and first-hand culinary experience, Grescoe sets out a provocative case: in order to save these foods, he argues, we’ve got to eat them.

Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.

My Thoughts

Aimed at serious foodies and food historians, Grescoe’s work made me cringe, do some research, and share interesting bits with everyone around me as I read. There’s a bit of the “serious foodie” pretentiousness here that Grescoe smooths over with a sincere concern over the future of food and nutrition on our planet. I mean, is he seriously trying to get his young sons to make insects a daily part of their diet? I’m curious to know how that worked out, despite the clear evidence he provides of the nutritional value of insects.

And he doesn’t stop at insects, friends. He delves into other fascinating nutritional powerhouses among different cultures and describes his adventures in colorful and appealing detail.

This is a highly readable foray into the history of food and civilization from Neolithic times to the present day. I had not been exposed to the theory that agriculture is the root of the downfall of humans in history, which I found a fascinating thread through Grescoe’s travels across the globe.

“THE GREATEST MISTAKE in the history of the human race,” according to American geographer Jared Diamond, was farming. “With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism, that curse our existence.”

This would make a awesome book club selection and would generate some lively discussion, made even better by an accompaniment of chapulines for snacking.

Publication Date: September 19, 2023
Published By: Greystone Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Cookbooks

Summer Foodie Books

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Acquacotta by Emiko Davis
Publication Date: March 2023

Discover the cuisine of a secret part of southernmost Tuscany, known as La Costa D’Argento — the silver coast, in the second edition of Acquacotta. In this cookbook, Tuscan-based, Australian-born writer and photographer Emiko Davies has compiled and adapted her Italian family’s best-loved recipes from Capalbio, Monte Argentario, Giglio Island and inland to the hot springs of Saturnia and the ancient Pitigliano.

These are hearty, sometimes complicated recipes that rely heavily on fresh ingredients and plenty of time to cook. The book is divided into sections based on where the main ingredient is sourced, and includes delicious things like Crostini di Polenta con i Funghi (mushrooms on top of crispy polenta planks), Acquacotta Maremmana (a casserole rich with summer vegetables, bread and eggs), and Sformato di Cipolloti (a spring onion gratin). While the recipes are blended with some useful cooking tips and lovely photos, this is not a book for the beginning cook. This experienced cook found some new favorites!

The Herb Gardening Handbook by Andrew Perry
Publication Date: March 2023

The Herb Gardening Handbook gives you the know-how of what herbs to buy, what to plant them with, how to use them and even how to make herbs look good, no matter the space available. Beginning with a simple guide of how to get started and the best growing conditions for herbs, The Herb Gardening Handbook is a stylish guide to 12 herb projects that will suit everything from indoor window ledges to balconies and gardens. From the cocktail herb garden, which focuses on the botanicals that will make summer cocktails and drinks all the more fragrant to the Pizza Pantry Garden where readers will grow everything needed to create delicious pizza toppings.

This handy little book takes some of the mystery out of growing herbs by grouping types of plants together based on how you want to use them. Looking for herbs to make your pizzas tastier or wondering how to infuse herbs into your adult beverages? All that is here and more. Includes tips and advice on how to grow in multiple places – pots vs. in-ground, how much sun, how much water, when to prune and so on. It’s all here in one handy guide.

One-Pot Healthy by Sabrina Fauda-Role
Publication Date: March 2023

Bringing together classic dishes and fresh recipe ideas, One-Pot Healthy teaches you how to cook 80 delicious and hearty meals in just one pot. From weeknight essentials to gatherings and celebrations, there’s something for every occasion. Start your day with a Tomato and Herb Omelette, try your hand at a speedy Chicken and Butternut Broth, ready in just 15 minutes and cook up a rather impressive Eggplant and Fig Casserole. Filled with inspiration for simple, healthy and delicious meals, One-Pot Healthy contains a wide variety of ingenious recipes, perfect for any night of the week.

This is a downright beautiful book! I love a cookbook that includes luscious, full-color, glossy photos of the finished dishes, and this book more than delivers on that front. You eat with your eyes, right? The photos in this book will encourage you to try new recipes using ingredients you might not otherwise pick up. The cooking techniques used here, from knife cuts to the whole “one-pot” method are suitable for all levels of cooks. Give this one a try if you’re looking for new ideas.

All books published by Hardie Grant Books
Thanks to the Publisher for review copies

Cookbooks, Non Fiction

National Dish by Anya von Bremzen

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

In this engrossing and timely journey to the crossroads of food and identity award-winning writer Anya von Bremzen explores six of the world’s most fascinating and iconic culinary cultures—France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Mexico, and Turkey—brilliantly weaving cuisine, history, and politics into a work of scintillating connoisseurship and charm

We all have an idea in our heads about what French food is—or Italian, or Japanese, or Mexican, or . . .  But where did those ideas come from? Who decides what makes a national food canon? Recipient of three James Beard awards, Anya von Bremzen has written definitive cookbooks on Russian, Spanish, and Latin American cuisines, as well as her internationally acclaimed memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. Now in National Dish, she sets out to investigate the truth behind the eternal cliché—“we are what we eat”—traveling to six storied food capitals, going high and low, from world-famous chefs to scholars to strangers in bars, in search of how cuisine became connected to place and identity.

Paris is where the whole idea of food as national heritage was first invented, and so it is where Anya must begin. With an inquisitive eye and unmistakable wit, she ponders the codification of French food and the current tension between locavorism and globalization. From France, she’s off to Naples, to probe the myth and reality of pizza, pasta, and Italian-ness. Next up, Tokyo, where Anya and her partner Barry explore ramen, rice, and the distance between Japan’s future and its past. From there they move to Seville, to search for the community-based essence of Spain’s tapas traditions, and then Oaxaca, where debates over postcolonial cultural integration find expression in maize and mole. In Istanbul, a traditional Ottoman potluck becomes a lens on how a former multicultural empire defines its food heritage. Finally, they land back in their beloved home in Queens, for a dinner centered on Ukrainian borsch, a meal that has never felt more loaded, or more precious and poignant.

A unique and magical cook’s tour of the world, National Dish brings us to a deep appreciation of how the country makes the food, and the food the country.

My Thoughts

It’s not often you run across a book about cooking and food that is truly a non-fiction exploration of food history, mores, and national identity. National Dish is all that and more.

Anya von Bremzen brings to the table her own form of sarcastic, witty, and irreverent assessment of the foods considered part of the identity of certain countries. She begins in Paris, a city she really, really dislikes (and she let’s you know it), where she chases down the meaning and national importance of pot-au-feu by talking to giants in the French food industry and then by making her own.

This format continues through five other cities where she explores dishes intrinsic to the city, nation, and culture of those particular locations. I learned quite a bit about those cities/countries and their foods.

Serious foodies and those in the industry will enjoy this, but the average reader like me, who has an interest in food but not a deep knowledge of world cuisine, will end up skimming a lot of the text or will alternate between the text and the internet looking up names, dates, and dishes.

This is less of a cookbook and more of a non-fiction dive into the food that makes a culture a culture, and that makes for fascinating reading.

Publication Date: June 20, 2023
Published By: Penguin Group; The Penguin Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Cookbooks

Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom by Anna Olson

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Inside Baking Wisdom lies the answer to every baking question you’ve ever had (and many you haven’t yet), plus over 150 perfected recipes—both savoury and sweet—for bakers of all skill  levels. Get inside Anna’s baking brain, as she shares a career’s worth of experience to build a true masterclass in baking. In this incredible baking compendium, you will learn the hows and whys of baking through her flawless techniques, patient advice and literally hundreds of photos. This is an all-encompassing guide, guaranteed to make you a better baker.

Whether you want to perfect your pie dough or dedicate your weekend to assembling a masterpiece Torta Setteveli, there is a recipe in Baking Wisdom for you. Within each chapter, Anna’s triple-tested recipes are grouped together by commonly shared technique or principle, so you can see how one foundation recipe can be built upon to create many more complex creations. In every one of her perfected recipes, Anna leads the way with notes of baking wisdom directly included in each recipe’s method. And she does this all with one goal in mind: to help you achieve the very best baking results every time.

Also included is extensive advice on topics such as baking ingredients, tools and actions, as well as numerous step-by-step how-to guides for all types of baking techniques. If you’ve ever wondered how to separate an egg, or frost a cake, or temper chocolate, the answers are here. And if you’re interested in a deeper understanding of how and why ingredients behave the way they do in baking, or the impacts of altitude, or even how to calculate butterfat content, there’s a whole section dedicated to the science of baking, too.

 Baking Wisdom is a must-have collection of baking recipes, techniques and advice, and is Anna’s most comprehensive cookbook yet.

My Thoughts

This is the book to buy for the serious baker in your life, as well as for anyone thinking about a career in baking. Olson has produced one of the most complete and detailed baking books I’ve read in a long time. The accompanying illustrations are incredibly useful – e.g. what the three stages of beaten egg whites actually look like – and the “how to save” advice for things like seized chocolate and overwhipped cream are gold for new bakers.

It seems this was written for a Canadian audience, but American bakers will have no trouble using the book. Highly recommended.

The #1 bestselling cookbook! And the baking bible every baking enthusiast needs to own—from Anna Olson, Canada’s most celebrated baker.

“Canada’s dessert doyenne’s much-anticipated opus on flour, sugar, butter and eggs is out now – 450 pages covering everything you could possibly want to know about baking”—The Globe and Mail

Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Published By: Penguin Random House Canada
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy