New Titles List
Summer 2008
New Titles List
Summer 2008
Jeffrey Alford and Naomi
Duguid. BEYOND THE GREAT WALL.
The award-winning authors of Hot Sour Salty Sweet (the food of
Southeast Asia) and Mangoes and Curry Leaves (India) venture
into what they call "the other China": Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai,
Yunnan, and Inner Mongolia. Food from these regions is little known
in the West, and the pleasure of discovering new dishes and flavors
is amplified by the couple's gorgeous photography of people and places,
as well as their luminously descriptive prose. An inspiration to wanderlust.
color throughout. cl. $40.00
Yannick Alleno and Kazuko
Masui. 4 SEASONS AT TABLE NO. 5.
A very welcome English translation of the imaginative and stylish
first book from the chef at Paris's Le Meurice, recently awarded its
third Michelin star. As Paul Bocuse says in his introduction, “"Through
constant and accurate work, the respect of texture and flavor, and his
intuitive sense of arrangement, Alleno knows how to make the mouth water."
Roast turbot on bone marrow with a salad of truffles and lightly smoked
potatoes. Slow-roasted sardines with tomato-cream ravioli. Nougat wafers
with lemon zest and candied fennel. color throughout. cl. $135.00
Kingsley Amis. EVERYDAY
DRINKING.
One neat little volume brings together Amis's three out-of-print
works on the art and practice of imbibing-- On Drink, Everyday
Drinking, and How's Your Glass? Unrepentantly pleased with
his powers of consumption, Amis, most widely known as the author of
Lucky Jim, is shameless in his pursuit of a good time, generous
in revealing his secrets (including recipes), and a pleasure to read.
cl. $19.95
Mario Batali. ITALIAN
GRILL.
Rely on Batali to bring a strong sense of innovation to anything
Italian without losing the connection to his food's Italian roots. Marinated
calamari with chickpeas, olive pesto, and oranges. Spit-roasted chicken
with wine grapes and bread salad. Scallions with almond pesto. Extravagant
color throughout. cl. $29.95
Warren Brown. CAKELOVE.
Lawyer-turned-baker Brown, proprietor of Washington, DC-area bakeries
and host of a Food Network show, has written a confident, attractive
book on cakes that puts beginning bakers on the right path through its
emphasis on fundamental methods. color throughout. cl. $27.50
Irena Chalmers. FOOD
JOBS.
A well-connected, highly regarded culinary career guru who is currently
an instructor at the CIA's New Hyde Park campus, Chalmers presents a
very useful guide to a dizzying array of food occupations, ranging from
chef, butcher, and nutritionist to bee keeper, kitchen designer, and
wild game farmer. Her knowing and pithy descriptions of duties and requisite
qualifications are often supplemented by enlightening accounts of their
career paths written by people prominent in their field: Betty Fussell
on becoming a food historian, Jonathan King on the founding of Stonewall
Kitchens, Sidney Mintz on specializing as a food anthropologist. Great
perspectives here. p. $19.95
Jayne Cohen. JEWISH HOLIDAY
COOKING.
“"In my famil'y," writes Cohen, we like to potchkeh
or play with our recipes." And they do it delightfully. In nearly
600 pages, organized by holiday and enriched by folklore and family
stories, Cohen riffs gently on Ashkenazic (and some Sephardic) standards.
Gefilte fish quickly steamed between cabbage leaves. Fresh corn kugel.
Scallion latkes. cl. $32.50
Fuchsia Dunlop. SHARK'S
FIN AND SICHUAN PEPPER.
An energetic and good-humored memoir of Dunlop's early years getting
to know China, its food, and its cooking. Now the author of two highly-regarded
books on Chinese regional cuisine (Land of Plenty, on the food
of Sichuan, and Revolutionary Chinese Cooking, on the food of
Hunan), Dunlop writes engagingly about the (mis-)adventures and discoveries
of her novice years. cl. $24.95
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
and Nick Fisher. THE RIVER COTTAGE FISH BOOK.
With the same passion for quality that characterized his River
Cottage Meat Book, F-W, writing with a fishing buddy, takes on the
denizens of the deep. Urging his readers to be sticklers for quality,
adventurous with so-called trash fish, and careful about purchasing
over-harvested species, F-W provides 250 pages of recipes and another
nearly 200 pages of opinionated descriptions of everything from albacore
to zander, with stops along the way at dogfish, lobster, and winkles.
color throughout. cl. $74.95
Stéphane
Glacier. MACAROON SWOON.
Now in English, this sprawling book completely devoted to macaroons
offers a wealth of inspiration and ideas along with technical expertise
from a renowned pastry chef. More than seventy recipes run the gamut
from the beautifully traditional (vanilla, pistachio) to playfully innovative
(frozen and filled with pear and verbena sorbet) to savory (green cabbage
and smoked bacon). There are even macaroon entremets. Large format (11.5
x 15). Available in French as well. color throughout. cl. $115.00
Amy Goldman. THE HEIRLOOM
TOMATO.
A seductive yet practical celebration of the many manifestations
of the tomato from Goldman, a passionate botanist and gardener who has
also written about squash (The Compleat Squash cl. $40.00) and
melons (Melons for the Passionate Grower cl. $25.00). Includes
history, recipes, a growing guide, and more than 200 gorgeous photographs.
cl. $35.00
Skye Gyngell. A YEAR
IN MY KITCHEN.
Gyngell, an acclaimed writer for Australian Vogue, has a lovely
gift for simple, seasonal cooking, which is handsomely displayed in
this collection of recipes created for the cafe at a plant nursery in
London. The appeal of her food is enhanced by lovely color photographs
throughout the book. A somewhat pricey import but well worth it. cl.
$59.95 p. $39.95
Kate Hansen & Liv
Hansen. LITTLE CAKES FROM THE WHIMSICAL BAKEHOUSE.
Cupcakes, muffins, mini-coffee cakes, and other tiny treats from
a Westchester, NY, bakery known for its intensely colorful, playfully
designed goodies. Clever decorating ideas abound, but it's also nice
to see a cupcake book in which the cakes themselves are worth making
and eating. color throughout. cl. $24.95
Raghavan Iyer. 660 CURRIES.
Welcome surprises abound in this ambitious assemblage of traditional
and contemporary Indian dishes from all sections of the sub-continent,
offered by a highly-regarded cooking teacher. There is much that's unexpected
here. Black-eyed peas with mustard, cumin, and curry leaves. Pork with
cider vinegar and fried potatoes. Stewed radishes with tamarind. Watermelon
with garlic and red chiles. color insert. p. $22.95 cl. $32.50
Cheryl and Bill Jamison.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DINNERS.
Touring ten countries in three months to celebrate their twentieth
wedding anniversary, the Jamisons--authors of a host of popular standard
cookbooks such as American Home Cooking and Smoke & Spice--get
more than they bargained for, and more than they dreamed of. Fortunately,
they're game for adventure and this memoir recounts theirs with verve
and aplomb. b-&-w photos. cl. $24.95
Judy Bart Kancigor. COOKING
JEWISH.
Kancigor, a food columnist for the Orange County Register, has compiled
more than 500 recipes from her very extended family (plus a few friends).
Of course the book offers the likes of tsimmes and challah, along with
a few Sephardic dishes from North Africa, but buttermilk scones, lasangna
primavera, and cajun sweet potatoes demonstrate just how expansive Jewish
cooking has become. Nearly every recipe comes with a family story about
its origins or its contributor. p. $19.95
Lynne Rosetto Kasper
and Sally Swift. THE SPLENDID TABLE'S HOW TO EAT SUPPER.
This collection of recipes and flavorful chit-chat from the long-running
PBS radio show offers a wide-ranging array of pleasantly satisfying,
uncomplicated weeknight recipes of the sort we all wish we had up our
sleeves. Fusilli with white beans and tuna. Ginger-caramel shrimp. Green
beans with gremolata. color throughout. cl. $35.00
Paula Young Lee, editor.
MEAT, MODERNITY, AND THE RISE OF THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE.
One of the very few books we've seen on this subject. An unexpectedly
fascinating collection of essays by historians, geographers, economists,
and even an architectural historian (who is the general editor), covering
France, Germany, Britain, the United States, and Mexico. The subjects
range from technology to sanitation to humanitarian concerns, with rich
material on the culture and traditions of the abbatoir. cl. $49.95
Lori Longbotham. LUSCIOUS
CREAMY DESSERTS.
Banana cream pie, butterscotch pudding, Venetian-style fried custard.
There's nothing absolutely necessary about this good-looking little
book. But you buy it because you succumb to temptation and you know
you'll be in good hands with Longbotham, a veteran food writer who knows
her way around a whisk. color throughout. cl. $19.95
Greg Malouf and Lucy
Malouf. TURQUOISE.
The authors of several important books on innovative Middle Eastern
cuisine (Arabesque, Saha), the Maloufs turn here to Turkey and
offer an almost magical portrait of the country and its cuisine. As
with Saha, which surveyed Syria and Lebanon, the pair are careful
to place dishes in context and to point out where they have introduced
subtle, modernizing touches. color throughout. cl. $74.95
José
Maréchal.
VERRINES.
Whether sweet or savory, small courses served in glasses can add
visual panache to a meal, and Marechal, chef of a Paris restaurant,
finds great inspiration in the approach. Celeriac and bacon milk shake.
Mini-croque-monsieur baked in a glass. Raspberry and pistachio tiramisu.
Fun stuff. En français.
color throughout. p. $39.95
Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore.
FISH WITHOUT A DOUBT.
Las Vegas profited at New York's expense when Moonen, famed for
restaurants such as Oceana, pulled up stakes and headed west to open
RM Seafood. Happily, his first cookbook is an accessible, imaginative
selection of appealing recipes that seems designed to lure cooks into
being adventurous. Halibut poached in milk with bok choy and coconut
green curry sauce. Roast tuna with black olive and anchovy butter. Chicken-fried
trout. color inserts. cl. $35.00
Francois Payard. CHOCOLATE
EPIPHANY.
This is serious chocolate from one of NYC's most renowned pastry
chefs. Breads, cookies, petits fours, candies, custards, ice creams,
tarts, cakes, plated desserts--they're all here, from re-invented classics
to insightful innovations. The recipes can be demanding, but oh! the
payoffs. color throughout. cl. $35.00
Michael J. Pettid. KOREAN
CUISINE: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY.
Pettid, a professor of Korean language and literature at SUNY Binghampton,
offers a eye-opening overview of the relationship between Korean food
and Korean history in general. He includes chapters on ritual foods,
regional specialties, drinks, foods of the royal palace, and kitchens
and utensils. color throughout. cl. $39.95
Jean-François
Piège
with Patrick Mikanowski. CÔTÉ
CRILLON, CÔTÉ
MAISON.
For many years, Piège
was Ducasse's man in Monte Carlo, but he is now installed in Paris at
the Hotel Crillon. This delightfully imaginative collection of his dishes
presents fare from the restaurant as well as simpler home food. But
in each category one finds great imagination and style, so much so that
it is often impossible to guess where a dish is supposed to be served.
Beautifully photographed as well. En français.
color throughout. cl. $135.00 An English-language edition will appear
this fall. ($65.00)
Anna Pump. SUMMER ON
A PLATE.
The most recent book from the proprietor of Loaves & Fishes,
a small shop in Sagaponack, NY, with a big reputation, offers an appealing
line-up of simple, casual dishes. Cucumber and fresh dill slaw. Apricot-lime
baked chicken. Pea and watercress soup. Good, comforting food. color
insert. cl. $23.00
Gordon Ramsay. GORDON
RAMSAY'S FAST FOOD.
Three-star chef Ramsay has ambitious notions about what happens
"fast" and what's in the pantry in most home kitchens-but
that aside, this is a refreshing assortment of easily prepared dishes.
Green bean, red onion, and romano cheese salad. Avocado and cucumber
soup. Pan-fried shrimp with orange and tequila. color throughout. cl.
$35.00
Joan Reardon. M.F.K.
FISHER AMONG THE POTS AND PANS.
This gentle biography of Fisher traces the stages of her life by
attempting to recreate or re-imagine the kitchens in which she cooked.
Reardon, a culinary historian, includes recipes that are typical of
different times and places in which Fisher lived (lamb stew for Dijon,
gazpacho salad for her home in Napa). A very pleasant way to get a sense
of Fisher's complex life. line drawings. cl. $24.95
Dale Volberg Reed and
John Shelton Reed. CORNBREAD NATION 4.
A new anthology of Southern food writing, gathered together under
the auspices of the Southern Foodways Alliance, with contributions from
R.W. Apple, Brett Anderson, Lolis Eric Elie, Molly O'Neill, John T.
Edge, Jessica Harris, Pat Conroy, and many others. All earlier volumes
in the series are also available. p. $17.95
Stéphane
Reynaud. TERRINE.
Though he's written a book called Pork & Sons, Reynaud
here presents terrines made from not only from pork shoulder and wild
boar, but also from vegetables, fruits, seafood, and cheese, and such
staples such as chicken liver and foie gras. Handsomely presented and
appealingly imaginative. Artichoke and porcini terrine. Lentil and snail
terrine. Oxtail and red wine terrine. Milk chocolate and crepe terrine.
color throughout. cl. $29.95
Enric Rosich. RENOVACION.
Rosich (a Spanish consultant to leading ingredient manufacturers
who has trained with Pierre Hermé
and Frederic Bau), employs a sleek, modernist presentation that rarely
varies from bars and squares, in which fruits and creams are layered
atop crispy bases. But within those self-imposed constraints, he reveals
the beauty of simplicity. He also displays an imaginative command of
flavor combinations. White chocolate, lime and caramel. Pistachio and
orange. Pineapple and chardonnay vinegar. En Español.
color throughout. cl. $159.95
Arthur Schwartz. JEWISH
HOME COOKING.
A gifted storyteller and culinary historian, as well as a talented
cook, Schwartz celebrates Yiddish home cooking in this attractive, engaging
collection that offers up as many anecdotes as recipes. A vanishing
world comes back to life in Schwartz's hands: Romanian steakhouses,
Dr. Brown's Celery Tonic, savory onion cookies, potted flanken. color
throughout. cl. $35.00
Sébastien
Serveau. MACARONS.
A small, but technically informative work in French on the cookie
of the moment. Serveau is the lead pastry chef at l'École
de Cuisine d'Alain Ducasse, and his instructions for everything from
piping the cookies to making the buttercream filling are presented in
fine detail. color throughout. p. $29.95
Nigel Slater. EATING
FOR ENGLAND.
In a series of short riffs on British food and table customs, Slater,
a longtime writer for the Observer and author of a string of popular
and simple cookbooks, explores the likes and dislikes of his countrymen--as
well as his own. He is opinionated, casually prescriptive ("a scone
should be between four and six centimeters high and break neatly in
half without recourse to a knife"), and a delight to read. cl.
$45.00
Christine Smallwood.
AN APPETITE FOR PUGLIA. AN APPETITE FOR UMBRIA.
Each of this pair of delightfully evocative books offers a journey
through an Italian region, small town by small town, profiling restaurants
and their chefs and offering recipes for local favorites. From a tavern
in Monte Sant'Angelo on Puglia's Gargano peninsula comes mushroom ravioli
in walnut sauce; from the Umbrian hilltown of Montefalco, Smallwood
offers a borlotti bean and barley salad gleaned from a wine bar on the
central piazza. Great photography adds to the romance. color throughout.
p. $44.95
Martha Stewart Living
Magazine. MARTHA STEWART'S COOKIES.
There are plenty of hits in this collection of 175 recipes-- both
classic and inventive--taken from the pages of the magazine. Color photos
for each cookie enhance the appeal of the likes of buttered-rum meltaways,
peanut butter whoopie pies, and gingersnap palmiers. color throughout.
p. $24.95
Herve This. MOLECULAR
GASTRONOMY.
This is an influential collection of insightful short pieces on
issues of flavor creation and perception by the man credited with coining
the title phrase. A Kitchen Arts best seller. Now in paperback. p. $19.95
Patricia and Walter Wells.
WE'VE ALWAYS HAD PARIS... AND PROVENCE.
A charming and honest memoir of nearly thirty years' life in France.
While Walter Wells was managing editor at The International Herald Tribune,
Patricia was carving out a career as a food journalist that would make
her one of the most beloved American authorities on French food. There's
something fantastical about the lives they have led, and it's wonderful
to get caught up in the magic. Signed copies available. b-&-w photos.
cl. $26.95
Pat Willard. AMERICA
EATS.
During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration employed
American writers, including Saul Bellow, Eudora Welty, Ralph Ellison,
and Nelson Algren, to document local and regional food traditions. Most
of the manuscripts were never published, but Willard has gathered together
material from archives across America and here retraces the steps of
the original chroniclers. Much has vanished, but Willard's journalistic
persistence allows her to recover or reconnect to many lost foodways.
b-&-w photos. cl. $25.95
Jean-Pierre Wybauw. FINE
CHOCOLATES 2.
This new confection collection from Barry-Callebaut's chocolate
emissary offers an enticingly presented and technically-detailed selection
of recipes, from the beer truffle to the white truffle with olive oil
ganache. Forty pages of technical background include such topics as
fat mixtures and their importance in ganache, the creation of ganache
under vacuum, and the prevention of oxidative rancidity. Available in
English or in French. color throughout. cl. $89.95