The New American Herbal by Stephen Orr

price: $27.50

isbn: 978-0-449-81993-7

release: Sep 30th, 2014

format: Trade Paperback

category: Gardening - Herbs

From modern garden master Stephen Orr comes a new, definitive book on herbs to finally replace the dusty and outdated classics. Here are entries on hundreds of plants that are extraordinarily useful in cooking, homeopathy, and more; dozens of recipes and DIY projects; and beautifully styled photographs so you know just what you're growing.

My next review book, can't wait for it's arrival as I have been interested in herbs and their uses for awhile now. It will be wonderful to see Stephen Orr's work.

A Masterpiece

Relae: A Book of Ideas by Christian F. Puglisi

As soon as you pick this book up, your thoughts are "A Masterpiece". It is as a dictionary of old, the thumb indents per chapter and ideas, so simple but elegantly constructed. The book is divided into three chapters with an appendix.

Chapter 1: Groundwork (six essays)

Chapter 2: Ideas on a Plate
Liquids (four essays)
Animal (six essays)
Land (thirteen essays)
Sea (seven essays)
Manipulations (ten essays)
Textures (nine essays)
Flavor (six essays)
Theory (thirteen essays)
Inspirations (nine essays)

Chapter 3: Dishes
Snacks (seven entries)
Herbivorous Starters (six entries)
Omnivorous Starters (eleven entries)
Herbivorous Seconds (nine entries)
Herbivorous Mains (eight entries)
Omnivorous Mains (seven entries)
Cheese and Desserts (thirteen entries)

Appendix: Recipes

If you are a beginner cook you may be overwhelmed, this book is not for the light of heart in any culinary sense. Puglisi's essays are intriguing and educational from vinegars to olive oil and butter. He tells of his experiences, his life and shares his knowledge.
The recipes are far from American normal meals, they are more like an expensive restaurant meal with small servings of many plates making up the one meal, you can easily think of one of those restaurants you need to make reservations far in advance, we are talking months.

This is more a book of ideas and theories than a simple cookbook. Your normal home cook does not own a dehydrator to dehydrate vegetables to rehydrate to get a specific texture, so it is best to look at learning techniques from Puglisi's book than looking at it as a cookbook with recipes, though there are a few.

I highly recommend it for the 'experienced' cook and restaurant chef. My kitchen isn't the average with 4 convection ovens and 10 burners, (5 electric and 5 gas). My husband and I enjoy cooking tremendously and yes I own a dehydrator (really 2). I must admit if you are into learning more techniques and applications this is the book for you, and your bookshelf. If you are just starting out it may be to much, but well worth having on your shelf for reference and learning after you get the basics down.

My only concern is the light color of the book itself, sitting on my counter may get stained a bite with use.

 "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Awaiting this wonderful book from Blogging for Books

price:

$50.00

isbn:

978-1-60774-649-2

release:

Nov 11th, 2014

format

Hardcover

category:

Cooking - Scandinavian

Chef Christian F. Puglisi opened restaurant Relæ in 2010 on a rough, run-down stretch of one of Copenhagen’s most crime-ridden streets. His goal was simple: to serve impeccable, intelligent, sustainable, and plant-centric food of the highest quality—in a setting that was devoid of the pretention and frills of conventional high-end restaurant dining. Relæ was an immediate hit, and Puglisi’s “to the bone” ethos—which emphasized innovative, substantive cooking over crisp white tablecloths or legions of water-pouring, napkin-folding waiters—became a rallying cry for chefs around the world.

Today the Jægersborggade—where Relæ and its more casual sister restaurant, Manfreds, are located—is one of Copenhagen’s most vibrant and exciting streets. And Puglisi continues to excite and surprise diners with his genre-defying, wildly inventive cooking.

Relæ is Puglisi’s much-anticipated debut: like his restaurants, the book is honest, unconventional, and challenges our expectations of what a cookbook should be. Rather than focusing on recipes, the core of the book is a series of interconnected “idea essays,” which reveal the ingredients, practical techniques, and philosophies that inform Puglisi’s cooking. Each essay is connected to one (or many) of the dishes he serves, and readers are invited to flip through the book in whatever sequence inspires them—from idea to dish and back to idea again. The result is a deeply personal, utterly unique reading experience: a rare glimpse into the mind of a top chef, and the opportunity to learn the language of one of the world’s most pioneering and acclaimed restaurants.