Cooking History Books

This book focuses on sustainability, safety, and nutrition in the food we eat. There are a lot of players that have an impact on the food that shows up in the grocery store: agribusiness, the government, seed companies, chemical companies, and farmers. This book focuses on the interplay of these groups and the impact they have on our food. Organic farming is featured heavily throughout.

Some highlights include:

Turkeys are now bred to be so large that they can no longer mate and need to be artificially inseminated.

Chicken is consistently infected with salemolla and the "solution" in your bagged chicken contains bleach.

Beef cattle are fed antibiotics, not because they're sick, but so they grow faster.

RGBH hormone is being used to reduce corporate costs and put small milkers out of business.

Nutrition in fruits and vegetables has been declining since the 70's because of corporate farm practices.

Out of season produce is burning up tons of fossil fuels and imported produce may be treated with pesticides that are illegal in the United States.

A lot of good political stuff here about the food industry. Giants like Monsanto and ADM throw their weight around with resulting negative impact on the safety and nutrition of our food.

This was written in 2000 when the national organic standards were still in a state of flux. Since then they have passed, it would be interesting to hear weather or not the author finds them satisfactory.

Recommended for Parents, teachers, students, farmers, or anyone with an interest in the food industry.

Bitter Harvest is a wonderful book. It highlights the importance of natural foods vs. the artificial foods we eat. However, this is a distinction NOT between junk food and vegetables, but agribusiness vegetables and local organic vegetables.
It turns out that, in search of the maximum profit, the massive agribusinesses engage in pratices that make vegetables much less healthy, and, in some cases, toxic.
Since allowing land to fallow and regain its nutrients reduces profits that could be generated from using that land, agribusinesses use the same land over and over again, and pump it full of chemicals to try to restore the nutritional content of the soil. This is not some wild claim, it is simply how agribusiness works according to their own information.
As a result, many vegetables are becoming less healthy and less nutritional. For instance, a USDA report comparing American broccoli between 1975 and 1997 shows that it has decreased in many important nutrients: broccoli in 1997 had 53% less calcium, 20% less iron, 38% less Vit A, 17% less Vit C, 35% less thiamin, 48% less riboflavin, and 29% less Niacin than 1975 broccoli. Additionally, food that is transported loses nutrients over time. Our vegetables travel an average of 1500 miles.
Unfortunately, thanks to NAFTA and GATT, our vegetables can be toxic. Mexico currently does not ban at least 6 pesticides that are banned due to health effects in the USA. Why does this matter to us? We get most of our off-season vegetables from Mexico: 97% of tomatoes, 93% of our cucumbers, 95% of our squash, 99% eggplant, and 85% of our strawberries. We are eating the poisons Mexico allows in its food.
The news is not all bad, and this book is largely a celebration of life, food, and nature. Above all, it stresses the need to find food sources that don't use the damaging practices of agribusinesses and are not far away-local organic farms. According to Consumer Reports Jan 1998 issue, "organic foods consistently had the least toxic pesticide residues." Similarly, it is more nutritional. Organic Corn has 20 times the calcium and magnesium of store corn. There are many more nutrients and vegetables listed.
And so, to question an earlier reviewer, who found it "really hard to figure out why any of it matters"--are you concerned about eating poisons and pesticides? Are you concerned about declining nutrient levels in our vegetables? If you are, then this book matters. In fact, it is difficult to imagine anything mattering more than what we eat and the damage it may cause.

Sad thing is, this keeps popping up as an issue, what is happening to our precious supply of fabulous fresh foods, that truly sustain and delight. Even if poor, you can enjoy a fabulous dish of fresh steamed green beans just off the vine.
My grandparents were "poor", no money but they were farmers and enjoyed lots of good things that sustained life, joy, peace and hope. It is truly disgusting to think 80 percent of fresh chicken has samonella and who knows what else and so many do not know how to protect themselves from getting sick on it. Everything in the supermarket case looks pure and perfect, cool and fresh. Oldways preservation in Cambridge has kept up the searching spotlight and many chefs are well informed but work so hard, they have little time to educate the public. Thank you Ann Cooper for your experience and insights!

Sally LaRhette

This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the food they put into their bodies. It is definitively NOT a cookbook, nor does it make an attempt as such--the other reader from New York clearly did not read this book!

Thank you Ann Cooper and Lisa Holmes! If you really believe "you are what you eat", this book may scare you into ACTION! This book was suggested to me by a parent of one of my son's friends, and I am so glad it was. Though sometimes "text bookish", this compilation of information really makes you stop and think about what you eat and what we feed our families. I found the historical information to be very insightful and the suggestions for how to offer healthier choices were terrific. The resources listed in the back of the book were nuts and bolts suggestions that answered the question, "now what do I do?" With recent "Mad Cow Disease" scares, and ever increasing rates of cancer, heart disease, etc. this is a fabulous resource for helping people to think about small ways to make changes in what we put in our bodies every day. READ IT!!

Jennifer McLagan's BONES: RECIPES, HISTORY, & LORE (0060585374, $34.95) covers all the basics about bones and their important role in flavoring. People may opt for boneless chicken, fish and cutlets - but anything cooked with bone in has more flavor, and BONES provides receipts for cooking everything with bones. Each chapters includes stocks, soups, ribs, legs and more; but most of the dishes are easy enough for the most basic home cook to duplicate. Traditional dishes move to innovative and international influences in each chapter, and while color photos do pepper the presentation, the meat of BONES lies in its recipes that celebrate and bring out the best in bone flavorings.

`Bones' by Australian chef and culinary writer, Jennifer McLagen, currently of Toronto, Canada is a major contribution to our understanding of so many things which are good about food, and which we have forgotten, or tend to ignore. There is a conventional wisdom, aphoristic expressions of which are sprinkled liberally about the margins of this work, which endorses the value of bones and the meat which lies closest to same. And yet, my mother, in the name of modern culinary frugality, and in spite of growing up in a Pennsylvania Dutch household that should have known better, constantly harangues me on not buying meat with embedded bones. This leads to all sorts of cases where I'm entreated to give up the joys of a leg of lamb on the bone, not to mention lamb shanks or `osso buco'.

The pretext is that pound for pound, the boneless meat is a better value for the money. This monotone doctrine is probably wrong much of the time even if one did a careful pound of protein per dollar analysis of the two products, but that misses the point. This book is one long argument for the value added obtained from bones with our meat.

One thing I wish to stress is that one should not assume this book is a long essay or memoir in the style of Peter Kaminsky's `Pig Perfect'. The subtitle, `Recipes, History, & Lore' is a quite accurate statement of the distribution of content between recipes and `other stuff'. In fact, one can easily acquire this book as a general cookbook on how to cook animal protein, as it covers protein on the hoof, on the wing, and on (and in) the water. Virtually the only kind of protein it does not cover are those beasties such as the crustaceans and mollusks who wear their stiffening body parts on the outside.

Specifically, the author has chapters on:

Beef and Veal, including Bison
Pork
Lamb
Poultry, including game birds
Fish, round and flat
Game, primarily venison and related meat on the hoof
Boneologue, with bone derived desserts, if you can believe it.

The two primary values derived from bone are gelatin and marrow. The first is one of those great universal ingredients, almost as valuable as lard or sugar, in the cooking of France. In fact, if one were to look for those things that most distinguish French cuisine from all others, it would probably include the use of gelatin in both stocks, desserts, and aspics used to keep food fresh on the buffet table. In comparison, marrow is almost a footnote, roughly similar to bottarga as an esoteric ingredient.

With the importance of bony gelatin in stocks, it is no surprise that virtually every chapter but the last begins with a recipe for the appropriate stock. So, this book becomes also a great reference for making meat and fish stocks.

It is no surprise that in a book on animal bones, there will be diagrams of the skeletons of each type of animal. This may be one of my few complaints about the book, in that for their relative importance, they are relatively small and poorly annotated. I can get much more by looking up the butchering diagrams in my Larousse Gastronomique. Similarly, I thing much of the discussion would have been much more illuminating if pictures of the various types of cuts were on display. This would have been much more valuable than the artsy black and white pics of cleaned bones and color pics of dishes, which I rarely look at in a cookbook anyway. But let us not let this distract you from a truly rich and readable cookbook.

As all recipes deal with bony cuts, I am especially pleased that so many of the recipes are braises. There are so many that Ms. McLagan makes special mention of the technique she learned from Thomas Keller's `The French Laundry Cookbook' of laying a circle of parchment paper on top of the braising meat and liquid. As Sara Moulton found out when she learned this technique from Jacques Pepin, this is not a personal `trick' dreamt up by some modern chef, it is actually a well-established practice in the French restaurant kitchen.

This is just one example of the great care Ms. McLagan applies to her recipe writing. Every recipe has its little hints and suggestions and warnings to prevent an inadvertent drying out. She is especially good on the proper technique of using the instant read or permenantly installed thermometer. This point alone makes the book important for amateur cooks.

The selection of recipes is just the right mix of familiar and unusual dishes. If you happen to own a substantial library of cookbooks, there is more than enough here to interest you. The recipes for game and the notes on cooking Bison and Beefalo alone are worth the price of admission.

For an average cookbook price, you get lots of great recipes for animal protein plus lots of entertaining wit and wisdom on making the most of the bones before the dog gets a hold of them.

A Fantastic cook book. I really enjoyed it and have given "Bones" many times as a gift. From the easy to follow recipes, combined with really interesting history and lore, followed up with incredible photography, "Bones" is the quintessential cookbook that everyone should have in their kitchens!

I had hoped that there would be more recipes featuring interesting and devious use of bones in cooking. What I get instead are: ribs.... The most interesting recipe was lifted from (and credited to) Fergus Henderson. Ah well.

This will indeed sound strange: I am preferentially a vegetarian (which means that I love and prefer vegetables and such, but will also occasionally eat meat, but only if it's wonderful and worth it). "Worth it" does not begin to describe some of this food! I am also an experienced cook and a total foodie who owns several hundred well-used cookbooks, and I just loved this book. I received it as a gift and happily sat up half Christmas night just reading it and drooling. Marvelous information! Marvelous recipes! Excellent writing! If you've never experimented with cooking with bones--you must try. It's classic cuisine but somewhat unusual now in home kitchens. (How many people do you know who would recognize, let alone own a marrow spoon?) I loved this book SO much that I have now myself given it as a gift to the two best cooks I know--and I didn't wait for their birthdays or Xmas to roll around, either!

I know nothing about caviar or sturgeon, but subject matter aside, this is one of the most well-written boutique histories I've ever read (and I've read many of them). Saffron's writing is fantastically engaging. This is no dry academic text; I felt as though I were reading a book of fiction in terms of its readability and sense of adventure. I was constantly laughing or smiling or worrying along with the author. Let's hope Saffron continues to write boutique histories!

A reader does not have to have the infatuation with caviar the author has, nor for that matter even have tasted the roe of various fish to enjoy this book. You must have a serious gastronomic love, or perhaps lust, for a given dish to even begin to match the writer's rapturous relationship with a food that persons either love or find impossible to understand. The extreme reactions to the food are easier to classify once you have read how the food is prepared and how much of what is passed off today as various forms of caviar is fraudulent, or worse, likely to make you ill. The days of sturgeon that weigh as much as the car in your driveway are forever gone. What has replaced these mammoth living fossils are a few hapless fish that have survived destructive fishing and pollution, and finally farm-bred fish that are meticulously cared for in massive tanks.

The irony of caviar's longevity is that is was maintained well in to the 20th Century by the worst practitioner of production, The Former Soviet Union. The same persons that could not match wheat production during the time of the Czars, build a car, or produce the correct number of bicycles managed to keep the cash crop of caviar healthy for decades. This food that is largely thought of as Russian has been on tables for centuries and did not find its home in the Caspian Sea until after the sturgeon had been decimated elsewhere. Germany was once a large source and The United States was the foremost producer internationally until the turn of the 20th century, when after a scant 30 years with ruthless efficiency the fish stocks were destroyed here in the US. Another irony is that as the fish are being relegated to farms they once again are finding their homes in California.

Inga Saffron does a wonderful job of explaining the history of the fish and the world as it existed as sturgeon populations waxed and waned. She shares stories of major caviar producing areas on the shores of New Jersey that are so broken down as to not even qualify as ghost towns, nature having reclaimed those areas that once were internationally known. She also shares the roles of scientists who attempt to develop methods to protect fishing stocks, identify smugglers, and keep these fish that were once a plentiful behemoth from becoming extinct. There are also interesting consequences that result from the work of science. Using the same methods to identify the caviar sold in New York City in the 1990's as they use to track smugglers, science documented that one third of the caviar being sold was not what it claimed to be. New Yorkers had a one in three chance of being defrauded.

The same economic incentive that has lead to the near extinction of the sturgeon is what will keep the species alive. What is a new danger for these fish is that they are no longer the most important economic interest in areas of production as they historically were. Where once they were as valuable as gold they know have lost their place to oil. One scientist suggested embryos of the fish be frozen and reintroduced to the planet in a century after the oil has been exhausted.

Hopefully for the benefit of these remarkable creatures caviar will keep its mystique and its cachet. There are no longer artificial market forces to keep the roe rare just as DeBeers keeps diamonds precious by their monopoly. It costs a fortune to produce sturgeon on farms; hopefully people will continue to buy caviar at prices that persons who don't share the author's passion will ever understand.

I have been served red, black and gray caviar at "Slava", possibly the best restaurant in Moscow...and I STILL didn't like it. (Our Russian friends gladly accepted our serving like it was gold.)

This is a great, little story about caviar and the history of this delicacy and the great fish that supplies it. The sturgeon, of which there are several varieties, is an ancient animal, predating the dinosaurs. It has remained essentially unchanged because there was no reason for evolutionary modifications. It can grow to incredible sizes and the eggs sacs are astounding.

In Russia, though, the sturgeon nears extinction as the race to capture as much caviar as possible continues. In that country, it is an art - the capture, gutting, creating, selling of this product. THe author gives us first-hand experiences as we fish with the natives, suffer their increasingly declining catches and commiserate in their gloom. Then there are history lessons on both biological and cultural paths. The ending is not upbeat.. For the fish to regenerate we must rethink our ideas about what constitutes a delicacy. One problem is the low price of caviar - so low it no longer constitutes a "delicacy". A good and timely book.

I had the mixed fortune to read this book in a Puerto Rican resort, about a million miles away from where caviar is bought or sold, but Saffron's vivid description of this delicacy more than compensated for its physical absence. Caviar is one of those few foods which changes form when put in the mouth - the fish eggs pop like bubbles as soon as they're on the tongue - and in this sense it is not unlike chocolate (which melts in the mouth) for its sensual appeal. Caviar goes back to the Black sea, wherein beluga has been farmed for thousands of years (Herodotus gets quoted along the way). Sadly, the actual stocks of Russian caviar are so badly depleted that they are close to extermination; for decent, ethical fish eggs one has to go to the American farm-raised sturgeon or, as a further compromise, for lesser stuff such as salmon eggs. There are interesting chapters on the cultural emergence of caviar as a delicacy; sadder ones on the sudden eruption of strip-farming in the early 1990s. Best enjoyed with a glass or two of champagne.

From the time that the TV series, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, hit the small screens viewers were invited to indulge themselves in the "caviar dreams" of the wealthy. I suppose it was due in part to this reference that I have always been intrigued by this delicacy of delicacies.

Caviar, the book, is an enjoyable read that leads the reader through the very interesting history of caviar, the food, from its surprisingly humble origins in Russia to its New World presence and industry.

The book also tells the sad plight of the sturgeon, the huge fish from which the finest caviar in the world is harvested, and how this "living fossil" is now in danger of becoming extinct and that in order to sate the lust that the super rich have, not only for the taste of caviar but for its prestige as well.

Interestingly, I found that the sturgeon story has some similarities to the tragedy of the near extinction of the American Bison. Whereas in all too many cases the buffalo was slaughtered only for its tongue, the sturgeon is taken not so much for its meat which is consumed for food, but for its primary and, comparatively, small contribution in its eggs.

A truly fascinating story, read it with a big dish of beluga and crackers or, better yet, save the sturgeon and read it like I did with a coke and some pretzels. I couldn't have afforded even a small dish of beluga anyway.

This book is about my absolute favorite restaurant - how could it not be fabulous!?!? I could not wait for this book to be published! The photos are phenominal. OK, I guess I am a bit partial, because the restaurant holds a special place for me - I was engaged there! But, I would have liked the book for the inside look at the world-class restaurant anyway. Definately put this one in your basket, you will not be sorry.

What a wonderful insight into the making of Charlie Trotter's. It's impossible not to be swept away by the stories of what made it all possible and the vision that continues to inspire one of the great restaurants of the world. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a real behind the scenes look at superior dining in action.

This is the best restaurant book I have ever read. Lawler absolutely brings to life the workings of Chicago's finest eating establishment. Trotter's is one of my all-time favorite places and this book makes it even more special. Super photos, too. A must read for anyone interested in fine dining.

This is a truly great book! It's a glimse into a place that totally understanders excellence. I've dined at the restaurant many times, and I believe this book to be a tremendous reflection of the experience. The place is about intensity, percision, and spontaneity.......and this work absolutely captures it! Not too many places (on the Planet!) get the total dining package.... ...cuisine, ambiance, wine program, and service.....Trotter's does!

As a one time chef myself, I can honestly say that Charlie Trotter's has been a big part of my life over the last ten years or so. I remember seeing him ten years ago in a Food Arts magazine and was instantly in love with his food and restaurant. After dining there twice and reading all of his cookbooks I can say one thing, "Charlie Trotter's knows about longevity". This book will give you an insight on how the restaurant was started. It will also show you how Charlie's mother would have never expected him to be one of the top chefs in the country. It's almost scary to look at some of the pictures of Charlie when he was younger. Even some with really long hair. I laughed out loud at a couple. Anyway, if you know anything about this great restaurant, you have to buy this book. You can go to the bookstore to look at it, but I can guarantee you'll buy it. And by all means, if you have never eaten at his restaurant make the trip. You'll love every minute of it. Thank you Charlie for all the great books.

This is what every beer book should aspire to be. Farmhouse Ales presents the state of the art in knowledge about the history, ingredients, and brewing techniques of two fascinating and delightful styles of Belgian Ale. Much of the information presented here has not appeared anywhere else in easily accessible form. And the authors have done an outstanding job in being thorough in their presentation of information while at the same time writing in a style that makes this book a pleasure to read. Whether you plan to brew saisons and biere de gardes professionally or on a homebrew level, or whether you just want to enhance your appreciation of two neglected but rich and complicated styles, this book is a must-read. I myself especially treasured the comprehensive information on the yeast strain utilized by Saison Dupont, and on the historical origins of the style. If youre a brewer, this book will make you a better one, and if youre a beer lover, this book will make you love it more.

I found this book to be fun and informative to read. I am an avid homebrewer that loves to experiment. This book gives a useful account about how the beers of rural Belgium came to be. In particular, the author explores how culture and geography combined to create the beers of the region.

For me the best chapter was "A Word on Style". The quote "Perhaps no other family of beers can frustrate the style police like farmhouse ales..." gives an idea of the attitude of this book. The point is made that "style" is sometimes over defined and stifles creativity. The point is to make good beer.

The book does not set out to prescribe what a farmhouse ale should be. Rather it describes the history of the farmhouse ales and their modern successors. The book does give some recipes and suggestions, but makes the point that these are starting points for experimentation.

As a brewer who views style very broadly and loves to learn new techniques and experiment, I greatly enjoyed this book. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys beer and brewing.

The book is very formal about the subject.
I would like to see added to the book, comparisons of this beers with others (similar in taste but not in the same style).

The book did not surprised me, but it has some local brewers information, which is valuable.

As a homebrewer, it's hard to read this book and not immediately want to brew. What's great about this title (and all of the others in this series) is that it can inspire anyone who's brewed before. For the less-adventurous among us, there's plenty of information here to credibly recreate a "typical" saison or biere-de-garde even if you've never tasted one before. For the more seasoned brewer, however, the frank discussions of the intricate history of these beers and the vageries of style inspire you to create your own unique farmhouse ale.

Some of the reading seemed dry but lots of good historical information about the brewing of farmhouse ales in Belgium and France. I would highly recommend if you have any interest in these uncommon, yet unique beer styles.

Professor Laudan, who is primarilly a philosopher of the history of science, has produced an outstanding book on the origins and background to Polynesian food. It is not supposed to be a recipe book, and Heaven knows what the reviewer who talks about "sherbert" was on about. That was not a review.

It is well-written, engrossing and in beautiful English, a real rarity nowadays. Richly deserved to win the Julia Childs Award for America.

I gather that Professor Laudan's long-awaited magnum opus, the World History of Food, will be ready soon. Should be excellent and ground-breaking.

It seems this book was born out of Laudan's attempt to categorize and make sense out of the foods in Hawaii. I was raised in Hawaii and grew up surrounded by the foods that Laudan presents in her book. Many of the local cookbooks put together and sold by Hawaii's churches, schools, and communities give you recipes from local home kitchens; nothing too fancy and usually no description of the dish, because it is assumed you know what the ingredients are and how they are used.

More than a cookbook, Laudan has written well-researched histories of how various local foods have developed throughout the islands before each main and sub sections (The Plate Lunch, The Matter of Mochi, Sorting Out Sushi to name a few). And, she includes a brief explaination of the dish before each recipe.

I bought this book hoping to shed some light on "crack seed" and how to make it. Unfortunately, it appears that she was able to get only the more well known recipes due to the fact that the main ingredient (oriental flowering apricot) is not widely available.

This book is a good resource, if not for the recipes, then for the history of Hawaii's local food for both non-Hawaii and island cooks. One caveat: a recipe found in a cookbook is no more than a base on which to add/subtract/change ingredients as you see fit. There is no such thing as "The Recipe" for teriyaki sauce - recipes vary from home to home and island to island.

Read this book before or after you visit Hawai`i, and you'll increase your appreciation of the people, the place and the food. As one born and raised here and of mixed ancestry, I treasure this book. The only significant group the author missed is the Puerto Ricans, and consequently some of the Afro-Carribean influences in our cuisine.

Maui Sherbert

2 (7oz) cans strawberry soda AND 1 can sweetened condensed milk AND 1 (7oz) can 7-up

Mix together and freeze for 3 hours. Whisk. Freeze again.

Reading this book brought memories of a childhood partially spent in Hawaii flooding back. Rachel Laudan definitely seems to cover a the broad array of unique goodies that can be found in Hawaii; for instance, Hawaii is the ONLY place to truly appreciate shaved ice and the potential myriad of delicious flavors. Unfortunately, however, the recipes don't quite live up to expectation. I can remember one of my earliest memories in Hawaii -- I had made friends w/ another little girl at the beach and her family invited me to share in their cooked-at-the-beach lunch of steamed rice and teriyaki beef. It was sooo good and not something that my mom cooked for ME at the beach! I've been looking to re-create that taste and memory for a while and Rachel Laudan's teriyaki recipe falls far, far short. Her butter mochi recipe is also very heavy and greasy for my tastes (and I love mochi). Nevertheless, it's a fascinating account of Hawaiian cooking. I just wish the recipes were excellent, too.

A selection of quirky pieces. Most are phone message left for the kitchen sisters. Some good, some just ramble on and on. I am a fan of the show so I was expecting more.

The book arrived fast and in excellent condition, but many of the recipes weren't that interesting, better to check out Clementine Paddleford's classic book How America Eats !

This was a membership gift from NPR. I thought, of all my choices, it would be most interesting. I'm glad that I didn't buy it. The book focuses more on the narratives of the different cooks in unlikely places than on the recipes that they use. All of the stories are excellent reminders that all people love food, and that we are quite clever in inserting good food in our daily life, wherever that might be. The most inspiring to me was the first story of the homeless and nearly homeless who use the George Foreman grill on the streets or in SRO hotels where cooking is forbidden. This is contrasted with Foreman's life as a child, where hunger was a constant presence. I am sure that I will try some of the recipes, but cannot recommend the book unless you like The Hidden Kitchens on NPR, which I had never heard of until now.

Recipes pepper Hidden Kitchens: Stories, Recipes, and More from NPR's The Kitchen Sisters, but Hidden Kitchens is more than just the chronicle of the beloved National Public Radio Morning Edition series. As part of the Hidden Kitchen project, two women called The Kitchen Sisters put forth an NPR hotline and asked listeners, "What food traditions are disappearing from your life? Who glues your community together through food? What should be captured and documented before it disappears or changes beyond recognition?" The response came like an avalanche. Hundreds of humorous, profound, wistful, and heart-rending true stories were submitted; the best of them are presented in Hidden Kitchens, along with recipes, color photographs, and illustrations. From food in the galleys of Great Lakes ships to a secret civil rights kitchen in Montgomery, Alabama, the stories Hidden Kitchens all have in common the zest to create great food, and through taste, help human beings connect with one another. Highly recommended.

This is definitely a cookbook worth owning. And great for gift giving.

Janet Sue Terry author of "A Rich, Deliciously Satisfying, Collection of Breakfast Recipes".

Terrible book. No maps, no real good tree identification, very preachy, and the same info in this book can be found in any field guide. I'll probably donate it to the local library.
Bottom line: I am sort of a novice at finding morels and this book didn't make me learn anything more valuable than I already know.

Purchased this book as a birthday gift for my brother. He loves it -- has great pictures and terrific info. Book was delivered very quickly.

This is a great little book for those who want to increase their odds of finding the precious morel. It is a fast, easy read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have tried a few of the recipes and they were wonderful!
I re-ordered two additional copies for friends and would recommend this book to most anyone.

This is a nice book. It is simply written for the mushroom hunter rather than the mycologist. Great pictures, descriptions, recipes, and hunting tips. A good companion to Michael Kuo's morel book.

I haven't found any morels yet! But the season in new york has not started either, but the author of this book sound's like he knows what
he talking about. The information is very helpful.

I love the title of this book and when I saw terms like Grandma and Grandpa Nagy in the introduction, I smiled because, I, too, am a Nagy. That was my maiden name and many of these recipes reminded me of my Grandmother's kitchen in Cleveland, OH. I'm keeping this book with my small colection of Hungarian culture for my daughters and grandchildren.

A very good cookbook. The paprika chicken was delicious! The history in the book is very interesting which makes the book worth reading. Worth the money.

DO NOT buy this book if you like Hungarian cooking. Its idea of a recipe is to cook something as bland as possible and add, mmm, sour cream, or maybe canned tomato juice, or maybe bacon. And a little bit of paprika. I only bought it based on the Amazon.com feedback.

"Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks" by Yolanda Nagy Fintor has a long title. It should. There is a lot packed in it.

As cookbooks go, this is among the most accessible I have read. While many tend to err with a tone too haute cuisine, Fintor realizes she's suggesting ordinary people cook these dishes.

To many Americans asking themselves what Hungarian food is, I can say it is a good, good thing. It will challenge your arteries, but delight your soul. Your stomach will be happy too. Here, you will find recipes proving that.

Fintor explains in a brief introduction a history of Hungarian cuisine. She writes how, despite its present unique place in the culinary world, it began as an amalgamation of French, Italian, Turkish, German and Transylvanian food.

While not exactly useful to the American cook, she has a section on Hungarian language. Now, you can pronounce the dish names when your Hungarian date comes over for dinner. If things work out, you will impress your spouse's family too.

More practical to most readers is her section on how to interpret the recipes, and what ingredients you will need handy. The difference this makes is important, like that vinegar to be used is distilled white, and that butter should be the salted kind.

Keyed into the needs of beginning cooks, Fintor provides some useful tips, a glossary of basic cooking terns (like dredge, dice, trussing, and what roux is).

Recipes are the bulk of the book, with some black and white pictures of dishes. The layout is easy on the eyes. Directions are straightforward. Occasionally, she gives ideas to adapt the recipe to an American context, in case the ingredients are somewhat different. The only significant drawback is the hardcover design, which makes keeping it open while cooking difficult.

The recipe sections are as follows, each with an introduction:

Appetizers, relishes, and sauces
Salads
Soups
Biscuits, dumplings, and noodles
Poultry
Meats
Vegetables
Desserts
Breads
Wines (no recipes, just an introduction).

I fully recommend "Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks" by Yolanda Nagy Fintor. Jó Étvágyat! (May you have a good appetite!)

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Now in a newly expanded edition, Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes For New World Cooks by Yolanda Nagy Fintor (who learned cooking from her Hungarian mother) introduces the reader to a culinary wealth of truly great recipes that have been passed down through generations of Hungarian cooks via an oral family tradition. Featuring not only recipes with meticulous instructions, but also memories, traditions, and lore from those who have prepared and shared such dishes as New World Creamy Potato Soup, Sweet And Sour Cabbage, and Beer Bread Sticks, the Hungarian Cookbook is very highly recommended for anyone seeking to learn about, create, and taste the flavors and culinary traditions of Hungary.

THIS A VERY INTERESTING BILOGRAPHY REGARDING A WELL KNOWN ACTRESS.THESE RECIPES THOUGH SEEM A LITTLE OUT DATE IM NOT SURE IF SOME OF THEM ARE EDIABLE.THIS IS CERTAINITY NOT YOUR AVERAGE COOK BOOK. YOU WOULD PURCHASE THIS BOOK MORE FOR A NOVELTY THEN FOR A READ OF ANY SORT.

I _LOVE_ this book. I found it to be very unique, and different from most celebrity cookbooks ... It is very warmly written, a veritable treasure trove of fascinating little insights into Hollywood's biggest names (and their favorite recipes), and shows Elinor Donahue to be an exceptionally kind, lovely person. She also includes a large number of her own favorite recipes, which look delectable -- and which I can't wait to try. (My copy is studded with bookmarks, since there are so many dishes I'm eager to make.) I love it both as reading material, and as an outstanding cookbook. I'll be buying additional copies to give as gifts.

Elinor re-affirms her fans thoughts that she is indeed a warm and fascinating person. Her collection of favorite foods and rememberances are entertaining as well as an insight into her life and dreams. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves TV history, great food, and, of course, Elinor Donahue.

Ever since her "Father Knows Best" days, Elinor Donahue has been a familiar presence on our screens. She always seemed so "up". Is that real, or just acting? After reading this unusual book that is both an autobiography and a cookbook, I've reached the conclusion that Elinor is real, on-screen and off. I don't recall reading a single word in which she said anything bad about anyone. She seems to be as charming and optimistic as her image. She's a lady in the truest sense of the word, and it was a delight to read her book. Now to try out some of those terrific recipes . . . .

Elinor re-affirms her fans thoughts that she is indeed a warm and facinating person. Her collection of favorite foods and rememberances are entertaining as well as an insight into her life and dreams. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves TV history, great food, and, of course, Elinor Donahue.