No comments about Gourmet Food for Friends ("Australian Women's Weekly" Home Library).

4 comments about Australian Food: In Celebration of the New Australian Cuisine.

1. This is one of the nicest cook books i have ever seen, great pictures and recepies by the top chefs of the Australian cuisine. I am in the restaurant business and we can use most of the recepies very well. Thanks again.



2. This is an excellent cookbook, providing a wide range of recipes with varied levels of difficulties ranging from the simple to the difficult. I've tried a few of the more complex ones with great success. There are some terms which might be a bit unfamiliar, but otherwise, a very nice cookbook. I highly recommend the naked raviolis with spinach.



3. My son in Australia had this book sent to me in the states. It's a luscious read, filled with the energy of the new Australian cuisine, with photography to match. I've since visited this fascinating country and left extremely well fed. It's as if the world decided to concentrate all its food energy into a few centers down under. I've been able to use a number of these recipes in my own cooking, but even more I've been able to adapt many of the ideas. But if you never cook from this book, it still makes a handsome volume for the coffee table.

   Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com




4. What an unfortunate book from authors who should know better. The book could far better be called 'In celebration of the New International Cuisine' because I can't tell the difference between what the authors claim is Australian and what is often presented in up market and hotel restaurants in Tokyo, New York, LA, London, Dubai, Mumbai or Singapore. This 'nice' food book has little to contribute to its intended audience and certainly little to do with what Australian food is becoming - unique, authentic and characterised by a wide range of indigenous ingredients.
   
   For anyone wanting to really know what Australian cuisine is all about, get the Dining Downunder Cookbook (order it through Amazon or find it online). Other related books on the topic are The Bushfood Handbook and Uniquely Australian, both by Vic Cherikoff.

1 comments about Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion (Oz Clarke's Wine Companions).

1. Australian Wine Companion: An Essential Guide For All Lovers Of Australian Wine is a 'must' for any who would explore Australian wines with one of the most famous wine writers in the world. Divided by grape growing region and regional producers, this doesn't just list wineries and their specialties: it also provides both background history and insights into how the winery has changed since its establishment; in the process revealing much about Australian wine industry history as a whole. Whether you're a destination-oriented wine enthusiast or an armchair reader/drinker, Australian Wine Companion is the first starter kit.

4 comments about Good Food from Australia.

1. This book is an invaluable tool if you are trying to capture the essence of Aussie cooking.Recipes are easy and the ingredients are readily available in the U.S.Not classic cookery, but real grub that Mum would put on the table! The Queensland fruit curry is a winner.



2. The real deal. Traditional Australian home cooking and pub food, as opposed to modern fusion-confusion cuisine.



3. (This is an addendum to a previous review) As an American who has spent some time in Australia, I do have one criticism of this book: I found several jabs by the authors at American food/culture (fat Americans eating giant sandwiches, etc.)to be mildly annoying (though not entirely without basis!), considering that this is a book written by Australians and targeted primarily to an American audience. The authenticity and traditional nature of the Australian recipes, however, make up for this minor flaw.



4. I really love this book! My husband is Australian and I lived there for over a year. We are now in the states and I miss some of the Aussie foods...I asked for this book for Christmas and got it. It is awesome! Has recipes for all the foods that I was missing like meat pies, Lamingtons, Pavlova, and more! It also gives history of the dish and tells alot about Australia as it pertains to whatever you're making. I also like that the recipes are translated into American measuring systems which I always would find difficult when bringing a recipe from Australia because their cups are different and they use the metric system. I'm so excited to have gotten this book and can't wait to cook all my favorites! Being someone who is married to an Aussie as well as lived there for a time, I think this book is awesome and I would suggest it to anyone who wants to cook traditional/modern Australian dishes.

1 comments about Wicked Sweet Indulgences ("Australian Women's Weekly" Home Library).

1. ever they see me leafing through a Susan Tomnay cookbook. It is known from experience something good is going to happen. I have used her books (all by Australian Women's Weekly)for more years than I care to count! The instructions are easy to follow, the layout is perfect and the photos incredible. EVERYTHING I have cooked or baked from Susan's recipes has come out wonderful. Probably one of the things I like most is the ingredients aren't fancy. I almost always have the items in my pantry.
   
   I started out with "Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook" and my "library" has grown from there. Enjoy!

No comments about James Halliday Australian Wine Companion: 2010 Edition (James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion).

5 comments about Childrens Birthday Cake Book ("Australian Women's Weekly" Home Library).

1. I had this book when I was a kid and everytime my birthday would roll around I would flip through this and admire all the doll cakes, sprinkled cakes, chocolate cakes and so forth. One year the piano cake was recreated for my birthday and we added some musical accessories to it. Some of the other highlights I enjoyed in here were the tea party cake, the candy shop cake, the doll cakes, the number cakes, the musical instrument ones, fairy tale ones and this really pretty cake with vanilla frosting with sprinkly hearts on the sides. People used to really treat cake baking as an art form as shown in this book, but now people just want to get the same old cake from a grocery store or a plain cake with a picture of the latest cartoon fad or something, where's the art in that? Definitely buy this book and make creative cakes together with your kids or anyone at all, it's a great pasttime



2. This was an absolute favourite with the kids in my family when we were growing up. Getting to choose what cake you were going to have was a favourite family tradition. You should REALLY get this book for your kids.



3. I had this book as a child too - my mother made the piano cake, the baby doll cake and many more which I remember vividly. Now I have two little boys and they love looking through the book to choose their own birthday cakes. So far we have made number cakes, dump trucks, barns and ducks together - not always quite from the book, but using it as inspiration. The kids love it and it's great fun. Highly recommended!



4. Oh my God, I remember this book from when I was little. My sister and I, both born in January, used to borrow it from my Aunty and spend hours poring over it discussing what cakes we could have. We were only allowed these cakes on "special" birthdays which, hmmmm, were only 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10. Not sure what that big gap in the middle was about, clearly we were deprived children. Anyway, this was THE book. And it still is in so many ways. My two year old took off with it as soon as it arrived and spent what seemed like hours (but was probably only a blissful 20 minutes) flicking through it. He quickly grasped that he could choose something for his third birthday and eventually decided on the rocket cake (balanced precariously on cardboard fins, great). It was delightful to see the magic transferring down a generation, which is why I give it such a high rating. It is now a bit dated though... I had forgotten that it's divided into "For Boys" and "For Girls" sections. Rather hilariously, the "For Girls" section contains a sewing machine cake, a sewing basket cake, a dressing table cake and, just when you think it couldn't get any worse, a stove cake(!). That aside, it's much more creative and exciting than the more modern edition and it also contains a lot of ideas to kick start your own creativity.



5. This is the cakebook every Australian family had on the shelf in the 1980s. When you asked a kid what cake they were having for their birthday, they would just name a cake from this book. It comes from an era that predated the fondant/rolled icing perfection that seems so standard now. These cakes are creative artworks: rustic and querky. Decorations are made mostly with lollies and biscuits, so each slice is a taste adventure. This book is gold, and I am thrilled to have my new copy.

No comments about The Australian Wine Encylopedia.

5 comments about A Baker's Odyssey: Celebrating Time-Honored Recipes from America's Rich Immigrant Heritage.

1. "A Baker's Odyssey" is thick with recipes of all kinds---fried sweet pastries and doughs, flatbreads, savory & sweet pastries, yeast breads & pies (both sweet and savory), cookies, cakes, tortes, and more.
   
   There are a few small bundles of color photos in the book. Most of the time I'm happy either way when it comes to the presence of photos---they aren't a must-have for me the way they are for some folks---but given the wide array of unusual (to me, anyway) treats in here, I would have loved more photos. The ones that are here are gorgeous, though.
   
   There are plenty of notes on ingredients, which is incredibly helpful given that, for example, you might not have worked with lard before. Mr. Patent even includes instructions for rendering your own so it'll be of better quality than that found in your average grocery. There are also plenty of notes on equipment; just because these are traditional recipes doesn't mean you have to forgo modern convenience appliances!
   
   A Baker's Odyssey includes recipes from all over the world---Kahk from Iraq; Puff Puff from Nigeria; Casatelli from Italy; Lebanese pita; Norwegian lefse; and on and on. I'd say that hands-down the biggest hit out of the recipes we've made so far was the Kachauri, fried flatbreads stuffed with a spiced split pea mixture. Cheese Sambouseks were quite popular as well---pockets stuffed with an egg-and-cheese mixture. We made a delightful whole wheat oatmeal bread as well as the tasty, crunchy little Kahk nibbles.
   
   The recipes are clear and easy to read. So far I've only found one editing snafu (two slightly different sets of instructions to divide up a dough in one paragraph, such that it took a moment to realize I wasn't supposed to try to divide up the dough multiple times) and it was easily recognized and dealt with. All in all, I expect this will become one of our more treasured bread books. I just love being able to try out the vast wealth of recipes from around the world.



2. `A Baker's Odyssey' by professional Zoologist, Greg Patent is a sequel to his excellent `Baking in America' and is also different from the rich selection of books we have on American desserts from the likes of Nancy Baggett, Wayne Harley Brachman, and Judith Fertig. It is most similar to `A Baker's Tour' by noted baking author and teacher, Nick Malgieri, except that Professor Patent limits himself to baking imported into the United States by Immigrants.
   This book successfully emulates the virtues of `Baking in America' in many ways. First, it is a superior reference on how to recreate authentic recipes for many classic international dishes, plus some great homegrown dishes, especially from my favorite Pennsylvania Dutch corner of the world. Second, its discussion of the fundamentals is far more nuanced than one would expect in a book intended to be a collection of traditional recipes.
   The very first recipe I checked, for the Russian Easter bread, kulich, is a fine example of both how thorough and how `ethnic' Patent's recipes can be. I have found and made similar recipes in both Betsy Oppenneer's `Celebration Breads' and in `The Best of Gourmet, 20th Anniversary Edition', and it is fascinating to see what the three recipes have in common and what is different. The most surprising common feature is that all three recipes call for baking the bread in two pound coffee cans. And, I can testify from experience that one strays from this recommendation at your own risk. I have mad kulich in three quart soufflé dishes and in 1 quart soufflé dishes, and neither one came out quite as good as I expected. There is something about the metal and the tall thin shape of the container which seems to be needed. The problem is that all 2 lb coffee cans today come with easy open tops, with pronounced lips, which make them virtually unusable as baking pans. I found that small metal springform pans are a reasonable substitute to the metal coffee cans. One simply has to carefully follow the directions on how to determine when the baking is done. The primary difference between Patent and the two more `modern' recipes is that Gourmet and Oppenneer both call for two rises of four hours or less while Patent's grandmother's recipe calls for three rises totaling up to eight hours. Less significant differences are that the modern recipes add saffron. I constantly puzzled over how Russian peasants could get or afford saffron. Patent's ethnically accurate recipe achieves the yellow coloring form using plenty of eggs and butter.
   The second recipe I checked was the classic Pennsylvania Dutch shoo fly pie. Not only does Patent include one, he includes two, both from authentic sources, Betty Groff and William Woys Weaver. So, Patent remedies the omissions in practically every other authors' book(s) on `American' baking.
   Another ethnic recipe very important to me are the Hungarian Walnut Torte, classically flourless, with `body' provided by walnuts and bread crumbs and lift provided by egg whites. Patent gives ample instructions on being careful not to over bake, but I'm surprised he gives no special instructions on how to avoid droopy centers. I'm totally amazed that my grandmother was able to make this cake without a droopy center. When my aunt took over the duties of making it for my birthday, her cake always drooped.
   The last recipe near and dear to my heart I found was for Apple Strudel. Like every other recipe, this one comes from an authentic German recipe, relayed by an authentic German! The highlight of the recipe is that it includes instructions for making strudel dough from scratch. There is a family resemblance between strudel dough and the Greek Phyllo dough, but anyone who has improvised strudel with Phyllo knows they are simply not the same thing. German / Austrian strudel dough is a bit easier to make, and has more body to it.
   As I have intimated above, every recipe comes from an authentic source. Patent had a good start for his cosmopolitan sources, as his parents were Iranian and Russian, and he was born in China. And, virtually all the recipes have a basis in home baking. There is not a trace of artisanal baking from ambient wild yeasts, something which can only be done effectively with a commercial bakery which specializes in such breads. Thus, the whole world of artisanal breads is left for other writers. But this is no loss, as this is a very well-tilled field of writing.
   It is just a bit surprising to find no hot cross buns, especially since it did not appear in `Baking in America'. It is not surprising to find no buttermilk biscuits, since that did appear in `Baking in America'. But Irish Soda Bread, even the `Spotted Dick' variety is here.
   The obligatory list of sources at the back of the book is as good or better than I've seen elsewhere. If you love baking `ethnic', this book and its predecessor are a superb pair of references, especially if you don't have lots of room for a dozen baking books.
   The book includes a DVD which, I am happy to say, includes techniques on two of my favorite recipes cited above, the apple strudel and the Hungarian walnut cake.
   There are many, many good baking books these days. If traditional recipes are your thing, there is nothing better than these two.



3. Baking is made easy with the enclosed dvd. I always prefer to bake instead of fry, this gives me more options. I also recommend Finger Licking different.



4. After hearing the author on NPR, I was expecting the book to have a bit more in the way of savory recipes. That being said, this book contains the only recipe I've ever found for the real Russian kulich I had as a child. While time consuming,the recipe is easy enough to follow for an experienced baker. The result was magnificent-the only perfectly scented and textured kulich I've ever managed to make.



5. I love this book. Mr. Patent has devoted a great amount of time to the research of the recipes and it shows. So far I have tried 4 and loved every single one of them. I have had to make adjustments because I live in a high altitude city, that's standard for me. Actually, the only reason I'm not giving this book 5 stars is because Mr. Patent as most authors, does not give too much of his attention to the subject of high-altitude baking.

5 comments about The Cook's Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen.

1. I am one of those cooks who likes to collect only the very best cookbooks- Larousse for France, Hazan for Italy, Fearnley-Whittingstall for meat, Casas for Spain, Kennedy for Mexico. And for Australia? Stephanie Alexander. It has wonderful information about the products and how to prepare them, with perfect easy recipes for beautiful classic immigrant cuisine (Gingerbread? Lemon slice? Minestrone with fresh borlotti beans and cavolo nero? Ceviche?) In the margins she has fantastic little inspirational notes for cooks who don't need measurements, such as "another beef salad: combine light soy sauce with fresh lime juice, fish sauce..." It is a big, heavy, gorgeous but durable book that you will love to see on your shelf almost as much as you love cooking with it. It is organised by ingredient, like Larousse, so you can say, "Hmmmm, I have a lot of potatoes. What can I make?" If you live in Australia, buy this book. It will give you everything your mum used to make. If you don't, buy it anyway- if your mother is Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Mexican, French...it might just have something she used to make too. But maybe even better.



2. Whenever I am in cooking strife, am looking for a simple reminder on how to do something like make homemade pasta, or want to explore for a tasty recipe I'll turn to my copy of the Cook's Companion.
   
   This is my recipe bible and I love it!



3. WHat an amazing book. Almost anything you can find in a supermarket is in here, with a list of all the other foods that can go with it.
   If you love to try new things in the kitchen I would highly recommend this book.



4. a must have for any cook who loves being "stylish" with a sense of adventure in the kitchen



5. When ever I have an ingredient that I do not know how to cook, I simply look in this book and there is always a tasty recipe that is fun to whip up! Money well spent!