2 comments about Daring Pairings: A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines with Recipes from His Favorite Chefs.

1. //Daring Pairings//, by master sommelier and wine educator Evan Goldstein, is a practical guide to food and wine pairing that offers just the right balance of detail and restraint. In this book, Goldstein introduces 36 lesser known grape varietals from around the world, and in a thorough yet succinct way, provides enough information to help you to pair wine and food like an expert.
   
   The book begins by explaining many of the nuances of individual wine and food characteristics and includes a couple of really handy quick reference sheets. It is then divided into chapters that list white and red wines alphabetically. Each chapter focuses on a specific grape varietal providing historical and production information, examples of similar wines, food pairing details that include food do's and don'ts, and recipes created just for this book by renowned chefs. Each chapter also contains recommendations for cheese plate pairings and lists preferred wine producers for each varietal.
   
   If you're one of those people who loves wine and food, but could use some help in putting them together, you will find this book indispensable.
   
   Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport



2. By Jennifer McInnis
   San Antonio Express-News
   [...]
   No longer do you need to worry about what you serve with a prosecco. Or whether you eat fish or beef with gamay wine.
   
   Goldstein, master sommelier and author of "Perfect Pairings," recently published his second book, "Daring Pairings" ($24.95 University of California Press), which highlights 36 lesser-known grapes accompanied by recipes from his favorite chefs. The book is a comprehensive guide to the adventurous wine explorer.
   
   "I think in all honesty there has never been a better time in the history of the civilization to be a wine consumer," Goldstein says.
   
   Taking a risk with a wine that's not as well known can mean better value, since many of these wines are available at reasonable prices.
   
   To create a pairing, the book first breaks down the keys to understanding wine -- acidity, sweetness, tannin, oak and alcohol. It also goes into the keys of matching food -- ingredients, cooking methods and sauces and condiments.
   
   For each grape, Goldstein provides details such as alternative names, common blends, where it's grown, wines similar in style or taste, and what it does and doesn't pair well with. For example, albariño isn't good with many veggies or spicy or sweet dishes, but it's great with most cooked seafood. It also cleanses the palate when paired with deep-fried and richly textured dishes. He includes cheese pairings for each varietal and recommends producers at three price points.
   
   The book includes a recipe for every course. For example, a malbec complements a Braised Shank of Beef entrée, and an Almond Cake with a warm Red Berry-Vanilla Compote goes with muscat.
   
   Goldstein takes most of the guesswork out of the process. He says there are several mistakes people make when pairing wine and food:
   
   *Following the more time-honored rules -- white wine with fish, red wine with meat, pink wine with poultry. "I think people at times are both disappointed and frustrated when they are following what they believe to be great, solid direction and it crashes and burns," he says.
   
   *Believing food and wine myths. "If you've got really big, powerful strong cheeses, you need big powerful wines strong enough to go with it. That probably couldn't be further from the truth," he says.
   
   *Limiting yourself, which is less a mistake than "a lost opportunity." Goldstein says you shouldn't be afraid of going off the beaten track and broadening your spectrum of grapes.
   
   There are two approaches when pairing a multicourse meal, depending on if you're at home or dining at a restaurant.
   
   In restaurants, Goldstein says diners and sommeliers are becoming more confident and daring, often pairing wines by the glass.
   
   "If (diners) can have variety in their food, why can't they have variety in their wine?
   
   "Also, it does provide better pairings because you've selected a wine specific for your dish. Last, it allows them to customize wine selections to their meal," he says.
   
   For pairings at home, it's up to you to decide how much wine you want to buy, depending on the number of guests. Goldstein suggests getting input from your wine merchant.
   
   "I do believe when people are entertaining ... there's a lot more play going on," he says.
   
   One of his biggest tips is "to shop consistently at the same place and even with the same people" so your retailer will come to understand your palate and can successfully suggest wines.
   
   "This emerging inquisitiveness and natural curiosity and confidence that Americans are having, both in food and wine, is being played out at both tables in restaurants and at home."

5 comments about Canyon Ranch: Nourish: Indulgently Healthy Cuisine.

1. AWESOME COOKBOOK! There are GREAT photos plus the book is easy to read, and it has clear, detailed directions...many good extras, too! The only difficult thing I've run into is that some recipes call for evaporated cane juice, and I have not yet tracked this down. What we have made has been full of flavor, very healthy, and enjoyed by all!



2. CANYON RANCH: NOURISH comes from Executive Chef Scott Uehlein in collaboration with staff nutritionists and covers the basics of a healthy spa's cuisines. Recipes cover every meal and occasion and offer flavor-packed choices, from a Caraway Chicken Soup with Spaetzle to Spinach and Candied Pecan Salad, NOURISH is a far cut above most 'healthy cuisine' cookbooks, and an outstanding pick for any library strong in health-conscious cookbooks with pizzazz.



3. Great book, great food. I went on a cruise on the QM2 and they served Canyon Ranch food in the dining room which prompted me to order the book as soon as I got back. If this doesn't satisfy your tastebuds nothing would. A great assortment of heart- and life style friendly recipes



4. I like this book because it is "indugently" fun in the way that it combines ingredients into healthy enchanting meals to be shared with family and friends. I eat to nourish my body and when it can be done in simple and delightful ways it just makes life happy. It makes a wonderful gift, too!



5. So far everything we've tried has been tasty.
   My GO TO summer dish is the Tortilla Soup recipe (p.134). Best and simplest tortilla soup recipe yet!!! (And I have tried many!) Simple to make, so fresh tasting veggies and light citrusy broth, can be made in a flash and at 140 calories it is healthy way to enjoy those mexican flavors without the heaviness--light enough to have soup in the summer and not feel guilty about 2nds.!!!
   This is the third Canyon Ranch Cookbook I've purchased, and I use them regularly.

5 comments about Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition.

1. Quite a few interesting and tasty tapas of Basque inspiration with modern twist. Great pictures also.



2. the pintxos and tapas are all there, and you can prepare them at home and invite friends to share the basque tradition.



3. While every review so far has the word "Basque" in it, the book isn't just Basque. Hirigoyen has french training and runs two restaurants in California, so there are some dishes here that you wouldn't find looking at restaurants in Northern Spain. One dish is essentially duck l'orange with olives thrown in, and there's a calamari dish with black-eyed peas; both recipes speak to how much his dishes are informed by his biography. I like these dishes however, and the more traditional tapas you can find there as well. I only draw the line at "Scallops with Lychee Gazpacho" which was sickly sweet and evoked no landscape or culture in particular. The bottom line though is that I'm a self-taught amateur cook, but I felt like I could tackle most of these small dishes. The only challenge is really hunting down ingredients. Trader Joe's carries some common ingredients like piquillo and guindilla peppers, but you really need a Spanish specialty store nearby to get full coverage for the recipes which call for piment d'espelllette, choricero peppers and ventresca tuna. I review the book with more detail and humor at: [...]



4. Excellent cookbook, delicious recipes, easy to follow. Some of the ingredients are a bit exotic and difficult to find, but worth the search or purchasing from specialty purveyors on-line.



5. This was actually a gift for a friend. I will admit to opening it up and perusing all the recipes. Basque food is delicious and I will end up buying this book for myself eventually. The pictures of the food are great. The recipes were easy to follow. I have been looking for a Basque cookbook for a while and this one is great for appetizer style food.

5 comments about The South Beach Diet Cookbook.

1. This is a very good book for recipes overall for all 3 phases of the diet. My only thing I dislike is most are geared to 4 servings so you need to cut the recipe or plan on having the recipe several times.



2. This cookbook is filled with great recipes that are easy to prepare and taste fantastic. While there are not color pictures for every recipe, the book still has enough color in it to be satisfying. I also enjoy the recipes of professional chefs that are part of this book.



3. The book was fine but I was surprised how slow the shipping was. I ordered another book that came before this one.



4. Many of the recipes are great in this cookbook! I am as pleased with it as I was with the others I have purchased. Highly recommended!



5. The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less
   
   Excellent book in great condition

2 comments about The Atlas of Food: Who Eats What, Where, and Why.

1. Erik and Tim succeed in neatly presenting the extremely complex environment of the food supply chain as well as the substantial misconceptions that society has about food, its entire production and consumption chain as well as its consequences. For anyone even slightly motivated to reconsider his food choices and dietary behaviour, this book gives a wealth of arguments for tackling things differently. This atlas should be compulsory study in every education. Moreover its concept and design has strong educational potential.
   I may fancy maps and atlases more than the average person, but the sheer pleasure of discovering so many insights in a such a simple way will surely work for most readers. The visuals used fit this type of information extremely well with and they make the key learnings from this atlas quite obvious for anyone.
   As a compact database, the atlas is equally useful for the professional who needs to get a first view on some other aspects of this complex area where he may have less expertise.
   If more people would have only a superficial understanding of some of the issues and causal interrelationships that figure in this book, it would already make a significant difference for the way our societies would value and use natural resources . This book is therefore very recommendable and useful reading and will definitely change the way you look at food and your daily consumption patterns.



2. Even though most world leaders are focused on our global energy crisis now, two British scholars are prophetically giving us this newly revised "Atlas of Food." It's a terrific resource for teachers, preachers, small-group leaders, students and pretty much anyone who wants to understand an even more important global crisis: feeding humanity.
   
   It's no surprise that the words "our daily bread" represent one of the world's most common prayers. The creators of this information-packed atlas argue that -- sooner or later -- we're all going to discover that the real struggle for global dominance involves food and water.
   
   In the introduction, Erik Millstone and Tim Lang tell us that global power already is moving into the hands of food traders, retailers and land-owners who control the production and distribution of the stuff that our neighbors truly must have to survive: food. The authors write: "The irony is that enough food is produced on this planet to feed everyone adequately -- IF it were to be shared uniformly. But, some over-eat while others are malnourished."
   
   This book is not specifically religious and the reviews I write for Amazon are recommendations of important books and films specifically related to spirituality. So let me clarify, in this case: While the atlas is not specifically religious, it deals with profoundly spiritual issues.
   
   In this book, you'll discover a host of new insights into the imbalance of food around the world. Pick up a copy for yourself or for small-group study. If you tackle it with a group, this volume will raise enough questions to keep your group buzzing along for weeks.

5 comments about Eat-Taste-Heal: An Ayurvedic Cookbook for Modern Living.

1. As we begin our Ayurvedic exploration, we were searching for a cook book that was both a blend of educational information and practical recipes that we could incorporate into our daily lives. This book has both.
   We are also fortunate that we can mind most, if not all, of the ingredients locally, even many spices here on Amazon if need be! And with a little extra time we can adjust the recipes by dosha per the recommendations at the end of each recipe so that every dosha can enjoy them.
   The meals are "approachable" and I want to try them because they look delicious. I thought I might have some troubles with all the new spices or flavors, but I think that this is a great introduction to the food and variety in Ayurveda.
   Good cook book if you are looking to try something new, or begin Ayu. I think bringing new balance to your diet is a good thing, and this might be just the ticket.
   Enjoy!



2. well balanced and relatively complete theory explanations with great fairly simple recipies - delightful book



3. 1st half of the book covers Ayurvedic theory in an easy to understand way. The 2nd half of the book has great recipes. I bought several copies to give as holiday gifts



4. Eat-Taste-Heal is a must have for the person who is looking for a healthier way to explore a new lifestyle. Ayurvedic foods are tasty and fragrant but even more than that, Dr. Yerema educates the reader on which foods are balancing for one's "constitution" or doshas, as they're called in Ayurveda. At long last, we are turning the corner on how we consume empty calories and focus on the concept of food being our medicine as well as our pleasure. Once we discover the simplicity of Ayurveda recipes, we'll be hooked on a new kind of "fast food".



5. We have the Pleasure of Knowing the Authors personally and they are not only good at writing, they believe in what they do. There are people out there in the world that can talk the talk, but mostly scrimp when it comes to walking the walk. Not these guys, they live, breathe, eat and taste and yes, heal, with ayurveda. It is a well written book and serves the general population as well as the more learned of us. We have used a lot of the recipes and find each one a delight to eat, taste and heal with. Thank you so much for writing this book guys! And thank you even more for living it in front of us all!

5 comments about The Way to Make Wine: How to Craft Superb Table Wines at Home.

1. Hands down the best wine making book. For the home wine maker that is going from grapes and wants to make the best wine they can. Simple easy to use but then dives in deeper as needed if you needed to know. I have it with me all the time on my commute to work, during the the crush and press period, to read and reread, take notes etc.
   
   Highly recomend.



2. If your interested in some of the more technical details of crafting fine wines then this book is for you.



3. I have been making wine for years at home and still didn't know half of what is in this book. Its important to note that this is not a "recipe book" that being said every other aspect of home wine production is covered.. I enjoyed the every man writing style and the lack of wine snobbery, that can filter thru sometimes when describing the process of wine.I highly recommend as a resource text and all beginners should move this to the top of there reading list.... my wine just got better.



4. I am about 65% through this book. It consists of 2 sections. The first section is a detailed view of the steps to make red, rose, or white wine. The second section goes into extensive detail on the chemistry you need to know to make first rate wine. Many detailed techniques are discussed throughout the book. Though this is the first wine making book I have read, I like it a lot. It is well written and easy to read. It explains why the winemakers needs to know total acidity as well as ph. It also discusses sulfides in detail.
   
   --Henry Pinney--



5. This book will explain wine making. This book is goes deeply into the wine making of fruit but their is a little for everyone. The book has a variety of recipes and explains all the processes necessary to have good tasting wine.

5 comments about The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook & Bouchon.

1. Beautiful book, should be in everyone's library who loves to cook. The French Laundry is not for the everyday cook to find something for dinner but it will inspire you to look at food as a creation and work of art, not just something you ingest.



2. The French Laundry is the best cooking book I've ever purchase each recipe is detailed in exceptional for chef's and home cuisine.
   the Bouchon is a good one but not as good as The French



3. I've been taking these books out of my local library for over a year. I finally decided that I needed my own copies, and wanted the slip cased set.
   These books are worth every penny. This is the best quiche recipe I've made. No matter what filling I choose it always gets rave reviews. Try the buchons they work fine in mini muffin pans if you don't have the timbale molds. Think of these as food porn the photography is luscious. If you like to cook buy these books...



4. If you are serious about cooking. These are the books you must have. I have a hobby of collecting good cook books. So far they are the best. Thomas keller indeed is our nation's treasure.



5. Thomas Keller is, hands down, the greatest Chef ever to come from America. These books are awe inspiring.

5 comments about Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's.

1. The concept of the book is really great. It makes shopping at Trader Joes easier and provides fast, healthy, and very easy recipes. However, about 1/2 of the recipes I've tried so far did not turn out. There are some excellent ones (Le French Lentil Soup is one of the winners), but some that were just not good (Persian Green Bean Rice was over spiced) and some didn't even cook properly when following the instructions (Go Go Mango Chicken came out raw).



2. This is a fun cookbook w/ lots of creative combinations of ingredients. You can substitute some items if you don't have access to Trader Joe's products.



3. I recently went in to a nearby Trader Joe's to ask if they had any literature on their wine pairings displayed on their walls. A Trader Joe's employee informed me I should check out the cookbook, Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's and described how the cookbook is filled with wine pairings for their recipes. I immediately ordered the cookbook via Amazon.com. When the cookbook arrived, I was suprised to see the book was written by two gourment chefs who are Trader Joe's fans and use prepped items from Trader Joe's to make home-cooked gourmet meals in approx. 10 minutes. The cookbook is filled with quick and easy gourmet recipes and includes beautiful pictures of their gourmet meals. Most recipes include a wine pairing suggestion and they even have a few beer suggestions for their meals. I'm very excited to locate this cookbook which will enable me to create some easy gourmet meals and also includes wine pairing suggestions.
   - This cookbook will definitely be on my Christmas gift list to purchase for family and friends.



4. If you regularly shop at TJ's, this is THE cookbook to buy.
   I have a lot cookbooks, but this is the FIRST cookbook where I marked the pages, made notes after each recipe, had FUN shopping for the ingredients (got the TJ staff involved also!), and enjoyed cooking regularly again after not cooking for awhile due to a divorce. This book is FUN and USER FRIENDLY - it helps create meals for families (or yummy leftovers for one) that are easy to make and a pleasure to eat. And, it is my favorite out of all of the other Trader Joe's cookbooks because of the pictures! I need pictures to inspire me to cook! (I bought all of the other TJ's cookbooks, but don't get inspired/hungry as I do when looking through this one!)



5. If you live near a Trader Joe's store, like I do, you will be delighted with these recipes. I've tried a few and so far, so very good.
   
   This book is not for you, unless you live near a Trader Joe's. If you don't, then you really are missing out of great quality, natural and organic foods at real budget-friendly prices.
   
   I didn't know if I was going to like the recipes in this book, but I'm very happy with what I've found. This book is on my kitchen counter with other well-used cookbooks and not hidden away with the 'disappointing' cookbooks tucked away in my pantry.

5 comments about The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant.

1. This book covers a selection of Italian (and a few French) dishes served in the author's Californian restaurant. The recipes comes across as quite Italian, but there might be some very slight Californian modifications. This is a recipe collection but there is also a fair bit of background material explaining the dishes. This is actually interesting. In many cases writers add anecdotes that are just fake or totally trivial. Not so this author, who tells us that she observes a lot and and takes copious notes when travelling to taste food, starting as a teenager. These notes were probably very handy in picking the recipes (they are very varied) and sprinkling the text with tidbits of useful information. The books is a pleasure to read and the author comes across as a likeable person (not really that important, but anyway).



2. And I own a lot of cookbooks, well over 100. The is a very thoughtful and intelligently laid out cookbook. Judy Rogers is a genius at least as far as cooking goes. The roast chicken with bread salad recipe alone is worth the price of the book, and there is so much more. As I read somewhere, (here?) just reading this book will make you a better cook. There is in depth information on many techniques and methods that will make you a better cook. I would pay twice what I paid for this book. It is truly one of the two best cookbooks I have found so far. Okay, the other one? Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home. Fabulous!



3. This is a very different culinary "guide." Preparing Zuni chicken and bread salad turned into a wonderful adventure that required time, thought and note taking. The results were well worth the extra time . . not preparation time or cooking time as much as reading, thinking and planning time.



4. I was given this wonderful book as a gift from piano students (mother and daughter) who were moving back East. We both love to cook and enjoy great food. This is her favorite cookbook and one I did not know about. Now that I have read it, I can see why she loves this book. Reading it is much like taking a trip to a private world full of wonderful treasures and exotic views. Judy Rodgers has been given several awards from the James Beard Foundation and I can see why this book was also given the IACP Cookbook Award.
   
   Yet this is not a book of recipes for busy folks trying to fix tasty meals after work. Ms. Rodgers tells us how she came to food as a career and the journey that took her to Europe and eventually to the Zuni Café and the way the restaurant has been transformed over the years as she adapted it to her own views on food and as her views changed and developed. In fact, the first recipe doesn't show up until page 79.
   
   On page 30 we get marvelous advice on "deciding what to cook", how to choose ingredients, why you should taste what you are cooking rather frequently, why she salts early (and she returns to this technique often throughout the book), weighing and measuring, and great information on how she chooses her tools (knives, other tools, machines, stoves, and cooking vessels. She also talks about wines.
   
   She begins talking about cooking proper by discussing stocks. I found myself becoming even more fired up about making great stocks because of what they will make possible in my cooking efforts. I guess, technically, the first recipe is that for chicken stock on page 59. But it isn't a "dish". Rodgers takes us through the many kinds of stock she uses at the Café.
   
   The first section on dishes are those designed to get your meal experience underway. I loved her information on salting your own anchovies (which I will likely never do, since I am in Michigan (could I salt smelt?), how to select, store, and serve oysters, and then into the recipes for the dishes.
   
   The recipes in this book are also presented in a wonderfully unusual way. As she notes in the book, a recipe is not an exact or mechanical process to produce a standardized plate of food. Her recipes are designed to present her idea for the dish and guidelines to help you realize that idea, but you need to be aware that given the variability of ingredients, your taste that day, and even the weather, you will have to be ready to tweak things or even adapt them to create a wonderful dish rather than crank out a mediocre version of the recipe.
   
   Rather than focus on the mechanics of combining the ingredients, she describes the tastes and textures she is after and how the ingredients and cooking techniques help you get there. The text is dotted with wonderful notes, tips, and her opinions and lots of cooking related topics.
   
   The book then takes us through salads, soups, eggs, starchy dishes, and dishes based on vegetables, savory approaches to fruit, pickles (a surprisingly appealing section), and preserves. We also get recipes for sauces and relishes.
   
   The entrees are given as seafood, poultry, while beef, lamb, pork & rabbit are combined in one chapter. We get a most interesting chapter on how and why she makes her own sausage and charcuterie. She explains her approach to the cheese course and she provides a list of cheeses she uses and why. There is also a chapter on desserts and pastry including how she makes her own "rough puff" pastry. There is also a section of notes on ingredients and specialized techniques. You will also find a list of suppliers for some of the rather specialized ingredients and a reading list of books she admires. And there is a most helpful index.
   
   I don't think this is a book for the casual cook who just wants to get something on the table. This is a book for anyone who loves food and wants to lift their understand and approach to food and cooking from someone who is not only experienced, and talented, but is generous in sharing what she knows and has a tremendous ability to communicate her work and vision.
   
   If you are a professional cook or restaurateur, I think you will want to read this book and freshen your own vision and approach to what you are trying to do. You already work an amazing number of hours so why not make them more personally meaningful and delightful for your customers.
   
   My only concern about this book for the home cook is that most of us do not have the luxury of getting ingredients and cooking them within a very short time so they have the absolute perfect taste and optimal texture. We do have leftovers. Sometimes we need to store things. Restaurants have the challenge of preparing many dishes and serving many people, but that is also a blessing because the food gets used up when it is best. At home, we cook enough food not only for the present meal, but to have things we can eat later. We do not live 16 hours per day over our stoves and in our refrigerators. We have other work to do. Still, it is wonderful to have such a great vision to aspire to.
   
   A glorious achievement.
   
   Enjoy.
   
   Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI



5. many MANY others have come and gone; ZUNI and FOG CITY DINER are forever!