5 comments about Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

1. This is really a terrific book. Other reviews here lead me to purchase this and I am SO glad I did!
   
   First off, it is a beautiful presentation. The photos, the layout, everything. Beautiful.
   
   The recipes are explained very well, and RR takes the trouble to explain further when necessary. He really wants us to understand the recipes without making you crazy. I love that he references every picture so you can match the finished product with the recipe. This might sound like a no-brainer, but many a book will not have this feature, and you have to guess what recipe will get you that yummy cookie on page 14. You don't have to guess anywhere. He even includes a directory at the back of the book. LOVE this! :-)
   
   You can really tell how RR put time and dedictaion into this work. It really is a learning experience on all levels. Being of Czechoslovakian decent, it matters to me that he explains why the coffee houses had relevance in a cultural sense - and where you can go today if you find yourself in Europe.
   
   I REALLY hope we see more books like this from RR. A true five-star book.



2. This is a truly authentic guide to reproducing those tasty pastries had all over Europe. Because all the techniques are also authentic I wouldn't recommend trying them unless you have a decent amount of patience and/or interest in producing something authentic. If "semi-homemade" is your thing - you may opt to stay out of the kitchen, look at the great pictures, and read up on the historical tidbits about the desserts. In my opinion, the recipes are a bit difficult and not the quickest way to produce a dessert. BUT, you won't be sorry with the results. I purchased this book so I could learn how to make a Dobos Torta for my Hungarian immigrated in-laws. It was risky to make for a small party (I had tried and true recipes on stand-by), but it paid off as their other European born guests were all asking what marvelous new bakery were they keeping secret. It took me 4 hours to make the first one but was well worth it. I can't believe it actually looked like the picture they provide! Since then I have tried other recipes for those who enjoy European style pastries. Not only are the desserts beautiful - they are yummy too. For low calorie alternatives - I'd just recommend having one very small serving - you really can't skimp out on the ingredients. I have tried a few "short cuts" without success and decided that it's best to stick with the techniques as directed. I have yet to be disappointed with the resulting pastries. A staple for your baking cookbook collection!



3. Really good book, tons of recipes, easy to follow, thorough instructions. Could use more photos for the recipes, but overall I really like this book.



4. I have been an amateur cook for several decades, with a particular weakness for patisserie. It is without doubt the hardest of the culinary specialties to master.
   I am perhaps a little too long in the tooth to be wowed by anything in the baking department, but here is a book worthy of any good cook's attention. It has been lovingly assembled with beautiful photographs of the many coffee houses mentioned, and you would have to have a heart of stone not to be seduced by at least some of them. More to the point are the recipes themselves. Having tried a number of them, I can attest to their authenticity and exquisite quality.
   I suppose that this is not intended as a book for beginners, and certainly would not recommend it as such. If, however, you have passed the point of having to throw away that sticky mass of dough that somehow went wrong, you may well be a candidate for this extremely accomplished book. If, in addition, Austro-Hungarian patisserie is your bag (and whose isn't?) then go ahead. Buy it and enjoy!



5. The book itself is elegant enough to display on your coffee table. The pages are shiny and the recipes are detailed. There is a background story to each pastry, though the pictures would be more meaningful with captions. The shipping was fast and wonderful. I am very happy with the overall purchase!

5 comments about Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition.

1. I've never been in a Belbium brewery, but from what I hear, the health department in any city/state in the US would immediately shut them down. The very title of this book 'WildBrews' explains why. The traditional lambic beers of Belgium are produced using wild yeast. While you can find wild yeast everywhere, the ones you get here in the US produce truly bad beers. Each batch you produce will be different, sometimes totally different, but in my experience always bad.
   
   The yeast that seem to abound in Belgium produce beers with a consistency that has lasted for generations. I don't know if it is true, but I have always suspected that clumps of yeast would gather together rather like cob webs or dust balls around the brewery and fall or be blown into the mix. I was rather surprised at the appearance of the breweries in this book as they seemed clean and sanitary.
   
   Lambics have not been among the most popular beers made in this country. Only a few micro breweries produce lambics, the most popular around here is New Belgium from Ft. Collins, CO.
   
   You can, of course make your own Lambics, the recipies start on page 255 of this book. But you don't do it with the natural yeast floating around the air in your garden. You buy Lambic yeast from a couple of companies.
   
   One scary thought. Beer was invented some 5,000 years ago. Probably some grain got wet, sprouted, dried out, got wet again and some yeast got into the mix. Boy that must have been bad stuff. At that time it was all wild yeast. Personally I'm glad that we've had 5,000 years of yeast development.
   
   This is an enjoyable book, almost a travelogue through Belgium beers.



2. This book was loaded with good historical pieces that I doubt could be found elsewhere. It is not a casual book however, only for those with a deep interest in Belgian brewing. The text tends to wind around a bit, but is well worth following.



3. As the title suggests, this book deals with the history and manufacturing techniques related to sponteneously fermented beers (lambic, gueze). It shows a very different perspective on what is "beer" from that of modern America where Budweiser dominates. Similar to "Farmhouse Ales", this book explores how culture and geography combined in the creation of these beers. It also deals with how modern attitudes are challenging the continuation of some of the methods. It seems odd that after 500 years someone would decide that a production method is "unsanitary".
   
   This raises a great point. If the reader is like me, much of the methodology described in this book will seem like an unclean heresy compared to the dogma that new homebrewers are indoctrinated with. Which, to me, makes it fascinating. For the majority of American homebrewers this book will open a whole new world.
   
   The book does a good job of describing the history, culture, biology, and methods that create "wild brews". Equipment and techniques are thoroughly described. In fact, this book inspired me to give barrel aging a try. It worked! At times the text does seem to wander and bog down (the reason for four stars instead of five). The author also falls into the "malt-extract beers are not as good as all grain" mantra. I see this a an annoying elitist attitude with little basis in fact. As Tess and Mark Szamatulski point out: "Award winning beers have been, and continue to be brewed with malt extract." Let each brewer choose the method that best suits them.
   
   To sum up: The good points of this book far out weigh its negatives. This book provides a fascinating and inspiring look into a world of beer that barely exists for most North Americans. If you are a homebrewer who enjoys experimenting it will provide you with many avenues of exploration and hours of enjoyment.



4. I understood the basic styles of belgian beer before, but not the specific details of the styles, particularly the wild fermented beers.My one and only lambic was brewed in 2000.I drank the last bottle in 2007. A great beer with 7 years maturation.This book has spurred me on to brew more wild brews with greater control of targeted styles.Many thanks for a great book. Still have brew like a monk, farmhouse ales and extreme brewing to read. Just started Brew like a monk.Most informative and well written. Thanks,
   Andy in Western Australia



5. This is one of a series of books about Belgian beer that takes a look at style that seems to have survived from the past. Wild brews is a discussion of beers that are fermented with wild yeasts and with (gasp!) bacteria.
   
   Most beer lovers have had an encounter with these beers: they are shocking, original and-to our tastes-most unbeerlike. They tend to be either distinctly sour or sweet and sour. Their effect in the mouth is thirst-quenching in the manner of a tart lemonade and they are often surprisingly aromatic.
   
   Jeff Sparrow has provided an introduction to the history and brewing techniques of these beers that seems to grow out of a deep knowledge of the biochemistry involved and a major involvement in the Belgian brewing community. As a beer-lover, I find this book to be a revelation and it has led me back to some beers that I haven't tasted in years.
   As a brewer, it scares the daylights out of me. Letting organisms like pediococcus and brettanomyces loose in your brewhouse or kitchen is risky. Outcomes with these organisms are always uncertain and aging can involve super-attenuation and unusual mouth-feel.
   However.
   The wild beer tradition is one of blending, and I can't help but think that a growler of my farmhouse ale could stand to be cut with a bottle of, let's say a lambic. Hmmm.
   
   
   Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANGBang Bang

5 comments about Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery.

1. I have noly cooked a few recipes from this book, but there is a carrot salad in here that is one of the best things I have EVER eaten. I don't like carrot salad; I would never order it in a restaurant. But this is am amazing recipe.
   
   I've made it 10 times in the last year--every party we serve it at people love it and ask for the recipe.
   
   I'm sure there will be other recipes just as good--if I can only get past the carrot salad...



2. So far I have made pancakes and gingerbread cookies using the book's recipes and had success with both. Very easy to follow instructions. The book also has a nice layout with beautiful photographs which are, to me, almost as important as the recipes.



3. I have been casually baking for some time and this book looked like it had some good recipes in it. However, I haven't gotten a chance to make anything yet. I usually end up making things from recipe books that don't seem as intimidating. There are some really tasty looking items in here, I hope this doesn't end up just being a coffee table read.



4. If I were in Paris now, you could find me having lunch at Rose Bakery, 46 rue des Martyrs.
   
   It's my favorite restaurant in Paris --- and I've never been there.
   
   But I have Rose Carrarini's book, and it conveys so much of the spirit of her establishment that I know I'd love to be at Rose Bakery --- not just for her food, but for the ambiance, the people who work there, the regular customers and, above all, the idea that drives it.
   
   Home cooking.
   
   An unreal idea, huh? But there it is. "My intention was always to dissolve the distinction between home and restaurant cooking," Rose says. And so she works from a Bible with just three commandments: "simple" and "natural" and "homemade."
   
   The restaurant --- a one-time storage room for fruit carts --- is just as elemental. Concrete-and-metal tables on a bare concrete floor. White walls. No display window. Open kitchen. Staff in white aprons. And a single splash of color: a large abstract painting on a back wall.
   
   Rose's Bakery is also a shop. The packaging is plain. There's not even a web site.
   
   And yet, I'm told, this total anomaly --- an English bakery in the capital of France --- is beloved by foodies and cool kids alike. "Le meilleur brunch de France," says Le Figaro.
   
   What makes it great?
   
   Rose tells a story that says a lot. It's about a meal she had at the Hyakumizon restaurant in Tokyo. She was served a dish of carrots. "No sauce," she recalls. "No garnish...The taste was intense and exquisite, and was mostly of the carrot itself. Possibly blanched, cooked, cooked again in a dashi and flashed under a grill, this was one of the most humble yet delicious dishes we have ever had the privilege of tasting. Whatever the technique the chef had used, I was convinced that you don't need any fuss or flourish, as it's the flavour of the dish that counts."
   
   She learned that lesson well. Rose Bakery now produces 90 per cent of the food and products it sells. And the proprietors are sticklers for freshness --- today's leftovers will never be tomorrow's special. As her husband and partner, Jean-Charles, explains, "At nine-thirty we start cooking until midday, when we open. We don't have any storage fridges, so everything has to be eaten that day. We normally sell everything, which often means that we sell out by 2.30."
   
   This oversized hard cover cookbook is equally fresh. There are full-page photographs of the bakery's butchers and apple suppliers and even a regular customer, who looks to be one very happy nine-year-old schoolgirl. To flip through the book is, I suspect, very much like a visit to the Bakery.
   
   The recipes? Traditional. And that's the point. Rose is big on breakfast --- "my favorite meal" --- so she starts with recipes for fruit salad, rhubarb and orange, scones, muesli and pancakes (classic or with ricotta). Lunch starts with soup (green bean and almond, spiced chickpea and lemon, celeriac and porcini), moves through salads and tarts and risotto, and closes with just a few animal-based entrees, like braised lamb shanks with cumin, eggplant and chickpeas. And then it's on to cakes and pastries, the stuff of afternoon tea.
   
   There's nothing here that's esoteric. The hardest part of duplicating these recipes is in the shopping --- finding organic produce that can stand up to simple preparation.



5. My husband brought this book home a couple of months ago. He founded via Laura Zarubin (I'm almost always hungry)'s website. I've made several of the recipes and have been more than happy with their simplicity in preparation and final taste. I especially like that she provides different hot and cold salads using hearty grains such as quinoa.
   The photos provide a lovely look at the bakery and its life.

5 comments about Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers.

1. After reading all the other reviews about this product, I decided to check out a copy at the library before buying. I began reading the book and was enthralled. This book has everything that should make it a success: knowledgable author, adventurous storyline, details on the how-tos of breadmaking, unusual recipes, and great photos. EXCEPT: when you dig deeper you see that the great recipes are flawed! What a disappointment!
   
   For example:
   How much does 1-1/2 cups of water weigh? Answer: In this book, it depends on which recipe you are making.
   
   On pg 67 & pg.144, 1-1/2 cups weighs: 340grams/12oz.
   On pg. 96 & pg.126, 1-1/2cups water weighs 350g or 12.3 oz.
   Move on to pg. 170 and 1-1/2 cups water now weighs 375g/13.2 oz.
   
   Why does the weight of water matter when all these pages call for 1-1/2 cups water? Easy. The author, Daniel Leader has clearly stated on several website/boards that he gave the original recipes in Metric measurements only. He didn't even want to add volume measures (cups, teaspoons,etc.) but his editor insisted. Someone other than the Daniel Leader also did all the U.S. weight and volume conversions. Too bad that someone had no basic understanding of arithmetic principles!
   
   I could spend a lot of time listing all the measurement inconsistencies in this book. Still, that wouldn't leave enough time to mention the blatent errors---for example, pg. 283 has a recipe that calls for 22 cups of water (yes, twenty-two). The weight of 22 cups of water is: 300g/10.6 oz.
   
   After a browse through this book, I began to develop a real love/distrust relationship. The book is very attractive--and very flawed.
   
   Other reviewers have suggested that maybe you could just use the metric table for the recipes. I have two issues with that:
   
   1) I don't currently own a scale that is extremely accurate at measuring small amounts of items such as yeast, salt, etc.
   
   2) I am not convinced that the metric measurements are correct/dependable either. In his book, Daniel Leader always provides a "Baker's Percentage' of which the total weight of the flour is, of course, 100 percent. Everything else is a percentage of that total flour weight. So, it is feasible to *prove* that the metric weights are indeed mathematically correct per the baker's perecentages given. But, honestly, who has to the time to spend working out the ratios for every recipe just to verify that the gram weight of each recipe ingredient is correct? Without doing that, however, I have no way of knowing if the recipe flaws extend to the metric measurement. Given the rampant errors/typos in the this text, what are the odds that there are NO typos in the metric measurements?
   
   My advice: check this book out at the library, read the storyline and breadmaking parts, play with a recipe or two (if you are daring), and then REFUSE to spend your money supporting an author and editor who never actually cared enough to EDIT the final version of the book.
   
   I plan to spend my limited dollars on a bread book that won't make me wring my hands in frustation!



2. I began a personal exploration of wild-yeasted breads several months before acquiring Daniel Leader's _Local_Breads_. The book came highly recommended, and with good reason: It depicts beautifully the local and regional bread culture of Western Europe, and provides insights into approximating those breads at home.
   
   Unfortunately, the recipes are plagued with conflicting instructions and measurements, which leave a novice like myself wondering what to do--in one case with 8 possible ways of completing the recipe. Leader's website has not posted a public errata for the book.
   
   A much better choice for the newer baker is Peter Reinhart's definitive work, The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, as well as his others--on his blog, he makes a genuine effort to publicize and correct errors and omissions.
   
   Note: For those who own the book, some guidance is available on public bread forums; try a search for "Formula issues in Leader's Local Breads".



3. It's a very good book. That is when it works. Unfortunately sometimes it does not. There are some great recipes here that work exactly as written, and interspersed among them are horrible duds, which obviously weren't properly checked. Until there is an erratum, I would recommend checking every recipe as many errors are glaring, and making sure that other people have been able to bake these recipes successfully.



4. Clear, informative, thorough, warm-hearted, with a great section of recipes and wonderful illustrations. The recipes work, but the book invites the home baker to work to enhance technique. Of all the cookbooks I own, this is one of my favorites. I'm going to order all of this writer's books.



5. After reading all the others (Rienhardt, Hammelman, etc.) I finally got a copy of Leader's book. He does the BEST job of describing how bread is made in a style that finally makes it clear. He does the WORST job of providing recipes, Leader's numbers simply do not work.
   
   It is a crime to get people to buy a book and invest all the time and energy it takes to create the recipes and have them be just plain wrong.
   
   Leader and his publisher should be ashamed, doubly so for not correcting the errors and communicating them. On the Blog: The Fresh Loaf (www.freshloaf.com) Leader himself (and his wife) somewhat acknowledges these errors, promises to fix them, then never follows through.
   
   What could have been a great book delivers a consistently lousy result. If readers wanted lousy results, they would not need a book to create them.
   
   Leader has failed an author's basic responsibility, "proof your work!" In writing, as in baking, "proofing" is an essential step toward providing a satisfying end product. Leader gets two stars for effort, but no stars for providing a baking book that is half baked.

5 comments about The River Cottage Family Cookbook.

1. This is a fantastic family cookbook! The term family cookbook translates as a book intended for everyone in your family to use. Yes, there are recipes, over one hundred of them. But there is much more - food history, fun facts, carefully worded explanations, step-by-step photos, fun family projects, and even suggestions on eating the finished products.
   
   The chapters are arranged by main ingredient, as listed in the column to the left. Honestly, the history provided for each item is fascinating, which I was surprised by. How is sugar made? Why are there different types of flour? What makes yeast work? Where does salt come from? They do a wonderful job of illustrating the journey each food undergoes en route to your table.
   
   The authors firmly believe if you understand the rationale behind the recipes, you'll be a better cook. They provide the reason behind the season, so to speak, designed to take the guesswork out of your kitchen. Don't be intimidated by the lengthy recipes. Take a closer look and you'll see the length is due to proper explanations provided for each step, along with benchmarks on how your dish should be coming along in appearance and texture. Someone who has never set foot in the kitchen could pick up this cookbook, select a recipe and be successful. No prior knowledge is required, which is a exactly what a new cook wants to hear.
   
   The recipes range from simple Drop Scones to the more involved French-Style Apple Tart. There is ample opportunity for each family member to get their hands dirty. Following each recipe are tips on how to eat the finished product and possible ingredient variations. For more fun, give the family projects a try. Make your own yogurt, grow a small potato garden, create a personal ice cream maker, make your own sausages and more. Each serves as a learning tool to help families better understand their food.
   
   I know a dozen people who would benefit from this book - many of whom would like to cook, but have never been taught how. Involving your children in the cooking process has a huge impact on the rest of their lives. Get your children accustomed to the kitchen while they are young, shape their culinary abilities and boost their confidence. Build a cook!



2. An excellent cookbook for the whole family to enjoy. The recipes are basic and simple. The authors have written this book so that children can learn where the foods they eat (and cook) actually come from. The recipes are unlike so many other cookbooks written with families or children in mind- these are not prissy, cutesy or too complicated. My children love to get this book out and find something new to try.The photography is wonderful too- showing children of all ages cooking and helping in the kitchen.



3. This is a wonderful book full of beautiful photographs. I would like to move right in to the pictures. That being said, there is also some useful advice not normally found in other books. It is more a lifestyle book than merely just a cookbook. Terrific for families!



4. We wanted our kids to love food, love cooking and be comfortable in the kitchen, and we thought investing in some family cookbooks would be the perfect place to start. Let the kids flip through the recipes and photographs, find things that tempted them and take it from there.
   
   Sounds easy, right? It's not! Because most cookbooks aimed at children, or families, contain really gross recipes that do the following: 1. Try to sneak healthy foods into kids, like putting spinach into chocolate pudding, thereby insulting children by treating them as idiots who won't like so-called adult flavors. 2. Try to make foods kid-friendly by making them look like clown faces, or animals, by using shredded carrot "hair" or olive "eyes". or 3. Try to make recipes kid-friendly by using shortcut ingredients (dough from a tube, pre-made sauces) that turn cooking into a joke.
   
   In the face of all the bad books, The River Cottage Family Cookbook stands out as one of the best books we've found, not just for our children, but for our entire family. We like everything about this book, from the explanations about cooking, to the photography, to the inclusive nature of the recipes.
   
   We find that the more we cook with our kids, the more adventurous they become about food and the closer we all grow as a family. Don't waste your time with bad cookbooks. The River Cottage is a perfect place to start.



5. This cookbook provides an exceptional breadth of information about not just how to prepare food in the best way, but why. It has a breadth of recipe types and could easily suffice if it were the only cookbook in a kitchen.
   
   But, if you buy this book for nothing else, do so for the chocolate chip cookie recipe.

5 comments about Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health.

1. Recipes are oke, but I already have a lot of those. I wanted to learn exactly what is the mediterranean diet and what exactly are the benefits. I expected more background and scientific information.
   
   If you want to know more about foodscience, you better read Good calories, bad calories, written by Gary Taubes.



2. The book is boring. No pictures to help visualize the recipes. This book found a new way to tell you, (eat more fruits and vegetables).



3. Well, I have been a huge fan of the Mediterranean style of preparing food for a few years now. I knew I needed to do something when I just started to feel "crummy" and big from having had six kids, and saw how my husband was getting more unhealthy and large,with high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, asthma, allergies, you name it. I was ready to take him out back and put him down for cryin' out loud! After reading and following the lifestyle changes I pulled from the book,we lost weight, and felt really good using fresh simple ingredients to prepare fabulous meals that Mediterranean people don't think twice about, since it's their way of life. How crazy are we, that we think we know it all, yet we are basically killing ourselves with fat and preservatives?!
   I agree completely with one of the other reviewers, who felt the word "Diet" was a misnomer. I carry this book around with me to appointments, and such, and people will ask,"What kind of diet is it like"?
   I then have to explain that Nancy Jenkins means diet as in the way we eat and approach food, not counting calories and such. I love any cookbook that takes me to a place along with a recipe, and I feel that this was accomplished completely and beautifully. I found myself trying to prepare foods I never thought I would before,such as "Moroccan Preserved Lemons". Go figure. I was fascinated to read about fasting and feasting in the Mediterranean, and how it ties to our religious beliefs and traditions, as well as diet. Boy, as a Catholic, I see how those rules can get changed to make it easier for people to get lazy and take the easy way out! Perhaps it's time for me to take a little spiritual advice from this book as well, and help my soul and body together!
   If you want to get an all-around good feel for the region, the people, the lifestyle, and most of all, the fabulous,diverse cuisine that is the Mediterranean, look no further than Nancy Harmon Jenkins.



4. The book appears to have simple,readily available ingredients but I purchased it as a gift for a friend so honestly have not used it myself.



5. The contents of this book are far more interesting than they might seem in that this is not a cookbook to encourage the control of calorie intake but it offers a wide range of recipes influenced by countries of the Mediterranean which are unusual, delicious and healthy.
   
   I haven't stopped referring to it since it came in to the house!

1 comments about Tea and Crumpets.

1. I have probably over one hundred books on tea, taking tea and food for tea. Tea and Crumpets is probably the one I would save of all of them. It is fun to read,has great recipes and could provide ideas for tea for quite some time. A wonderful resource for the beginner or aging tea lover.

2 comments about Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination.

1. Professor Freedman examines Medieval Europe and its metamorphosis into Modern Europe from the perspective of spices...as condiments, as medicine, as perfumes, and as stimulants to world exploration. This fascinating book provides some novel historical perspectives - Genghis Khan as a facilitator of European travel to East Asia, for example. Its description of medieval cuisine will surprise most readers by how very unfamiliar medieval taste would be to contemporary Europeans. This is a very enjoyable read. I recommend it highly.



2. This is a learned book, and a pleasure to read. Freedman succeeds admirably in describing and explaining Medieval Europe's passion for spices. But the most interesting part of the book is his analysis of Europe's voyages all over the world to obtain spices for domestic consumption. It's an ambitious project, and he pulls it off in a style that is lucid and also fun.
   
   I also very much enjoyed another book on food that Freedman recently edited, "Food: The History of Taste" (University of California Press, 2007). The essays in the book are consistently insightful and entertaining. Here's to more academic work on the history of food!

5 comments about Olives and Oranges: Recipes and Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Beyond.

1. Olives and Oranges takes me back to all the places I travelled and cherish--especially Italy! This has been a perfect gift for all my friends who savor their time abroad and those who are still longing to go. PIck it up and turn your kitchen into a mini vacation.



2. Bravo! These brilliant recipes are delicious, healthy (mostly) and very impressive if you are having a guest over... but are very easy to cook. I am no professional at all, not even close... but even I can take this book out and impress the girls, family, coworkers etc. Every recipe in this book is AFFORDABLE, DELICIOUS AND EASY TO MAKE. You cannot go wrong with this one! Thank you ladies!



3. Olives and Oranges is a simple, elegant and precise guide to flavor and culinary improvisation through easy-to-execute recipes and a detailed guide to building a pantry.
   
   The authors, not content to merely provide recipes, instruct the reader on harnessing flavor and using intuition to create their own original dishes. The goal of Olives and Oranges is to not just share the authors' many years of experience and knowledge, but to actually teach the reader how to cook. Within a few weeks of owning and cooking from this book, anyone with the inclination, motivation and confidence can be improvising like a pro.
   
   I love this cookbook. I read every word of introduction and pantry chapters. It is practical, helpful and chock full of great recipes.
   
   A perfect gift book for the advanced or beginning cook!



4. Although a segment on National Public Radio made this book sound exciting and the author was enthusiastic, this book will soon be going to the local secondhand bookstore. It consists mainly of rehashes of recipes everyone who cooks knows already, and the writing is dull. Way too much emphasis on specific types of olives, olive oil, salt, etc. Not suitable for a novice cook either, since it assumes a fairly high level of technique and methods plus a full batterie de cuisine. Very disappointing.



5. I love to cook & buy cookbooks, and Olives & Oranges is a true find. Almost every recipe in the book sounds so tantalizing that I want to make it immediately. When I first bought the book, I planned a whole week's worth of meals from Olives & Oranges, and every dish I've made has been fantastic. Jenkins has a special talent for combining flavors & texture in her dishes, yet keeping the ingredient lists short & focused, and the recipes easy to follow. This is a classic cookbook that should be on every home cook's shelf.

5 comments about Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them.

1. Inspiring view into the brewing techniques of the Belgium beer. Outstanding historical look along with what is going on today. A must read if you are into the Belgians.



2. This is another excellent book from Brewers' Publications. Non-brewers will find herein an engagingly written history of Belgian brewing both within and outside the monastary walls. You'll become acquaintaed with the brewers of Orval, Westveletren, Duvel, and others, their history, their personalities, and most importantly, their beers.
   For those who are brewers, the book offers even more. Ingredients and specifications (gravity, IBU) are given for commercially available beers whenever possible (and the author has done a *lot* of homework to get his hands on this information). Additionally, full recipes are provided for various Belgian style and Belgian-inspired beers. Even better, the authors of these recipes explain *why* they formulated their recipes as they did, and the author supplements this advice with his own, with advice from professional brewers, and from BJCP judges. This enables the brewer to not just mimic the recipes he finds in the book (though believe me, they are definitely worth mimicing!), but to thoughtfully exercise his own creativity within the rich history and style of the Belgian tradition.
   Beginning brewers will find a lot of technical information regarding krausening, PH adjustment, etc. that goes over their heads. But this shouldn't scare anyone off. The technical information is easy to skip over and there's enough in this book for readers of all levels.
   This book represents the state of the art in knowledge regarding Belgian brewers and brewing. No matter how long you've been brewing, you will come away from this book entertained, sometimes surprised, and better informed.



3. Imagine that you-an experienced homebrewer-got to gather around a fire with some folks who had years of experience brewing versions of your favorite beer style. It would be hard to have a bad time, harder still not to come away a better brewer for it.
   This friendly, if somewhat disorderly book is just that conversation. I love the complexity and depth of belgian strong beers. Occasionally, by dumb luck, I've brewed one. Other times, my efforts have been dull, or over-concentrated or just odd.
   In these conversations, we get some clarity about yeast, malt, fermenters, temperature control and bottling.
   I think the odds in my favor just went up. This is a book to mine for insights.
   
   Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine



4. Wouldn't you love to brew an Orval clone? Did you know there is actually more than one Orval beer brewed at the monastery (despite constant articles to the contrary)? There is actually enough information in this book - assuming you know what you are doing in the all-grain world - to pull it off. But you're going to have to introduce Brettanomyces into your brewery to do it ... and there's the awful temptation! As it is with virtually all Belgian beers, never mind the host of wild yeasts and bacteria that go along with them!
   
   Add the wonderful, detailed brewing information to the history and stories and you get quite an unusual brewing book. It may be read for brewing purposes, as a casual read, for historical purposes, for cultural perspective, even for its religious content. Orval, of course, is just one of the Trappist breweries presented in the book.
   
   Highly recommended. And I agree with another reviewer that this is the best book in this particular series.



5. Brew like a Monk is an excellent book that tells a great story about the history and state of Abbey-type beers in Belgium. It's an excellent source of information for beer enthusiasts or intermediate to advanced brewers. While it's certainly not the first book an aspiring brewer should buy, I would highly recommend it for any admirers of Trappist beer.