June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Nominations Are Now Open!
Welcome to the nomination thread for the June 2012 Cookbook of the Month!
We're all immersed in Spanish cuisine, but it's time to start thinking of June.
If you're new, or if you've been lurking, please join us! It's a friendly group and we have a lot of fun cooking together. To view the basics of the COTM, and to peruse the archive of books that have been covered in the past, please visit this link:
http://www.chow.com/cookbook_of_the_m...
Please use this thread to discuss the merits of a book, ask questions, and nominate books you would like to see advance into the voting round. Feel free to discuss as many books as you like. When you are ready to nominate, please write the title of the book or books in ALL CAPITALS.
The nomination thread will be open until 5pm Pacific Time on Tuesday May 15 (8pm May 15th on Eastern time, and 12 midnight GMT). At that time the books with the most nominations will advance to the voting thread.
I look forward to reading a new round of nominations!
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I have posted the June voting thread here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/849454Sorry I'm a bit behind my deadline. I worked late, had a (delightful) unexpected visitor, and got a Spanish dinner on the table. But voting is now up and running!
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Since we are allowed to nominate more than one book, I could also get behind HOMESICK TEXAN
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re: herby
I have 3:
NYC Food (indexed EYB);
Naples at the Table (indexed EYB)
Southern Table (Not Indexed EYB)
Of the three you mentioned, I only have NYC. It is a thick book - about 100 recipes.
I don't know that I've cooked anything directly out of the book. Perhaps I've got an idea or so after looking at a theme of a recipe in several other books; can't say.
Lots of history of chefs, restaurants, nice pictures; Depending on how much it is, I would certainly buy it. It seems that I bought it for a song, though.
Come to think of it, I'd rather cook from his NYC book than his "Jewish Home Cooking" book, which I nominated. C'est la vie.
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re: herby
Still, when you get around to it, NYC is IMO worth $10 for the pleasure of the read of NYC establishments, chefs and history thereof..
Please let me in on your book ordering site. I need another one for ordering to replace the one that I ordered for a looong time - the last order from them really disappointed me.-
re: Rella
It is a Canadian site but for some reason they charge in US $$ - www.bookcloseouts.com - let me know what you think.
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I'll go ahead and throw in FOOD52. The recipes cover the spectrum. And the website, which means no accessibility problem for participants, has even more to offer. The ones I've tried have been quite successful; they seem to be very well-tested. I also wouldn't mind cooking from HOMESICK TEXAN, and I'd probably need the COTM nudge to get into it.
I'm out of kilter with a lot of you, as our summer produce peaks in June. Not usually much to choose from come July and August. -
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I found a review of "A Year in my Kitchen" (@ "The Ginger Jar" blog) which includes these examples:
Spring…
- A salad of broad beans with mint, ricotta and crisp Parma ham
- Pan-fried mackerel fillets with roasted tomatoes and horseradish cream
Summer…
- Baked aubergine with tomatoes, tarragon and crème fraîche
- Tea-smoked fillets of wild salmon with pickled cucumber salad
- Almond tart with blackberries
Autumn…
- Pan-roasted guinea fowl with parsley sauce
- Cavola nero with garlic and parmesan
Winter…
- Lentil, red pepper and cumin soup
- Slow-cooked pork belly with cinnamon, cloves, ginger & star anise
- Winter rhubarb ice creamAlso looked through my copy of "The Victory Garden" -- would not be a bad choice!. To be clear, though, this is the 1982 book by Marian Morash, right? (There are several very similarly named books!)
If Arthur Schwartz is still in play, I'll properly nominate one of his books, ARTHUR SCHWARTZ'S JEWISH HOME COOKING: YIDDISH RECIPES REVISTED.
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No sooner had a posted my nomination did I post a review of a mushroom dish from Food of Spain and it made me think of another idea for a COTM.
I think it would be a ton of fun to do a "small plates/tapas/antipasti" type month. I love this style of eating, especially in the summer months and these dishes typically make great use of seasonal veggies.
I'll definitely look through my shelves for some good books to nominate next month if others have any interest in this.
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This is a tough one. I'm feeling pressed for time so I haven't really had a chance to give this the thought I normally would but, coming off a COTM with a few books in play, I'd prefer to cook from one book next month as I'm finding it tough to keep up on reading and responding to all the great reviews this month. I'm intrigued by the DianaHenry book (somehow it's never hit my radar but looking DH up in EYB I'm also intrigued by her Gastropub book)
That said, based on suggestions up-thread and, what's on my shelf now, I'll nominate 2 books:
THE HOMESICK TEXAN
THE VICTORY GARDEN COOKBOOK
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The many books of Arthur Schwartz would make AS month too disconected as BigSal indicated. After considerable deliberation I'm nominating:
FOOD FROM PLENTY by DIANA HENRY
Good Luck with this L. Nightshade.... we certainly run you an unintentional merry chase.
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re: greedygirl
I second SKYE GYNGELL - A YEAR IN MY KITCHEN. Beautiful book I've been meaning to dive into for awhile now.
I would love to cook from Diana Henry's books too, but I would be interested in holding off until the fall when her new book, Salt Sugar Smoke, comes out in the US and do both that and Plenty together (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845...).
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ARTHUR SWARTZ MONTH
http://thefoodmaven.com/mavenbooks.html
I'd like to cook from any of his books. But I'd also like the choice ot cook from many of his books.
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re: Rella
Still deeply immersed into Spanish month, it is hard to think of next month, but time is running out. I have 2 of Arthur Schwartz's Italian books (The Southern Italian Table and Naples At Table). My concern for Arthur Schwartz month would be the lack of a cohesive theme ( I could be cooking Italian, another could be cooking Jewish, and another NYC food, etc). Even though we have an ancillary thread to the current COTM, it is still focused on Spanish cooking. I'd like to cook from Arthur Schwartz, but think it would be helpful to narrow it down a bit.
I also recently purchased a couple Skye Gyngell books. Planet Barbecue could work for us too. Still very indecisive for June.
A YEAR IN MY KITCHEN or TRULY MEXICAN (the recipes seem approachable and good for the summer- but it may work better in July/August for fresh tomatoes).
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Just a reminder about June COTM nominations...
We've got about 24 hours left before nominations close. There are several books being discussed, but remember, it's not a nomination unless you write the name of the book in ALL CAPITALS.
Happy nominating...›3 Replies-
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re: L.Nightshade
OK, thank you! I'll do an about face; my nomination will be
"QUICHES, KUGELS, AND COUSCOUS" by Joan Nathan.
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I think all-vegetable and grilling books should wait 'til at least a month later in the year. Based on my **delight** with her award winning "Jewish Cooking in America", I'll nominate Joan Nathan's
QUICHES, KUGELS, AND COUSCOUS: MY SEARCH FOR JEWISH COOKING IN FRANCE. -
Just a few:
Dean and Deluca
any or all Saveur Books
any or all Arthur Schwartz books
any or all Bugialli books›2 Replies-
re: Rella
Rella: Funny (or actually sad) that you mentioned Dean and Delucca. About 2 weeks ago water leaked through the ceiling from the apartment above and cascaded down on my cookbooks! AGGGGHHHHH! I got many of them out with just a bit of water damage, but D&D was pretty much soaked and ended up with lots of stuck-together and wrinkly pages. Of course I'll be replacing them at the flooder's expense, but I couldn't help mentioning this to get a little more sympathy. The worst damage was done to Med. Greens and Grains by P. Wolfert, Flexitarian, and How to Read a French Fry.
Turned out the culprit was the upstairs neighbor's faulty ice maker.
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re: oakjoan
You have my sympathy.
Here's my story about kitchen flooding. During the night (while DH was away caring for his father - about a 12-hour drive) the water softener failed and the entire kitchen was flooded about 6"; the wate rran through the flooring into the ceiling below into the finished daylight basement and nice carpeting.
You definitely have my sympathy.
However, be sure to replace Dean & Delucca. It's a book that one doesn't think to buy - but I see many EYB'ers do own it - and it took me a long time to buy it, and I hope you will and can replace it.Yep, you have lots of sympathy from me! My best.
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Here are some ideas for books that seem to be fairly popular in EYB and, would seem to be suited to cooking at this time of year:
My New Orleans: The Cookbook by John Besh
Bobby Flay Month: a number of books to choose from but Mesa Grill, Throwdown and American food are standouts for me w lots of appealing dishes.Southern Month: pair The Homesick Texan w a healthier option such as Jame Beard award winner A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen by Hugh Acheson
Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries by Steven Raichlen
Other books that I’d love to test drive are:
Ruhlman’s Twenty
The Victory Garden Cookbook
The Canal House Books
And a book I mentioned a couple of months ago but I suspect it’s not on a lot of folk’s bookshelves: Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia by Patience Gray
Per some of the posts above, other books of interest would be Skye Gyngell's books and The Southern Italian Table. (I also just recently bought Southern Italian Farmers Table and The Italian Farmer's Table by by Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino which both look outstanding!)
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re: Blythe spirit
I love Victory Garden books - The Cookbook and Fish and Vegetbles - but cooking from one or the other as a COTM does not interest me. And I am kind of sick of Food Network chefs - Bobby Flay, Batali, etc.
With no good suggestions of my own, I am happy to second FOOD52 (just noticed that westminstress did not put it in caps...) and to nominate a Joan Nathan's book in response to blueroom's suggestion (not in caps either...); my choice is her QUICHES, KUGELS and COUSCOUS.
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re: Breadcrumbs
I have Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray, which I wrote about last week... Sorry I didn't see your post about the book, BC... It's more or less a journal of her "Odyssey", as one writer called her travels, from England, to northern Italy, Spain, France and, finally, southern Italy. It's a good read and all combined there are 219 recipes. Some are interspersed throughout her stories and then there's a dedicated section of the others. Because she didn't cook on a stove/range the recipes are rustic sounding but doable in a modern kitchen. Plus, she cooked every part of every animal... from "snout to tail." The book is indexed on EYB:
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/880/honey-from-a-weed-fasting#pindex=5I wouldn't mind cooking from this book or Food from Plenty by Diana Henry that Greedygirl mentions upthread which has an different focus but a similar respect for seasonal local sustainable food.
Lastly, I don't own any Rick Stein books but because I have loved All his PBS programs I'd love to cook from one of his books. Actually the Asian episodes are on YouTube and I sat through all them because that was one series of his I missed... The book is indexed on EYB:
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/4...-
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re: Gio
Gio have you cooked from Honey from a Weed? I loved reading it but haven't made anything yet...(so many books, so little time!!) That's why I love the COTMs.
As for Rick Stein, I would have sworn I owned and had cooked from a fish book of his but EYB tells me otherwise so I'll have to check my shelf tonight jic I forgot to add it to EYB. Evidently I do haveRick Stein's Food Heroes: Recipes Inspired by the Champions of Good Food which sounds vaguely familiar to me but I'm pretty sure I haven't cooked from it. That said, on occasion I buy BBC Food and Olive magazines from the UK and I've enjoyed cooking RS's recipes from there.
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re: Breadcrumbs
Hi BC... No, I haven't cooked from Honey from a Weed yet, but I intend to. I'm still reading my local library's copy while I await the copy I ordered from an Amazon re-seller... Ms Gray must have been Britain's version of Henry Thoreau. No stove, fridge, washer & dryer, etc. No mod-cons at all.. None. Even the water had to be drawn from the village fountain. Because of all that plus other the lack of other necessities I feel the recipes she writes are the most authentic for all the countries in which she lived. I can't wait to cook a few that appeal to me including those that I've been cooking since forever... just to see the difference.
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re: Gio
Gio if you do cook from the book and remember, could you share your review of the dishes? I'll try to remember to do this too. I've bookmarked this page to remind me since I have little confidence I'll be able to remember otherwise!!
I was truly captivated by Ms Gray's account of her past and the dishes she prepared/enjoyed. She's also incredibly knowledgeable with incredibly comprehensive information on ingredients, techniques etc. I also enjoyed the illustrations.
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re: Breadcrumbs
Those are some good suggestions, BC. Planet Barbecue is an excellent book, not so much barbecue, but grilling. It would be an awesome COTM. It would be good to pair it with a vegetable book, though, as some of our regular participants are not big meat eaters. I also like the idea of doing the Canal House books.
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re: Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs, I've been thinking about the Canal House books too (I have the first six and have yet to delve into cooking from them). I haven't ever nominated them for COTM because of their seasonality, but I've been thinking of starting a separate thread for the series in Home Cooking if I can find the time to start cooking from #1, summer, when summer starts.
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re: GardenFresh
The one and only Canal House book I have is La Dolce Vita, and as you would imagine it's Italian recipes. I suppose I could insert a review a time or two. I haven't cooked from it yet and the thread will give me an opportunity to find out what all the shoutin's about.
OT: Melissa's sister, Gabrielle Hamilton, is writing a cook book. Now That I'd like to see...
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There are quite a few books that I have bought relatively recently and would like to get better acquainted with. Not sure about their availability in the US though.
1. Good Things to Eat by Lucas Hollweg. Everything from here has been good so far, especially the marmalade slump cake.
2. Skye Gyngell's books - she has three. My Favourite Ingredients, A Year in My Kitchen and How I Cook.
3. Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey. One for Asian cooking freaks - loads of interesting stuff in here.
4. Food from Plenty by Diana Henry. I also love her Cook Simple: Effortless Cooking Every Day. Bang for your buck type cooking.
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re: greedygirl
Food from Plenty by Diana Henry....
I have this one but I don't remember if I ordered it from Amazon UK or US. When it was published the title was simply Plenty. I wondered if people would get it confused with the Ottolenghi book of the same name. Now I see that there's another edition but the title has been changed to Food from Plenty...She's the food writer at The Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddri...-
re: Gio
Gio: To answer your question....Ottolenghi was the first person I thought of while reading your post. "Hey! I thought before reading the rest of the post, Ottolenghi's book is Plenty. She must be getting them mixed up." Moral - read the whole post before going off half-cocked.
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re: BigSal
I had never heard her name, but I found several articles - this one was interesting to me.
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re: greedygirl
LulusDad will be trying to eat at either the pub or the fish and chips place while he bikes through the area. He says he'll be too much of a "sweaty mess" to try the restaurant. But I can't wait to hear about it. Loved Chalky. (PS - it is because he'll be gone and then we'll be joining him that I'm not participating this month. Plan to cook easy things from previous COTMs with Lulu for the first 2 weeks of June. She's been having fun looking at the cookbooks and picking out recipes to make together.)
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It is always so much fun to start out on the quest for the *next* book. The discussion that leads to the choice, and the one-by-one trickle of votes at the end--so exciting! The problem is, my enthusiasm for the current book immediately wanes, and I hate that. Must remember there are 20 more days left in this month!
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Also just thinking out loud, would there be any interest in Joan Nathan's books?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...
Her most famous is probably "Jewish Cooking in America".›6 Replies-
re: blue room
I think Jewish Cooking - in any or all countries would be good. Even though "... in America" would no doubt encompass a lot of background recipes from other countries, perhaps an extra thread for all countries. But.. that would be quite a thread to manage.
A book, The Complete Guide to Traditional Jewish Cooking" by Marlena Spieler
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-...
featuresincludes "... dishes from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Morocco, Egypt, Iran, Israel, the Middle East, India, the United States and Latin America."
Looking pretty-much like food we eat here in America, too.
In this book, there is no history - just recipes and pictures; 1400 pictures, each beautifully tempting. -
re: blue room
I've been thinking of Jewish books as well, Blueroom. The two books I have and like very much are:
>The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York by Claudia Roden
>Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited by Arthur Schwartz: he has a terrific recipe for Chinese-American chow mein.
I also have his The Southern Italian Table and love it. Here are some recipes from his many other books...
http://thefoodmaven.com/mavenbooks.html-
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re: Gio
I have had Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food for a long time but have rarely cooked from it. I have spent some time reading various parts. In addition to lots of recipes (both Sephardic and Ashkenazi). The recipes come from all over the world and there's lots of info and wonderful old photos.
I'd be happy to vote for it as a COTM.
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re: blue room
I'm so glad you liked it BR. For others who may be interested here's the on-line recipe...
http://www.thefoodmaven.com/diary/000...
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I cann't believe we are at it again already! I have not had the time to post about Roden dishes that I made and have a long list of recipes to make...
June is the month when we get lots of wonderful fresh seafood including lobster, fresh young greens, radishes, herbs, asparagus, strawberries.... Not a true grilling month for me but some outdoor cooking for sure.
I do not have a book to suggest, just thinking out loud. Maybe a seafood book or a vegetable book?
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re: herby
I will be out of the country for the first 10 days of June and I am guessing there will be very little in the way of home cooked meals going on in our house during the following weeks. For this reason, I am going to sit this one out. I'll enjoy living vicariously through all of you while I read the discussion.
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re: herby
I agree with your comments. June is a time for market cooking, but not Italian or Mexican, since those cuisines really benefit from waiting until the full range of summer produce is available. Here are a couple of ideas to throw out there:
Food52 book and website (accessible and something for everyone)
Something vegetable focused, maybe Heidi Swanson books and website?
Something else I've been interested in since reading An Everlasting Meal is Edna Lewis' The Taste of Country Cooking.-
re: Westminstress
Taste of country cooking was a cotm 5 years ago. I can't believe we've been cooking together for that long.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/406983
My memory is that month was a slow cotm. Not a lot of participation for some reason.
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