Gourmet gift ideas
“The Silver Spoon” Phaidon Press, $39.95
Originally commissioned more than 50 years ago to collect and preserve Italian regional recipes, this influential book has been a must-have for the Italian home cook ever since. We’d be delighted to have copies in our kitchens, too, and now that it’s available in English for the first time, we can. From marinades and main dishes to sauces, salads, souffles and sweets, its exhaustive scope reaches far beyond basic Italian. And its delight in fresh ingredients — both basic and exotic — is infectious.
Often compared to “The Joy of Cooking,” “Spoon” (2,000 recipes for every cooking level) provides a broader range of recipes, but not as much emphasis on the basics. Frequently republished, the book has been regularly updated for contemporary tastes, but not at the expense of traditional foods. This edition also provides a selection of signature dishes from a score of well-known Italian chefs. An excellent section on cooking terms and color-coded dividers make the book easy to navigate.
Don’t miss: The extensive and versatile egg chapters. Especially the fritattas.
The Washington Post
“The Best Recipes in the World,” by Mark Bittman (Broadway Books, $29.95)
Bittman specializes in doable, well-written recipes for all levels of cooks. Harried weeknight cooks, in particular, will find a feast of quick dinners — predominantly Asian and Mediterranean. The incisive comments that accompany each recipe are like having Bittman in the kitchen, telling you what to do. This is a terrific bookend if you already have his 1998 mega-seller “How to Cook Everything.”
The Washington Post
“The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook” by the editors of America’s Test Kitchen ($34.95)
This exhaustive cookbook from the television show of the same name has combined the recipes perfected by its extensive research at America’s Test Kitchen with the familiar-look of classics such as Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens.
This book is designed to be the one book a home cook needs and does a nice job. It’s easily searchable with tabbed chapters for the 1,200 recipes and includes a section of menu recommendations for holiday, parties and events. There are tips boxes for buying the best tasting ingredients at the supermarket and a handy top 10 Test Kitchen tips inside the front cover.
If you’d rather give a magazine subscription as a gift, don’t overlook the new Cook’s Country from the editors at Cook’s Illustrated. It’s more approachable than the original magazine for many home cooks and includes some clever and fun elements: everyday cooking tips, monthly recipe contests, lost recipe exchange, clip-and-keep recipe cards, a gallery of photos from readers and stories of their cooking mishaps.
Lorie Hutson, The Spokesman-Review
“Chocolate Holidays: Unforgettable Desserts for Every Season” [by Alice Medrich (Workman Publishing, $15.95)]
The three-time winner of the Cookbook of the Year Award winner Alice Medrich has re-released a book of 50 recipes that will give your favorite cook a reason for a seductive treat any time of year.
Dubbed the “patron saint of chocoholics” by the San Francisco Chronicle, the collection was previously released as, “A Year in Chocolate” which included extensive information on ingredients, equipment and decorative embellishments, along with notes for customizing the recipes with different chocolate.
The recipes are arranged by season, including:
Fall: Gingerbread with Milk Chocolate Chunks and Chocolate-Dipped Caramel Apples.
Winter: Chocolate Latkes, Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Laced Holiday Stollen.
Spring: Mocha Marble Cheesecake, Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries, Apricot Orange Wedding Cakes.
Summer: White Chocolate-Banana Nectarine Trifle, Hot Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches, Fastest Fudge Cake and Frosting.
Need I say more?
Lorie Hutson, The Spokesman-Review
“Salad People and More Real Recipes” [by Mollie Katzen (Tricycle Press, $17.95)]
If you know a budding chef or someone who likes to cook with their children, this book makes a nice gift.
Like Katzen’s earlier children’s cookbooks, “Pretend Soup” and “Honest Pretzels” it is designed to encourage kids (as young as preschool) to measure, count and have fun in the kitchen.
Each recipe includes notes for the grown-ups, hints and safety tips and step-by-step drawings so children can “read” the recipe and put it together. There are some quotes from the critics (the kids), “You could eat fourteen, but then you’d have a tummy ache.”
The recipes are healthful and fun, including Tiny Tacos (reviewed above), Counting Soup, Crispy Corn Cakes and Raspberry Yogurt Swirl.
Lorie Hutson, The Spokesman-Review
Betty Crocker’s New Cook Book, Limited Edition Pink Plaid (Meredith Books, $29.95)
This is Betty Crocker’s reliable red-plaid, all dressed up in limited-edition pink for raise awareness for fighting breast cancer.
All of the classics are here with a new 64-page “pink” section that includes diet and lifestyle recommendations, recipes for foods that are associated with a reduced risk of cancer.
There are 1,200 recipes and 700 color photos to entice a cook of any ability.
You can feel good about giving this gift because part of the proceeds will be given to cancer research and awareness groups.
Lorie Hutson, The Spokesman-Review
“Mangoes and Curry Leaves” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Artisan, $45) is subtitled “Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent”
In this latest venture in studying food in its cultural context, Alford and Duguid, accomplished travelers, writers and photographers who’ve been described as culinary anthropologists, focus on Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
After an overview of the subcontinent, they regale readers with about 200 recipes grouped in chapters ranging from chutneys, salsas and sambols, through main course items, to street foods, snacks and drinks, many illustrated in color photos.
They list menu recommendations for “every occasion” — including food to delight children, for a feast with guests or favorites for a potluck.
You can learn about ingredients from a long, excellent glossary toward the back of the book. But all through earlier chapters you’ll find stories, essays and photographs of local people, scenery and food markets that bring to life exotic flavors, tastes and customs.
Associated Press
“Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook” (Potter, $40)
“Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook” (Potter, $40) is conventionally bound, elegantly designed and also packed with well-presented information to complement some 200 recipes.
The book is organized into general categories of baking, such as cookies, cakes, or pies, tarts, cobblers and crisps. Clearly and stylishly laid-out color photos are like glimpses into the glass cases of the best bakery you know. The recipes range from graham crackers to a spectacular three-tier wedding cake, from carrot-ginger cupcakes to cherry-frangipane galette, from banana cream pie to pizza.
Plenty of how-to photo series trace baking procedures for nervous neophytes hoping for the kind of results Martha Stewart’s kitchens get.
Associated Press
“Seasonal Southwest Cooking” by Barbara Pool Fenzl (Northland, $35)
Seasonal Southwest Cooking” by Barbara Pool Fenzl puts a colorful range of regional food within reach of cooks anywhere, with 150 recipes grouped under conventional headings that include appetizers, soups, entrees and so on, through breads and desserts.
But the “seasonal” angle in the title is a guiding principle of the book. Fenzl opens with a month-by-month listing of dishes for occasions to cook for, a Valentine’s soiree in February, for example, a Fourth of July picnic, or a holiday open house in December.
Fenzl, host of the PBS series “Savor the Southwest,” has lived in Phoenix for some 36 years and runs a cooking school there — experiences that are reflected in her clear recipes’ regional flavor. After a fall hike in the woods, she says, think of black bean soup with lime cream, followed by spice-rubbed buffalo tenderloin with porcini butter. Something simpler for a hearty but healthy January meal: a vegetarian “you’ll-never-miss-the-meat” chili, well laced with flavor.
Fine food photography by Christopher Marchetti that accompanies the recipes is rivaled by other photos throughout the book: panoramas of Southwestern scenery and wilderness landmarks including some eye-catching double-page spreads — disappointingly, with no captions.
Associated Press
“How to Break an Egg” by the editors, contributors and readers of Fine Cooking Magazine (The Taunton Press, $19.95)
The first section that I flip to when I’m reading cooking magazines is the tips section. Whether tips from readers or from the test kitchen staff, I’m always interested in a new or easier way to accomplish the task at hand. So I felt like I found the mother lode when I opened up the latest book from Fine Cooking magazine.
For example, did you know that:
“ You can clarify butter in the oven. Put a pound of butter in a deep glass ovenproof dish and bake at 300 degrees for one hour. Spoon off the clear yellow butter on top, leaving the white milk solids in the bottom of the dish.
“ The most tender green beans are the smallest, and they inevitably fall to the bottom of the bin of fresh green beans. Dig to the bottom of the bin for the best beans.
“ You can freshen up canned whole tomatoes for topping pizza. Try cutting the whole tomatoes in two or three slices and soaking them overnight in orange juice. When ready to top your pizza, drain and chop the tomatoes.
Besides nearly 300 pages of cooking, ingredient and equipment tips, “How to Break an Egg” also has almost 50 pages of how-to photos. Cutting up a whole chicken is all but a lost art that is illustrated in full-color, step-by-step photos so even the newest cook can learn this skill. There are also how-to photos that show how to get just the right consistency for whipped cream and egg whites, peel and segment an orange, cut a chiffonade and julienne carrots.
And for those days when everything goes wrong, there’s a whole chapter on emergency fixes, substitutions and equivalents.
Linda Faus, The Oregonian
“The All American Dessert Book” by Nancy Baggett (Houghton Mifflin, $35)
From Nashville to New Mexico, author Nancy Baggett has baked up a whole nation of desserts: Prize-Winning Concord Grape Pie from New York, Colorado Peach Dumplings, Giant Ginger Cookies inspired by Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks shop in Montpelier, Vt.
Baggett traveled the states and researched sweets for four years, compiling a collection of America’s finest desserts and picking up some lore along the way.
Did you know that Milton Hershey was a caramel maker? Or that chocolate-chip cookies — the archetype of American cookies — didn’t exist until 1930, when an innkeeper added a chopped-up chocolate bar to cookie dough when she ran out of nuts?
Baggett seems personally involved with her readers’ success, offering “techniques and tips for successful dessert making” in which she admonishes us to follow each recipe carefully at least once before making our own adjustments.
The book itself is a delightful read, even if you don’t go near the oven. Each recipe has an anecdotal introduction, many rich with history, followed by easy tips for today’s cook.
Get a copy in time for Christmas, so that you can leave Santa a plate of Peppermint Fudgies, Almond-Coconut Joy Bars and Chewy Peanut-Caramel Bars. He’ll think you’re very nice indeed.
Cheri Swoboda, The Oregonian