How to Peel a Peach or Creole Nouvelle

How to Peel a Peach: And 1,001 Other Things Every Good Cook Needs to Know

Author: Perla Meyers

EVERY HOME COOK HAS QUESTIONS

and How to Peel a Peach has the answers. Whether you’re a bona fide beginner or a kitchen dynamo, chances are you’ve been stumped by culinary questions great and small. In these pages, wise, worldly culinary professional Perla Meyers comes to the rescue, offering a wealth of information about ingredients, equipment, and techniques in a forthright Q&A format. With timeless recipes that illustrate her points, it’s as if this prominent cooking teacher is by your side, conducting a series of special classes just for you.

Library Journal

The Seasonal Kitchen, Meyers's first cookbook, was published in 1973, long before cooking with fresh local ingredients became a mantra for chefs and good cooks everywhere. Several titles in that same vein (e.g., From Market to Kitchen) followed. Her new book features hundreds of culinary Q&As (the questions are culled from Meyers's workshop students), along with her favorite recipes in each category, from vegetables to fruit; also included are chapters on equipment and stocking the pantry. There is a lot of information here, and while some readers will appreciate the format, others might wish for an easier-to-use organizational style-i.e., a factual section on cooking duck rather than a series of questions, e.g., "I'd like to buy a duck breast, but I don't know how to prepare it" and "I love to grill chicken but have never attempted duck-can it be done?" Nevertheless, Meyers is knowledgeable, and her recipes sound delicious. For most collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments	vii
	Introduction	1
	The Essential Kitchen: Equipment and Utensils	5
	The Cook's Pantry	19
	Vegetables and Herbs	57
	Seafood	151
	Poultry	187
	Meat	219
	Pasta, Grains, and Beans	247
	Fruit	295
	The Grill	345
	Basic Recipes	383
	Sources for Equipment and Ingredients	397
	Index	401

Book about: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt or Theodore Rex

Creole Nouvelle

Author: Joseph Carey

Carey features the New Orleans chefs who not only use local produce and seafood, but also bring in the best artisanal cheeses, meats, and wines from around the nation and the world. Creole Nouvelle redefines traditional recipes of the genre while offering wonderful dishes from today's top chefs.

RH Staff

Carey, a New Orleans native who now heads the Memphis Culinary Academy, has come up with a slick approach to cookbook writing here. This volume includes many traditional Creole recipes-Carey handles these himself-plus inventive takes on them from five top New Orleans chefs: Susan Spicer of Bayona; Peter Vasquez from Marisol; Anne Kearney, formerly of Peristyle; Donald Link of Herbsaint; and John Harris of Lilette.

All in all, it's quite a collection. And future cookbook authors take note: this book's all-star cast approach is one worth exploring on other topics.

Library Journal

Trout Point Lodge is an elegant inn and cooking school situated on a private nature preserve in a remote part of Nova Scotia, what the authors refer to as "the Acadian homeland." The Acadians were French settlers ousted by the British in the 1750s, and many of them ended up in Louisiana, the forebears of today's Cajuns. So it is not so surprising that the three owners of Trout Point, who had a thriving organic farm and restaurant in New Orleans, ended up in Nova Scotia-though the food they serve at the lodge is of the more refined, urban style of Creole cuisine than the simpler, unpretentious Cajun/Acadian cooking. Once again, they have an organic garden that supplies their produce, and they forage for mushrooms and other delicacies in the forests around the lodge and fish in the rivers and streams running through the preserve. This results in such dishes as Sea Bean and Mussel Salad, Grilled Trout with Wild Fennel and Almonds, and Wild Blackberry Custard Tart. An unusual cookbook from an unusual inn, this is recommended for most collections. Carey, a New Orleans-born chef who founded the Memphis Culinary Academy, focuses on Creole cooking in his native city, specifically contemporary interpretations of classic dishes, as well as the innovative Creole-inspired cuisine that a handful of talented young chefs are serving there (e.g., Susana Spicer of Bayona and Donald Link of Herbsaint). Carey is obviously knowledgeable and has an entertaining, strongly opinionated style; unfortunately, the recipe instructions are somewhat abbreviated and assume a fair amount of kitchen experience or training, and many of them do not include yields-a serious drawback. Nevertheless, area libraries and specialized regional cooking collections will want to consider. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.