Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Cookbooks: Pure Vegan & Vegan Eats World
One was Vegan Eats World: 300 International Recipes for Savoring the Planet (DaCapo Lifelong) by Terry Hope Romero, the author of Veganomicon. The other was Pure Vegan by Joseph Shuldiner. While both books are excellent, for me it’s not an either or proposition. Both add great value to their region of gastronomy. That is, both do wonderful things with a style of cooking that (arguably), for many years, didn’t produce much that was worth eating.
Debut author Joseph Shuldiner is a graphic designer. So it probably goes without saying that Pure Vegan is gorgeous. The photos, the layout, the colors… the French flaps! It’s a beautiful production. What makes it sublime, though, are the recipes. They are not gimmicky, as some vegan recipes can be. Here food is not masquerading as other food: it’s mostly just being what it is: beautiful, healthful, simply prepared and wonderfully plated.
My personal highlights: I loved the Potato Torte. When finished, it looks like something that might be coated in cheese or cream or other non-vegan products, but neither is the case.
Another oh-so-simple idea, here beautifully presented is the (No) Cheese Plate, intended to be served as finger food with wine. All of the ideas are good, but the recipe for a Fig Paste that looks and serves like a cheese or pate is very good and very simple.
For me, however, the star is Nutty Mushroom Risotto, making it the first time I’ve ever had a truly “creamy” vegan risotto… without missing the cheese! The secret is hazelnuts: skinned, toasted and coarsely chopped.
Vegan Eats World offers 300 recipes to Pure Vegan’s 70, but many of these are fast and sweet: lots of sauces and spreads and other things that will go into making other dishes. For much of really good vegan cooking, that seems to be key. If you had to stop and make Toasted Rice Powder every time you want to have a Southeast Asian salad, it would be time consuming. But if you already have some prepared, you’re a little more ready to go.
Being properly vegan has to include that kind of thinking. Most of the time you can’t just blithely run to the market and buy what’s available. You have to be able to make vegan alternatives for everything in your pantry if need be.
In that regard, Vegan Eats World is superior as it hand holds you through all of those steps. Vegan tzatziki and raita and even a parmigiana topping for lasagnas and other pasta dishes made of chickpea flour. The recipes here are terrific, as well. Though it was both complicated and time-consuming, I loved Sesame Panko Tempeh Cutlets: kind of katsu made with tempeh. A Pad Thai made with avocado and spicy greens kept me from missing any shrimp or eggs that might have been in the original. Lots of great curries and stews featuring saitan or tempeh.
As the title promises, Vegan Eats World is a culinary trip around the world: vegan-style.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
100 Foods to Eat Before You Die
I've had 88 of the 100 foods listed and was a bit surprised to find that, in my part of the world, many on the list are quite common. The Food List Challenge folks said that they “think most people will have tried fewer than 20 of these 100 foods to eat before you die.” I'm pretty sure that would have been more true a couple of decades ago and, clearly, vegetarians won't score as well as those with more omnivracious tastes.
How many have you tried?
1. Abalone
2. Absinthe
3. Alligator
4. Baba Ghanoush
5. Bagel & Lox
6. Baklava
7. BBQ Ribs
8. Bellini
9. Birds Nest Soup
10. Biscuits & Gravy
11. Black Pudding
12. Black Truffle
13. Borscht
14. Calamari
15. Carp
16. Caviar
17. Cheese Fondue
18. Chicken & Waffles
19. Chicken Tikka Masala
20. Chile Relleno
21. Chitlins
22. Churros
23. Clam Chowder
24. Cognac
25. Crab Cakes
26. Crickets
27. Currywurst
28. Dandelion Wine
29. Dulce De Leche
30. Durian
31. Eel
32. Eggs Benedict
33. Fish Tacos
34. Foie Gras
35. Fresh Spring Rolls
36. Fried Catfish
37. Fried Green Tomatoes
38. Fried Plantain
39. Frito Pie
40. Frogs' Legs
41. Fugu
42. Funnel Cake
43. Gazpacho
44. Goat
45. Goat's Milk
46. Goulash
47. Gumbo
48. Haggis
49. Head Cheese
50. Heirloom Tomatoes
51. Honeycomb
52. Hostess Fruit Pie
53. Huevos Rancheros
54. Jerk Chicken
55. Kangaroo
56. Key Lime Pie
57. Kobe Beef
58. Lassi
59. Lobster
60. Mimosa
61. Moon Pie
62. Morel Mushrooms
63. Nettle Tea
64. Octopus
65. Oxtail Soup
66. Paella
67. Paneer
68. Pastrami on Rye
69. Pavlova
70. Phaal
71. Philly Cheese Steak
72. Pho
73. Pineapple & Cottage Cheese
74. Pistachio Ice Cream
75. Po' Boy
76. Pocky
77. Polenta
78. Prickly Pear
79. Rabbit Stew
80. Raw Oysters
81. Root Beer Float
82. S'mores
83. Sauerkraut
84. Sea Urchin
85. Shark
86. Snail
87. Snake
88. Soft Shell Crab
89. Som Tam
90. Spaetzle
91. Spam
92. Squirrel
93. Steak Tartare
94. Sweet Potato Fries
95. Sweetbreads
96. Tom Yum
97. Umeboshi
98. Venison
99. Wasabi Peas
100. Zucchini Flowers