Food Reference
Book Reviews
Updated July, 2008 - Joanne White
A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur's Guide to Oyster Eating in North America
by Rowan Jacobsen
This excellent book focuses on most everything you’d want to know about North American oysters. As someone who’s only recently become an oyster-lover, this book was quite helpful in teaching me about the types and appellations of oysters. The author also has an excellent website/blog, The Oyster Guide, that is regularly updated. A Geography of Oysters is strongly recommended for those who buy and/or consume oysters regularly. — review by Jack Everitt
What to Drink with What you Eatby Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page
What to Drink with What you Eat offers a huge compendium of proven pairings in the first chapters together with a little general advice to give you an understanding of what to look for in food and beverage pairings. Chapter three is a quick course offering some rules to remember.
The two largest sections of the book are, thankfully, the most important and useful sections. One is alphabetized by food – listing drinks to go with that food. The other is alphabetized by drink – listing what foods go with that drink.
In the Matching Beverages to Foods section, you will find a wide range of specific foods from Jambalaya to Saint Felicin, Guavas to Wild Boar, Vietnamese Summer Rolls to Chocolate Eclairs. Conversely, in the Matching Foods to Beverages section you will find pairings for uncommon wine varietals like monastrell or cannonau, as well as coffee (including different roasts and regions), sherry (including Ron Miller’s, “On When to Start with Sherry"), chimay, juice (and lemonade), sake (more than 10 types), and even different brands of mineral water!
Another section of What to Drink with What you Eat is Pairing Menus from Some of America’s Best Restaurants. The last chapter “The Best on the Best" is a culinary/ sommelier star’s desert island style list of pairings from the likes of Joseph Bastianich, Daniel Boulud, Traci Des Jardins, Larry Stone and Daniel Johnnes. This chapter is really fun to read and also offers a sprinkling of recipes. Steven Jenkins and Max McCalman offer some great Cheese pairings.
At 365 pages, this book is like a dictionary of Food & Drink pairing - and has already become an essential reference in our house. After asking "What's for dinner" Jack will whip it out on the way to the wine cellar. Now as in any advice book, personal taste is important; no book is going to succeed in all ways. However What to Drink with What You Eat does an admirable job of improving the chances, having enlisted the opinions of many top chefs and sommeliers, and covering a hefty cross-section of food and drink. If you can’t find a pairing exactly for what you are drinking or eating you’ll definitely find some advice here which will help you make a choice. Highly Recommended.
Jack’s Review: It’s rare when a food or wine book comes out and you go, “Wow, here’s a book that was actually needed!” The title of the book is exactly what the book is about, and fortunately, the advice in it is mostly excellent. I think those who purchase this book will use it on a regular basis; particularly when cooking something they don’t usually cook or eat.
I'm not fond of the design and layout of the book. It's too heavy and two columns wide (instead of three) would have worked better for the two main sections. Despite these design flaws, it’s the wine book I would recommend as a gift for your friend or family member who’s a food and/or wine enthusiast. (Rare praise from me.)
Funniest pairing: Having a meal of Ketchup? Drink slightly sweet wine.
— review by Jack Everitt
The Food Snobs Dictionary
An Essential Lexicon of Gastronomical Knowledge
by David Ramp and Marion Rosenfeld
I was intrigued by the title of this compact lexicon of food, food related terms and people. Some of the wide range of entries pin down the elusive term. Based on the definition, I’m inarguably the food snob who this book, despite the title, is very definitely not written for. The introduction profiles the book as “a defensive aid in dealing with such a person, and as a primer for aspiring snobs…” which leads me to shudder.
Not So: In no way is this essential. The selections are not comprehensive, as one might find in a real food dictionary. Neither are the listings particularly useful, beyond lifting the veil on a term. The whole book is written in a rather derogatory tone, making fun of food snobs and framing the reader as a “real person” who has no clue as to what rarified air smells like, and hence needs this book. Listings range from the vaguely informative to the offensive, using swear words for grit, and occasionally misleading (celeriac - where the prose leads me to believe that shredded celeriac salad is a U.S. invention). The authors offer the Guilty Pleasures of a Food Snob in one of their lists: Jiff Peanut Butter, Hot Dogs, Cheez Whiz, Iron Chef, French’s French Fried Onions, and Starbucks. So, perhaps I’m not a food snob after all. While written tongue- in-cheek, The Food Snobs Dictionary did not garner a snicker from me, only a grimace or two.
The Slow Food Guide to San Francisco
by Sylvan Brackett, Wendy Downing, Sue Moore (all editors)
My first reaction to this new guide was to look at the all the “slow food” choices, which mostly were not surprises. I was assuming erroneously that all the food sources listed in the guide would have Slow Food features and this is not the case. The ones denoted by the Slow Food snail icon “give above and beyond their support of the concepts of sustainability and biodiversity.” There are many listings which are of notable gourmet or foodie interest which do not have snails.
Taking a step back, the guide does an admirable job of listing top restaurant destination in the Bay Area and noting top purveyors as well, in the back of the book. For a visitor to San Francisco or a newcomer, The Slow Food guide delivers. For a San Francisco savvy resident, there is probably not a lot to learn from the guide. If you are looking for the best spot to shop or eat were you are visiting, the book is a valuable resource for shopping day trips. In fact since it lists contact info and days closed for the restaurants (but not hours), I’ll keep this book in the car.
Although the Slow Food Guide to San Francisco does have some coverage of wine country, it's the weakest part of the book. In a nutshell, it’s an excellent book for those visiting San Francisco and the Bay Area. Look for it!
A Cook's Book of Quick Fixes & Kitchen Tips
by Anne Willan
This little book is an unusual addition to a cook’s library, and frankly I doubt it will get much use as a reference. However it is a great and quick read and has lots of ideas which you may retain for ensuing disasters. We all hope to be perfect cooks – choosing the best ingredients and cooking them to perfection. But when reality hits and the vegetables are limp or tasteless or the meat is tough or something is overdone – whatever do you do?
This little tome deals with most kitchen mishaps as a-matter-of-course, turning adversity into opportunity. Along with remedies for disasters, Willan suggests sauces and seasonings to hide mis-haps. For an ill-fated dinner party this book may be a life saver but even in day-to-day cooking there is wisdom herein which can be easily adapted.
Impromptu guests might get a limp lettuce soup or a savory baked rice dish. There’s a great little recipe for Red Radish relish and vegetable soffritto to perk up meats. Next Thanksgiving, we may have her Bacon Mashed Potatoes which she suggests to accompany Dry Game Birds. Many bland or dry problems have multiple choice fixes. Bland seafood gets the salad treatment. Thick or dull jam gets fresh fruit added. Dry bread becomes bruschetta, French toast or garlic toast. Stale muffins turn into rumballs.
Willan has lots of great ideas and she is very obviously an accomplished cook – there is a lot of wisdom to draw from here. I suggest you read it cover to cover. It might also make a fun gift for a new cook.
Cons. Not essential. Doesn’t cover everything – for instance it doesn't mention a fix for dry turkey (i.e., the quick fix is to pour turkey or chicken stock over dry turkey to moisten it). Most experienced cooks have few failures and epicures will see past sauces.
Melissa's Great Book of Produce:
Everything You Need to Know about Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
by Cathy Thomas
Don’t know a limequat from a Uniq fruit or what to do with them? This book will end up being your essential reference and it's very likely to replace the Elizabeth Schneider's boo, or, at the very least, the first place to look in.
Melissa's Great Book of Produce is divided into fruit and vegetables, and lists virtually every piece of produce that you might find in a grocery store or specialty market (except for really truly unusual and ethnic varieties).
Each listing offers, Buying & Storing, Prep, US Nutritional Info and Serving Suggestions (including recipes in some cases). Produce listings include things like Nira Grass, Saturn Nectarines, Malanga, Fairytale Pumpkins, Tamarind, Tung ho and Loquat. The only oversight I could find was the lack of a listing on garbanzo beans – everything else I could imagine was listed.
This book is great because it encourages you to buy something you’ve never encountered without fear of what to do with it once you get it home. Listings are concise (usually 1-2 pages) and the book, at 309 pages, seems a usable size. It has great full-color photos of almost every fruit or vegetable, often with a whole and cut version.
Produce like melons, potatoes and oranges get a listing and then the sub varieties get a notation in addition. At the end of the book there is an availability index for quick look-ups, which shows both US and Global seasonability.
Melissa’s Produce is based Los Angeles, CA and are known as a leading distributor for specialty fruits and vegetables. Perhaps they are most famous for introducing the baby vegetable trend.
Tea Basics: A Quick and Easy Guide
by Wendy Rasmussen, Ric Rhinehart
It gives a good overview of the tea industry and what to look for in tea – especially grades of tea. It has a nice appendix which may direct you to a source that you might have missed.
Cons. I was looking for the ultimate book on understanding tea and this is not it. I did not find one. It’s not that helpful in selecting tea from the myriad of teas available. It spends too much time on accoutrements and, tea and health. The print is large and so for the 150 or so pages there is not a lot of info.
