Bon Appegeek

Reviews are in alphabetical order by author’s last name except for new reviews at the top.

Seductions of Rice, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Almost frighteningly comprehensive. More information about rice than you could possibly need, with warm narrative and plenty of recipes to try. The hardcover edition has full-color photographs (this paperback does not) and appears to be out of print but is available used. [Also posted in Asian and Indian Cookbooks.]

John Ash: Cooking One on One: Private Lessons in Simple, Contemporary Food from a Master Teacher (Hardcover), by John T. Ash. Review pending.

Small-Batch Baking, by Debby Maugans Nakos, also available in hardcover. Great idea for dieters. Sometimes you need a treat, but if you make a huge batch of treat, that treat will go straight to your bottom. Substantially scaling down baking recipes yourself is a risky experiment, but Nakos has done all the experimenting for you. She suggests baking cakes in tin cans, but I find mini-cheesecake pans work perfectly and look more cakelike. Do be careful not to overbake. Because of the small size of the desserts, there’s no margin of safety, thus slight underbaking is best. Perfect for baking in a good convection toaster oven to save energy and keep the house cool. [Also posed in Baking cookbooks.]

Turning the Tables: The Insider’s Guide to Eating Out (Paperback), by Steven A. Shaw. Wishlisted.

All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking (Hardcover), by Molly Stephens. Review pending. [Also posted in General cookbooks.]

The Cheese Bible (Hardcover), by Christian Teubner, Heinrich Mair-Walburg, and Friedrich-Wilhelm Ehlert. Review pending.

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More, by Bruce Weinstein. If you know how ice cream works and need a large list of recipes, this works. Every recipe I’ve tried, from red bean to maple to vanilla bean has been outstanding. There are also recipes for cones and toppings, but I’ve not made any of those. Don’t expect explanations on why you should temper the eggs or what the perfect butterfat percentage for a given ice cream will be. For that kind of geeky knowledge, Weinstein apparently assumes that you already know, don’t need to know, or don’t care.