Cookbooks: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen by Yuan Wang, Warren Sheir, Mika Ono

You are what you eat. If we take this saying literally, it would appear that Western culture is lost. Mountains of fast food hamburgers, masses of brown food deep-fried beyond recognition. If we are what we eat, we’re in trouble.

In Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen (Da Capo) this old phrase might take on a whole new meaning. The book is predicated on the idea that not only are we what we eat, we can control our health and longevity pretty closely based on what we put in our bodies. A sidebar to one of the recipes in the book encapsulates the difference in philosophies quite clearly:

Often in the West, people are told only what foods they should not be eating -- don’t eat sugar, don’t eat beef, don’t eat saturated fat -- rather than what foods they should be eating.

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen is a complete cookbook that corrects that oversight. From the introduction:

Eastern traditions are not part of the Western lifestyle. We go to yoga classes after work, use feng shui to create a welcoming space in our living room, and consult an acupuncturist to relieve our lingering shoulder pain. Yet parts of the Eastern tradition are still to be discovered in the West. One of these is the potential of Chinese herbs to promote health and longevity through everyday cooking.

The resulting book is a revelation. Over 150 delicious and curative recipes that, considered in a deliberate way can be part of your personal health program. Or use the book to enhance your repertoire of healthful, organic foods and, though it’s not a vegetarian cookbook, a very high percentage of the included recipes are either vegan or vegetarian.

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen is a deeply interesting book. One that, given the right set of circumstances and half a chance, could change your life.

Cookbooks: Eat Ate by Guy Mirabella

I feel absolutely remiss in having not managed to get my hands on Eat Ate (Chronicle) until now. It’s a terrific book in every way and really should have been on January’s best of 2009 list in the cookbook category and perhaps in the art and culture section as well. I should explain that. While Eat Ate is clearly a cookbook -- it has recipes and was written by someone who has become best known as a chef. Australian/Italian Guy Mirabella started out as a book designer and teacher of graphic design. And it shows: oh, yes. It shows.

Before you even get anywhere near the food, Eat Ate is the most beautiful cookbook that ever was. That’s a huge statement, but I defy you to prove it untrue. Quite beyond the stellar photos and fetching recipe designs of other beautiful cookbooks, Eat Ate is an artistic manifestation of the very idea of a cookery book. I’ve never seen anything quite like it and, if I have, it’s not a cookbook at all, but a visual literary adventure as designed by Nick Bantock. That is to say that, in every way imaginable, on the visual front, Eat Ate is unbeatable. Mirabella explains his innovative approach:

Unlike traditional cookbooks, there are no starter, main meal and dessert chapters in this book. Rather, the recipes are organized according to the themes that give me the comfort and freedom to express the way I cook, eat, design and paint.

Nor, when we get to it, does the food disappoint. It is uncomplicated, healthful Italian, most often simply prepared and frequently innovatively presented.

Eat Ate is a perfect cookbook. An art book with food that you’ll never want to part with.

Cookbooks: Atlanta Kitchens by Krista Reese

Nothing speaks as clearly about a place as the food created there. That’s one of the things both wonderful and disappointing about food writer Krista Reese’s Atlanta Kitchens: Recipes from Atlanta’s Best Restaurants (Gibbs Smith). Wonderful because the book seems to perfectly reflect the duality of contemporary Atlanta’s nature. It’s a Southern city, of course, with Southern roots and mores. But it is also a city that has become very concerned with its place in the modern world, in all ways. And so, appropriately enough, Atlanta Kitchens reflects all of that.

Reese is the perfect tour guide for this particular trip. She is an Atlanta-based cookbook author and restaurant critic who has been writing about the food and restaurants of the city for two decades. She begins with a history of restaurants in Atlanta then, in the cookbook portion of the tour, brings a really good cross-section of recipes from some of Atlanta’s top restaurants.

While much of the food in the book could come out of a good restaurant kitchen anywhere in the country, there are some things that just seem so perfectly Atlanta, their presence alone seems to make the book complete. Wahoo! Chef Scott Warren’s Grill Pork Chops with Mustard Compote and Roasted Sweet Potatoes, for instance. Or Gravity Pub’s Vandross Burger. The big secrets here? Cheese, applewood smoked bacon and a Krispy Kreme doughnut “bun.” (Here’s cookbook direction you’re not likely to see again: “Slice each doughnut and toast the halves. Place the burgers between the toasted doughnuts, with the sugar-glazed side facing the meat. Serve immediately.”) I love the beauty and simplicity of Mary Mac’s Tearoom’s Turnip Greens and Cornbread Muffins, here given a delightfully upscale presentation. And, unsurprisingly, there is a whole chapter that deals with mostly fried, but sometimes smothered chicken.

Though this is a well executed cookbook on every level, it will appeal especially to residents of Atlanta, or those homesick for the place, as well as aficionados of contemporary Southern cooking.

Cookbooks: Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion by Elinor Klivans

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, let them eat cake.

And though cookbooks that focus on making things that feature chocolate are not so very rare, as the title indicates Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion (Chronicle Books) covers a very specific -- but delicious -- area of chocolate fancy: cakes.

As you will expect, with 50 cakes featured, and all of them tied by that single ingredient -- chocolate -- the cakes author Klivans includes in the book run the gamut of cakery. From a Chocolate-Apricot Pudding Cake to Chinese Five-Spice Chocolate Chiffon Cake to a s’mores cake and even a chocolate croquembouche. There is a cake here for all -- and every -- occasion.

Klivans has written for Fine Cooking and The Washington Post, among others. She is also the author of several books, including The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookie Book, Big Fat Cookies and several more.

Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion is a splendid book. Many of the recipes are easy, but even the ones that are somewhat complicated -- the New Brooklyn Chocolate Blackout Cake, for instance -- feature concise instructions written in plain language. And the photos and food-styling are stunning. All together, it's a great package. True chocoholics won’t want to miss this one.

Non-Fiction: The Locavore Way: Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food by Amy Cotler

So many people are talking about green issues these days, alternative lifestyles have gotten to be mainstream. Long gone are the days when a hostess could plunk a steak down in front of dinner guests without first asking about food preferences and considering the social and moral implications of such an act. In the West, we are critically concerned with the consequences of our actions and while, in broad strokes, that’s a good thing, on a micro level, it can get a little cloying. And you’ve encountered those books. Self-righteous finger-pointers waggling correctively at us while we choke on the meat fiber that would otherwise have been enjoyed.

Amy Cotler’s The Locavore Way (Storey Publishing) isn’t that book. Quite the opposite, in fact. Cotler brings the uninitiated joyously into the fold, while taking those already moving towards a slower food lifestyle more deeply into a world she is comfortable with: both to travel in and to share. She explains herself and her mission succinctly, then shows us how to get to where she’d like us to go: to a place where fresh food is simply cooked and joyously shared. She makes this sound like an attainable place. She makes it sound like Nirvana:

Imagine a healthy landscape, dotted with small farms raising food without ravaging the land, water and air, promoting better-nourished communities and local economies, and creating less dependence of the fossil fuels needed to transport food from afar.

As idyllic as she makes it sound, in subsequent pages she demonstrates that this is more than a distant vision. For many people, it’s a growing reality. With stories, profiles, recipes and tips, Cotler engages us with possibilities and ideas.

Here, from a slender book filled with great real-world examples of how to bring local and organic into your life, a list that breaks things down to its most essential components (something this author does very well):

Why Bother?
10 Reasons to Eat Locally Produced Food:

1. For the sheer pleasure of it.
2. To connect.
3. For the health and safety of your family and yourself.
4. For the health of our planet.
5. To boost the local economy, community and region.
6. For an open, working landscape.
7. To maintain biodiversity.
8. To support our neighboring farms and farmers.
9. To prepare our culinary heritage.
10. To give us a just choice.

Cookbooks: Ciao Italia: Five Ingredient Favorites by Mary Ann Esposito

There are cookbooks that are so beautiful, so dream-inducing that you wonder if they’re really meant to be cooked from at all. Gorgeous photos. Fanciful ingredients. Complicated instructions. Books you would be happy to purchase and just spend hours reading and day-dreaming and never even opening in the kitchen. Ciao Italia: Five Ingredient Favorites (St. Martin’s Press) is not one of those books.

Author Mary Ann Esposito is well known to viewers of that other food network, PBS: the one that, arguably, made food shows happen in the first place. Esposito’s show, Ciao Italia, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. As anyone with a public television subscription will tell you, PBS cooking shows are stodgier and more of the earth than shows on other networks. That’s not a criticism. Neither is it praise. It’s simply a comment, and it’s one that certainly applies here. Ciao Italia is not a book that’s going to make anyone slip into raptures. It is, however, a earthy, absolutely foolproof and flawless cookbook. If you are a kitchen beginner who has a hankering to produce wholesome meals with a Mediterranean flair, Ciao Italia is the book for you.

The premise of the book is what makes this the perfect one for chefs low on experience, time or both. “When is less more?” Esposito asks in her introduction. “When you can turn just FIVE ingredients into something that is not only delicious but exciting, fun, and easy to make.”

And what exactly can you make with just five ingredients? As it turns out, quite a lot. My favorite from this book is Zuppa alla Pavese or Pavia’s Poached Egg Soup. Gorgeous, simple and gorgeously simple: basically toasted ciabatta bread, Parmigiano-Reggiano, chicken broth and eggs. Think French onion soup without onions, but with an egg poached in it, right in the bowl. The Parsley Gnocchi are simple and beautiful and have forever altered the way I do my gnocchi. (Fresh parsley chopped in: who knew?) And Esposito’s Mushroom Ragu is a perfect dish for those who want to entertain in simple but elegant style: some mushrooms, some cream and a handful of herbs and you have a dish that will impress anyone very quickly and simply.

Best Books of 2009: Cookbooks

Araxi by James Walt (Douglas & McIntyre) 256 pages
There has never been a better time for a cookbook from and about Araxi, the well-known restaurant at Whistler, British Columbia, established in 1981 and a local and even international favorite ever since. Between the upcoming Winter Olympics -- portions of which will be held at Whistler -- and the patronage and smiling eye of famed chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay who has called Araxi the best restaurant in Canada -- Araxi is sure to get more than its share of attention over the next year or so. Locals -- or even those like myself who are local-ish -- have been enjoying Araxi for many years. The Whistler eatery has been a long-time favorite of mine and, in my memory, the menu has always been reflective of the seasons and the locale: beautiful food, beautifully presented and evocative of the season in which the meal was consumed. Stunningly photographed, well-designed, produced and even printed, I think Araxi is also meant to be one of those cookbooks you moon over and, certainly, if you’re the type who does like to do that sort of cookbook dreaming, you could not pick one better. From beginning to end, a terrific job has been done on the Araxi cookbook. -- Linda L. Richards

Atlantic Seafood by Michael Howell (Nimbus) 133 pages
In many ways, Chef Michael Howell’s Atlantic Seafood has all the right ingredients to be a very important seafood cookbook. As things are, Howell certainly has the right stuff to be taking his place among the ranks of notable chefs. And since he was an actor before he ever took over a kitchen, one can only wonder why some production company hasn’t gotten the idea to create some cleverly named seafood show with Howell at the helm. In 1992, the Nova Scotia-born Howell enrolled in cooking school in Chicago. After graduation, he took a job in that city’s noted French restaurant, The Everest Room under Chef Jean Joho. After nearly two years learning to prepare proper French food properly, Howell began a cooking exodus that would take him all along the eastern seaboard, a journey that eventually led to a stint as executive chef at the Green Turtle Club in the Bahamas. I recite a bare bones version of Howell’s resume only to instruct as to why, when Howell returned to his native Nova Scotia as owner/chef of Tempest, he would develop a menu -- and later a book -- that would reflect all that he had learned on his travels, as well as his own martime heritage and the ethical eating principles he had embraced along the way. As a result, of course, Atlantic Seafood doesn’t look like just any seafood cookbook from the Maritimes, though some of those traditional thoughts and flavors are reflected. And so you have, for instance, Yuca-Crusted Salmon with Pirri Pirri Sauce, Salt Cod Croquettes and Finnan Haddie and Chorizo Chowder. Each section is prefaced with a discussion about the type of fish or shellfish that will be under discussion, and the book begins with seafood cooking basics, including the preparation of some of Howell’s kitchen staples like fish stock, lobster stock, mango coulis and dill cream sauce. The writing is clear, the recipes interesting and approachable. I’ve enjoyed my cooking forays into Atlantic Seafood very much and anticipate many more. -- Adrian Marks

The beerbistro Cookbook by Stephen Beaumont and Brian Morin (Key Porter) 264 pages
Much of the time, cookbooks attached to a restaurant the author either owns or cooks for end up feeling like a big, glossy ad: a come-on for those who happen to pick the book up to actually go on down to the restaurant and enjoy what’s on offer in person. In short, many of those types of book have a very limited appeal, both regionally and, in a way, spiritually. Despite the title, The beerbistro Cookbook is not that book. If anything, linking the book tightly to the popular Toronto eatery seems like a mistake. Sure: beerbistro patrons are likely to want a copy. But what about the rest of us? What’s in it for us? The fact is, though, The beerbistro Cookbook is without doubt the very best book on the topic of cooking with beer that I’ve seen. And, sure: I’ve haven’t actually seen a lot of them. When it comes to alcohol and cookbooks, wine has beer beaten by an acre of hops. But this is how good The beerbistro Cookbook is: once you’ve immersed yourself in these great recipes and the fantastic food styling and great photography, you’ll wonder why more people don’t cook with the stuff. Some personal highlights: I love mussels but had never baked them before. The beerbistro Cookbook offers several variations and every one I tried produced fantastic results. The Belgian Ale Steak Stew produced one of the simplest and richest stews I’ve ever enjoyed. It’s really nothing like an Irish strew, but neither is it meant to be. This stew seems worth the price of cookbook alone. The beerbistro Cookbook was a delightful find. My favorite new cookbook of the year. -- Adrian Marks

Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source (Sterling Epicure) 304 pages
Clean Food explores the beauty and adventure of local eating in a truly wonderful book. Author Terry Walters is a certified holistic health counselor and it shows. Clean Food is gorgeous, beautifully produced and while it is long on intent and sustainability, the recipes are more serviceable than inspired. In truth, though, and considering the thrust, for this particular book, that may be enough. At one point Walters writes that “a perfect diet alone will not fully nourish us. What we need is connection -- to our bodies, hearts and spirits, to our families, to community, to the environment, the land, the season and to a purpose.” This spirit is echoed throughout the book, which is long on recipes that will help round out the repertoire of someone just begin to play with the idea of a vegan diet or who wants to add a few vegan and veganish dishes to their old standbys. What Clean Food lacks in flights of foodie fancy it makes up for in sheer volume. As the subtitle says: “With More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You.” There are many options here and a lot of the bases are covered and covered well. -- Monica Stark

Cooking for Two by Jessica Strand (Chronicle Books) 120 pages
It’s not that the idea behind Cooking for Two: Perfect Meals for Pairs is so unique. In fact, lots of cookbooks have been published on this theme. Author Jessica Strand hits her mark perfectly, though, creating a book that will meet the needs of chefs at many levels. And when Strands says Cooking for Two, she means it. She doesn’t just mean dinner for two or recipes for two, but rather food that you can build together, right down to a list of tips to ease the way for couples cooking. Strand’s food choices are perfect, as well. From the complicated and time-consuming (Two Pizzas with Two Toppings would qualify as one -- or two -- of these. And the Chicken Tagine isn’t complicated, but there’s a bit of work involved) to recipes so simple, they practically make themselves (Antipasti Dinner for one. Quesadillas for another.) For the most part, though, the recipes are about medium in the complicated department. Easy for the accomplished home chef, challenging but not impossible for those less experienced in the kitchen. -- Monica Stark

Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable by Anita Chu (Quirk) 318 pages
While it would be misleading to suggest that Field Guide to Candy has changed my life, it wouldn’t -- in some ways -- be entirely wrong. From early childhood, I have always had a sweet tooth and I’ve even allowed myself ample opportunity to indulge it. However, not before Field Guide to Candy did I feel myself in a position to gain some real expertise, both in identifying candy in the wild and in creating it for myself. Like the title says, this is a field guide, which means it’s small enough to fit in a big pocket or a small car so you can take it with you wherever you go to identify any candy you might find when you’re out and about, then source ingredients in the field for your next candy making foray. It’s a fun book on a fun topic. But it’s also a very well done book, with terrific photo illustrations and easy to follow recipes. I’d say more, but there’s a certain batch of fudge that needs my attention. -- David Middleton

The Foodie Handbook by Pim Techamuanvivit (Chronicle Books) 224 pages
For various reasons, 2009 was a fabulous year for cookbooks but, even in a rich and fabulous year, food blogger Pim Techamuanvivit’s The Foodie Handbook provided a new benchmark for food writing. This is who M.F.K. Fisher would have grown up to be had she survived to encounter the Internet: excited about all she found and anxious to share it. Many foodies have met Techamuanvivit through her food blog, Chez Pim, where the Silicon Valley dropout brings foodie stuff to many thousands of visitors every week. The Foodie Handbook is better than that blog because it is the physical embodiment of Techamuanvivit’s passionate, knowledgeable spirit. Foodie lore, recipes, advice from Techamuanvivit and other, more famous, chefs: it’s all here, just as on Chez Pim. But the book stuffs the blog into the shade. You can hold the book in your hands, flip through it, bury yourself in it and learn. And enjoy. The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy is what the book is subtitled. And it’s that -- sure it is. And, oh, so much more. -- Monica Stark

Fresh with Anna Olsen (Whitecap) 199 pages
In a year that was all about fresh, clean food, Anna Olsen, Canada’s beloved lady of the sweets, was a standout. Anna first came to FoodNetwork viewer’s attention as the host of Sugar. Seven years later, Olsen has been restyled and retooled: she is slim, svelte and fresh and all of this is reflected in this wonderful new book that might as well be sub-titled: the way we live now. The warm, sunny style combined with an expert touch that has served Olsen so well on television is also to be found in her books. In a cookbook bursting with new century, locavore goodness, Olsen has us comfortably roasting root vegetables, mixing up muesli and warming camembert to float on frisée. One recipe, though, nearly caused me to fall off my chair when I saw it and has since caused guests to fall of theirs: the Beet & Goat Cheese Terrine is a triumph of both taste and presentation. This recipe alone is worth the cost of admission and, in a book of standouts, it made it impossible for me to pass this one over as one of my selections for best of 2009. -- Linda L. Richards

The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals by Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine (Sterling Books) 208 pages
There’s almost spirit and humor enough in The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals to match anything written by Amy Sedaris (you’ll note I said “almost”: Sedaris is really funny!). The bonus, of course, is that The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals is also a very real cookbook and, despite the focus, the food is surprisingly non-denominational. Though in this book authors Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine are working up feasts for Purim, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah and others, there are recipes here that almost anyone would find interesting and useful. As well, of the 120 recipes included, a very high percentage are vegetarian in nature. In fact, vegetarians looking for a different approach might find a peek through Tarn and Fine’s book very rewarding. -- Monica Stark

Vegan Lunch Box Around the World by Jennifer McCann (DaCapo) 296 pages
I’m not a vegan, but I love the challenge of vegan cooking. I love being able to create really wonderful food under what a lot of chefs would think were adverse conditions. It charges me, creatively, to take a little and make a lot. I can only think that Jennifer McCann feels the same way. Despite the title, Vegan Lunch Box Around the World is so much more than what you might make for lunch. It’s a terrific exploration of possibilities but, because it’s lunch, it’s on a sort of micro level: a level a lot of people will find accessible. This book is her second collection of vegan lunches. Though I have yet to see the first one, 2008’s Vegan Lunch Box, I suspect that it’s terrific, because the sequel is no one’s idea of an also-ran: it’s really very good. McCann’s success lies in her approach to cooking without animal products: she treats it like a big, fun challenge. As a result the food she creates -- and would help us create -- could be enjoyed by anyone. Potato salads, sushi rolls, tagine, African-style greens, orange couscous: 125 recipes in all. The fact that all of this great food is vegan makes us want to stop and think: in a world possessed of this much abundance and all of these wonderful possibilities -- without even eating meat products. If you’ve ever wondered how to shake up your noontime meal, have a stroll through Vegan Lunch Box Around the World. It’s possible you’ll come away from it looking at many foods in an entirely new way. -- Linda L. Richards

Holiday Gift Guide: Chocolate: More Than 50 Decadent Recipes by Dominique and Cindy Duby

Chocolate: More Than 50 Decadent Recipes (Whitecap Books), the latest book from world renowned chefs and cookbook authors Dominique and Cindy Duby, came out in October but, somehow or another, the food styling and even the recipe choices seem very Christmas-sy. Or maybe that’s just me. Lots of reds and greens. Lots of shiny foils. It all looks distinctly... seasonal.

It’s not true, of course. Chocolate is intended for year ‘round enjoyment. But if you only had one book to get you through the sweet part of the season, you could do a lot worse than this one.

In many ways, Chocolate is a natural progression from the cookbooks the Dubys have already written. From their first book, 2003’s Wild Sweets: Exotic Dessert and Wine Pairings to Wild Sweets Chocolate in 2007 to last year’s Crème Brulèe with Chocolate. Now here we are at Chocolate, a book that touches almost every aspect of cooking with and using that ever popular ingredient.

The recipes here range from ultra simple -- like Baked Chocolate Custard Pudding -- to comfortably old-timey -- Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème -- to silly -- Chocolate “Chips & Salsa” -- to perfectly sophisticated -- Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse Patè.

Like the recipes themselves, instructions range from suitable to the beginning chef to a few that probably only those with a fair amount of kitchen time logged will want to attempt. In both cases, though, the instructions are clear and non-hazy and the food styling and photography is so fantastic, it’s difficult to not want to try everything.

The recipes are varied and terrific but two sections at the back of the book really elevate Chocolate: one chapter offers some serious words on how to pair wine with chocolate. Another chapter offers tips and techniques for getting professional looking results.

The book is from Whitecap’s Definitive Kitchen Classics series. It is not over-reaching to suggest that Chocolate will live up to that promise.

Holiday Gift Guide: 12,167 Kitchen and Cooking Secrets by Susan Sampson

It seems safe to say that no one -- but no one -- is going to know all the tips in 12,167 Kitchen and Cooking Secrets (Robert Rose). That’s one of the things that makes the book a terrific gift: the would-be home chef and the kitchen star will both find things to interest them in this book. It’s the sort of tome that real food lovers will be able to spend hours with.

With 12,167 tips to choose from, I don’t even know where to start. Every time I put my nose back into the book, it’s in there for another half hour’s grazing. What’s the difference between mayonnaise, hollandaise and béarnaise? (Not a lot when you come down to it: “All three members of the ‘aise’ family are emulsions made with egg yolks, an acid and a slowly incorporated fat.”)

How to make perfect choux pastry.

How to pick a perfect avocado and -- once you’ve got it -- how to pit it.

Eight keys to cooking with sucralose.

How to choose the right cooking oil for the job at hand.

Should you use pot barley or pearl barley?

Buckwheat groats or kasha?

Block or deli cream cheese?

Food editor Sampson says she was pressed into writing this book by friends who were astonished at the little things she knew, the “secrets” that she says are never really secrets. “Just undiscovered territory. What’s obvious to one cook is a revelation to another.”

The revelations are here -- one simple “secret” at a time. A terrific gift for anyone interested in the fascinating world of cooking and food.

Holiday Gift Guide: Kitchen Scraps by Pierre A. Lamielle

What happens when you take a talented designer and illustrator and send him off to cooking school? If you’re lucky and the stars are aligned, you get Kitchen Scraps: A Humourous Illustrated Cookbook (Whitecap Books).

This is the perfect gift book. To be very honest, I can’t imagine very many people buying this book for themselves. It just isn’t that sort of cookbook: yummy photos, cozy write-ups, inspirational stories. Kitchen Scraps does none of those things, yet the things it does do, it does very well. Lamielle describes what Kitchen Scraps is and is not in his introduction:

It is not a cookbook for busy families, it will not make you a kitchen deity, and it will certainly not make you lose 10 pounds. Kitchen Scraps will delight, offend, and make you hungry.

The recipes are terrific: well thought out and engagingly shared. If some of the recipe names are ridiculous, they are also the point. Additionally, those recipe names will indicate if you share Lamielle’s sense of humor. (Not all will.) Steak and Kidney Cowpie has nothing to do with the business end of a cow. Suzette’s Massacre is an updated (Lamielle says “massacred” ) version of Crepes Suzette. And Lamielle does Brussels Sprouts not one, but three ways: in beer, in junipers and gin and in brandy. And it’s not just the booze that differs: these are three very different approaches to handling an unpopular yet delicious vegetable.

Lamielle’s illustrations are just as impressive as his recipes, but in an entirely unexpected way. These aren’t illustrations of food -- at least, not really. But rather lighthearted riffs through a style and on a subject clearly close to the author’s heart.

A fantastic gift book.

Holiday Gift Guide: Field Guide to Candy by Anita Chu

For some of us, the true meaning of the holidays can’t be found in spiritual lessons. It isn’t in the gifts we give or get or even in the time spent -- or avoided -- with friends and family. Rather -- again, for some -- true holiday meaning can be found in the volume of sweetness we collect, consume and -- if the bounty is sufficient -- share.

Sharing that bounty of sweetness on this holiday might be helped somewhat by Field Guide to Candy (Quirk) an amazing compendium of all that is sweet. In case you’re wondering about that, dig this crazy subtitle: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable. Need I say more? Not really. If that was all the information you had, it would be all you need. Except, I guess, that it works. If you’re actually a serious sweet aficionado, this is the sort of book you’ll find yourself referring to again and again. It’s well organized, well and sensibly illustrated and the recipes are boiled right down to basics, with straight-forward instructions and easy to find ingredients.

For gift giving, Field Guide to Candy satisfies almost every requirement. Who doesn’t love candy? And this is a book that includes recipes that even children could make with just a small amount of supervision. A bonus: Field Guide to Candy is small enough to fit into a generous stocking. A sweet gift on several fronts!

The New Thanksgiving Table Redux

We ran a review of Diane Morgan’s very good The New Thanksgiving Table (Chronicle Books) early in October. Now, with Thanksgiving bearing down on us, it seems like a good time to point this book out once more. After all, it’s not every day you encounter a book with eight (count ’em) recipes to cook a turkey.

From Monica Stark’s review:

As impressive as a book with eight (eight!) turkey recipes might sound, to my mind, the most significant recipes in The New Thanksgiving Table would seem to me to have very little to do with Thanksgiving at all. Crostini with Fig and Calamata Olive Tapenade. Tex-Mex Honey Pecans. Sizzlin’ Corn and Jalapeño Bread with Bacon. Oyster Stew. Roasted Chestnut Soup. Forget Thanksgiving. In some ways, Morgan’s new book is autumn delivered straight to the table. Which is not a bad place to be come Thanksgiving.

The New Thanksgiving Table is another winner for Morgan.

The review is here.

Cookbooks: The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals by Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine

There’s almost spirit and humor enough in The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals (Sterling Books) to match anything written by Amy Sedaris (you’ll note I said “almost”: Sedaris is really funny!). The bonus, of course, is that The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals is also a very real cookbook and, despite the focus, the food is surprisingly non-denominational.

Though in this book authors Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine are working up feasts for Purim, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah and others, there are recipes here that almost anyone would find interesting and useful. As well, of the 120 recipes included, a very high percentage are vegetarian in nature. In fact, vegetarians looking for a different approach might find a peek through Tarn and Fine’s book very rewarding.

The Jewish Princess Feast & Festivals follows up Tarn’s 2008 Jewish Princess Cookbook in a reasonably organic way. After all, if you’ve indulged yourself in a book of Jewish kitchen classics, one that focuses on the food of the Jewish high days seems a natural progression.

Cookbooks: Vegan Lunch Box Around the World by Jennifer McCann

I used to know a guy who brought a cheese sandwich to work every day. Processed cheese slice. White bread. A single leaf of iceberg lettuce. Every day. I didn’t know him well. Maybe I didn’t know him at all. I’d wonder about him, though. I’d wonder about what kind of guy would do that -- perhaps even find comfort in it. The same sandwich. The same processed cheese. Every day.

I avoided getting to know him too well.

The thing is, there’s just so much terrific stuff to eat for lunch. I know that. Really. I do. At least, I thought I did. But Jennifer McCann knows it better. Vegan Lunch Box Around the World (Da Capo) is her second collection of vegan lunches. Though I have yet to see the first one, 2008’s Vegan Lunch Box, I suspect that it’s terrific, because the sequel is no one’s idea of an also-ran: it’s really very good.

Though both books have that scary word -- vegan -- in the title, there’s nothing to be frightened of here. McCann’s success lies in her approach to cooking without animal products: she treats it like a big, fun challenge. As a result the food she creates -- and would help us create -- could be enjoyed by anyone. Potato salads, sushi rolls, tagine, African-style greens, orange couscous: 125 recipes in all. The fact that all of this great food is vegan makes us want to stop and think: in a world possessed of this much abundance and all of these wonderful possibilities -- without even eating meat products -- who would ever want to eat a cheese sandwich every day?

If you’ve ever wondered how to shake up your noontime meal, have a stroll through Vegan Lunch Box Around the World. It’s possible you’ll come away from it looking at many foods in an entirely new way.

Cookbooks: Gordon Ramsay’s Maze by Gordon Ramsay and Jason Atherton

There are cookbooks that make you instantly want to rush to the kitchen and prepare your tools and there are those that make you want to curl into a comfy chair and peruse. Gordon Ramsay’s Maze (Key Porter Books) is of the latter type. To be honest, I can’t imagine anyone being inspired to actually cook from reading this book. But there’s plenty to look at and to be inspired by and perhaps even to envy.

My first hint that this would be the case came from the foreword: it’s written by Ferran Adriá, the mad genuis chef behind Barcelona’s El Bulli, possibly the most visible practitioner of molecular gastronomy in the world.

While the food in Gordon Ramsay’s Maze is not that, neither is it especially Gordon Ramsay. Maze is the Ramsay owned and backed London restaurant helmed by Ramsay and Adriá protégé, Jason Atherton. Maze has been one of those incredible restaurant industry success stories: people line up, book far in advance and pay vast prices for a peck at Atherton’s food. And a peck is all they’ll get, too. In many ways, it seems the antithesis of Ramsay’s hearty and gorgeous “keep it simple” fare. Atherton’s food is fussy and beautiful. Ramsay has called it “modern tapas” but it really seems much more than that: perhaps the place where tapas meets molecular gastronomy. Food that is fueled by imagination and technology as much as the desire to produce beautiful food from, say, local ingredients. I can not imagine, for instance, the circumstance that would lead me to try my hand at Asparagus with Quail’s Egg and Pink Grapefruit Hollandaise or Mango Soup with Lychee Granita. How about Pineapple Carpaccio with Fromage Frais and Lime Sorbet? Even the simple sounding things appear overworked and precious, but this is as much due to food styling as anything else: sweet little portions artistically arranged. For example, Perfect Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes on Toast is beautifully framed and shot. From an aesthetic stance, it’s a gorgeous photo. It also looks entirely unappetizing: a runny mess of yellowish material on toast that looks overdone.

Gordon Ramsay’s Maze is a beautiful, interesting book. It’s stunningly photographed, well organized and the recipes are sensibly put down and shared. I know this is entirely subjective -- the nature of review -- but there was little here I found inviting. I say this knowing full well that this may well be an early glimpse of the food that is to come.

Another thing: I know this is likely silly and it was something I tried to overcome but, ultimately, could not: though he owns the restaurant, sticking Gordon Ramsay’s name in this book’s title seems deliberately misleading. It may be Ramsay’s joint, but this is Jason Atherton’s book.

Cookbooks: The New Best of BetterBaking.Com by Marcy Goldman

I feel as though, until now, I’ve been shuffling along in the dark. Having now experienced the flaky, buttery goodness of BetterBaking.Com, how did I ever attempt a flan or pie crust without it? This is the good stuff. So good, it’s better than anything mother ever made.

Author Marcy Goldman is a Montreal-based pastry chef who’s written for Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The New York Times and many others. As that CV would imply, Goldman writes clearly on a topic she obviously loves: how to make baking better.

The New Best of BetterBaking.Com (Whitecap Books) includes over 200 recipes as well as Goldman’s sharp and ever-present advice. As might be expected -- and as is only right in a beautifully produced and illustrated cookbook -- the recipes are the stars, here. Hotel School Cream Cheese Rugalach. Tiramisu Cheesecake. Blackberry Wine Crunch Biscotti. Fried Parmesan Pizza Wedges. I could go on (I want to go on.) but you get the idea. Goldman’s endeavors are so successful because she pushes the envelope. That’s why The New Best of BetterBaking.Com isn’t just another baking book. It’s better.

Cookbooks: The Foodie Handbook by Pim Techamuanvivit

The very first paragraph of The Foodie Handbook (Chronicle Books) describes the journey on which you’re about to embark:

Relationships that matter most in our lives are often complicated. Think of the one with your mother or your current love, and perhaps the most perplexing, food. These liaisons can be fraught with love, hate, joy, fear, trust, suspicion, and a whole lot of other emotions. Sometimes it is nearly enough to make us wish we were orphans, turn us celibate or, worse yet, vegan.

Many foodies have met Techamuanvivit through her food blog, Chez Pim, where the Silicon Valley dropout brings foodie stuff to many thousands of visitors every week. The Foodie Handbook is better. And why? Because it is the physical embodiment of Techamuanvivit’s passionate, knowledgeable spirit. Foodie lore, recipes, advice from Techamuanvivit and other, more famous, chefs: it’s all here, just as on Chez Pim. But the book stuffs the blog into the shade. You can hold the book in your hands, flip through it, bury yourself in it and learn. And enjoy. The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy is what the book is subtitled. And it’s that -- sure it is. But, oh, so much more.

Cookbooks: Savory Baking by Mary Chech

The title is misleading, and not in a helpful way. It offers the idea that this will be yet another book on being a better baker. The fact is, Savory Baking (Chronicle Books) is so much more than that.

You don’t need to read very far to understand what I’m saying. White Cheddar-Zucchini Pancakes. Hazelnut Waffles. Buckwheat Blinis with Warm Bing Cherries and Crème Fraiche. Fig and Rosemary Spread. Caprese Salad. And, yes: some of these things are meant to go with other -- baked -- recipes. And, yes: there are more baked items in Savory Baking than not. But still, it is a book beyond the expected, filled with tempting savory versions of a lot of recipes that are quite often sweet.

Author Mary Chech was named one of the top ten pastry chefs in North America. She is an award-winning pastry chef and cooking instructor. That combination shows both in the innovation she brings to Savory Baking as well as the clear and sensible way she tells us to make her creations.

Savory Baking includes recipes for every meal of the day, plus snacks. This is beautiful, well-conceived food, temptingly styled and photographed, clearly shared and quite beyond expectation.

Cookbooks: The Entertaining Encyclopedia by Denise Vivaldo

Today I dropped by my local Home Depot only to be met with a shock: the rows upon rows of barbecues I’d seen there just a few weeks ago had disappeared and been mysteriously replaced with ... fake Christmas trees and decorations. After I’d recovered and had gotten my too-hard-beating heart under control I stopped and took stock. After all, the time between when you see the first Home Depot Christmas tree of the season and when seasonal entertaining begins is not necessarily very long.

Upon my return home, I remembered the copy of The Entertaining Encyclopedia (Robert Rose) by Denise Vivaldo that I’d been perusing for the last few weeks. Suddenly its presence in my lair made sense.

Vivaldo is, after all, a sort of catering queen to the stars. Los Angeles-based, she’s catered the Academy Awards Governors Ball and she’s cooked for some of Hollywood’s top names. That being the case, it seems as though she’s a good person to look to advice for when it comes to holiday entertaining -- or any other kind, for that matter.

“It might sound too simple to be true,” she begins, “but the best way to ensure that your guests are having a great time is to have one yourself.” But it’s a big, fat book. Even in paperback. Loads of recipes, lots of advice: a lot of it, in the end, dedicated, to helping you be proficient enough with the idea of entertaining that you will have a good time, despite yourself.

The Entertaining Encyclopedia: Essential Tips and Recipes for Perfect Parties is a great primer on ... well, everything to do with entertaining. Identifying and choosing glassware. Stocking a bar. How to handle coffee service. How to garnish a plate. Choose a location. Get a hard-partying guest to leave when the party is over.

And then the food: which is fantastic. Even if you have no intention of ever hosting a party, you’ll find useful recipes here. Some very good versions of old standards -- chicken satay, cheese fondue, spare-ribs, barbecue sauce. Scones. Some sophisticated modern dishes and the thing that I found most arresting: Vivaldo’s casual approach to food. For example, an hors d’oeuvres party appears almost as magically as if it had been waved in by a wand. Several pages of elegant hors d’oeuvres that are so simple, they seem almost to make themselves. And hors d’oeuvres are, of course, just the very beginning. There are over 200 recipes in the book.

If you have questions about entertaining or planning a party, you’ll find sensible answers in Denise Vivaldo’s The Entertaining Encyclopedia.

Cookbooks: Araxi by James Walt

There has never been a better time for a cookbook from and about Araxi, the well known restaurant at Whistler, British Columbia, established in 1981 and a local and even international favorite ever since.

A couple of things will be certain to fix the eyes of the world on Whistler for the next year or so. For starters, the portions of the 2010 Winter Olympics that demand snow will take place at Whistler, just a couple of hours by car from the host city of Vancouver.

From a foodie perspective, though, the patronage and smiling eye of famed chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay is more important still. Ramsay, who has not only called Araxi the best restaurant in Canada, has also been named as the reward for the current season of Hell’s Kitchen, the US-based reality series that sees Ramsay harassing a clutch of would-be chefs. The winner will be created head chef at Araxi under executive chef James Walt.

While the flood of interest from various angles might cause a happy bounce in Araxi’s bottom line, I suspect that none of these shenanigans will effect the food served at the restaurant in a negative way. Araxi has been a long-time favorite of mine. Like a lot of people, I love Araxi for all the things it is. World class food in a stunning location. In my memory, the menu has always been reflective of the seasons and the locale and some of the meals I’ve enjoyed there number among the most memorable of my life: beautiful food, beautifully presented and evocative of the season in which the meal was consumed.

Naturally, then, I met the announcement of an Araxi cookbook with some excitement. Though Araxi (Douglas & McIntyre) is not quite what I expected, it’s certainly not been a disappointment. The introduction might be interesting to those who are unfamiliar with either Whistler or Araxi, but no one who has eaten at the restaurant will need to be told about Chef James Walt’s locavore leanings or how well the cellar has been built and maintained. Moody black and white photos set the tone. Chef pensive, then laughing. Sparkling glassware. Artistically arranged corks. They’re good photos but, by this point, we’ve seen it all before.

The business part of Araxi is divided into three seasons: Summer, Harvest and Winter. Each of these seasonal sections offers its own introduction (more moody black and white images) and its own detailed table of contents. And then, finally, we begin.

Some of the recipes are dead simple -- Butternut Squash Soup with Pumpkin Seed Oil; Chilled English Pea and Mint Soup. Some would require all the attention of a home chef with moderate kitchen skill -- Herb-crusted Halibut with Pea Purée and Coriander Vinaigrette; Loin of Lamb with Summer Squash and Sweet Peppers. And a good many seem to be intended for the accomplished home chef to spend hours slaving over lovingly -- Saddle of Rabbit with Buttered Noodles, Carrots and Mustard Sauce; Black Forest Cake with Brandied-Cherry Ice Cream.

Stunningly photographed, well-designed, produced and even printed, I think Araxi is also meant to be one of those cookbooks you moon over and, certainly, if you’re the type who does like to do that sort of cookbook dreaming, you could not pick one better. From beginning to end, a terrific job has been done on Araxi. It’s the perfect two-dimensional representation of a truly great restaurant.

Cookbooks: Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source and How It All Vegan

If the idea of green food appeals, then Clean Food (Sterling Epicure) may well be for you.

Author Terry Walters is a certified holistic health counselor and it shows. Clean Food is a gorgeous book, beautifully produced and while it is long on intent and sustainability, the recipes are more serviceable than inspired. In truth, though, and considering the thrust, for this particular book, that may be enough.

At one point Walters writes that “a perfect diet alone will not fully nourish us. What we need is connection -- to our bodies, hearts and spirits, to our families, to community, to the environment, the land, the season and to a purpose.”

This spirit is echoed throughout the book, which is long on recipes that will help round out the repertoire of someone just begin to play with the idea of a vegan diet or who wants to add a few vegan and veganish dishes to their old standbys.

What Clean Food lacks in flights of foodie fancy it makes up for in sheer volume. As the subtitle says: “With More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You.” There are many options here and a lot of the bases are covered and covered well.

For pure and joyous vegan inspiration, try the tenth anniversary edition of How It All Vegan (Arsenal Pulp Press) by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. Since the publication of the first edition in 1999, How It All Vegan has won numerous awards, inspired several sequels and been reprinted 14 times. This edition includes new recipes and, perhaps more importantly, has been updated to reflect a way of eating that has moved more firmly into the mainstream over the past decade.

As the title implies, How It All Vegan is a celebration of the vegan way of life. “Healthy lifestyles should begin by making conscious decisions about the food we eat and things we do to make it a better world.” For all of that, though, the recipes are great: easy-to-follow and potentially life-changing.

Cookbooks: The New Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan

Over the years, we’ve reviewed a number of Diane Morgan’s excellent cookbooks at January Magazine. And, in general, we like them quite a lot. Morgan’s approach to food is sensible. Though she stays aware of trends and her food is always modern, there is nothing of faddishness about a Morgan cookbook.

All of these things can also be said of The New Thanksgiving Table (Chronicle Books), the latest addition to the Morgan oeuvre. If I have a single quibble, it’s that the title is a bit misleading. One arrives expecting Thanksgiving-specific recipes. And while those are all there -- and then some -- there is so much more here, as well.

I’ll tell you what I mean. Of course there is turkey. And turkey. And then turkey. In fact, aside from basic turkey know-how (buying, defrosting, brining) Morgan has included eight ways to cook a turkey, including the very trendy -- and perhaps even slightly faddish -- Spatchcocked turkey. Some of the eight would seem to have a broader appeal than others. Perhaps that’s to be expected? But while I have no trouble at all imagining hordes of home chefs settling in to prepare Herb Butter-Rubbed Turkey with Giblet Gravy, thinking about the Roast Turkey with Vidalia Cream Gravy makes me feel a little queasy.

As impressive as a book with eight (eight!) turkey recipes might sound, to my mind, the most significant recipes in The New Thanksgiving Table would seem to me to have very little to do with Thanksgiving at all. Crostini with Fig and Calamata Olive Tapenade. Tex-Mex Honey Pecans. Sizzlin’ Corn and Jalapeño Bread with Bacon. Oyster Stew. Roasted Chestnut Soup. Forget Thanksgiving. In some ways, Morgan’s new book is autumn delivered straight to the table. Which is not a bad place to be come Thanksgiving.

The New Thanksgiving Table is another winner for Morgan.

Cookbooks: Slow Cooker Comfort Food and Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever

There’s certainly not much less cool than slow cooker cooking. A combination of things. First you start with the name. Crock pot. A brand name, sure, but one that’s stuck like a Xerox copy. Like Tampax. Like Coke. You show someone that deep, electric vessel -- especially if that someone is of a certain age -- and you can say “slow cooker” until your face is blue, but they’re gonna call it something else; that’s just how it will go.

“My concept of comfort food is warm and welcoming and provides a sense of sustenance,” writes Judith Finlayson in Slow Cooker Comfort Food (Robert Rose), “a kind of culinary haven in a heartless world.”

Finlayson is the slow cooker queen. She is the author of The Healthy Slow Cooker. 175 Essential Slow Cooker Classics, The 150 best Slow Cooker Recipes and others. Slow Cooker Comfort Food itself contains 275 “soul-satisfying recipes.” If it can be said about slow cooking, Finlayson has said it, maybe even a couple of times in different ways.

This latest book is large and friendly. A color guide on each page lets readers know if the recipe is “entertaining worthy,” “vegan friendly,” “vegetarian friendly” or suitable for halving. The type is large and the recipes are easy to follow. The food styling and photography is, unfortunately, not that great. In fact, some of this food looks awful: homogenous and bland in some places; too glossy and overly manipulated-looking in others. And while, yes: a lot of this food sounds comforting, some of it just has no business being done in a slow cooker. I don’t understand the sense of poaching quinces for eight hours when a similar effect could be accomplished in minutes -- and not a lot of them -- on top of the stove. Ditto all of the dips with shrimp and/or crab. Please: nothing with either of those delicate meats should be allowed anywhere near a slow cooker. Ever.

Many, many of these recipes, however, are of the type that slow cookers were intended for: the type of low maintenance, high return dishes working families most need. Just a few of these: Moroccan-Style Lemon Chicken with Olives; Simple Soy-Braised Chicken; Corned Beef and Cabbage; Old-Fashioned Beef Stew with Mushrooms; Pinto Bean Chili with Corn and Kale.

In Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever (Chronicle Books) veteran cookbook author Diane Phillips takes a different approach. “Whenever I look at my slow cooker,” Phillips writes, “I think of the lyrics to that old Sinatra standard, ‘I’m not much to look at, nothing to see,’ but upon closer inspection the slow cooker is like the girl in high school who everyone said had a nice personality.”

That said, Best Slow Cooker is by far the more attractive of this particular pair of books. The type is not as large, and the pages are not as shiny but the design is completely contemporary, as is the approach to recipe description. Instructions are not needlessly wordy. As a result, even complicated recipes appear more simple. That said, does anyone really need 400 slow cooker recipes? There are definitely some good ones here (I especially loved the Chicken, Artichoke, and Mushroom Casserole and the Pork Tenderloin Osso Bucco-Style is practically genius) but, as with Finlayson’s book, after a while it seems like a bit of a reach. An artichoke spinach dip that spends two to three hours in a slow cooker? Who would even want that? It just seems contrary to everything slow cookers excel at.

All of that said, if you have an interest in slow cooking or the kind of lifestyle that could benefit from this type of culinary intervention, either of these books would serve very well. Both books include many very good recipes along with the silly ones. And both books talk about slow cook rationale as well as why and how to do it. As well, both authors take a very different approach to their topics even if, in some ways, they end up at a similar place. In fact, the recipes are varied enough, if you’ve the means, you might reasonably opt not to make it a competition at all. Perhaps you don’t have to decide between them: in the end, you might decide you want both.

Chef Michael Smith Does Not Tweet

In the end, a series of tweets gave up the game.

“You can’t tip enough in Montreal,” came a tweet apparently generated by Canadian celebrity chef and cookbook author Michael Smith. “No matter how much money you drop, you still can’t get a smile out of your sullen, bitter server.”

Earlier the same day: “Montreal means grotesque, tragic food served by hateful staff.”

Understandably, The Montreal Gazette’s food critic, Lesley Chesterman, was not amused. Chesterman writes that “As a proud Montrealer and a long time restaurant critic, the comment: ‘Montreal preys on clueless tourists and pretentious locals. Desperate, dated restaurants abound. It’s not a foodie city,’ left me steaming. I Twittered myself about it, and contacted Smith’s PR people to express my dismay.”

Once Smith and his people got wind of it, things happened very quickly, beginning with a press release from his publicist, Debby de Groot of Toronto’s MDG & Associates:

On the eve of launching his new cookbook The Best of Chef at Home and beginning celebrations for Prince Edward Island’s Fall Flavours festival, Chef Michael Smith has discovered that a complete stranger has stolen his identity on Twitter. The fraud was discovered earlier today when a writer for the Montreal Gazette questioned several negative tweets about the Montreal restaurant scene posted by the impostor.

All of this is a complete surprise to Michael Smith, who does not twitter. A lawyer has been consulted, and not only is Michael trying to get his identity removed from that site but he is calling on Twitter to notify all followers of the feed that they have been deceived. “Frankly I’m overwhelmed. I’m very, very angry. I can’t believe that anyone would say such horrible things about Montreal. Worse yet they’ve been writing about my family, they’ve deceived my fans and stolen what I’ve worked so hard to build,” says Michael. “I don’t fault Twitter but I do expect them to help make this right.”

Smith’s dismay is understandable. As I write this, the fraudulent Twitter feed is still online. As you can see, the material posted feels quite authentic. The poster obviously knows who Smith is and has Tweeted things Smith’s fans might actually care about.

Back in Montreal, Chesterman asks the question: “can chefs ignore new media outlets like Twitter and Facebook and risk having someone stand in for them? Or must they go with the flow and engage fans in every way possible in this increasingly competitive field?”

Meanwhile, the timing is really pretty good. As de Groot reminds us, Smith is one of Food Network Canada’s biggest stars, with two hit series, Chef at Home and Chef Abroad. His fourth cookbook, The Best of Chef at Home, has just been released by Whitecap Books.

Review: The beerbistro Cookbook by Stephen Beaumont & Brian Morin

Today in January Magazine’s cookbook section, contributing editor Adrian Marks reviews The beerbistro Cookbook by Stephen Beaumont & Brian Morin. Says Marks:

Much of the time, cookbooks attached to a restaurant the author either owns or cooks for ends up feeling like a big, glossy ad: a come-on for those who happen to pick the book up to actually go on down to the restaurant and enjoy what’s on offer in person. In short, many of those types of book have a very limited appeal, both regionally and, in a way, spiritually. Despite the title, The beerbistro Cookbook is not that book. If anything, linking the book tightly to the popular Toronto eatery seems like a mistake. Sure: beerbistro patrons are likely to want a copy. But what about the rest of us? What’s in it for us?

The full review is here.

Julie & Julia Inspires Book Sales … and More

Though it’s not unusual for a successful movie to spur the sale of related item, cookbooks and cookware are not usually among the things moviegoers line up for. From The Guardian:

Film merchandising usually comes in the form of unnecessary plastic objects or high-calorie fast food special offers, from Transformer toys to McDonald's tie-ins. It's an unusual movie that triggers sales of cordon bleu recipe books and Le Creuset cookware. But the latest Meryl Streep film, Julie & Julia, is having just that effect.

The 40th anniversary edition of Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cookery, was published by Knopf in 2001. At the time of this writing, the book was riding the #1 spot at Amazon.

The Guardian’s piece is here.

New in Paperback: The Oxford Companion to Italian Food by Gillian Riley

If you were to ask cookbook aficionados for a list of the ten most influential cookbooks of all time, I’m betting that most all of them would include Larousse Gastronomique somewhere on that list. First published in 1938, that book is much more than a cookbook. It is an encyclopedia of gastronomy from the French perspective. You don’t necessarily read Larousse, you graze it, browsing at various entries as your make your way, in leisurely fashion, from back to front, or however else you want to enjoy it. You’re safe in knowing that, every time you go in, you’re going to take something new out. It’s not so much a cookbook, then, as an amazing, never-ending literary lunch.

In many ways, all of these things also describe The Oxford Companion to Italian Food (Oxford) very well. In many ways, it’s set up just like Larousse, with two columns per page of smallish type with the entries arranged alphabetically. And so we learn about Burrida, (“… a Sardinian way of serving fish like skate…”) Burrino, (“a kind of butter of ghee”) and Butter all on a single page.

Those accustomed to glossy cookbooks featuring fashionably out-of-focus photos of food and pride in the few words required to share a recipe might take some time becoming acclimated to The Oxford Companion to Italian Food. Because this is more than a cookbook: it is, as Chef Mario Batali says in the foreword, a tour of “Italy’s rich culinary history.”

If you want to know how to make pasta, other books will likely get you there more directly. But if you also want to know how pasta came into the vernacular, how it was invented, developed and how it can variously be prepared, then The Oxford Companion to Italian Food will be the book for you.

Cookbooks: Dad’s Awesome Grilling Book by Bob Sloan

Why has our culture seemingly gone out of its way to link cooking outdoors over flaming coals with men? When looked at very carefully what, truly, does one have to do with the other? Something primal, perhaps? Something hunter to a woman’s gatherer? In his reasonably impressive new Dad’s Awesome Grilling Book (Chronicle Books) award-winning food writer Bob Sloan tries to sum things up.

Like so many Dads, I love to grill. Perhaps it’s being so close to the fire that harkens back to an earlier, simpler time -- before, say, income tax or Jerry Springer. The grill is, after all, just a man, a pair of tongs, and heat.

What could be simpler? And Dad’s Awesome Grilling Book is simple but it’s also, in some ways, quite beyond simple. Do you really think, for instance, you can dismiss “Lamb Picadillo,” “Scallops & Prosciutto on Rosemary Skewers” or “Grilled Halibut Reggio Emilia Style” as simple? They might be easy, but we’re several layers beyond grilled weenies and reheated beans.

The recipes here are uniformly terrific: well-planned, creative, original and -- based on both tests and observations -- all quite do-able. Sloan’s descriptions of the grilling experience is lucid and recommendations on necessary equipment and “must-have” materials are right on target.

Dad’s Awesome Grilling Book joins a very long line of excellent outdoor cooking books, including 2008’s excellent Patio Daddy-O at the Grill and Weber’s Way to Grill, which I talked about in this space a few weeks ago.

Cookbooks: Weber’s Way to Grill by Jamie Purviance

When it comes to cookbook excellence, Jamie Purviance’s Weber’s Way to Grill has two strikes against it coming right out of the gate: with a big name barbecue manufacturer right in the title and a big ol’ lifestyle magazine publisher right on the spine, there are a lot of people who would give Weber’s Way to Grill (Sunset/Oxmoor House) a miss before they even cracked the first page. Truth be told, that would be a shame because readers who are serious about grill cooking are in a position to learn a great deal from Weber’s Way to Grill.

Now understand the distinction I made there: this is not a book about barbecue, as in the style of regional cooking brought to high art in the Southern part of the United States. Weber’s Way to Grill focuses on contemporary grill cooking, of the type that can cook just about anything on a well-designed grill surface. “Culinary details matter,” author Purviance tells us in the introduction. On subsequent pages, he takes us through it bit by bit: working with charcoal, arranging the coals, judging the heat levels, working with a gas grill, must-have grilling tools and then many, many easy to follow and illustrated recipes for grilling probably anything you’d ever want to grill.

Weber’s Way to Grill is comprehensive, well executed and complete. If you are interested in cooking on an outdoor grill you could go a long way before finding a better book on this topic.

Cookbooks: Sips & Apps by Kathy Casey

Author, chef and expert mixologist Kathy Casey had me at Zen Turkey Dumplings. With peanut sauce. They are, in a way, typical of the type of food she’s opted to include in Sips & Apps: Classic and Contemporary Recipes for Cocktails and Appetizers (Chronicle Books). They are easy to make -- can, in fact, be made by a group, preparing to party together. And they represent interesting flavor and texture combinations and will please a wide swath of your potential party going public.

Sips and Apps is more about the Sips than the Apps -- sips win 69 to 35 in the number of recipes included. (Though variations bring the numbers up on both sides.) But the number included might also speak to the type of recipes chosen for both sides. The apps here are solid, basic, crowd-pleasing favorites. For the most part, you won’t have seen these recipes before -- Casey’s flavor choices and presentations are interesting and original -- but they are the sort of backbone recipes frequent hosts may very well come to treasure.

The Sips, though, are a different matter. Very good bar basics sections get things going in the right direction and by the time you’re ready to make a drink, you’ll know just what everything is. (And if you’ve skipped ahead, you can go back and look for whatever it was you missed.) So if you decide to make, for instance, a Strawberry Shag or a Rouge Pulp, you’ll know how to do it. There’s even a section called Clear-Headed Cocktails: gorgeous drinks with fruit and finish, but no alcohol.

Sips and Apps is excellent. Those who enjoy entertaining at home will find this to be a useful and interesting book.

Earth Day Ecovore

Here’s an Earth Day special from The Washington Post in the form of an interview with Kate Heyhoe, author of Cooking Green (Da Capo Lifelong). Heyhoe brings up a whole lot of issues most of us have never considered, putting even your average vegan to planet-wasting shame.

You've coined two terms in "Cooking Green": cookprint and ecovore. They sound an awful lot like carbon footprint and locavore, two words we've been hearing in the green and sustainable worlds. How do your words differ from what's already out there?

I chose these words because they’re more specific and accurate to my intent. Cookprint is the entire chain of resources used to create the foods you eat, including water and land, and the waste produced in the process. Carbon footprint measures carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Shrinking your cookprint includes saving water and energy, as well as reducing waste and emissions.

Being green is all about making choices. An ecovore looks at the total impact of food with fluidity, not rigidity. Our food choices are, at any given time or in any given place, in constant flux, because of changes in ecosystems, economics, and technology. Ecovores eat foods that are in harmony with the environment, both currently and for the foreseeable future, locally and globally. An ecovore’s diet pivots on a series of judgment calls based on conditions at the time and place. This season’s local salmon may be sustainable, but next year it may not (and would then not be part of an evocore diet, even though the food is local). And conversely, as we make progress, what casts a carbon footprint last week may not be an issue tomorrow. World hunger matters, too. In a global rice or corn shortage, an ecovore picks a different food to eat.

Heyhoe has lots more to say, and it’s here.

Edible Schoolyard by Alice Waters

Alice Waters’ lush and lovely Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea (Chronicle Books) is a coffee table book about change and sustainability. You’ve heard the term grassroots? This is what it looks like, right here.

In the early 1970s, Waters introduced the idea of organic produce at her Berkeley Restaurant, Chez Panisse. While Waters’ star has risen considerably in the last 35-plus years, so has her clout. If Waters has an idea, she has both the resources and the respect to put it in motion. And since Waters’ focus has been green since before the color was chic, it only stands to reason that at least some of her good ideas are also going to be good for the planet.

In 1996, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Chez Panisse, Waters created the Chez Panisse Foundation. The Foundation’s big project has been the Edible Schoolyard, an acre that Waters and the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley have transformed from cracked blacktop to lush garden of learning. It is a tool for social lessons as well as a sustainability demonstration garden for over 3000 students and countless visitors since the garden first sank its roots.

Edible Schoolyard documents this transformation as well as Waters’ journey with it as well as the many young lives that have been touched by the garden. It’s an amazing, beautiful story.

While the world looks to Barak Obama, Al Gore and (for crying out loud) Bono to save the planet, foodies know that, for real grassroots change, you don’t have to go much farther Alice Waters. Edible Schoolyard is a gorgeous literary documentary of a good idea.

Cooking for Two by Jessica Strand

It’s not that the idea behind Cooking for Two: Perfect Meals for Pairs (Chronicle Books) is so unique. In fact, lots of cookbooks have been published on this theme. Author Jessica Strand hits her mark perfectly, though, creating a book that will meet the needs of chefs at many levels.

And when Strands says Cooking for Two, she means it. She doesn’t just mean dinner for two or recipes for two, but rather food that you can build together, right down to a list of tips to ease the way for couples cooking.

Strand’s food choices are perfect, as well. From the complicated and time-consuming (Two Pizzas with Two Toppings would qualify as one -- or two -- of these. And the Chicken Tagine isn’t complicated, but there’s a bit of work involved) to recipes so simple, they practically make themselves (Antipasti Dinner for one. Quesadillas for another.) For the most part, though, the recipes are about medium in the complicated department. Easy for the accomplished home chef, challenging but not impossible for those less experienced in the kitchen. For example, the Poached Eggs with Prosciutto and Heirloom Tomatoes, Drizzled with Basil Oil offer a fantastic and easy alternative to the classic eggs benedict. And the Split Broiled Lobster with Lime Butter and Celery Root Remoulade is wonderfully simple and appropriately elegant, a wonderful choice for a romantic dinner for two.

With the current economic dust-up going full force, I think a lot of people will be looking for reasonable alternatives to the big night out this year. Jessica Strand’s Cooking for Two is a great and romantic alternative. Rush down to your independent bookstore pronto and demand your copy while there’s still time to arm yourself for Valentine’s Day.