Thursday, January 29, 2015

Inside the Test Kitchen by Tyler Florence.

            
I wasn’t sure about this book, but I thought I’d give it a chance. To my delight, I really enjoyed it and have marked several recipes to try.

The food is all familiar. And food you want to eat. Tyler has taken it, and tested different ways of making it better. His basic premise is, why are we using the techniques our grandmothers used…aren’t there better ways to cook these foods, yielding an even better result?  And so he decided to set up the test kitchen to try out his theory. He says, “We can’t be afraid to take chances and to try again if the first attempts don’t work.” And a strict no-bad-ideas rule was put into place.

When he asked people what recipes they would like to see in a new cookbook he found that people were asking for new recipes for recipes that already existed. And this book followed. A book where his recipes are the best possible, and which can be made in the most efficient way. As Florence says, “changing conventions.”

Thirteen chapters follow, chapters that give you a plan for an entire meal, as well as recipes that sound wonderful… from barbecue and its accompaniments to chicken, to burgers, to eggs and yummy sides.

Not only do the recipes sound great, the book is a fun read, and Florence explains his thought process as well as testing results.

I’m glad I gave the book a try!







"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Thursday, January 15, 2015

A Kitchen in France





Well, we just returned from Hawaii. It was lovely, and warm, and I wish I was still there! It did help to come home to a wonderful new Cookbook! The book, A Kitchen in France, by Mimi Thorisson, is absolutely gorgeous!  I love the personal stories shared by the author, and the family memories. each recipe has another memory or anecdote. The food truly looks scrumptious. It is divided by season, which is helpful. It is not crammed with an over abundance of recipes, but rather they are chosen carefully and thoughtfully. The photos accompanying the recipes are beautiful, and not just pictures of the dish, but the family, the vegetables, the pets, the country. I feel like I am on a vacation to France! I can't wait to try a few of these.

MIMI THORISSON is the author of Manger, a blog devoted to French cooking that was named Saveur’s Best Regional Food Blog in April 2013. After a career in television and having lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Reykjavik, and Paris, she settled with her photographer husband, their five young children, her two older stepchildren, and the family’s fourteen dogs in a farmhouse in Médoc. She is the star of the cooking shows La Table de Mimi and the upcoming Les Desserts de Mimi, both on Canal+ in France.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."