A must have book about bread is the Tartine Bread, written by Chad Robertson, the co-owner of the same bakery in San Francisco. The book features more than 30 sweet and savory recipes for bread and baked goods from Day-Old Bread, Basic Country Bread with variations, Semolina and Whole-Wheat Breads, Baguettes and Brioches. You will also find out about the signature baked French Toast, Croissants, the Baba with Prosecco Poached Nectarines and my favorite, the Kale Caesar Salad. The recipes are long like stories paired with black and white and colorful photos.
This book is an ode to bread. It is almost certain that you will give up your gluten free diet for good and will give your buttery croissant another chance.
Fire and Ice: Classic Nordic Cooking is claimed to be the quintessential guide to the Nordic cuisine featuring an extraordinary collection of recipes, memoirs and photos. Traveling from Sweden to Finland though Denmark and Norway, Goldstein satisfies your appetite with classic dishes from the Shrimp Toast to signature Smørrebrød, Cured Herring and Beet Terrine to the Rye Crispbread. Fall is perfect for Apple Soup with Juniper; the dark days of the winter welcome the Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and as well as Caramelized Potatoes; a Nettle Soup indicates the beginning of the spring and the Chilled Rutabaga Pudding is ideal for the summer. Another pleasant surprise is that each recipe does not come with a photo making (over half of the recipes do not come with a pairing photo) the book a valuable source of culinary history rather than a lifestyle addition to your coffee table.
The hidden linguist in me loved the bilingual titles in all recipes. Kudos to Darra Goldstein and Ten Speed Press for this amazing book.
The world’s Best Female chef Dominique Crenn presents her cooking philosophy and elaborate cooking techniques in this wonderful book. The book is divided in distinctive chapters: Origin, Plants, Sea, Land, Dream and Craft each describing unique recipes from her own restaurant and former culinary experiences from dieting around the world. In Origin you will find unique recipes like the Kir Breton, a symbol of Crenn’s childhood that also stamps her current physical location. In Plant, recipes have a vegetable theme celebrating a specific ingredient like the tomato with a series of tomato related recipes from the Shiso Sorbet to Poached Tomato and Sun Dried Tomato Puree. In Sea, you will find recipes that pay tribute to the ocean from Brittany to California to Japan. Recipes include the reinvented Fish and Chips and the amazing Sea Urchin and Licorice. The Land is all about meat and poultry with fewer recipes including the Liver Pâté and Beef Carpaccio. In Dream, you will be dreaming about desserts, all created by pastry chef Juan Contreras like the Spiced Brioche and Bonbons. Finally Craft is all about stocks, creams, breads and everything else left. From Crème Fraîche to Yogurt with Nuts, Cultured Butter and Onion Broth and different types of breads, you have it all.
The recipes of the book are amazingly complex and even scientific that make Crenn a super talented chef. This is an excellent book for inspiration and ideas and will elevate your palate expectations and your cooking skills but I am not sure how many of home cooks can actually recreate these recipes.