Thursday, December 11, 2008

660 Curries or On Cooking

660 Curries

Author: Raghavan Iyer

Curry is Salmon with Garlic and Turmeric. Curry is Grilled Chicken with Cashew-Tomato Sauce. Curry is Asparagus with Tomato and Crumbled Paneer. Curry is Lamb with Yellow Split Peas, Chunky Potatoes with Spinach, Tamarind Shrimp with Coconut Milk, Baby Back Ribs with a Sweet-Sour Glaze and Vinegar Sauce, Basmati Rice with Fragrant Curry Leaves. Curry is vivid flavors, seasonal ingredients, a kaleidoscope of spices and unexpected combinations. And 660 Curries is the gateway to the world of Indian cooking, demystifying one of the world's great cuisines.

Presented by the IACP award–winning Cooking Teacher of the Year (2004), Raghavan Iyer, 660 Curries is a joyous food-lover's extravaganza. Mr. Iyer first grounds us in the building blocks of Indian flavors—the interplay of sour (like tomatoes or yogurt), salty, sweet, pungent (peppercorns, chiles), bitter, and the quality of unami (seeds, coconuts, and the like). Then, from this basic palette, he unveils an infinite art. There are appetizers—Spinach Fritters, Lentil Dumplings in a Buttermilk Coconut Sauce—and main courses—Chicken with Lemongrass and Kaffir-Lime Leaves, Lamb Loin Chops with an Apricot Sauce. Cheese dishes—Pan-Fried Cheese with Cauliflower and Cilantro; bean dishes—Lentil Stew with Cumin and Cayenne. And hundreds of vegetable dishes—Sweet Corn with Cumin and Chiles, Chunky Potatoes with Golden Raisins, Baby Eggplant Stuffed with Cashew Nuts and Spices. There are traditional, regional curries from around the subcontinent and contemporary curries. Plus all the extras: biryanis, breads, rice dishes, raitas, spice pastes and blends, andrubs.

curry, n.—any dish that consists of either meat, fish, poultry, legumes, vegetables, or fruits, simmered in or covered with a sauce, gravy, or other liquid that is redolent with any number of freshly ground and very fragrant spices and/or herbs.

Publishers Weekly

Iyer (The Turmeric Trail) makes the enormous spectrum of Indian curry dishes enticing and accessible in this hefty tome, bound to be a must-have for lovers of Indian cuisine. Cooks already familiar with this food will be inspired as they cook through its pages. The term "curry" encompasses a vast range of dishes, and Iyer has uncovered the best from the subcontinent's many regions and cultures, working his way from Goa (chicken in coconut milk sauce) to Kashmir (hearty braised lamb shanks in broth), Calcutta (tilapia in yogurt sauce), Kerala (spinach in pigeon pea-coconut sauce), and everywhere between. The largest chapter features an extraordinary selection of curries using India's rainbow of legumes, but Iyer includes meat, cheese, fish and vegetable curries, plus appetizers and snacks, biryanis and elegant rice variations and breads. Access to a well-stocked Indian grocery is vital, but past that hurdle Iyer makes the recipes quite approachable thanks to his chatty introductions, many thoughtful preparation tips and helpful ingredient glossary. (May)

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Judith Sutton - Library Journal

Iyer grew up in Mumbai (Bombay), but he has lived in the United States for most of his adult life. He's an acclaimed cooking teacher and the author of several other cookbooks, and his impressive new title is a wide-ranging guide to the curries of the Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Iyer explains that Indian curries are not based on a can of curry powder and that the term "curry" refers to any dish simmered in or covered with a fragrant, spicy (though not necessarily hot) sauce or gravy. The hundreds of recipes include appetizer curries such as Skewered Chicken with Creamy Fenugreek Sauce, main-course curries like Yogurt-Marinated Lamb with Ginger and Garlic, and "contemporary curries" such as Wild Salmon with Chiles, Scallions, and Tomato; there are also recipes for "curry cohorts"-rice, bread, and other accompaniments. Highly recommended.



Book review: Complete Book of Home Preserving or Fit for Life

On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals

Author: Sarah R Labensky

Attractively designed and extensively illustrated with color photographs, line drawings, charts and tables, this contemporary introduction to cooking and the culinary arts focuses on information relevant to today's students. Comprehensive and well written, and now offering a strong Media Program, On Cooking, 4/e emphasizes an understanding of cooking fundamentals, explores the contemporary dining option of vegetarian cooking, discusses nutrition and special health issues, and provides information on other relevant topics such as culinary history and food science.

KEY FEATURES

Test Kitchen Program offers over 140 in-chapter recipes tested by culinary schools assures recipe accuracy.

Approximately 50 new recipes and expanded recipe variations add greater variety of recipes and offer additional basic, competency-based recipes.

A strong Media Program packaged with each text includes:

  DVD ROM—an interactive assessment tool

  Cost Genie CD—a cost management tool

New chapter Flavor and Flavorings explores distinguishing and understanding how flavoring affects taste & smell of foods; helps students develop flavor perception and be able to describe tastes.

New section on the Flavors of Wine and Spirits located within the Flavors and Flavoring chapter identifies the major wine varieties and illustrates how to use wines and spirits in cooking.

New chapter Vegetarian Cooking brings into focus an important contemporary dining option.

Over 1800 original color photographs and line drawings illustrate preparation and presentationtechniques and identify fresh foods and ingredients, tools, and equipment.



Table of Contents:

Part 1  Professionalism

Chapter 1    Professionalism  

Chapter 2    Food Safety and Sanitation  

Chapter 3    Nutrition  

Chapter 4    Menus and Recipes  

Part 2  Preparation

Chapter 5    Tools and Equipment  

Chapter 6    Knife Skills  

Chapter 7    Flavors and Flavoring  

Chapter 8    Dairy Products  

Chapter 9    Mise en Place  

Part 3  Cooking

Chapter 10 Principles of Cooking  

Chapter 11 Stocks and Sauces  

Chapter 12 Soups  

Chapter 13 Principles of Meat Cookery  

Chapter 14 Beef  

Chapter 15 Veal  

Chapter 16 Lamb  

Chapter 17 Pork  

Chapter 18 Poultry  

Chapter 19 Game  

Chapter 20 Fish and Shellfish  

Chapter 21 Eggs and Breakfast  

Chapter 22 Vegetables  

Chapter 23 Potatoes, Grains and Pasta  

Chapter 24    Vegetarian Cooking

Part 4  Garde Manger

Chapter 25 Salads and Salad Dressings  

Chapter 26 Fruits  

Chapter 27 Sandwiches  

Chapter 28 Charcuterie  

Chapter 29 Hors D’Oeuvre and Canapés  

Part 5  Baking 

Chapter 30 Principles of the Bakeshop  

Chapter 31 Quick Breads  

Chapter 32 Yeast Breads  

Chapter 33 Pies, Pastries and Cookies  

Chapter 34 Cakes and Frostings  

Chapter 35 Custards, Creams, Frozen Desserts and Sauces  

Part 6  Presentation

Chapter 36 Plate Presentation  

Chapter 37 Buffet Presentation  

Appendix IProfessional Organizations  

Appendix II    Measurement and Conversion Charts  

Appendix III   Fresh Produce Availability chart  

Bibliography and Recommended Reading

Glossary  

Index

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