Tag Archives: cookbook

Making soup by the book

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It snowed this morning, fat, white flakes that melted as soon as they hit the lawn.

the-soupmakers-kitchen-how-to-123813l1-240x300Those first flurries are a reminder that it’s soup season, time to scour fridge and pantry for ingredients to blend into a pot full of warmth and flavor.

Soup truly is magical food. I have seen the aroma of chicken broth lift my husband’s feet from the floor and carry him to the table.

The Soupmaker’s Kitchen, a cookbook by Philadelphia journalist and chef Aliza Green, is bubbling with inspiration. As might be expected, Green shares more than 100 recipes for potages, broths and bisques. Beyond, she offers savvy, kitchen-tested tips for organizing your own work space and reducing wasted food.

But what about stock, the Mount Everest of soupmaking? Whenever I think of stock I recall Peggy Morgan, a gifted writer and colleague at the Courier-Post, the newspaper that is and ever shall be South Jersey’s leading daily. Peggy, an exceptional home cook, confessed to having planted a flag at the summit only twice in her life. “Once for each marriage.”

In The Soupmaker’s Kitchen (Quarry Books, $24.99), Green demystifies stock and shares techniques that even a chowderhead can master. You will be amazed and gratified when you discover the depth of flavor stock adds to dishes.

Plus, you will be a good steward of the kitchen, making good use of peelings, scrapings and bones that otherwise might be tossed. Thus, the subtitle of the book: How to Save Your Scraps, Prepare a Stock, and Craft the Perfect Pot of Soup.

 

Recipes for the End of the World

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If you adhere to the Mayan calendar and have a sneaking suspicion the world will end on Dec. 21, you might as well pig out while you can.

You will find lots of intriguing recipes in Flavors of Belize, a cookbook that celebrates the ancient history, diverse culture and exotic cuisine of this beautiful Central American nation. The book is the creation of Tanya McNab, founder of Flavors of Belize magazine, the country’s first culinary periodical, and McNab Publishing Ltd., producer of the cookbook.

In the Kriol language widely spoken in Belize there is a saying: “Yu kyaah n travl pahn stoma.” Translation: You cannot travel on an empty stomach.

No worries about going hungry with this lineup of recipes from the nation’s top chefs, a menu that ranges from fried ripe plantains to cashew-crusted grouper to mango crumble.

The Mayan culture is not the only influence in this Latin melting pot. The cookbook’s recipes also include dishes from the Brits, Mestizo, Creole, Chinese, Lebanese and other cuisines that have left their mark on Belize over the centuries.

In all, there 120 recipes and if you want to get them all in before the lights go out, you had better start cooking.