Customer Reviews:
Heat The Kettle. Beat The Egg Whites. Quilt Amish Ambiance into "Who Done It." .......2006-03-15
Susannah's screaming at a corpse on a quilt in the opening scene was an effective capture. The plot time regression, backtracking from "murder-up-page-one," trailing events and road-forks which may have contributed to the murder, was a narrative technique of literary lace.
The quilt was Amish and it had been spread, somehow wrongly, across a bed in the PenDutch Inn. Magdalena's detailing the difference between a murdered corpse and a "normal" dead body was an intriguing way to surge depth and reality onto the stage.
As she will do throughout the series, Magdalena Yoder comes grumbling to the rescue. There's a lot to do to clean up a murder or two, not to mention catering to a full house of high brow guests paying hefty prices and expecting the best, even within Magda's ALPO ambiance. ALPO, of course, is the Amish Lifestyle Plan Option at the Inn, which avails guests of a trip into the cultural snootiness of choosing to clean their own rooms and common areas. My curiosity peaks to uncover how and why each guest decides to handle (or not) the broom. ALPO is such a deal for discriminating character nuance with a single sweep.
I enjoyed observing the evolution of Magda's narrative style in this pilot to such an auspicious, long-running series. I had to remind myself that at the point of writing and publishing this novel, Amish mysteries had not yet had the foundation which Tamar Myers brought to this amateur sleuth repertoire.
Speaking (not in vain) of the author's name, I loved the way this author's fictional character bad mouthed the author while elevating her husband, Jeff, dramatizing that Hernia, Pennsylvania Chief-of-Police, Jeff Myers's absence from the murder investigations left Magda in a solitary (except for an amorous octogenarian vet) lurch to carry the story and deal with detecting around Marvin Stoltzfus, Jeff's bumbling underling. A character satirizing the author is one among several techniques to establish intrigue which Tammy Myers (as Magda calls her) uses with panache. Of course Tammy and Jeff aren't story/reality bleed-ins precisely as author and spouse. They're given fictitious positions and cameo appearances within the plot as police chief and wife. All of this serves to smoothly bait & build reader curiosity into a Gordian Twist Collection which demands to be unwound, which promises and delivers high entertainment.
One of my favorite scenes in TOO MANY CROOKS had Susannah step up to the rug and defend her "honor" to Magda in a telling argument which beautifully exposed both sister's sides, in character "combat." I had expected Magda to continue to quilt herself into the design of feisty, yet virtuous, virgin heroine, with Susannah swirling around her maiden image as slovenly slut. But in the argument scene the slut slithers into her own integrity and points precisely to the soils on Magda's heavy skirts.
I enjoy the way Myers toys with the bright/dark balance within each character, including herself. No one gets a free ride outside the box of the PenDutch's sensitive, sagely satiric pen.
Above, I noted appreciating the narrative style evolution in this pilot, but didn't detail from what to what the style developed. Magda has a subtle but solid warmth toward humanity and life which likely arrives through Tamar's own generous and complex personality structure. Most often that warmth megaphones through bubbling sarcasm which, thankfully for my tastes, doesn't have the true edge of most pure and cutting, heavy satire. Which is why I would call this series light satire. Magda's snarly-ness in describing other characters foibles moves between moods of somewhat disguised caring warmth Vs a funny but edgy crispness which can seem cool and once in a while, caustic.
This variety of emotional temperature is what gives this series such mood-rich complexity, such depth under effervescent cover.
When the plot time caught up with the opening scene, I was impressed with the way Myers quilted scene one into the ongoing drama, by picking up a tight thread, repeating one sentence from the opening pages, then quickly paraphrasing the rest of the initiating stage, and moving forward from its solid foundation.
For me one of the most entertaining parts of the plot were the detailed references to finicky screeches of the eating demands and disappointments of various vegetarian venues Vs the carnivores, and more loosely-preferenced munchers who appreciated anything which flavored positively on their palates (I'd be in that wide-tongue group). Of course this situation allowed Freni and her relationship to Magda to root and develop nicely. And it carried through the culinary references with an intensity well able to satisfy the foodie fans of this type of munching mystery.
In conclusion I'll say that the very effective, humorous effervescence in this pilot was so successful in leavening the drama that it was easy for me to feel, while reading, that the story was, basically, light, quick-reading entertainment. But, it took only a few minutes of contemplation-after-read, recalling favorite scenes and schemes, to begin to see that this offering was a rich, complicated soup of great potential for satisfying nourishment of the balsamic type.
Which reminds me that the title was tied in nicely, quilting even that detail perfectly into place-of-plot, which is not always done in current, rapid-reading literature, which leaves me wondering, why THAT title?
Nothing left wondering here, except, if you had read this pilot prior to the publication of 13 or so sequels, you'd not be wondering if, but begging that Myers would cough up more and more PenDutch ambiance, to slide more cooks into the stew. That phenomenal publication success story indeed has a good (never) ending; Myers is still penning plush and posh.
A Reader who appreciates savory spice with bubbles and bits (of sensitive snarls).
Linda G. Shelnutt
Chuckles galore!.......2005-02-11
This author is a stone-cold riot! I have read her other books, Den of Antiquity, and have found the same thing to be true: she knows how to write humor. I find myself giggling throughout most of her books but, at times, I find myself laughing my head off at some scenario or another. Her strong suite is describing those times when screaming begets screaming which begets more screaming which begets even more screaming. She has a style that is rare and I really enjoy reading her. I find myself reading passages over and over to myself and then grabbing my husband to read them to him. He, who is very picky, says she is a good writer. You will enjoy everything about "Mags" and her trials and tribulations. Be ready to giggle.
A Toothsome Read!.......2004-04-09
Tamar Myers' character Magdalena Yoder is a hoot! The dialogue is great, imagine it with a Penn-dutch accent and you'll find it even better. The people around Mags all add to the excitement. The recipes included in the book also sound great, and having now read the first three books of the series, I can say they get better and better!
Great series.......2003-11-05
This is the first book in a series written about Magdalena Yoder who owns the PennDutch Inn in Hernia, Pennsylvania. Magadalena is an upfront woman who tries to always follow what the Good Lord teaches, but always manages to twist it around to suit her. Reading this book brought many a giggle to my lips as the Amish characters were a kick! You can almost forget that one of Magdalena's guests have been murdered as you read about the local sheriff who accuses Magdalena of the murder. (But he once tried to milk a bull.) For a bit of light reading, start with this one and you'll be anxious to read the next one.
Mystery on the Light Side!.......2003-07-03
I did enjoy this book. It is genuinely funny in quite a few spots. Magdalena is quite a character. She is a no-nonsence, mean-spirited Pennsylvania Dutch woman who has turned her family farmhouse into a successful country inn. The hotel guests were interesting as we meet them through the book. The murders themselves were a bit slow and the mystery was less than breathtaking, but it was still fun to read and I will read more by this author. There is a lot about food in the book, and you will find yourself hungry as you read it. Miss Magdalena's acid tongue gets to be a bit much sometime, but nevertheless, the book is worth a read. In this book Magdelena is faced with two sudden deaths of her hotel guests. Are they connected? She sets out to find out pretty much on her own since the acting constable is a bumbling idiot.
Product Description
4 Titles By Tamar Myers Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes : Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime Between a Wok and a Hard Place Assault And Pepper. Four mmpb books.
Book Description
Set in the mighty city of Nuln, Gotrek and Felix are back in Skavenslayer, the second novel in this epic saga. Seeking to undermine the very fabric of the Empire with their arcane warp-sorcery, the skaven, twisted Chaos rat-men, are at large in the reeking sewers beneath the city. Led by Grey Seer Thanquol, the servants of the Horned Rat are determined to overthrow this bastion of humanity. Against such forces, what possible threat can just two hard-bitten adventurers pose?
Customer Reviews:
Dont squirt the musk of fear!.......2006-05-27
This was the most humorous of Warhammer books that I've read thus far. The army of skaven that is intent on taking over the world, starting with the city of Nuln, is lead by the most devious and backstabbing generals you could think of. Gotrek and Felix basically walk through the overconfident and cowardly rat-men, finding themselves in position to thwart various rat-schemes. I loved the way that King portrayed the skaven and had a great time with this light and entertaining read.
One of the greatest books in Warhammer history.......2004-06-28
"SkavenSlayer", starts of with, Felix, and Gotrek, in the sewers of a large imperial city as sewerjacks, to kill trolls, or other forces of chaos, who might be wondering in the maze of sewers, in order to get money. However there simple job to get money became there battlegrounds for there new breathtaking adventure, when they find a skaven ratman, making a deal with a human. As the human gave the ratman, a warp stone, the ratman, saw gotrek and threw the stone to the ground which caused a eary fog to kill the ratman, and one of the sewerjacks accomponing felix, and gotrek. after that gotrek and felix, realized the city was in trouble to be attacked from the most unexpected direction, from below.
Together felix and gotrek must fight the hordes of skaven, to protect the city, or die in honor.
this book was one of the best I've read, it had great suspense, action, humor, ect. i recommand that all felix and gotrek novel lovers read this book. also if your a skaven funatic you would probably injoy this book.
Lots of fun. Humorous, and more character development.......2004-05-31
This is the 2nd book in the Felix & Gotrek series, but the 5th one I've read. I started with the 3rd book in the series, "Daemonslayer", and read the two after it before deciding to go back and read the first two volumes in the series that I'd missed.
Out of the five, I'd have to say that this is by far the most comical, and also seems to have the greatest amount of character development for our hero Felix Jaeger.
William King seems to be having a real ball writing the scheming, often silly and always back-stabbing rat-men called the Skaven, and I get the impression that in fact they may very well be his favourite Warhammer race of all to write. After reading and enjoying this book so much I feel I gained a whole new appreciation for them, and understand more why he even decided to carry some Skaven characters on into subsequent books in the series.
Briefly, this book finds our fearless adventuring pair in the city of Nuln, in the heart of the Empire, where they are reduced to eking out a humble living in the most menial of duties in the sewers below. But in the course of this humiliating work, they uncover a deadly plan by the devious rat-men to take over the city. -- Can our heroes save the day???
The plot takes lots of twists and turns and brings lots of laughs along the way. The characters of crafty Skaven sorceror Thanquol and especially his poor, bedraggled lackey Lurk Snitchtongue (love that name!), who seems to be barely escaping from one tight situation with his masters after another, are especially memorable.
Lurk goes on to get further "development" in the next book! So while I wouldn't say this book is essential in the series and is actually one of the lighter entries, I think it would definitely enhance your enjoyment of its unforgettable sequel if you read this one first.
Second in the series..........2001-10-10
*** 1/2 Stars
What started over a decade ago in a magazine devoted to the roleplaying and tabletop games by Games Workshop called Warhammer, now sees a surprising resurgence of life after all these years since Games Workshop closed their book publishing division, GW Books. Though the magazine lives on, the great stories from arguably the best fantasy world since Tolkein created Middle Earth (I actually think the world of Warhammer better). Sadly GW has seemingly abandoned even their flagship roleplaying game (and my favorite roleplaying game of all time) and all the world detail that went along with it.
But this is a review about a the second book in a series that is 10 years overdue. While Trollslayer (the first book) was only a collection of short stories (reprinted from the early magazine/anthology days), this one flows much more like a novel in it's own right. I will point out however, that the first chapter is actually a short story published years ago.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it's nicer to read a book with more continuity, yet bad because the stories of Felix and Gotrek worked so well in the short story format. Not that I'm complaining; I've waited over 10 years for a Felix and Gotrek novel and now I have one.
I've rated this book less than I did for Trollslayer, but it's not bad. Above all, William King's writing style and characterization will keep you flipping pages even when story doesn't live up to it's potential. There are many great points to the book, and William gets to really develop the Skaven (ratmen) far beyond what he did long ago in the short story Skavenslayer.
The fun points are watching Felix and Gotrek repeatedly thwart the bumbling machinations of the Skaven, ultimately leading up the the stories climax where the Skaven assault one of the largest human cities in the world (right where our heroes happen to be). As fun as all this is, I was just a bit dissapointed at how the book focused so much on the Skaven and their plots.
One of the great things about the short stories was how you [the reader] got to explore so much of the Warhammer world through the eyes of these two wouldbe heroes. Trollslayer [the book] takes you on a wild ride starting from the first exploits of our heroes to thwart a chaos cultic ritual, to saving a border town from goblin wolfriders, to the deep underground of an ancient dwarven fortress in search of lost treasure only to find something truely horrific. And these only the first three stories of the book. Skavenslayer offers Skaven, then more Skaven, then even more Skaven.
The book is good, though not as dynamic as the first. If you liked Trollslayer, by all means get this book. I can't get enough of Felix and Gotrek.
trollslayer.......2001-08-17
Its a great book, like the whole series so far, I am an avid reader of science fantasy and this is just good easy intertainment. Felix and Gotrek make an interesting pair, cant wait for the next book.
Average customer rating:
- Basic information
- attia
- Doctor's Book of Food Remedies Great!
- Interesting Book!!
- I never knew that about food.....
|
Doctor's Book of Food Remedies
Selene Yeager , and
Prevention Health Books
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Healthy
| Special Diet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Diets
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nutrition
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Alternative Medicine
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Healing
| Alternative Medicine
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Over 1,200 New Doctor-Tested Tips and Techniques Anyone Can Use to Heal Hundreds of Everyday Health Problems (Doctors' Book of Home Remedies)
-
The Doctors Book of Home Remedies Revised Edition
-
New Foods for Healing: Capture The Powerful Cures Of More Than 100 Common Foods, From Apricots And Bananas To Wine And Yogurt
-
Alternative Cures: The Most Effective Natural Home Remedies for 160 Health Problems
-
Foods That Heal
ASIN: 1579543626 |
Book Description
PUBNAME: St. Martin's Press PUBCONTACT: Karen Tese PUBVOICEPHONE: 212-674-5151 PUBEMAIL: karen.tese@stmartins.com PUBADDR: 175 Fifth Avenue PUBCITY: New York PUBSTATE: New York PUBPOSTAL: 10010-7848 PUBNATION: USAISBN: 1579543626 TITLE: The Doctors Book of Food Remedies AUTHOR: Yeager, Selene; Prevention Health Books PAGES: 400 PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Press BINDING: TP LISTPRICE: 16.95 PUBDATE: 200005DESCRIPTION: In just a few years, scientists have found hundreds of substances in foods that go way beyond vitamins and minerals for pure healing power. In, you will learn exactly how to use the "healing foods" to treat and prevent dozens of conditions, from arthritis and fatigue to high blood pressure and stroke.Discover: * A food that can block the harmful effects of secondhand smoke (page 555) * How to stop cataracts with the carotenoids in spinach (page 123) * A juice that reduces urinary tract infections by 58 percent (page 545) * How a substance in grapefruit can help control diabetes (page 185) * How to cut your risk of heart disease in half with three simple foods (page 276) * A phytonutrient in buckwheat that prevents cholesterol from sticking to arteries (page 95) * The beverage that can reduce the risk of stroke by 73 percent (page 511) * How to stop an infection with nature's sweetener (page 290) Also included are 150 nutrient-rich recipes that are specially designed to fight and reverse specific health problems.END
Customer Reviews:
Basic information.......2007-08-05
Most of the information is a rehash of conventional mainstream thinking...which is often incorrect. i.e. dairy is great source of calcium. While technically correct, this source of calcium is not readily absorbed in the body. The author actually encourages a 50% carbohydrate diet for diabetics!
attia.......2007-04-11
This book is simply the best. It is categorized by food items. It is not technical. For example, you want to find out if grapes are good for you and why. you go to grapes. A quick summary tells you what grapes are good for in plain english, like reduce chol. lower blood pressue and so on. Then you can read more about that food item. There are kitchen recommendations of how to get the best of that food item.
All in plain english.
I highly recommend it.
Doctor's Book of Food Remedies Great!.......2007-03-12
This book is very informative and well organized. It's truly amazing how food works with our bodies to create optimum health. My husband and I both have benefitted from knowledge gained in this text.
Interesting Book!!.......2007-03-09
This book is well worth the money as it is full of interesting facts and information. It's nice to know what foods help certain medical conditions. I view this book as a "must" for every home!!
I never knew that about food............2006-08-09
This book is great, from a-z it goes through a multitude of diseases and disorders and how to best combat them with food. It's layed out nicely and easy to read.
Book Description
For top chef
Ludo Lefebvre, cooking is a sensual process that involves all five senses at every stage of preparation. In
Crave, Lefebvre offers more than one hundred original, elegant, and unbelievably delicious recipes that teach us the joy -- and skill -- of cooking with the senses.
In dishes such as his signature Glazed Langoustines with Ceylon Cinnamon, he shows that through our senses we can bring creativity and a sense of playfulness to cooking while still preserving the great traditions behind cuisine. Lefebvre brings a whole new level to the sense of taste with groundbreaking techniques for contrasting and balancing spices; he shows how to choose meat and produce and how to test food through touch; he teaches the difference between the sound of butter and oil that's ready for cooking and the sound of burning; he offers visual cues that can enhance technique and presentation; and he introduces recipes that tantalize the powerful sense of smell to heighten both the flavor and experience of a dish.
Along with his desire to put delightful recipes into the hands of the home chef, Lefebvre wants us to expand our perception and understanding of the cooking process. "I want people to cook with love. I want them to be aware of what they're doing," says Lefebvre. "The act of cooking can be as much of a pleasure as eating, and if you really cook with your senses, you begin to find that cooking isn't work -- it's play."
These inspiring recipes will encourage you to slow down and become fully absorbed as you learn to cook with and for all five senses:
See: Oysters on the Half Shell with Red Beet Jelly and Shallot Cream
Touch: Fried Stuffed Tomato Beignets
Smell: Chicken Etouffée in Dried Verbena and Curry Leaves
Hear: Roast Beef with Long Pepper and Spiced French Fries
Taste: Lemon Sorbet with Saffron
With Lefebvre's highly original interpretation of French cuisine and his sensual, almost spiritual, approach to every culinary endeavor,
Crave invites us to make home cooking a rich, sensual, and rewarding experience.
Customer Reviews:
Rare Perfection.......2006-12-05
"Spiced with sultry nigella seed (sometimes confused with black cumin) and sumac, this bread tastes like a walk in the forest on a hot summer day." ~ pg. 243, Spiced White Bread
Ludo Lefebvre's CRAVE cookbook holds within its pages the most perfect puff pastry recipe you may ever try. I made the pastry yesterday and just drizzled icing over delicately crispy apple pastries. A sprinkling of nutmeg seemed perfect and I can truly say they are the best pastries I've ever made. The puff pastry cooks perfectly unlike many store bought versions that seem to cook unevenly and it is made with pure butter. The results were spectacular!
Many of the recipes in CRAVE are infused with the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg. The Spiced Bread is the first recipe I tried. The spice mixture is made from nutmeg, ginger, pepper and cloves and since I didn't have whole nutmegs, I used a ½ tablespoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon dry ginger, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and ¼ teaspoon cloves. I crushed them all together with a mortar and pestle and then made the bread recipe using hot apple cider (infused with cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves and star anise) in place of the water, muscovado sugar for the granulated sugar, 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast and 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon zest for the "ground sumac" which I need to order.
The recipe can be adapted slightly if you don't have all the ingredients needed, but the spice mix seems essential. I also ground up the "nigella" which I've used before on Indian Naan to produce the faint memory of spicy onions. This is also called Charnushka and Kalonji.
The bread recipe worked especially well in my bread machine, although I only used the dough cycle the first time and tried to make the bread look like the picture on page 33. You can use the bread in a variety of ways, including making delicious sandwiches with slices of turkey. The bread works especially well with a variety of cheeses or even for breakfast as toast with spinach chicken sausages and eggs. Just as I had imagined, cubes of bread would work well as croutons and they are featured in the Creamy Pumpkin Soup recipe.
Recipes to love include:
Moussaka of Lamb with Cumin and Roasted Tomato Coulis
Caramelized Cod with Five Flavors and Baby Spinach Salad
Sweet Onion Tart with Curry and Parsley Sauce
Cinnamon and Rosemary-Infused Chicken Breast with Baby Vegetables
...and for dessert:
Napoleons of Puff Pastry with Vanilla-Whisky Cream
Lemon Sorbet with Saffron
Pain D'Epices (a spice loaf)
Qunice Jam with Nostradamus Spice
Chocolate Soufflés with Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce
Everything I've tried so far has exceeded my expectations. The pictures give a good indication of the delicious aromas that will fill your home. Fresh herbs and intoxicating spices fill the pages with sensory pleasure, cooking wishes and nostalgia. The Basic Recipes are helpful if you want to learn how to make stock, or you can improvise with stock pastes. There is a recipe for Curry Powder, Four Spices Powder and Citrus Zest Confit. These items are used in various recipes.
The recipes can be made mostly with ingredients found locally, but there are a few unique items you might want to invest in over time. Buying this cookbook along with Vanilla Beans, Saffron, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Fleur De Sel, high-quality peppercorns (Tellicherry), Star Anise, Acacia Honey, Argan Oil, Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar and Verjus (tart juice of unripened grapes) would make any cook a little heady. I felt heady just thinking about all the recipes I wanted to try.
"If you've had the now-popular Chai tea, you've tasted cardamom, a spice that combines hints of camphor, citrus, and bergamot." ~ pg. 22
The prose throughout is especially personable and makes the recipes even more enjoyable to try. Ludo Lefebvre spends lots of time talking about eating apples out under trees in orchards, his first experience cooking in the middle of a forest and how he loves the feeling of Fleur de Sel between his fingers as he sprinkles it over dishes he is preparing. The story of how he became a chef mingles within the amazing recipes to create a very satisfying culinary experience.
Almost all the recipes have additional notes to invite you into the cooking experience and then the instructions effortlessly guide you through the steps. I found this book was uncomplicated, very well organized and basically a dream. The recipes have all been carefully thought out and the ingredients carefully considered. This is about accessible culinary art or creating memorable experiences through artistic creation.
While you may think of vanilla as being most useful in cakes and cookies, Ludo Lefebvre uses vanilla beans in his Ahi tuna steaks. He also creates a Chestnut Ice Cream for warm waffles, which is very creative. The recipes all seem to be perfect for wintery feasts by candlelight, although the Yellow Peach Tart with Lemon Verbena would be perfect right when ripe peaches appear.
I thought it was very interesting that while using this cookbook, I was making an apple cider using the spices that were Nostradamus' favorites even before reading this on page 228! This cookbook will inspire you in ways no other cookbook will - it is magical! While cooking from CRAVE, I like to make apple cider and burn a L'Occitane Winter Forest candle. I will now return to stealing another puff pastry while I await my husband's return home from the hunt. I sent him to the grocery store for more supplies (salmon/steaks), as I will be cooking from this book for quite a few more weeks! Most cookbooks inspire me to try one or two recipes, but this has entire worlds to experience and is truly a "feast of the five senses" with an additional dash of warm culinary comfort.
~The Rebecca Review
A rising culinary star with a notable first book. Buy it........2005-06-23
`Crave' by the `award winning' executive chef of the Los Angles restaurant Bastide, Ludo Lefebvre elicits anticipation from its oversized format, its high price, and the very hip, tattooed pic of the author on the front cover. I am happy to say that the book delivers on it's expectations with a better than average restaurant cookbook.
Like Eric Rippert's book `Le Bernardin Cookbook', this is the kind of book which cries out for half stars, as I am quite happy to give it four and a half stars, yet there are some reasons the average cookbook purchaser may wish to pass on it. Fortunately, these reasons are few.
First, as with every good high-end restaurant cookbook, the recipes are simply not the kind you may be willing to make on a busy Tuesday or even on an average Sunday. This is because while there are relatively quick recipes in the book, there are just as many longish recipes requiring some arcane ingredients. So, you can't dip into this book the way you can a good book of Italian recipes such as Mario Batali's `Molto Italy' and come up with a good, relatively inexpensive, relatively quick AND interesting recipe.
Second, as I have already stated, the book is oversized and just a bit overpriced for the number of recipes.
Third, I sense that while Monsieur Lefebvre has very serious chops, with all the promise of an up and coming Jacques Pepin in the field of culinary education, he and his handlers may be just a little full of themselves in their presentation of the author. One example is my quoted fact that Ludo is an `award winning' chef, yet they give no information on what award it is he won. He was nominated for a lesser James Beard award, but he did not win. But, as I was told by a very wise man many years ago, if all the books with pretensions were removed from the library, our libraries would have very few books indeed!
On the positive side, this is a culinary work with an excellent point of view and agenda that it executes almost flawlessly. The point of view is almost anti-scientific, insisting that the chef concentrate almost exclusively on their own five senses. This is a theme which runs through practically all cooking literature from Wolfgang Puck to Mario Batali to Jamie Oliver and everyone in between, but not the scientific wonks such as Alton Brown and Shirley Corriher. The extreme position for this point of view is in the author's description of one of his mentors, Alain Passard, who refused to even let his line cooks use thermometers to gage doneness. Passard insisted that sight and sound and touch should be enough. And, not only is it enough, it is probably preferable for a very busy line cook to use their trained senses, as this method is both much faster than poking food with an `instant read' thermometer and less damaging to the food itself.
The book begins with a brief history of the author's culinary education and career in France, which sounds a lot like that of many other French chefs, including Monsieur Pepin. Lefebvre did not cook for the French President, but he was the personal chef to the French minister of defense during his year of obligatory military service. His career also confirms the picture of long years as an apprentice, commis, and line cook before one is even considered to be a sous chef or major specialist such as a saucier.
The book is divided up into five chapters; each headed by one of the five recognized senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. I believe the division of recipes among these five senses is mostly arbitrary, as every dish must involve all five senses. To be sure, some methods such as sauteeing involve direct experience far more than, for example braising, where all the action is going on in an oven, within a Dutch oven or bistro pan. But, the book does not suffer too much from this bit of artificiality.
As a book of recipes from a `haute cuisine' restaurant, I expect unusual recipes and ingredients and I am not surprised on this count, but I am very pleasantly surprised to see how many recipes are variations on common everyday dishes such as tortilla espagnole (Spanish potato frittata) and pain perdu (French toast). I am also pleased with the range of ingredients. Many are unusual, but they appear in only a few recipes and they are the types of things where they are interesting enough so that you will probably not mind tracking them down on the Internet.
Speaking of which, Monsieur Lefebvre gives a really extensive sources list with a feature I have seen nowhere else. For each merchant, the name of a real live person with whom you can establish a contact is given.
Lefebvre's recipes for stock pantry items such as stocks, spice powders, puff pastry, confits and marmalades are not overly fussy. In fact, I think his recipe for brioche for his French toast is a lot simpler than you will find in a book by a bread-baking specialist. I would suggest you consult such a book for brioche.
While I have seen this suggestion in a few other books, Lefebvre is the first author to fully incorporate the suggestion of resting cooked protein then briefly reheating it before service to bring it up to temperature. This makes so much sense that I am surprised I don't see it more often, but I also realize that it is a lot easier for a professional chef with a salamander at their station to do it than for an amateur with nothing but a conventional oven. Lefebvre also has a special technique for applying spices and herbs. He applies then at or near the end of cooking. This makes sense with fresh herbs, but I'm not sure it works for all recipes or for dried herbs.
The Passion behind the dish!.......2005-05-29
I have had the great pleasure of eating Ludovic's one of a kind creations at both L'Orangarie and Bastide. This book is not only a treasure in that enables me to try to prepare some of his dishes at home, but it is also a great read for any "foodie" who appreciates the love and passion of food. Ludo is a master!!
Scrumptious, Enchanting and Stylish.......2005-05-13
I purchased this book for my love who is a shining star in the realm of culinary delights. So far, we have been nothing less than delighted! Finally a charming book that serenades the erotic senses with effortless and approchable charm. So stylish and delicious! Not a book that you will want to hide away in a cookbook drawer, it is worthy of the coffee table!
Sensational Cookbook.......2005-05-07
I received this visually stunning cookbook as a present from my girlfriend on my birthday and so far every recipe that we have tried has been a feast for the five senses.
Books:
- Trails of the Frank Church: River of No Return Wilderness
- Vengeance Is Mine
- Water Touching Stone (Inspector Shan Tao Yun)
- Witch Hunt: A Novel
- A Darkening Stain
- A Knife to Remember (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #5)
- A Long Finish
- A Man Lay Dead (A Roderick Alleyn Mystery)
- A Moorland Hanging (A Knights Templar Mystery)
- A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple Mysteries)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!, The
- I'll Always Love You
- Eel Biology
- Green Urbanism: Learning From European Cities
- History: Fiction or Science
- History: Fiction or Science
- Making Beautiful Christmas Cakes
- Trompe L'Oeil: Murals and Decorative Wall Painting
- Design Drawing 2000 Edition
- The Tooth of Time: A Maxie and Stretch Mystery
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes (PennDutch Inn Mystery)
Just Plain Pickled to Death (Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes)
Eat, Drink and Be Wary (PennDutch Inn Mystery)
The Crepes of Wrath (Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes)
Custard's Last Stand (Magdalena Yoder Mysteries)
