James Beard Award–winning chef Suntaranon demonstrates how to cook authentic Southern Thai food inspired by the dishes of her native Trang, a Southern port city, in this vibrant debut. Busy home cooks will be surprised at how quickly these dishes come together, provided that they prepare what Suntaranon terms “building block recipes” in advance: a batch of red curry paste, for instance, can be used to make chicken panang curry, tofu and pineapple coconut curry, and red curry with prawns, cherry tomatoes, and lychees. Meanwhile, the garlic and black pepper chicken, braised pork belly, and rice soup with fish and shrimp, are among the recipes made in just one pot or one wok, making cleanup a breeze. Suntaranon’s heartfelt anecdotes (“My mom’s massaman curry was so beloved that my uncle would come over to eat... and then go to his dialysis appointment”) and notes about Thai culture (“We don’t have ovens in most homes in Thailand”) prove just as enticing as the recipes. Her easy-to-follow instructions and sense of humor will boost confidence among those unfamiliar with the cuisine (“Don’t trim the fat off the beef, or I will be very upset,” she instructs for the coriander beef), as will a helpful overview of Thai ingredients. Home cooks will be eager to give these recipes a spin. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/01/2024 | Details & Permalink

Afro-Honduran baker Ford (New World Sourdough) celebrates Latin America’s “world of bread and sweetness” in this comprehensive volume showcasing 150 sweet and savory baked goods drawn from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Ford’s penchant for sourdough is featured throughout—he provides thorough instructions for converting commercial yeast options into natural sourdough leavening, as in the recipe for pan de coco, a pillowy coconut milk roll. Traditional recipes are followed by fun updates: classic concha, or sweet buns, get a chocolate cookie dough twist, and honey-dipped Honduran Semita rolls can be made either with traditional corn or using rice flour. Gluten-free recipes abound, celebrating “the way Latin America cooked before wheat” with indigenous flours including cassava, amaranth, sorghum, quinoa, and maize. Savory fare includes many variations on fugazzeta (pizza-like flatbreads) and empanadas. Novice bakers will appreciate Ford’s precise (if at times overwhelmingly detailed) step-by-step instructions for mixing and shaping methods while the more experienced will revel in the extensive variety of sweets on offer. Interspersed personal anecdotes and reflections on Latin American foodways, especially the impact of colonization, add texture. Ambitious home bakers will be thrilled. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/01/2024 | Details & Permalink

“Plant care isn’t as intimidating (or expensive) as it may seem,” according to this handy debut primer. Offering a straightforward overview of how to keep houseplants, Brezina points out that south-facing windows “provide plants with the most direct sunlight,” and that checking soil moisture levels to determine when to water a plant is preferable to setting a watering schedule because hydration needs vary by season. Brezina profiles “common, affordable, hardy” flora, noting that the ZZ plant can “tolerate low light and missed waterings,” and that the aspidistra elatior can survive in low temperatures and poor soil. When it comes to cacti, Brezina recommends placing them in locations with lots of direct sunlight and letting them “dry out completely between waterings.” Readers will appreciate the focus on flora that are easy to care for, as well as the useful tips on propagating a variety of edible plants (to grow a pineapple, she suggests cutting off the fruit’s top, stripping away some of its leaves, and then potting it) and getting rid of pests (spray plants with a dish soap solution, or apply rubbing alcohol with a cotton swab). This has everything novices need to get started. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/01/2024 | Details & Permalink

Colorectal surgeon Fong debuts with an informative guide to maintaining healthy bowel movements. She explains that the colon primarily serves to reabsorb water from food after it’s been digested, and that constipation occurs when the colon either absorbs too much water or has trouble contracting. To keep things moving, she recommends consuming “at least sixty-four ounces of water” and 25–35 grams of fiber per day, noting that fiber helps with motility by bulking up stool while producing short-chain fatty acids that provide the colon with energy. She encourages readers to get their daily fiber through foods rather than supplements and includes recipes for roast broccoli, pumpkin pasta, and egg drop soup with spinach and chicken meatballs. Stressing moderation, Fong suggests that while “coffee stimulates enzymes in the saliva and stomach that help with digestion,” too much can cause dehydration, and that while exercise generally aids motility, overly strenuous workouts can trigger a fight-or-flight response that “diverts blood flow from the gut to... the heart and the brain.” Fong’s conversational tone keeps things light without slipping into the scatological (“Poop or get off the pot”). It’s everything readers always wanted to know about constipation but were too afraid to ask. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/01/2024 | Details & Permalink

This colorful but somewhat skimpy collection of treats offers up breezy tips for a tasty holiday season. “Classic Cookies” include linzer stars and giftable shortbread bites with a variety of glaze options. There’s also the less familiar Persian Nan-e Berenji, made with rice flour, cardamom, and rosewater, and Chinese almond cookies. The “Traditions with a Twist” chapter features sourdough snickerdoodles and chai tea cut out cookies. Things get a bit more elaborate in “Showstopping Sweets,” which includes extensive instructions for gingerbread house construction and pumpkin spice cookies cut and decorated with butter cream to look like yule logs. Easy “Not Quite Cookie” recipes provide hurried home cooks with hacks for enhancing ready-made ingredients, like dipping store-bought madeleines in melted chocolate. A final chapter covers vegan and gluten-free options. Frustratingly, many of these recipes require special equipment, including food processors and cookie presses, which is often not indicated until the step at which these items come into play. Instead of an equipment or pantry list, there’s unnecessary filler about how to host “the perfect cookie swap” party with such obvious advice as to send invitations “3 to 4 weeks before.” It’s not perfect, but the range of sweets on offer means this still has plenty of appeal. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Beautiful photos of elegantly plated pasta dishes are the highlight of this handsome volume from Academia Barilla, a cooking school in Parma, Italy, offering 150 recipes developed with Barilla brand pasta shapes in mind. A chapter on dishes for “Everyday Gatherings” offers breezy recipes including fusilli with eggplant, tomatoes, and capers; Sicilian penne with sardines; and gemelli with prosciutto and broccoli. The “Gourmet” chapter calls for “bronze-drawn” pasta shapes (a premium offering in Barilla’s product line), which “capture a greater quantity of sauce” and work well with “ingredients with a strong personality.” Other offerings include linguine with lobster and cherry tomatoes, and tortiglioni with pancetta and black truffles. Striving for the “successful interaction between shape and sauce,” the chapter on “Embracing Creativity” features farfalle with salmon and fennel; papiri, a scrolled pasta shape, with prosecco and oysters; and orecchiette with sausage and zucchini flowers. Another chapter focuses on whole grain (penne with asparagus cream) and gluten free dishes (spaghetti with citrus pesto). Brief overviews of key ingredients, such as balsamic vinegar, Parmigiano Reggiano, and olives, are interspersed throughout but don’t offer useful shopping or cooking tips, and the instructions assume a level of familiarity with advanced techniques. Still, the wide range of recipes and gorgeous packaging makes this a gift for pasta lovers. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Country music star and longtime marijuana advocate Nelson (Energy Follows Thought) teams up with wife Annie for a charming collection of hearty, cannabis-infused dishes that goes well beyond the brownies and cookies readers might expect. Novices to cannabis cooking will find an approachable introduction with helpful dosage guidelines leading into a diverse array of hippie-ish grub—both homestyle (kale soup with sun-dried tomatoes) and elevated (vegan carrot lox)—that will tempt palates whether or not the THC is included. The recipes could be better organized, with chapter names like “Food and Fun” giving little indication as to their contents, and freewheeling sequencing that places squid ink paella directly after bourbon pecan bars. More successful is the Nelsons’ singular storytelling, which provides a vibrant through line as they share culinary memories, alternately hilarious and sentimental. In an introduction to a group of pork recipes, for example, Willie writes, “Somewhere in the lost years of the sixties, I fashioned myself a pig farmer. It was in the middle of a harsh winter when I bought seventeen weaner pigs for a quarter a pound and, genius that I am, wound up selling them six months later for seventeen cents a pound.” Fans of the songwriter will find much to savor in this feel-good offering. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

“Consistently playing with our kids... creates an environment for their growth into successful, well-adjusted people,” according to this astute parenting manual. Explaining that young children learn crucial social and cognitive skills through play, psychotherapists Bryson (The Whole-Brain Child) and Wisen-Vincent outline seven strategies parents can use to maximize its benefits. To help kids become better attuned to their own intentions, thoughts, and feelings, the authors recommend narrating kids’ actions to them (“Looks like you’re building a jumping ramp for the car”). “Mirroring” children during play introduces them to the idea that, since other people can “tune in” to their mindset, so can they understand the perspectives of others, Bryson and Wisen-Vincent contend, suggesting that if a kid starts, for instance, speaking like a robot, a parent might reply as a robot, too. The guidance is straightforward but solid, and Liddiard’s adorable illustrations offer examples of the advice at work. For example, one panel in which a father gently encourages his hesitant young son to wade farther into a pool shows how parents can support kids while pushing them outside their comfort zone. It’s one of the more fun parenting guides readers are likely to encounter. Illus. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Photographer Lea (A Room of Her Own) explores how clothing and jewelry designers decorate their living spaces in this inviting coffee-table book. She explains that Lucinda Chambers, the former fashion director of British Vogue, “inherited her mother’s embrace of multiple design and architecture styles,” placing, for instance, “a super shaggy Colville rug next to one with Aztec-style geometric patterns” in her sitting room. Pointing out continuities between designers’ fashion sense and their interior decorating, Lea suggests that English jeweler Sophie Keegan’s characteristic “playful use of colour” comes through in the “furniture upholstered in vivid patterns and hues” that adorns her German home. Elsewhere, Lea describes how Edgardo Osorio filled his palatial Florence apartment with a mix of antique and mid-century furnishings, and how Martin Grant removed nonessential walls to bring more light and open space into his Parisian apartment. The attractive interiors span a wide range of styles, and the biographical sketches humanize the designers while offering insight into their tastes. For instance, Lea describes how Soledad Twombly’s penchant for synthesizing the old and the new can be traced to her childhood in Argentina, where she was drawn to both the “contemporary ensembles her mother wore” and the “traditional garb worn by her grandparents and their farmhands.” This delights. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Restaurateur Mina (Michael Mina: The Cookbook) presents an exciting celebration of his Egyptian heritage. Traditional dishes—including ta’ameya (fried fava bean patties), ma’amoul (date-filled cookies), and koshari (lentils, chickpeas, pasta, and rice served together in a tomato sauce with onions)—appear alongside his fresh spins on the classics. Instead of stuffing grape leaves with rice or ground meat, Mina opts for yogurt-marinated, spiced chicken thighs, and his take on an Alexandria fish fry gets anachronistically paired with tartar sauce. He finds creative ways to incorporate Egyptian flavors in harissa ratatouille, lamb meatballs with ricotta dumplings and date chutney, and kataifi-wrapped caramelized bananas. Clear instructions, plus an informative pantry list and glossary of Egyptian staples (“Picture hummus made with fava beans and you have bessara”), make this accessible for home cooks of all levels and familiarity with Middle Eastern cuisine. Vibrant photos and fascinating cultural tidbits (“There’s proof in the tombs of ancient Egyptians that lentils have been eaten along the Nile for more than three thousand years”) complement the recipes. The result will make for an outstanding addition to any kitchen library. Agent: Janis Donnaud, Janis A. Donnaud & Assoc. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink