Soup: A Way of Life
Author: Barbara Kafka
"Dora, my maternal grandmother, " writes Barbara Kafka in her new book, "started the soup tradition that means most to me, which is odd as she was, by all accounts, a bad cook....I hope I am a better cook, and my life has certainly been easier, but I learned from her that a pot of soup is warmth and welcome for family and friends alike."
In this stunningly rich and wide-ranging book, Barbara Kafka gives the food we love perhaps best in the world a new vitality. Though the subject is so familiar to us all, her approach is totally original, just as it was in her award-winning Roasting: A Simple Art and Microwave Gourmet. In a wonderfully diverse collection of nearly 300 recipes from all over the world -- some traditional, some newly minted, many so simple they require no cooking at all, each of them very much a part of our spiritual and emotional lives -- she offers up a lifetime worth of pleasure:
- Icy soups for steamy days (ceviche soup with ginger) and hot soups for cold days (winter duck soup)
- Rustic potages (great green soup) and elegant consommes (beef madrilene)
- simple soups to start (Moroccan tomato) and complex soups that make a meal (beef short ribs in a pot)
- Fifteen-minute specials (mussels and tomato soup) and those that simmer all day (pot-au-feu)
- A magical garlic broth, among other vegetable broths and bases, gives vegetarians hundreds of recipes to enjoy
As always, Barbara's intelligence and talent for innovation have resulted in a vast body of ideas to make your life in the kitchen easy and interesting. Nearly 30 stocks are offered, as well as dozens of ways to use seasonal produce to cook and freeze soup bases for year-round fresh taste. You'll find cooking times for everything from dumplings and piroshki to noodles and pasta, simmering times for every possible cut of meat, and yields and blanching times for dozens of vegetables. There are easy-to-follow charts to answer every cooking question.
And then there's Barbara's "memory pieces." Woven through the recipes, they form a book within a book, one family's personal and culinary history. They're fascinating and warming and enriching on their own. They also remind us why soup is a vital part of our lives. And why Barbara Kafka is a vital part of our cooking experience.
Food & Wine
Nothing's more welcome than a bowl of soup and no one could have done a better job with this topic than Barbara Kafka.
Publishers Weekly
Kafka (Roasting: A Simple Art; The James Beard Celebration Cookbook, ed.) is known for her strong opinions and thorough probing of her subjects, and this encyclopedia of soup lore and nearly 300 recipes follows that pattern. The recipes are terrific. Who could argue with hearty Winter Duck Soup, refreshing Simple Celery Soup, festive Tortilla Soup, elegant Cold Pea and Mint Puree with Shrimp or a Spicy Peanut Butter Soup that can be served hot or cold? Meal-in-a-pot soups such as Turkey Soup Meal with Swiss Chard are particularly promising. The organization, however, is eclectic and prevents the book from being a fully functional reference work. Kafka starts off with soups that have been important to her family members and then divides them roughly by ingredients (e.g., poultry, fish, vegetables). But since most soup recipes blur these boundaries, the divisions are confusing. Sour Cherry Soup ends up stuck in a chapter on vegetable soups (subdivided into hot and cold), and Japanese Shabu Shabu lands in the meat chapter, although it contains plenty of vegetables. A section on stocks features five different chicken stocks alone, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Chicken Stock, which is recommended for only one recipe. The chapter on noodles, dumplings and other additions to soup is wonderful, and Kafka's humor is enjoyably sly (a segment on using nonreactive cookware is labeled "Pot and Acid"). With this much choice to page through, ranging from Garlic Broth to Stewed Eels Comacchio Style, readers will most often agree that, in this case, the path to the treasure is also the treasure.
Food & Wine
Nothing's more welcome than a bowl of soup and no one could have done a better job with this topic than Barbara Kafka.
Table of Contents:
Vegetable Soups
New Tea Book: A Guide to Black, Green, Herbal and Chai Teas
Author: Sara Perry
Tea is hot and getting hotter. In the New Tea Book, no leaf is left unturned. Discover the wide variety of teas that are available and their myriad health benefits, as well as over 50 recipes for cooking with tea: beverages, savories, and delectable sweets. This strikingly photographed volume takes readers on a visual journey exploring the riches of black, green, oolong, and herbal teas, from the fragrant, full-bodied Assam to the spirited and spicy Yunnan. An exciting addition is the completely new Personal Spa section, introducing a host of aromatherapy touches for the home with recipes for tea bath sachets, eye pillows, beauty soaps, and potpourris. Finally, a list of resources gives information on where to find interesting tea blends and equipment, not to mention author Sara Perry's favorite international teahouses. Here's just the right cup o' tea.
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