Books that cook

If you’ve got epicures on your list who can cook – or not – a cookbook can make a fine gift. 

Publishers have been decanting new titles for months. We test drove a few and found much to savor.

“How to Cook Everything,” 2nd edition, by Mark Bittman, 1,044 pp., hardback, $35

This is a cookbook for our times.

Because of its scope – 1,044 pages that range from conversion charts to recipes for carrot salad to curried (or plain) crab cakes – it’s perhaps the best cookbook bargain out there.

Because of its philosophy – fresh natural ingredients, simple techniques and basic equipment – it could easily edge out some of the classics for the title of essential kitchen “bible.”

In fact, we first turned to Bittman a few years ago when faced with a summer abundance of fresh strawberries. Classic cookbooks supplied ideas, but most recipes called for more bowls and energy than a body could muster on a summer day.

Bittman’s Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar called for exactly one bowl, 10 minutes and three ingredients: strawberries, balsamic and pepper. His 2nd edition has the same recipe, but served over arugula.

 That’s Bittman – fast, fresh, fantastic.

On the side 

Pair this cookbook with one of the “kitchen basics” listed in the book – a paring knife, perhaps, or a nice set of nesting mixing bowls.

“CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes From Scratch,” by Warren Brown, 223 pp., hardback, $27.50

Here’s the perfect gift for the lawyers and bakers and midlife-crisis  sufferers in your life.

While in his 20s, Warren Brown left the practice of law and opened the hugely popular Washington, D.C., bakery called CakeLove, determined to “skip the middle-aged agony and get on with my pent-up passions right away.”

After ditching the suits, he cross-examined his creative side to reveal all-natural recipes with as little fat as possible (but by no means low fat!). Cakes here include a three-layer Mr. Banana Legs, a Cranberry-Lemon Pound Cake Loaded with Chocolate, and Mojito Pound Cake. About a third of the book is dedicated to the most decadent frostings, glazes and meringues.

We baked the mojito cake for a friend’s birthday. Slightly sweet – a Warren trademark – and slightly tart, it received rave reviews.

“CakeLove” cakes require a fair bit of time and concentration to make. But cooks will learn along the way – for example, how to “segment” citrus fruit to extract the maximum flavor from limes. We wouldn’t recommend this for beginners, but it could nudge a more experienced baker out of a pattern.

On the side  If your baker owns a KitchenAid tilt-head mixer, match this book with a BeaterBlade, a sort of combo beater and spatula that eliminates the need to scrape down the bowl during mixing. They’re about $25 online.

Want to spend less? Include a sack of potato flour (about $7). It’s called for in most of Brown’s recipes and is hardly a kitchen staple.

“The Pretzel Cookbook,” by Priscilla Warren, 176 pp., paperback, $14.95

Although we love pretzels, we never knew anyone to twist them up at home. So when “The Pretzel Cookbook” arrived in the mail, we had to give it a try.

What we learned: Pretzels are fun and ridiculously easy to make. They’re also a great way to get children cooking in the kitchen if you don’t mind a dusting of flour on everything.

Warren’s recipes are varied, easy to follow and will fill your home with the yeasty aroma of just-baked bread. They range from plain, salted pretzels to Almond Joy Pretzel Bites.

 With the assistance of a couple of tweens, we ran through the basic recipe a couple of times with impressive results. The children loved rolling out and twisting up the pretzels … and later eating them. We even crafted a set of initials and boxed them up as a birthday present,  odd yet much loved . 

On the side 

Pair this book with a jar of yeast and a sack of all-purpose flour or a six-pack of quality beer for the grown-ups.

“Heirloom Cooking with the Brass Sisters,” by Marilynn Brass and Sheila Brass, 285 pp., hardback, $29.95

With the whole world at a boil, who couldn’t use a little comfort food right about now?

The Brass sisters, called “the queens of comfort foods,” dish up a buffet full in this retro volume, complete with full-color illustrations of old-fashioned cookbooks and recipes written in slanted script.

In addition to the comfort factor, the authors point out that heirloom recipes are often economical because homemakers in the 1930s and 1940s had to search for ways to make food go further … particularly meat.

That in mind, there are recipes for meatloaf, soups and chicken pot pie. We tried Aunt Ida’s Apple Cranberry Noodle Pudding, a Brass family recipe from the 1940s that can be a main course, a snack or a dessert.

It required a few pots and pans, but the sweet and tart noodle casserole with a walnut crunch tasted like love.

On the side 

Pair this volume with a retro apron or a vintage cooking utensil found at an estate sale, thrift store or auction. We found fun, old-fashioned aprons at Kitchen Koop, 638 High St. in Portsmouth.

“The Best Slow & Easy Recipes,” from the editors of Cook’s Illustrated, 356 pp., hardcover, $35

Say someone had a hankering for chicken and dumplings. Or chili con carne. Or a simple pot roast.

No matter the craving, this book delivers recipes for slow-cooked food that are guaranteed to turn out perfect. It’s a hallmark of the Cook’s Illustrated line. Each recipe is tirelessly tested, and blunders and successes are detailed to explain why one way worked and another did not.

Take a humble pork loin. To arrive at the perfect recipe, the editors tested it brined and unbrined (brined won). They cooked loins at a multitude of different temperatures before arriving at 325 degrees as ideal. And stovetop browning, they found, is a must.

We’ve cooked several loins using this recipe, all to perfection.

This is a fine choice for any cook, beginner or seasoned. It also includes a section of slow cooker recipes, each tested multiple times to guarantee a perfect result.

On the side  A slow cooker would be a perfect pairing for this volume, or a cast iron dutch oven.

“Secrets of the Red Lantern – Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart,” by Pauline Nguyen, 344 pp., hardback, $40

This book delivers two main courses – cookbook and literature.

Beautifully bound in a silken cover with rich color illustrations on heavy stock paper, this volume has the feel of a coffee table book. But inside is a riveting story of the Nguyen family’s exodus from  its native Vietnam and the author’s unhappy upbringing by her hard-driving parents, owners of several Australian restaurant ventures.

The story comes full circle when the Nguyen children open their own wildly popular restaurant in Sydney, The Red Lantern. The elder Nguyens’ work ethic and culinary tradition was handed down  to their children, including a 10-year-old master stock bequeathed from father to son.

The fare on these pages will be foreign to many American palates. Yet cooks who  want to master Vietnamese dishes can attempt fare such as Chao Tom (that’s shrimp paste wrapped around sugarcane), or Bo Kho (beef brisket stewed in aromatic spices) or Muc Nuong Xa (salad of grilled octopus, basil and lemongrass). We tried the latter, and found all the ingredients we needed in one trip to our local Asian market, including the octopus, which came already cleaned. (A recommendation: visit www.vietherbs.com to learn about the herbs beforehand.)

Recipes are easy to follow, and the finished dishes are fresh and light with unexpected flavor combinations. This is great for the culinary adventurer.

On the side 

Pair this one with a trip to a nearby Asian market  …  or an octopus and a handful of basil as a challenge to get started.

“Local Flavors – Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets,” by Deborah Madison, 408 pp., softcover, $26

 Around here, you can’t fling a stick without hitting a farmer s market from spring through fall. This cookbook is for farmers  market foragers who like to cook from their bounty.

It’s almost like a challenge from Madison, a San Francisco chef. Buy something, and she’ll detail how to cook it, and in more ways than one.

Take persimmons, for example. They are plentiful here in the fall. Madison suggests a steamed persimmon pudding made with honey, sea salt and cinnamon or a fall fruit salad with pomegranate  vinaigrette. She even has a suggestion for overgrown arugula, prominent in many gardens this time of year – Spaghetti with Overgrown Arugula and Sheep’s Milk Ricotta.

On the side 

Pair this book with a list of local farmer s markets found at www.virginiagrown.com or www.justhamptonroads.com/FarmersMarket.htm and a cloth bag or woven basket to bring home the bounty. Farmer s markets are open year round in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Lorraine Eaton, (757) 446-2697,lorraine.eaton@pilotonline.com