This is a list of the cookbooks I want. I have them on swaptree, but apparently none of the books I have for trade are good enough to get any of these :-(

A16: Food + Wine

Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook

Argentina Cooks!: Treasured Recipes from the Nine Regions of Argentina

Bouchon

The Complete Robuchon

Cafe Boulud Cookbook: French-American Recipes for the Home Cook

How to Cook Everything

Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook

Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook

I just came back from our semi-annual library sale, and this time I didn't buy many cookbooks, and I didn't have any "finds", but I think I did OK. I got:

-The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian: Recipes from the New and Old Worlds, Simplified for the American Kitchen

-The Foods and Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas

-Ethnic Cuisine: How to Create the Authentic Flavors of Over 30 International Cuisines by Elisabeth Rozin

-Cocina tradicional mexicana by Blanca Nieto

I also got two children's cookbooks:

-Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook - 1997 edition

-Kids' Party Cookbook! by Penny Warner

and finally, a food writing book:

-The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection

They are all in pretty good shape, and I'm quite happy.

Though I love to write about my experiences with food, I'm not much of a reader of food writing. I use cookbooks mostly for recipes (though some, like Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook are so much fun that even I cannot resist them), barely page through cooking magazines, and cannot make myself follow any food blogs. I'm just not a food reader, what can I say?

It's probably for that reason that I did not fall in love with Food & Wine magazine when I started receiving it. It contains lots of long articles about things I care very little about, it has an altogether "posh/foodie" sort of feeling (so very 2005) and I can never find any recipes I want to make. I got the July issue today and I was just about to write lambasting it when, to my great surprise, I actually found some articles I wanted to read (e.g., one on the guy who won Top Chef). First time, I think.

Still, one good issue will not make me renew my subscription.

What am I doing here "reviewing" a cookbook that is over a decade old? Well, this is not really a review but a recommendation. Casas’Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain is one of my favorite cookbooks - in part because I cook a lot of regional cuisines, including Spanish regional cuisines, and in part because, in general, the recipes in the cookbook are not only genuine but also quite good. The book contains a variety of tapas recipes - and then chapters on the cuisine of individual regions of Spain. There is abundant information about what characterizes each regional cuisine, as well as several recipes. Many of them originate in regional restaurants, but have been adapted for the home cook.

In all, one of my favorite cookbooks.

We had a library sale at the San Leandro Public Library this morning, and I can't believe how badly I fared cookbook wise. There were barely any good cookbooks, and pretty much nothing ethnic/international. What I ended up buying was:

China Moon Cookbook

Modern Chinese cuisine from a now-defunct San Francisco restaurant

Ghirardelli Original Chocolate Cookbook

The Ghirardelli Factori Store is close to our home and we shop there all the time. I've seen this cookbook there and have been tempted to buy it - now I got it for less than $1 :-)

A Feast of Scotland

I hesitated in buying this cookbook as it'll be many years before I get to the "S" cuisines, but you never know when I'll want to celebrate some Scottish festival.

and a non-cookbook

Feeding a Yen: Savoring Local Specialties, from Kansas City to Cuzco

I'm not particularly big on food writing, but I thought I'd give this one a try, specially as it could give me ideas of dishes to try.

I have just started cooking from the A16: Food + Wine cookbook, so I'm not ready to write a full review yet. Instead I will be editing this posting as I cook different recipes.

I went to A16 many years ago, when it first opened. It was pretty good, though I disliked the burnt crust of my pizza and there were some service problems ( you can read my full review). There was one wonderful pork dish, which I'm hoping to recreate sometime soon. I started, however, by making the Short Ribs alla Genovese.

I chose that recipe because short ribs were on sale and I love short ribs. The results were, as expected, very good (I've seldom have had braised short ribs that were not good) - though this wasn't necessarily the best short rib recipe I've made. Aegea, a picky 5 yo good friend of my kids, really liked them and I think she ate at least 3 short ribs by herself! (I'm always glad when I can make something little kids will eat). That said, I'd probably not make them again, but just because I'm still searching for the perfect short rib recipe (and there are many, many to try). This is a perfectly good one, however.

I should note, because the book notes, that despite the name this dish does not come from Genoa. It's Neapolitan instead, and predates the arrival of tomatoes in the region - with onions taking center stage instead. One different ingredient that shows up in this recipe is an anchovy. I put it, but I wonder how much of a difference it made. Probably not enough to justify having to buy a whole anchovy tin (unless, of course, you'll consume the rest of the anchovies). I followed the recipe pretty closely, I did only use 3 (rather than 4) red onions, more wouldn't have fit into my pan. I also used dried rosemary rather than 1 sprig of rosemary, as I didn't want to pay $2 for a package of fresh rosemary only to use 1 spring. Anyway, here is the recipe.

A16's Monday Meatballs have (or did) become pretty famous among the crowd of the Craigslist food forum, where I often hang out. Still, they are quite laborious to make, so I hadn't tried them. Having the book on hand gave me the opportunity to finally pay them homage, so I made them last Sunday. They were easier to make than I thought (though still laborious, mostly because you need to grind your own meat & breadcrumbs) and they have an amazing texture. There is a perfect balance between the meat, the bread and the other ingredients, so that the meatballs are light, but still substantial. Apparently the secret is having a greater bread-to-meat ratio - American meatballs tend to be heavier in the latter - but I'm sure the extra elements, like the ricotta, helped lighten them up as well. As much as I liked the texture, I wasn't crazy about the taste. In sum: they were too salty. I used 1 Tbsp. of salt like the recipe required, and while I could taste some hints of herbs and other flavors in the meatballs, most of what I did taste was salt. So be forewarned, if you make them - start by adding just 1 tsp. of salt, and add more salt only after cooking a sample and tasting it.

I followed the recipe for the meatballs pretty closely, but I did make some necessary changes. I decreased the chili flakes to 1/2 tsp, from the 1 tsp the recipe asked for - and the meatballs were still too salty for my daughters (which dined on steamed broccoli instead!). I also ended up using regular parsley instead of Italian parsley - because I stupidly didn't specify in my shopping list, so my husband bought what he thought I wanted - and I didn't use San Marzano tomatoes for the sauce. My days of shopping all over town for special ingredients are pretty much over, if my local Safeway doesn't carry a product, chances are I'll have to substitute - so I used regular whole tomatoes with basil. For that reason, and the fact that basil is over $2 a bunch, I also skipped the basil leaves from the sauce. To tell you the truth, I thought the sauce was pretty good as it was - though I'm sure it'd be better the A16 way. Finally, I didn't have grana cheese at home, so I used Peccorino-Romano cheese instead.
Below you can find the recipe as I made it, with recommendations on how to improve it in parenthesis.

On a final note, as you'll the recipe calls for 10 oz of ground pork shoulder and beef chuck each. A butcher may sell you 10oz of those meats, but Safeway does not - so plan to buy a larger quantity of each (I got about 4lbs) and then use them in other meals. I made a braised beef with the beef, and A16's braised pork shoulder with the pork.

Short Ribs alla Genovese

• 1 packaged anchovy-fillet
• 5 lbs short ribs
• 2 Tbsp. Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups red wine
• 1/2 carrot, peeled & finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 5 black peppercorns
• 3 red onions, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

Take one anchovy, rise it under running water and then let it stand in water for a couple of minutes. Then chop it finely. Set aside.

Trim excessive fat from the short ribs. Season with kosher salt, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 275F.

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat, in a wide, heavy, oven-safe pot. Add the ribs, making sure they are not crowded, and brown on all sides - you may need to do this in two batches. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Meanwhile, put the wine into a small pot and reduce in high heat until it's about 1/2 cup. Set aside.

Ass 2 Tbsp of olive oil to the wide pan and heat over medium-low heat. Add the chopped carrot and celery and cook until the vegetables start to often, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chopped anchovy, garlic cloves and peppercorns and cook until the garlic softens, about 3 minutes. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook until the onions soften, stirring frequently, about 5-10 more minutes. Stir in the vinegar and wine and remove from the heat.

Return the ribs to the pan and sprinkle with rosemary. Cover (use aluminum foil if your pan doesn't have a cover), put in the oven, and braise for 2 1/2 hours, or until the short ribs are soft. To serve, transfer the short ribs to a serving plate, cover with sauce and drizzle with some olive oil.

Monday Meatballs

• 6 oz day-old country bread
• 12 oz boneless pork shoulder
• 2 oz pork fat
• 2 oz prosciutto
• 10 oz beef chuck
• 1 cup parsley (Italian parsley), coarsely chopped
• 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp kosher salt (1 Tbsp kosher salt)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp. dried chile flakes (1 tsp.)
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup ricotta, drained if necessary (fresh ricotta)
• 1/4 cup milk (whole milk)
• olive oil
• 1 28oz can peeled whole tomatoes w/ basil (San Marzano tomatoes + basil leaves)
• Pecorino-Romano cheese (grana)

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut bread into small chunks and put into a food processor, process until finely ground. Put into a large bowl.

Trim excess fat from the pork shoulder. Put prosciutto and 2 oz of pork fat in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut 10 oz of trimmed pork shoulder into 1" cubes and put them in the food processor*. Process until finely chopped. Add to the bowl with the bread crumbs. Cut the beef chuck into 1" cubes, and similarly process in the food processor. Put in bowl. Cut pork fat into chunks, process in the food processor and put in bowl. Do the same with the prosciutto.

Add the parsley, 1 tsp. of salt, oregano, fennel seeds and chile flakes to the bow. Mix with your hands until all ingredients are combined. Set aside.

In a separate small bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Add the ricotta and milk, and whisk lightly until the ingredients are combined. Add the ricotta mix to the meat mix and combine with your hands.

Heat a small skillet (oil if necessary) and take a pinch of meat mixture, flatten and cooked in both sides until cook through. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Coat a large rimmed baking sheet with olive oil.

Form 1 1/2" meatballs and place them in the baking sheet. Bake until browned, 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet once. Remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 300F.

Pour the canned tomatoes into a large bowl and sprinkle 2 tsp of salt. With your hands**, break the tomatoes into small pieces.

Transfer the meatballs into a medium-size baking pan, packing them in. Pour the sauce over the meatballs, cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the meatballs are tender. Remove from the oven and, if using basil, distribute the basil leaves throughout the sauce.

Before serving, grate cheese over the meatballs and drizzle with olive oil.

You can also use a meat grinder, in which case you can grind the meats and bread crumbs together.

You can also pass the tomatoes through a food mill

Note that this recipe must be made over 2-3 days.

Braised Pork Shoulder with Olives

• 1 4lb picnic style pork shoulder (preferably boneless)
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 2 cups green olives
• 1 head of garlic, divided but not peeled
• 2 springs rosemary
• 1 tsp. herbs de provence
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage
• 1 large or 2 small bay leaves
• 1 cup white wine

Cut pork into 6 similarly-side portions (remove the bone if needed, do not remove the fat). Sprinkle evenly with kosher salt, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 250F

Pat the pork with paper towels. Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large oven-safe pot over medium-high heat and, working in batches, brown the pork on all sides. Set aside.

Discard any oil from the pan and deglaze it with 1/4 cup water, dislodging any brown bits.

Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil to the pot. Lower the temperature dd the olives, garlic, rosemary and dried sage & herbs de provence, stir. Place the pork over them. Add the bay leaf.

Combine the wine and 1 cup water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Pour the wine mixture over the pork, so that it's halfway up the sides. Add more water if necessary.

Cover the pot and braise for 1 1/2 hours. Turn pork pieces upside down and cook until the pork is fork tender, about 1 more hour. ...

(I had to return to the book to the library before I finished typing up this recipe, and the one for the chocolate sorbet I made for dessert. I'll finish this posting as soon as I get the book back :-)

I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan of Gordon Ramsay's (I'd probably have to eat in his restaurants to really appreciate him), but I do like watching Kitchen Nightmares from time to time - even though the program is all in all pretty repetitive.

Anyway, I saw Ramsay's cookbook (Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food) at the library and thought I'd give it a try. During the week, I do need recipes that can be done rather quickly. Plus I wanted to see if he's as good as he believes.

One thing I can say, is that his book reflects his personality, at least as seen on TV. The book is completely frantic, going from one topic to another apparently randomly. Instead of having the recipes organized by ingredient, they are intercepted by recipes from different cuisines or courses. A chapter on working lunches, for example, is followed by one on Mexican flavors. The book is also very colorful and has pretty pictures of all the included dishes. The recipes are relatively simple, though not necessarily cheap.

The first dish I tried was his Pasta with pancetta, leek & mushrooms. Rather than spend $ on pancetta, I used bacon. I did use creme fraiche, which was a waste of money (I bought it at Safeway, it's half as cheap at Trader Joe's). I can't imagine it made too much of a difference. In any case, I was not impressed. The dish was quite bland. It'd have been much better (but much more caloric) with twice the amount of bacon. I did add a lot of Parmesan cheese, and that helped - but then again, pasta with Parmesan cheese by itself is pretty good. I would not make this dish again. You can find my adaptation of the recipe below.

The second dish was Baked pork chops with a piquant sauce, a recipe which you can also find online. I followed this one pretty closely as well, though I used a different type of mushrooms and used dried thyme instead of fresh (because I couldn't find fresh thyme last time I went to Safeway). My one big mistake was misreading "1 Tbsp" sugar for "1 tsp" sugar - so the resulting sauce was a tad too sweet. Miked liked the overall dish, but I wasn't too impressed yet again. It just seemed like an average dish, not bad, not great. I probably wouldn't make it again either. My version of the recipe (with the correct amount of sugar) is below as well.

BTW, IMHO, the recipe produces too much sauce for the pork chops, I'd either reduce it by a third or use it with 6 pork chops. I served them with buttermilk mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Finally, I made Sticky Lemon Chicken, another recipe easily found online. Indeed, it seems that you can find many of his recipes online, so it may not be worth it to buy his cookbook at all (it's pretty sad that he has to recycle old recipes into a new book, rather than coming up with new ones). In any case, even though I skipped the fresh thyme and parsley listed in the original recipe, the results were quite good. I should say that the recipe calls for 1 large chicken cut into pieces - there is no suggestion that the chicken should be boneless. HOWEVER, as I suspected, my bone-in chicken parts did not cook in the 15 minutes it takes for the sauce to cook. I'd suggest that you either use boneless chicken for this recipe, or be prepared to cook the chicken for at least half an hour. I'd also suggest that you cover the dish while cooking. My suggestions are incorporated into the recipe below.

When l originally wrote this posting, I forgot dessert! Indeed, I made one of the desserts from the book, the Banana mousse with butterscotch ripple, it was very easy, quite good and extremely caloric. Still, it's definitely the sort of dessert you can whip up when you really, really, really want something sweet to finish a meal - and happen to have both bananas and whipping cream handy. I did like how easy it was to make the butterscotch. This was my second adventure in candy making (the first being toffee).

Recipes

Penne with Bacon, Leeks & Mushrooms

• 10 oz dried penne
  
• salt
  
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  
• 6 slices of bacon, chopped
  
• 1 large leek, finely sliced
  
• 8 oz button mushrooms, sliced
  
• salt & pepper
  
• 2 Tbsp. creme fraiche
  
• 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
  
• Parmesan cheese
  

Boil the penne in salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil to medium-high in a large skillet. Add the bacon and cook until golden brown. Add the leek and mushrooms; season with salt & pepper. Cook over high heat until the leeks are tender, about 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently.

Drain the pasta and immediately mix with the leek/mushroom mixture and the creme fraiche. Season again with salt & pepper. Sprinkle with the parsley and mix. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Baked Pork Chops with a Piquant Sauce

• olive oil
• 4 pork chops
• sea salt & pepper
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 3 rosemary sprigs (leaves only)
• 1/2 head of garlic, separated into cloves but left unpeeled
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 red Jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 8oz white button mushrooms, sliced
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400F. Lightly oil a baking sheet large enough to accommodate the pork chops.

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the pork chops. Place in the baking sheet and sprinkle with thyme. Put the rosemary leaves and unpeeled garlic cloves on top of the pork chops. Drizzle with olive oil. Put in the oven and cook until done 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Heat 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, red pepper, jalapeño and mushrooms. Cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and add sugar, mix. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10-12 minutes, until the onions are tender and the sauce has thickened.

Once the pork chops are ready, let them rest for 5 minutes. Plate them, pour any liquid remaining in the baking sheet onto the sauce, and mix well. Spoon the sauce onto the pork chops and serve.

Sticky Lemon Chicken

• 5 lb bone-in chicken pieces (or equivalent boneless chicken)
• sea salt & black pepper
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 lemon, finely sliced

Salt and pepper the chicken. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and garlic and sprinkle with thyme. Brown the chicken on both sides.

Add the sherry vinegar and boil until reduced by half. Add the soy sauce and honey and shake the pan to mix. Add the hot water and lemon slices. Mix well. If using bone-in chicken, cover the pan and cook until the chicken is almost done (half an hour or so). Then uncover and boil the liquid until syrupy. If using boneless chicken, cook uncovered until the chicken is done and the liquid is syrupy, around 10 minutes, turning once.

Banana mousse with butterscotch ripple

• 4 large ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp unsaltted butter
• 2 1/4 cups whipping cream
• squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 oz semisweet chocolate

Place the bananas in the freezer for 1-2 hours, if possible. When they are ready, peel and chop them.

Meanwhile, make the butterscoth sauce by putting the sugar, butter and 2/3 cup of whipping cream in a small heavy pot and cooking it over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted, stirring constantly. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes, still stirring, and then remove from the heat and let the sauce cool down completely.

Put the bananas, the lemon juice and the remaining whipping cream in a blender bowl. Blend until smooth and creamy.

To assemble, spoon some butterscotch along the sides of 4 glasses or serving bowls. Pour in the banana mousse and top with some more butterscotch. Grate some chocolate on top of each bowl and serve.

I just got a message about this new Burmese cookbook: hsa*ba, Burmese cookbook. hsa*ba means "please eat" in Burmese (is that the name of the language?). I haven't seen the book, but as there aren't many books on Burmese cooking, I thought I'd mention it. The website also has some Burmese recipes.

My cooking page on Burmese food is here. I enjoyed cooking the food, as it was quite different - but comforting - from what I usually make.

This morning we had another library sale, and as usual I bought a bunch of cookbooks. Cookbooks that I have nowhere to put in my house (what a convoluted sentence). Here they are:

Coastal Carolina Cooking - by Nancy Davis & Kathy Hart
The Cooking of Japan [Foods of the World Series]
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine - by Jeff Smith
Monet's Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet - by Claire Joyes
Natural cooking the finish way - by Ulla Käkönen
Savor the Flavor of Oregon - by Junior League of Eugene
Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain - by Penelope Casas, 1987

I've decided to make a list of the cookbooks I own, so I don't have to search all over the place to see if I have one in particular. It's a time consuming task, but c'est la vie.

General Cookbooks

Bay Wolf Restaurant Cookbook - by Michael Wild et all
Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook - 1953
Frugal Gourmet - by Jeff Smith
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine - by Jeff Smith
Joy of Cooking - by Irma and Marion Rombauer Becker Rombaucher

Specialty Cookbooks

The Barbecue! Bible - by Steven Raichlen

All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking - by Molly Stevens

The Fabulous Fondue Cookbook - by Carmel B. Reingold

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas by Jeff Smith

Children's Cookbooks

Great Girl Food: Easy Eats & Tempting Treats for Girls to Make - by Jeanette Wall

Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook - 1997 edition

Kids' Party Cookbook! - by Penny Warner

Ethnic Cookbooks

The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors - by Jeff Smith
Bon Appetit Tastes of the World
Ethnic Cuisine: How to Create the Authentic Flavors of Over 30 International Cuisines - by Elisabeth Rozin

Unusual Acadian Recipes for the sweet tooth - by Mercedes Vidrine
The Africa News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens - by Inc. Africa News Service
The Africa Cookbook - by Jessica B. Harris
The complete American Housewife - 1776 - by Julianne Belote
British Museum Cookbook - by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson
Las Recetas Económicas de Doña Petrona - by Petrona C. de Gandulfo
The Balkans Cookbook - by Jugoslovenska Knjiga
The Basque Table: Passionate Home Cooking from One of Europe's Great Regional Cuisines - by Teresa Barrenechea
The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees - by Gerald Hirigoyen
Cocina Vasca - by X. Costa Clavell
Traditional Bulgarian Cooking - by Atanas Slavov
Caribbean and African Cookery - by Rosamund Grant
The Complete Book of Caribbean Cooking - by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz
Sky Juice and Flying Fish: Traditional Caribbean Cooking - by Jessica B. Harris
Coastal Carolina Cooking - by Nancy Davis & Kathy Hart
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece, and Rome - by Jeff Smith
Danish Cookery - by Susanne
Natural cooking the finish way - by Ulla Käkönen
A Taste of Florida - by Dorothy Chapman
The French Chef Cookbook - by Julia Child
Monet's Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet - by Claire Joyes
Green Cookery - by Marin
Authentic Indian-Mexican Recipes - by William Hardwick
Prashad-Cooking with Indian Masters - by J. Kalra (Author)
Best Ever Indian Cookbook - by Mridula Baljekar et al.
Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery - by Sri Owen
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian: Recipes from the New and Old Worlds, Simplified for the American Kitchen
The Korean Cookbook by Judy Hyun
Mediterranean Cooking - by Paula Wolfert
Great Book Of Couscous - Classic Cuisines Of Morocco, Algeria And Tunisia - by Copeland Marks
Book of Middle Eastern Food - by Claudia Roden
Savor the Flavor of Oregon - by Junior League of Eugene
Tradewinds And Coconuts: A Reminiscence And Recipes From The Pacific Islands - by Jennifer Brennan
Las Mejores Recetas de la Cocina Peruana - by Mirza Vasallo González
Philippine Fiesta Recipes - by Leonarda R. Belmonte and Perla B. Del Mundo
Polish Cookbook - by the Culinary Arts Institute
Traditional Quebec Cooking - by Micheline-Mongrain-Dontigny
The Romanian Way of Cooking - by The Geroy's of St. Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church in Ohio
Russian Cooking - no author
The Foods and Wines of Spain - by Penelope Casas
Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain - by Penelope Casas
Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain - by Penelope Casas, 1987
The Elegant Taste of Thailand: Cha Am Cuisine - by Sisamon Kongpan and Pinyo Srisawat
The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking - by Ghillie Basan

Time-Life Foods of the World collection

American Cooking: The Northwest
The cooking of the British Isles
The Cooking of the Caribbean Islands
The cooking of Provincial France
The cooking of Germany
The cooking of Italy
The Cooking of Japan
Latin American cooking
Middle Eastern Cooking
The cooking of Scandinavia
The cooking of Spain and Portugal
The cooking of Vienna's Empire

This morning we went to yet another Friends of the Library booksale at the San Leandro library. I didn't mean to buy too many cookbooks, I have no room as it is, and it's not like I ever use them. But once again, I couldn't resist them. So this is what I got:

A Taste of Florida, by Dorothy Chapman - I guess I'm adding Floridian, to the list of cuisines I'll probably never cook.

The wine lover's cookbook by Sid Goldstein - Mike found it. It's not a book of wine-based recipes (darn!), but of recipes with recommended wine pairings. It gets good reviews at Amazon.com, and it seems it's the kind of book one has to read and not just get recipes from. Seems like a good buy.

The Greens Cook Book by Deborah Madison. I am, as you may know, an anti-vegetarian, I eat barely any vegetables, but I do cook vegetarian food from time to time and I thought it'd be a good addition to my cookbook collection.

The Complete Book of Caribbean Cooking by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz. I already own two or three Caribbean cookbooks, but there are so many islands in that area that I can always use another one. And this book tells you from which country each recipe is.

Middle Eastern Cooking and American Cooking: The Northwest from the Time-Life Foods of the World collection. This is a really old collection - the books are from the 1960's and 70's, but I've found some good recipes in some of them. I have quite a lot of them now, as I keep buying them when I see them at the library sales.

And this is it - until the next sale :)

Last Saturday our local library had its book sale and I scored a lot of cookbooks. Granted most of the stuff they had was quite old, but for $1 for hardcovers and 50-cents for softcovers, who can complain? Now I need a place to store all these books!

Anyway, I got a few spiral or home-bound books:

-Traditional Quebec Cooking by Micheline-Mongrain-Dontigny
circa 1995

-Authentic Indian-Mexican Recipes by William Hardwick
a small pamphlet circa 1965 of recipes from the Rio Grande region

-Unusual Acadian Recipes for the sweet toogh by Mercedes Vidrine
These are cake & pastry recipes from the Acadians that settled in Louisiana, aka Cajuns

-The Romaian Way of Cooking by The Geroy's of St. Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church in Ohio
Really, Romanian-american recipes, c. 1968

-Kauai Cookbook by the Kekaha Parent-Teacher's Association
c. 1959

-Recipes: The Cooking of the Caribbean Islands
a Time-Life publication
Though I have several Caribbean cookbooks, i got this one because it helpfully mentions what country each recipe comes from. Often times Caribbean cookbooks don't.

I also got several books from the Time-Life "Foods of the World" collection circa 1968. These are all hard cover books. I got:

Today our public library had a sale and I picked up a few cookbooks. They are mostly pretty old (cookbook selection at these sales is never that good) but for $1 for hardbacks and 50-cents for paperbacks, I can't complain. I got:

-La Cuisine Creole A collection of Culinary Recipes, 1956 reprint of 1885 original

-Danish Cookery by Susanne, 1961

-The Fabulous Fondue Cookbook by Carmel B. Reingold, 1980
This is a small paperback but might be useful.

-The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child, 1968

-The Frugual Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines, 1989

-Indonesian Food and Cookery by Sri Owen, 1980
I already have a newer, longer Indonesian cookbook by the same author, but for 50c couldn't pass it up

-Polish Cookbook by the Culinary Arts Institute, 1978

I found Molly Stevens' All About Braising at the library a few weeks ago and liked the first couple of recipes so much that I decided to buy the book. I got it for only $11 plus shipping brand new through one of Amazon's affiliates, which I think it's quite a bargain.

The book has a long section on the principles of braising which I haven't read yet, but I do mean to. I'm new to braising but I enjoy the results so much that I do want to try it.

The recipes themselves have been quite good. So far I've made Short Ribs Braised in Porter Ale with Maple-Rosemary Glaze, Herb-Stuffed Leg of Lamb Braised in Red Wine, Whole Chicken Braised with Pears and Pork Pot Roast with Apricots, Cardamon and Ginger. All of them have been quite good.

In all, I can recommend this book wholeheartedly.