The Salt Book

Pastry chef extraordinaire Mae had a bloggiversary book giveaway a while ago and I was lucky enough to win the prize. Unfortunately, the book never arrived to my house Mae kindly sent me another copy. Mae, you rock!

The book I won was The Salt Book: Your Guide To Salting Wisely And Well, With Recipes by Fritz Gubler and David Glynn. The book does not only contain heaps of information about the different kinds and uses of salt, but also recipes ranging from flavoured salts to cured meats to desserts! Great stuff.

The first recipe I chose to try was the Brined Trout. I didn’t use sugar in my brine, but a couple of tablespoons of honey instead. The trout fillets remained in the brine for 2 hours as directed.

Trout in brine

Then I grilled them and served them with a baby spinach, roast pumpkin & macadamia salad.

Brined trout

The result was good, but a bit too salty. I wonder if the fillets I bought were to small. No way to know, because the book didn’t specify size or weight. It doesn’t indicate number of servings, either. Apart from those two small glitches, I think The Salt Book is a great addition to my cookbook collection, and I can’t wait to try more recipes!

Book giveaway winners

Thanks to the readers who entered the competition! The winners are (thanks to Excel’s rand function):

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma: Tricia
• Food Rules: Chloe
• The Bread Bible: Diana
• Jams And Preserves: Sarah

I’ll send you guys an email to get your addresses.

Book giveaway

Xmas is coming! I have four food-related books that I bought brand new but realised won’t need them. So what better idea to give them to some of the brave people who read my silly posts? Here’s the deal: just write a comment in this post saying which book or books would you like to have from the list. Unlike Santa I can’t guarantee you’ll get what you asked for, but I’ll do my best. Just make sure to include your email address (and yes, if you’re the only commenter you’ll end up with the full package).

The goodies:

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat (young readers edition) – Michael Pollan: I haven’t read this one (not a kid anymore!) but read the grown-up version and absolutely loved it. American journalist Michael Pollan is one of my favourite food writers. Unlike others who sound more like extreme activists, he manages to find an easy-to-read balance between food politics, sustainability, and health. This book would be a great present for helping your kids (or young relatives) become more aware of what they eat.

  

  From the book:

  It’s time to become a food detective!

  “What’s for dinner?” seems like a simple quetion, But do you really know…

  - What happens to a field of potatoes destined to become french fries… or

  - In how many disguises corn sneaks into your food? (Hint: It’s in your soda, your burger, and that Twinkie!)

  - Do you know what that “organic” sticker on your banana actually means… or

  - Where the chicken in your nugget grew up?

  Do you know the secrets behind what you eat?

  in this book, you’ll go undercover at the supermarket. You’ll delve behind the scenes of your dinner, and by the time you’ve digested the last page you’ll have put together the fascinating (and sometimes disturbing) puzzle of what’s on your plate and how it got there.

  This young readers edition of Michael Pollan’s bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma includes a brand-new introduction and afterword, an exclusive author Q&A, and a variety of fresh visual “evidence.”

• Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual – Michael Pollan: For this book Michael Pollan compiled a large set of rules regarding what, when and how much to eat. These rules didn’t come from doctors or dietitians, but from traditional cultures, mums and grannies, and that wacky thing called common sense. Awesome little manual to have always on hand.

  

  From the book:

  Eating doesn’t have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food. Written with the clarity, concision and wit that has become bestselling author Michael Pollan’s trademark, this indispensible handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely, one per page, accompanied by a concise explanation. It’s an easy-to-use guide that draws from a variety of traditions, suggesting how different cultures through the ages have arrived at the same enduring wisdom about food. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat buffet, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, “What should I eat?”

• The Baking Bible – Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter: This one’s for the bread lovers! There’s nothing more satisfying that kneading, baking and serving your own bread. And there’s hardly a better smell than fresh bread out of the oven.

  

  From the book:

  Over 100 traditional bread recipes and variations from every corner of the world, from Europe and the Mediterranean to Asia and the Americas.

  More than 600 colours photographs in total, including both step-by-step instructions and glorious pictures of finished breads to demonstrate exactly what the finished results will look like.

  A fully illustrated reference section presents a glallery of the breads of the world with fascinating details such as how the bread is baked, its history, shape and flavour, and the ingredients used.

  Includes recipes for classic breas such as Italian ciabatta, Irish soda bread and San Franciscan sourdough as well as less well known varieties such as Portuguese corn bread and Syrian onion bread.

  Learn how to make pumpernickel, pretzels and parathas, and all kinds of delicious sweet loaves such as bara brith, muffins and Boston brown bread.

  A detailed step-by-step techiniques section explains every stage of the bread-making process from mixing and kneading to glazing and baking, and offers advice of using bread-making machines.

• Jams And Preserves – Murdoch Books: Homemade edible gifts rock. Jams and preserves have an added bonus: they last virtually forever (well, maybe not but way more than cookies). Get your pots and jars ready, you’ll find all the recipes you need in this book.

  

  From the book:

  Making jams and chutneys is an easy way to defy the seasons and preserve the flavour of fruits and vegetables for many months. More than 100 recipes for sweet and savoury jams, preserves, marmalades and pickles celebrate an old tradition that will never go out of fashion.

Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw

Two weeks ago, Anthony Bourdain’s new book titled “Medium Raw” was released. Of course I had read about it a while ago and was planning to buy it on the Internet soon. On the day of its release, there was a post in the Australian Food News blog (yes, I’m one of the food geeks who read that blog) with a review of the book. At the end of the post where you could submit your information for entering in a draw of 5 copies of the book. Of course, I sent my data, not expecting to win (I rarely do in this kind of things) and forgot about it.

Well, turns out that on Saturday morning I opened the mailbox and found a book-sized package for me. I couldn’t remember buying any books lately so I was puzzled.

As soon as I got into the house, I opened the package, and there it was: my copy of Medium Raw!

I’ve been a fan of Bourdain since 2005, when I started watching No Reservations on Discovery Travel And Living. That’s when I started cooking seriously and from all the channels available in my full cable package I only watched Travel And Living and elgourmet.com (from Argentina). Bourdain’s show not only appealed to me as a means to learn about other places and cuisines; I was totally “charmed” by the guy’s rock’n'roll attitude. He became my hero.

I don’t watch much TV anymore and I don’t have cable. I don’t even know if you can watch No Reservations here in Australia but I keep receiving news from Bourdain via Twitter and Facebook. I still respect him a lot. I’m sure that I’ll eat in Les Halles if I go to New York, even knowing that he won’t be there. I’ve read Kitchen Confidential and found it honest, inspiring and extremely amusing. I haven’t read his other books yet, I don’t have much time to read these days, but I will order them soon, as soon as I finish my free new book.