Cooking from The Books 2

Two Thousand Nine was a banner year in my very personal and loving relationship with cookbooks. It started with the Poleyn and Ruhlman book on Charcuterie, a gift to me Christmas 2008 and I have cured around 5 Bresaolas with salts from Detroit since. Ratio the very good book by Michael Ruhlman followed sometime later in '09, and has been a useful addition to my food library, packaged by Scribner just as tastefully as a volume I have on Confucius by the same publisher. Ruhlman's choux pastry ratio is a great hit on both coasts when I have used it to make chocolate eclairs.

In the spring months of 2009, when new condensed editions of Diana Kennedy's treatises on Mexican Cooking were published, so much changed. Every obscure herb, chile and pork cut mentioned in Kennedy's recipes are readily available in the carnicerias and markets of Los Angeles. Familiar to our neighbors to the south these ingredients helped to realize delicious, fragrant and exotic recipes and bring them to life. Here could assemble foods from a cuisine that was the legacy of at least three grand, and ancient civilizations and do it authentically. Delicious food resulted and my barber, The Best In The West, was amazed that I know what epazote is. I think if you want to cook Mexican food authentically you should keep a copy of From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients if no other book on the subject.

The largest local national or ethnic entity in my village apart from Latin Guatemalans and Salvadorans, is Armenian. Markets catering to Armenian tastes brim with tahini from Lebanon, locally made Persian style kashk, specially packaged herbs and fruits and Armenian Vodkas and Turkish Rakias. So, I'll admit that stepping out of the Franglo model has stricken me with the middle-eastern food bug. I first bought Claudia Roden's Book of Middle Eastern Cooking in a diminutive paperback many years ago and found it fascinating. The New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking is current and updated and marvelous. Her Jewish Cookbook is exhaustive, and her coffee table beauty, Arabesque, is just a joy. Claudia Roden's book page at Amazon is here. I frequently cook from Roden's books. Therein, perfect, unintentional diet recipes for weight conscious individuals such as myself. Look for recipes that include quinces or eggplant, they are simple to make, but refreshingly complex on the palate.

I have bought many more helpful cookery books this year but in keeping with my trend the favorite cookbook of 2009 is Kamal Al-Faqih’s Classic Lebanese Cooking. Clear, helpful and nicely presented, I expect to use this book much in the future. The Cuisine of Lebanon is probably the most ornate and complex in the middle east and always a joy to taste. Written by a Washington D.C caterer and restaurateur who has moved into my locale, I will be watching out for his pointers and tips for a more fragrant and beautiful 2010. Kate Colquhoun's Taste was also one of the most all round enjoyable reads of 2009 and dispels the American myth of British cooking being primitive.

By the way Santa dropped off The Fat Duck Cookbook for Christmas 2009 and all I can say is WOW, what a read!