Edibles
Portable bento
Since I started using this bento-style lunchbox to take my meals to work, I have found it's made me much more particular about what I eat. I've never been one to spend much time in the kitchen, and I recently realized I was eating way too much junk/restaurant food as a result. I decided if I were to present my meals in an appealing way, I might pay more attention and start eating better. I also have the Mr. Bento Lunch Jar, which definitely has good presentation capabilities, but I found when I was taking it to work regularly it was difficult for me to fill up in such a way I did not have way too much food or a lot of unused space. The Laptop Lunchbox is the perfect size for me. I carry a little under 600 calories in it in general, just enough to get through a work day. Unlike the Mr. Bento, this lunchbox doesn't keep things hot, but the containers are advertised as microwave-safe. I generally bring foods that are ok at room temperature or cool: sandwich, nuts, apples/applesauce, carrots, hummus.
The box is 9" x 7" x 2" and holds four main containers, two that are 4.5" x 3" x 1.75" (volume each: ~1 cup) and two that are 2" x 3" x 1.75" (volume each: ~1/2 cup). There's also a small dip container that is 1.5"x1"x1.5", which goes into one of the other containers. Only the dip container and one of the larger containers has a lid, so you have to use mostly non-liquid foods. The lid of the outer box rests nearly flush with the tops of the inner containers, so small items don't fly around even if you hold the lunchbox sideways. I usually leave out one large container and put a sandwich there instead (cut in thirds, it fits better and looks quite nice on display). It’s somewhat marketed for kids. I've seen reviews from users who send one with their 2-year-olds to daycare -- a bit surprising considering how much it holds -- but the site sells more adult-appropriate bags and additional containers. They also offer an insulated Bento Sleeve with Ice Pack, which I would consider if I didn't have a fridge in my office.
Having been pushed into the prepare-my-own-food mindset, I'm actually starting to cook more for other meals (I even bought a rice cooker and immersion blender). It's been somewhat life-changing, which may seem a little odd. Of course, there's a Flickr pool for Laptop Lunches, so I know I'm not the only one.
-- Maria Blees
Laptop Lunchbox
$21
(no sleeve*)
Available from the manufacturer, Obentec, Inc.
*includes copy of The Laptop Lunch User's Guide
$34
(w/sleeve, no book)
Also from ReusableBags
Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:
The Hacker's Diet
LiquiSeal Travel Mug
Omnivore's Dilemma
DIY mycology DVDs
I have Mushrooms Demystified and I just joined a local group so I can find my own mushrooms to start, but this DVD set my wife got me is all about growing mushrooms and is easier to get to grips with. It is two DVDs that start out from very simple (growing oysters/lions mains in a fish tank) to hunting in the forest and isolating your own strain. There's also a great section on how to grow oysters in a laundry basket. Everything in these DVDs is all done step by step, so it's easy to follow and understand -- very hands-on with lots of little hints and tips.
The first DVD is great for novices or kids, but the second DVD moves in to agar work, which is more for the professional. I have been growing oyster mushrooms, but the DVD shows how I can move up production so I'm not just growing a couple of meals at a time. I had no prior experience with mycology, but my wife and I have a small garden and we're trying to see how much we can produce to save on bills. After watching this DVD, I think this could help people start their own small business. I've actually looked into growing for local farmers markets for a bit of extra cash.
-- Jo Fas
Let's Grow Mushrooms!
$50
Available from RR Video
[The DVDs are not yet available via Netlflix, but you can preview sections of the discs on YouTube -- sl]
Robust banana carrying-case
Whether I'm hiking or commuting to the office, this sturdy plastic sheath never fails. The two ends connect in the middle, where a slight turn locks the unit in place. Even when the bunker winds up getting beat up at the bottom of my bag, the two pieces stay united. The straw-like section only gives slightly, so the curviest bananas are harder to fit -- and really long, oversized bananas are a tight squeeze. Once you get acquainted with the bunker, however, it's easy to spot bundles in the market that will fit just right. I use my bunker no less than three times a week. Based on all the smooshed bananas I used to toss out, this contraption has already paid for itself dozens of times over.
-- Steven Leckart
Banana Bunker
$5
Available from and manufactured by Cultured Containers
Instant hot water source
Cool Tools reviewed the Zojirushi rice cooker, but I'm surprised you haven't listed Zojirushi's other essential kitchen appliance: the Electric Dispensing Pot.
Like the rice cooker, it's an appliance that EVERY Japanese household has. Its function is simple: it makes and dispenses hot water at just below boiling, as much or as little as you want. Perfect for a cup of tea or a cup of noodles.
We picked up the US version when we moved back from Japan, and it's performed flawlessly for over a decade. Lots of nice little touches -- Steve Jobs stole the "MagSafe" power cord from the Zojirushi -- it makes it easy to move the pot to the tap to fill it up.
-- Robert Woodhead
Zojirushi 3 Liter Electric Dispensing Pot
$130
Available from Amazon
Durable steel hands
As a former cook in 4 restaurant kitchens, I've found these simple tongs to be an indispensable cooking utensil day in and day out. Stirring, cooking and tossing pasta, flipping steaks and grabbing anything hot, i.e. pans. They become an extension of your hands as a cook. I continue to use them in my kitchen. But I often see a lot of inferior, cheap and just plain useless tongs included with BBQ sets. They are usually too long or poorly designed to be effective utensils. Get these: Williams Sonoma Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs, or a pair of OXO Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs.
-- Alan Hachey
I learned how indispensable a decent pair of tongs can be around the campfire while working as a river and ocean kayak guide. We cooked as much of the meals as possible on a grill over the fire, to conserve fuel on multi-day trips. I still cook this way whenever possible and use these OXO Stainless Steel Locking Tongs to not only move food around on the grill but to move hot coals or briquettes to where I need them! These tongs lock closed for easy storage and have a 'hook hole' for hanging up. The non-slip rubber grip has held up for years in the dishwasher. Available in 9", 12", and 16" models. For obvious reasons, I would suggest the 16" ones for outdoor cooking. Buy one of these for that unfortunate soul still using a (gasp!) fork at the barbecue.
-- Lewis Duffy
Readers Adam Fields and Lisa Williams also recommend the OXO Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs. These sport handy rubber grips, lock closed for storage, and are the ideal surrogate hands in the kitchen.
It's the pair we have.
-- KK
OXO Good Grips Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs, 12"
$9
Available from Amazon
Perfect egg timer
I love love boiled eggs. After several batches of less than perfect (but still edible) eggs, I was reminded of a nifty gadget my mom kept around. This little chunk of lucite reacts to heat the way eggs do giving you a perfect hard or soft boiled egg -- no matter if you subscribe to the "boil then add the eggs" method or if you prefer to bring the water to a boil with the eggs already in the water.
-- Rene
Egg Timer
$8
Available from Amazon
Quick apple peeler and corer
Last year I spent some time with my wife's grandmother who seems to effortlessly make dozens of wonderful apple pies despite having poor hand strength due to advanced rheumatoid arthritis. When we finally convinced her to pass along the secret of her pie making success we discovered that she was using an apple peeler/slicer/corer combination machine that had my cool tool radar zinging like crazy. Simply poke the three prongs into the base of the apple and start turning the crank at the end, before you know it you have a lovely spiral of cored and peeled apple that can quickly be cut into quarters and thrown into the pie. It's safe for children to use once the apple is on the prongs, has a very elegant mechanism that is not obvious until you see it in action, and best of all it makes cutting up apples so simple you'll wish you had one years ago.
You can find a version on Amazon for $25 that clamps to a kitchen bench, but I find that the models with a vacuum base are the same price and are far easier to set up and use. Linens and Things has a good one.
-- Steve Allen
International Apple Peeler and Corer
$20
Available from Linens and Things
$25
Available from Amazon
Bulk pineapple slicer
I am not a big fan of single use tools but this is by far the only tool for this job. We had a party where I needed to core and slice about 3 cases of pineapples, and what would have taken all day took a few hours. No skill is needed. You just cut the top off of the pineapple and screw down the corer. Once you are at the bottom just pull out the meat and you're done. The pineapple is evenly sliced and you are left with a useable hull (for making fruity drinks in of course). I have seen them for sale for as little as 7 dollars.
-- Walter Susong III
Pineapple Slicer
$11
Available from Tesco
Coffee Syringe
This thing makes a really good cup of coffee fast. It's well made, compact, and clean up is easy.
The AeroPress is 2.5 inch diameter syringe with a paper micro filter mounted across the bottom. It sits on top of a common coffee mug for brewing. You put in fine ground coffee measured with the included scoop. The scoop is about 1.5 times bigger than the ones you might get with regular a drip coffee maker. You put in hot water at the recommended 175 degrees which is cooler than other methods. You stir for 10 seconds and push the plunger in. Compressed air pushes the coffee out in 10 - 20 seconds. What you have in the cup is concentrated coffee. If you dilute it about 50/50 with hot water you get the strength of a regular cup of good coffee. It tastes great!
I have a French press, a vacuum brewer, various kinds of drip brewers, a good espresso machine, and I roast my own coffee. Since I got my AeroPress two months ago I favor it for all my coffee except espresso. It's not fair to call the AeroPress concentrate espresso as the manufacture does but that's a minor point.
-- Frank Cox
Aeropress
$28
Available from Sweet Maria's
Manufactured by Aerobie
Home-brewing software
For the closet beer geek in all of us, ProMash allows a brewer to virtually brew a recipe before ever setting foot in the home or professional brewery. It frees the user from the tedious "carry the 1" calculations that abound in the brewing process and helps you keep track of the history of a beer as it develops over time. Updates are provided yearly, free of charge to registered owners.
-- Drew Beechum
 
ProMash
(For Windows)
$25
Available from
ProMash
Food answers
This is the smartest book in my kitchen. It's where I go whenever I
have a question about what I am eating, or the science behind its
preparation. Simply the best source for understanding food and how it
works. Now in its updated second edition. Covers ingredients from all
over the world and time. Awesome, encyclopedic.
-- KK
On Food and Cooking
The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee
2004, 884 pages
$26
Available from
Amazon
Sample Excerpts:
Aromas from Altered Carotenoid Pigments.
Both drying and cooking break some of the pigment molecules in
carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables into small, volatile fragments
that contribute to their characteristic aromas. These fragments
provide notes reminiscent of black tea, hay, honey, and violets.
*
Green Chlorphyll.
One change in the color of green vegetables as they are cooked has
nothing to do with the pigment itself. That wonderfully intense,
bright green that develops within a few seconds of throwing
vegetables into boiling water is a result of the sudden expansion and
escape of gases trapped in the spaces between cells. Ordinarily,
these microscopic air pockets cloud the color of the chloroplasts.
When they collapse, we can see the pigments much more directly.
*
Soba: Japanese Buckwheat Noodles.
Buckwheat noodles were made in northern China in the 14th century,
and had become a popular food in Japan by around 1600. It's difficult
to make noodles exclusively with buckwheat flour because the
buckwheat proteins do not form a cohesive gluten. Japanese soba
noodles may be from 10%-90% buckwheat, the remainder wheat. They're
traditionally made from freshly milled flour, which is mixed very
quickly with the water and worked until the water is evenly absorbed
and the dough firm and smooth. Salt is omitted because it interferes
with the proteins and mucilage that help bind the dough (p. 483). The
dough is rested, then rolled out to about 3 mm thick and rested
again, then cut into fine noodles. The noodles are cooked fresh, and
when done, are washed and firmed in a container of ice water,
drained, and served either in a hot broth or cold, accompanied by a
dipping sauce.
*
Maple Sugaring Without Metal or Fire.
In 1755, a young colonist was captured and "adopted" by a small group
of natives in the region that is now Ohio. In 1799 he published his
story in An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and
Travels of Col. James Smith, which includes several descriptions of how the Indians made maple sugar. Here's the most ingenious method.
"We had no large kettles with us this year, and the squaws made the
frost, in some measure, supply the place of fire, in making sugar.
Their large bark vessels, for holding the stock-water, they made
broad and shallow; and as the weather is very cold here, it
frequently freezes at night in sugar time; and the ice they break and
cast out of the vessels. I asked them if they were not throwing away
the sugar? they said no; it was water they were casting away, sugar
did not freeze and there was scarcely any in that ice...I observed
that after several times freezing, the water that remained in the
vessel, changed its color and became brown and very sweet."
The mushroom bible
Veterans of wild mushrooming quickly graduate to author David Arora's other masterpiece, Mushrooms Demystified, which is the undisputed bible of mushroom knowledge in North America. Where Rain is breezy and succinct, Demystified is encyclopedic and exhaustive. You take Rains out to the mushrooms in the woods; you bring the mysterious ones back to the heavy Demystifed tome at your kitchen table.
-- KK
Mushrooms Demystified
David Arora
1986, 1020 pages
$26
Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Boletus appendiculatur (Butter Bolete); pores normally stain blue when bruised.
*
LBM's: Little Brown Mushrooms
The cap is brown, the stem a shade browner, the gills browner still. This can be said of nearly one half of all the mushrooms you find. On even the most casual jaunt through the woods, you'll find dozens and dozens of Little Brown Mushrooms sprouting at your feet, and very likely under them as well. The fact is, Little Brown Mushrooms ("LBM's") are so overwhelmingly abundant and uncompromisingly undistinguished that it is more than just futile for the beginner to attempt to identify them -- it is downright foolish.
*
Portable mushroom guru
The best mushroom hunting book ever. Delivers amazing lore, practical tips, and the most concise (yet reliable) bullet points for identification of fruiting fungus. The seasons and species are biased to the west coast but this back-pocket-sized book is perfectly useable anywhere in the country. It's inspiring and delightful. Puts the fun back in fungi.
-- KK
All That the Rain Promises and More...
David Arora
1991, 256 pages
$13
Amazon
Sample excerpts:
An extraordinary haul of wild Matsutake
*
Mining for Mushrooms
It was a long time ago, in my hippie days. I was living on a commune, and I was sick and tried of all the bickering and brown rice. I really needed some space, so I split for Arizona, where I heard that there was nothing but, to see the spring wildflowers. So get this: we're driving down this crusty, dusty desert road on the way to a scenic overlook -- the most unlikely place in the world for mushrooms -- and I see this glimmer of white in the ditch by the road. We stop for a look and, sure enough, it's an old Agaricus bitorquis. Jade says it must be the only shroom in the state of Arizona, and I'm about to agree when I start noticing all these cracks everywhere in the hard red clay along the road. It was shroom city. There were hundreds, big clumps of them, veins of them , but all underground! Most were several inches under, some more that a foot. "Dig this!" I said to Jade. "With what?" she wanted to know. We used our hands, making piles of them on the road as we walked along.
Of course we were noticed. An RV stopped, and this older couple from Long Beach got out and wanted to know what we were doing. "We're mining for mushrooms," I said, pausing for effect, "and we've just struck the mother lode." We could tell they really wanted to try their hand at it. They sold life insurance and had been traveling for three months, visiting every national park in the country and this was their final stop, their last scenic overlook, and they were so burned out, they really wanted to do something exciting. But duty called, they just had to go on to the overlook.
Five minutes later they were back for some fun. Along with everything else in the world they had brand new shovels with them which they'd been wanting to use for months, and they started pulling giant buttons out of the ground like clams. Boy were they stoked! Mushrooms, edible mushrooms, under the sun-baked desert crust! It was totally incredible to them. It wasn't in their tourist guides or on their itinerary, the auto club hadn't said anything about it, it had never occurred to them to eat wild mushrooms, so they just got more and more excited and started scurrying around yelping and babbling like kids, "Look at this sonofagun over here!"; "Mine's ever bigger than yours!"; "Holy Cow, it's hard as a rock!", I can't believe I'm doing this!"
Another RV pulled over to see what all the commotion was about. One of them also sold insurance and of course they had shovels, so they dug right in. Then another RV joined us, a Mormon family from Moab, a bicyclist bound for Lubbock, and two local Navajo. We must have pulled up a couple hundred pounds, and we left lodes behind. Talk about "overlook" -- we wouldn't have gotten any if that one old cap hadn't made it above the ground!
There was only one campground in the area and we were all staying there, so that night we had this incredible spontaneous mushroom feast with gourmet foods and drinks they'd stashed away in their RV's for that one really special occasion, and what could be more special than this? We ate fabulously and got along famously, and the couple from Long Beach wanted to know if this was what it was like to live communally and I said: "Sure, we do this every night."
I guess you could say we made their day. In fact, they said it was the best thing that happened to them on their whole trip! We had more for breakfast the next morning, and sun-dried the rest, and that one couple just couldn't stop taking about how excited they were. I kept getting letters from them afterwards, and I bet they're still talking about it, twelve years later, telling their grandchildren about the mighty once-in-a-blue-moon shroom bloom beneath the Arizona desert. Me, I'm not much of a talker, but I'm sure tempted to go back -- I never did make it to that scenic overlook.
Max Lipp
*
A truly gigantic Western Giant Puffball
Best basic cookbook
In our household, this is the book that has replaced Joy of Cooking as the first cookbook we reach for. It educates the ignorant, rewards the expert, and gratifies the harried with steady and sure knowledge about how to cook everything. By everything it means: wholesome everyday food. Its 1,500 recipes are unpretentious, yet diverse.
-- KK
How to Cook Everything:Simple Recipes for Great Food
Mark Bittman
1998, 944 pages
$24
Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Each year, I experiment less and less with complex dishes, and try to master the simple staples both of our widely divergent culture, and of other cultures from around the world. I look for good ingredients, and handle them minimally. I am usually satisfied with the food I prepare, but I am the first to admit that it is very rarely on the same level as that served in the world's best restaurants. (It's better, however, than that served in the vast majority of restaurants.)
Striving for brilliance in everyday cooking is a recipe for frustration. Rather, everyday cooking is about preparing good, wholesome, tasty, varied meals for the ones you love. This is a simple, satisfying pleasure. Your results need not be perfect to give you this gift, to which all humans are entitled.
*
Spiced Melon Balls
Makes 10-15 servings
Time: 20 minutes
Melon balls are melon balls, until you do something to them. This converts them to an exotic Asian-style dish, easily eaten with toothpicks.
1 ripe cantaloupe or other orange-fleshed melon
1 ripe honeydew or other green-fleshed melon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 tablespoon very finely minced cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Sugar to taste (optional)
1. Use a melon baller to remove all the flesh from the melons. Combine the balls in a bowl with the salt, coriander, cayenne, cilantro, and lime juice.
2. Taste and adjust seasoning; you may add more of anything. If the melon is not sufficiently sweet, add a bit of sugar. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 2 hours.
*
Making potstickers
(Step 1) Place a teaspoon of filling on one half of the dough. (Step 2) Brush circumference of the circle with a little water or beaten egg. (Steps 3-4) Fold over and pinch tightly to seal.
Global spice source
The spices of life. All of them, in subtle variations, from around the world. By mailorder.
-- KK
Penzeys Spices
Muskego, WI 53150, 800-741-7787
Catalog Excerpt:
Saffron
Saffron is the stigma of the fall flowering crocus. Peek inside most any flower and you will see three threadlike filaments. These are stigma--but only in the saffron crocus are these stigma worth thousands of dollars per pound. Saffron is so valuable because it is a very labor intensive crop; only 5-7 pounds of saffron can be produced from each acre of land. This makes saffron the most expensive spice by weight--it has always been--but by use saffron isn't that expensive, because a little goes a long way. A single gram of saffron easily translates into golden color and fragrant flavor.
Saffron contains 450-500 saffron stigmas to the gram. The stigma are also called threads, strings, pieces or strands. 1 gram equals 2 tsp. whole, 1 teaspoon crumbled or 1/2 teaspoon powdered. Don't buy pre-powdered saffron because it loses flavor quickly and is usually cut with turmeric or something else.
Mace
Mace, the lace-like, dried covering of the nutmeg, is a sweet and flavorful spice well worth using. Mace has a softer flavor than nutmeg, and for a nice change of pace it can be used in place of nutmeg in any recipe. Blade Mace can also be added to clear soups and sauces where nutmeg powder might spoil the appearance. Mace is a traditional flavoring for doughnuts and hotdogs.
Ajwain Seed
Ajwain (or Ajowan) is a traditional addition to many Indian and Pakistani dishes. It's especially useful in vegetarian lentil and bean dishes, as a flavoring, and to temper the effects of a legume-based diet. From Pakistan.
50113 1 lb bag 13.90
50184 8 oz bag 7.49
50142 4 oz bag 4.29
Kashmir "Mogra Cream" Indian Saffron is the world's finest saffron. The dark red color and long perfect strands are as beautiful as they are colorful and flavorful. Kashmir saffron is awfully tough to obtain, which makes it higher in price, but Kashmir Mogra Cream Saffron is truly wonderful.
Spanish Coupe Saffron is the top grade of the Spanish Saffron crop. Extra hand labor is used to remove every bit of the yellow saffron style material, leaving 100% beautiful pure red saffron threads--hence the name: coupe means "to cut", as in cutting off all the yellow bits. Spanish Coupe Saffron is a truly excellent crop, especially nice for the traditional Spanish dishes.
Spanish Superior Saffron is the most widely available saffron and is a very good crop. Spanish Superior Saffron has a bit of the yellow style material left attached to some of the saffron stigmas (see photo), so it is not quite as strong as Spanish Coupe or Kashmir Indian Saffron.
Best guide to artisan bread making
Lately I've gotten into bread baking. Via various news groups I found and fell in love with Peter Reinhart's new book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. It has beautiful photographs which motivated me toward experimentation. I am now 1/3 through baking every formula in the book. I find his explanations very clear and I really like that he includes enough theory to allow me to make my own informed decisions about baking different styles of bread. It is not rocket science, but there are a lot of non-intuitive (for me) details that he covers well. All this teaching has elevated the quality of my own breads. He also provides detailed recipes for each type of bread he is describing, so those not interested in the fundamentals of bread baking can also follow recipes easily. When I got the book, about the only thing my breads had going for them was that they were "home made." Now I like my breads just as much or more than the expensive artisan style breads I get at my local bakeries.
-- Christopher R. Carlson
Some masters are great at craft, and some at teaching, and every once in a while a person like Peter Reinhart comes along who is grand master of both. This book is considered the best all around guide to making fancy and rustic artisan breads; some would say for making any bread, period. Grounded in theory and practice, it is superb teaching.
-- KK
The Bread Baker's Apprentice
By Peter Reinhart
2001, 304 pages
$25
Amazon
Excerpt:
It is easy to see the subtle difference in color and texture of various flours when they are placed side by side. These are, from left to right, cornmeal, semolina flour (coarse durum), fancy durum, dark rye, white rye, bleached cake flour, unbleached pastry flour, unbleached bread flour, clear flour, and whole-wheat flour.
*
For perspective, here are the twelve stages in order:
1. Mise En Place ("everything in its place" is the organizing principle)
2. Mixing (in which three important requirements must be met)
3. Primary Fermentation (also called bulk fermentation, in which most of the flavor is determined)
4. Punching Down (also called de-gassing, in which the dough begins to enter its secondary fermentation and individuation)
5. Dividing (in which pieces are weighed or scaled, while continuing to ferment)
6. Rounding (in which the pieces are given an interim shaping prior to their final shape)
7. Benching (also called resting, or intermediate proofing, during which time the gluten relaxes)
8. Shaping and Panning (in which the dough is given its final shape prior to baking)
9. Proofing (also called secondary or final fermentation, in which the dough is leavened to its appropriate baking size)
10. Baking (which may also include scoring the dough and steaming, but in which three vital oven actions must occur)
11. Cooling (which is really an extension of baking but must occur before cutting into the bread)
12. Storing and Eating (in production baking it's primarily storing, but home baking usually emphasizes, ahem, eating)
What other people eat
People (collectively) will eat anything. But one mans' meat is another man's ugh. This color-rich volume features the strangest (to us) foods served in the world. It highlights two global trends: a hunger for increasingly exotic foods, and the worrisome increase in hunting bush meat from endangered and rare animals - at crisis levels in parts of Africa and Asia. None-the-less, the full variety of things-humans-eat, in all their strangeness, are captured in fine photography and readable history here. The author also provides sources and recipes for farm-raised exotic foods and meats. This guy, at least, has tried everything.
-- KK
Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats, and Butterflies an Epicurean Adventure Around the World
Jerry Hopkins
1999, 232 pages
$30
Periplus Editions
Amazon
Excerpt:
When I tell people that I took the placenta home following the birth of my son and the next day served it as a pate, they generally (1) don't believe me or (2) recoil in horror, calling me a cannibal. My wife was to return home the day following and my plan was to cook the placenta and make it into a pate to serve visitors who had been invited to meet the baby. When I asked, the doctor agreed in wonderment, but then didn't know what to put it in for transport to the flat. Unlike restaurants, medical clinics don't have Styrofoam "take-away" containers for leftover food.
*
Bird's nest soup is one of the true culinary enigmas, a high-priced delicacy that is made from the nests of swifts, found in bat-filled caves in Southeast Asia. The nests are made of seaweed, twigs, moss, hair, and feathers glued together by the birds' saliva and the spawn of small fish. Is this something you would pay up to US $300 a bowl for?
Why so expensive? Well, first of all, it's considered by many to be an aphrodisiac, a word - some say myth - that is driving many animal species to the edge of extinction. For centuries, Chinese have given their children the soup, believing it will help them grow. Others consume it to improve their complexion and defeat lung problems, or as an all-purpose tonic.
*
 Two handfuls of rats that will either be eaten, or sold for one-and-a-half rupees each under a program set up by the Oxfam Trust and India's Department of Science and Technology.
From BBQ to chef
It's a goofy cliche to say that outdoor cooking stirs in men some sort of cellular caveman memory about fire, roasting Mastodon shanks, whatever, but given how firmly the obsession has taken hold of me, there may be something to this. I grill at least three times a week, from as early in the spring as possible, till I have to start scraping ice off of things to start dinner. People kept on telling me that I had to get Steven Raichlen's How To Grill, so to kick off this grilling season, I bought it. Now I know why people rave. It's not only the best grilling book I've seen, it's probably one of the best cookbooks in print. Beautifully designed, with great recipes, step-by-step photos, useful marginalia. Although Raichlen puts butter (or oil) on everything, even steak, there are lots of recipes for grilled veggies and even grilled deserts.
-- Gareth Branwyn
From reading the Amazon reviews it appears that this book has turned many men into chefs. They started out grilling and ended up cooking.
-- KK
How to Grill
Steven Raichlen
2001, 498 pages
$16
Workman Publishing
New York
Amazon
Excerpt:
The pros use the poke test to gauge the desired degree of doness: A quick poke of the meat with your finger will tell you whether it's rare, medium, or (heaven forbid) well-done. Use the following guide to help you, but remember: A steak will continue cooking even after it comes of the grill.
*
"Bizarre" and "outrageous" aren't necessarily words you expect to find in a cookbook. But how else would you describe roasting a chicken in a vertical position over an open beer can? I first encountered the method at the Memphis in May Barbecue Festival and described it in The Barbecue! Bible. Since then, I've prepared beer-can chicken hundreds of times, and each time this astounding technique produces an exquisite bird. The fact is, the upright position helps drain off the fat, and crisp the skin, while the beer in the can steams and flavors the bird from the inside. Needless to say, the sight of a roasted chicken standing erect on an upright can of beer will astound your guests.
Best one-volume homebrewing guide
There is not a better introduction to the universe of homebrewing than the Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charles Papazian. It covers history, equipment, ingredients, chemistry, beer styles, and methods, while appendices cover various topics from recipe formulation to meadmaking. I've used this guide quite extensively in my first batches of home brew beer and I still consult it on occasion, especially as inspiration for experimentation. It also contains enough on advanced topics to lead in the right directions when I want to learn more.
Other introductory books to brewing are published but this one is the ideal integration of simplicity and thoroughness. Experienced brewers may find the book rather "incomplete" on advanced issues, but online resources and brewclubs are better sources of advance information than most books.
Papazian's passion for beer brewing will pique the interest of any brewer, regardless of expertise and experience. His enthusiasm has even pushed commercial brewers to experiment with new procedures and ingredients. For instance in a passing comment in the 2nd edition Papazian mentioned maple beers and now maple beers are brewed at several brewpubs.
What is perhaps most important about the book is the philosophy behind it. Papazian's recurrent admonition is to "Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew." We can't control everything in home brewing. It represents a whole perspective on beer, the universe, and everything.
--Alexandre Enkerli
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Third Edition
Charles Papazian,
2003, 432 pages
$11
Amazon
Natural history of food
Whatís so virgin about virgin olive oil? Is tapioca born as little round balls, or can you get it in another form? At the dinner table our questions are endless. Yet, the ingredient lists on the side of packages are wholly inadequate. Most cookbooks donít know much about origins either. This humungous, library-belonging, scholar-written, two-volume encyclopedia fills our hunger for more information. No recipes, only superbly reliable research on food, food crops, and food preparation. Eat smarter.
ñKK
The Cambridge World History of Food
Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild ConeÈ Ornelas
2000, 2 vols., 2153 pages
$120
Cambridge University Press
Amazon
Excerpt:
Indeed kola is to the African what tobacco or coffee is to the European or betel is to the southeastern Asian ñ a stimulant and a psychoactive substanceÖThe importance of kola as a drug was first recognized outside Africa in the twelfth century by an Arabian physician, who wrote that it was used in the form of a powder for colic and stomachache and had warming properties. A later Portuguese observer testified to the importance of Kola nuts thus: ìThe Black population would scarcely undertake any enterprise without the aid of KolaîÖwhich, among other things, was supposed to protect against the pangs of thirst.
ï
Since the 1850s, however, research has been carried out by botanists, chemists, and pharmacists on some of the properties ascribed to the kola nut. For example, A.M.F.J. Pasisot-Beauvois asserted the nutsí remarkable ability to impart a pleasant taste to all food or water consumed. Subsequent experiments have confirmed this observation at least for drinking water, which, even when comparatively stale or impure, becomes quite palatable to the consumer after chewing kola. It is possible that the action of the chemicals in kola on the palatal mucosa creates the ìillusionî of sweetness, or perhaps this is the result of kolaís high caffeine content.
Access to little-known cacao
This wonderful guide introduces the world of artisan chocolates. Not candies, but the rich and little-known variations of dark cacao produced by one of the oddest trees alive. Just as wines and coffee vary, cacao grown in different regions of the world have unique taste and smell, as do diverse genetic strains of the cacao bean. Global taste is beginning to move away from the mono-blend of bland Hershey's to the wonderful diversity of local chocolate flavors. Cacao is a little understood plant, with weird habits, and a photogenic nature. This handsome book, filled with glorious color pictures, is actually a how-to book: how to find and appreciate the new tastes (plural) of chocolate. We've used it to plan chocolate tasting parties, find tours of cacao makers, and orient us on the quest for new varieties of the most loved spice in the world. Even if you hated chocolate, the culture of cacao is sufficiently amazing to warrant this book.
--KK
The New Taste of Chocolate
A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes
Mariel E. Presilla
2001, 193 pages
$20
Amazon
Catalog of global foodstuff
Maybe it's just me, but when I cook I keep getting derailed at the bookshelf. Lists of ingredients cry out for explanation: what *is* couscous really, or semolina wheat, or ladyfish? What about gum arabic, marshmallow, or cream of tartar? Where do these stuffs come from, not just long ago, but now, and why are they in my dish? And please tell me again what's so extra about "extra virgin" olive oil -- I mean it is or isn't, yes?
I've longed for a single source of answers to my endless gastronomic questions and after years of scouring libraries and bookstores, I've found my guru. The Penguin Companion to Food is a 1,000-page behemoth of concise information about several thousand types of food and ingredients. It lets me cook smart, guiding substitutions, and illuminating the logic of a recipe. And eat smart too. In a global market, cuisine varieties are booming; here's a who's who.
--KK
The Penguin Companion to Food
Alan Davidson
2002, 1024 pages
$21
Amazon
Handy reminder for responsible fish eating
It's no secret that fish stocks of many species have been over-harvested to the point of extinction, but whenever I'm ordering fish at a restaurant I can't remember what's good fish and what's bad fish. I now rely on this very handy business-sized card which lives in my wallet; I yank it out with the menu. Tells me which fish species to avoid (severely overfished), which are okay, and which are borderline. You can get these cards at some aquariums and zoos or download the most up-to-date PDF file and print your own.
-- KK
Seafood Watch
Free download from
Monterey Bay Aquarium
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