Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Smokin' with Myron Mixon: Recipes Made Simple, from the Winningest Man in Barbecue

Smokin' with Myron Mixon
Smokin' with Myron Mixon: Recipes Made Simple, from the Winningest Man in Barbecue
by Myron Mixon, Kelly Alexander, Paula Deen
4.1 out of 5 stars(39)

Buy new: $22.00 $12.52
47 used & new from $12.27

(Visit the Bestsellers in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

The secret to the best barbecue from the man who barbecues the best: Keep it simple!
 
In the world of competitive barbecue, nobody’s won more prize money, more trophies, or more adulation than Myron Mixon. And he comes by it honestly: From the time he was old enough to stoke a pit, Mixon learned the art of barbecue at his father’s side. He grew up to expand his parent’s sauce business, Jack’s Old South, and in the process became the leader of the winningest team in competitive barbecue. It’s Mixon’s combination of killer instinct and killer recipes that has led him to three world championships and more than 180 grand championships and made him the breakout star of TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters.

Now, for the first time, Mixon’s stepping out from behind his rig to teach you how he does it. Rule number one: People always try to overthink barbecue and make it complicated. Don’t do it! Mixon will show you how you can apply his “keep it simple” mantra in your own backyard. He’ll take you to the front lines of barbecue and teach you how to turn out ’cue like a seasoned pro. You’ll learn to cook like Mixon does when he’s on the road competing and when he’s at home, with great tips on
 
• the basics, from choosing the right wood to getting the best smoker or grill
• the formulas for the marinades, rubs, injections, and sauces you’ll need
• the perfect ways to cook up hog, ribs, brisket, and chicken, including Mixon’s famous Cupcake Chicken
 
Mixon shares more than 75 of his award-winning recipes—including one for the most sinful burger you’ll ever eat—and advice that will end any anxiety over cooking times and temps and change your backyard barbecues forever. He also fills you in on how he rose to the top of the competitive barbecue universe and his secrets for succulent success. Complete with mouth-watering photos, Smokin’ with Myron Mixon will fire you up for a tasty time.

Recipes from Smokin' with Myron Mixon
Click on the photos below to download printable recipes from the book [PDF].

Whole Chicken [PDF] Basic Chicken Rub [PDF] Mama's Slaw [PDF]

Read more


Best price Click Here

Yum-Yum Bento Box

YumYum Bento
Yum-Yum Bento Box
by Maki Ogawa, Crystal Watanabe
4.7 out of 5 stars(37)

Buy new: $16.95 $11.15
69 used & new from $9.27

(Visit the Most Wished For in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Product Images


Review & Description

Oh, boy—obento! These yummy, healthy lunches are all the rage in Japan, where mothers create them as expressions of love for their children. With Yum-Yum Bento Box, Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa devote an entire cookbook to these delicious and adorable meals for all ages! Learn how to craft your favorite foods into a variety of shapes—from caterpillars, cars, and puppy dogs to pretty flowers, princesses, and kitty cats.
 
Yum-Yum Bento Box features chapters on Cuties & Critters, Fairy-Tale Friends, and Special Day Treats, plus a handy shopping guide, easy recipes for mini snacks, general tips and tricks, and so much more. Stop wasting money on pre-packaged lunches—and start making beautiful, healthy bentos!
  Read more


Best price Click Here

Monday, September 5, 2011

Momofuku

Momofuku
Momofuku
by David Chang, Peter Meehan
4.2 out of 5 stars(103)

Buy new: $40.00 $22.72
63 used & new from $22.70

(Visit the Most Wished For in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

Never before has there been a phenomenon like Momofuku. A once-unrecognizable word, it's now synonymous with the award-winning restaurants of the same name in New York City: Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar, Ko, and Milk Bar. Chef David Chang has single-handedly revolutionized cooking in America with his use of bold Asian flavors and impeccable ingredients, his mastery of the humble ramen noodle, and his thorough devotion to pork. 
Momofuku is both the story and the recipes behind the cuisine that has changed the modern-day culinary landscape. Chang relays with candor the tale of his unwitting rise to superstardom, which, though wracked with mishaps, happened at light speed. And the dishes shared in this book are coveted by all who've dined—or yearned to—at any Momofuku location (yes, the pork buns are here). This is a must-read for anyone who truly enjoys food. From Momofuku: Ginger Scallion Noodles and Ginger Scallion Sauce

Our ginger scallion noodles are an homage to/out-and-out rip-off of one of the greatest dishes in New York City: the $4.95 plate of ginger scallion noodles at Great New York Noodletown down on the Bowery in Chinatown.

Ginger scallion sauce is one of the greatest sauces or condiments ever. Ever. It’s definitely a mother sauce at Momofuku, something that we use over and over and over again. If you have ginger scallion sauce in the fridge, you will never go hungry: stir 6 tablespoons into a bowl of hot noodles--lo mein, rice noodles, Shanghai thick noodles--and you’re in business. Or serve over a bowl of rice topped with a fried egg. Or with grilled meat or any kind of seafood. Or almost anything.

At Noodle Bar, we add a few vegetables to the Noodletown dish to appease the vegetarians, add a little sherry vinegar to the sauce to cut the fat, and leave off the squirt of hoisin sauce that Noodletown finishes the noodles with. (Not because it’s a bad idea or anything, just that we’ve got hoisin in our pork buns, and too much hoisin in a meal can be too much of a good thing. Feel free to add it back.)

The dish goes something like this: boil 6 ounces of ramen noodles, drain, toss with 6 tablespoons Ginger Scallion Sauce (below); top the bowl with 1/4 cup each of Bamboo Shoots (page 54 of Momofuku); Quick-Pickled Cucumbers (page 65 of Momofuku); pan-roasted cauliflower (a little oil in a hot wide pan, 8 or so minutes over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the florets are dotted with brown and tender all the way through; season with salt); a pile of sliced scallions; and a sheet of toasted nori. But that’s because we’ve always got all that stuff on hand. Improvise to your needs, but know that you need ginger scallion sauce on your noodles, in your fridge, and in your life. For real.-- David Chang

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions (greens and whites; from 1 to 2 large bunches)
  • 1/2 cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger
  • 1/4 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons usukuchi (light soy sauce)
  • 3/4 teaspoon sherry vinegar
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste

(Makes about three cups)

Directions

Mix together the scallions, ginger, oil, soy, vinegar, and salt in a bowl. Taste and check for salt, adding more if needed. Though it’s best after 15 or 20 minutes of sitting, ginger scallion sauce is good from the minute it’s stirred together up to a day or two in the fridge. Use as directed, or apply as needed.


Read more


Best price Click Here

Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006

Joy of Cooking
Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006
by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker
4.7 out of 5 stars(296)

Buy new: $35.00 $20.46
123 used & new from $13.58

(Visit the Best Sellers in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

Seventy-five years ago, a St. Louis widow named Irma Rombauer took her life savings and self-published a book called The Joy of Cooking. Her daughter Marion tested recipes and made the illustrations, and they sold their mother-daughter project from Irma's apartment.

Today, nine revisions later, the Joy of Cooking -- selected by The New York Public Library as one of the 150 most important and influential books of the twentieth century -- has taught tens of millions of people to cook, helped feed and delight millions beyond that, answered countless kitchen and food questions, and averted many a cooking crisis.

Ethan Becker, Marion's son, leads the latest generation of JOY, still a family affair, into the twenty-first century with a 75th anniversary edition that draws upon the best of the past while keeping its eye on the way we cook now. It features a rediscovery of the witty, clear voices of Marion Becker and Irma Rombauer, whose first instructions to the cook were "stand facing the stove."

JOY remains the greatest teaching cookbook ever written. Reference material gives cooks the precise information they need for success. New illustrations focus on techniques, including everything from knife skills to splitting cake layers, setting a table, and making tamales.

This edition also brings back the encyclopedic chapter Know Your Ingredients. The chapter that novices and pros alike have consulted for over thirty years has been revised, expanded, and banded, making it a book within a book. Cooking Methods shows cooks how to braise, steam, roast, sauté, and deep-fry effortlessly, while an all-new Nutrition chapter has the latest thinking on healthy eating -- as well as a large dose of common sense.

This edition restores the personality of the book, reinstating popular elements such as the grab-bag Brunch, Lunch, and Supper chapter and chapters on frozen desserts, cocktails, beer and wine, canning, salting, smoking, jellies and preserves, pickles and relishes, and freezing foods. Fruit recipes bring these favorite ingredients into all courses of the meal, and there is a new grains chart. There are even recipes kids will enjoy making and eating, such as Chocolate Dipped Bananas, Dyed Easter Eggs, and the ever-popular Pizza.

In addition to hundreds of brand-new recipes, this JOY is filled with many recipes from all previous editions, retested and reinvented for today's tastes.

This is the JOY for how we live now. Knowing that most cooks are sometimes in a hurry to make a meal, the JOY now has many new dishes ready in 30 minutes or less. Slow cooker recipes have been added for the first time, and Tuna Casserole made with canned cream of mushroom soup is back. This JOY shares how to save time without losing flavor by using quality convenience foods such as canned stocks and broths, beans, tomatoes, and soups, as well as a wide array of frozen ingredients. Cooking creatively with leftovers emphasizes ease and economy, and casseroles -- those simple, satisfying, make-ahead, no-fuss dishes -- abound. Especially important to busy households is a new section that teaches how to cook and freeze for a day and eat for a week, in an effort to eat more home-cooked meals, save money, and dine well.

As always, JOY grows with the times: this edition boasts an expanded Vegetables chapter, including instructions on how to cook vegetables in the microwave, and an expanded baking section, Irma's passion -- always considered a stand-alone bible within the JOY.

This all-new, all-purpose anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking offers endless choice for virtually every occasion, situation, and need, from a 10-minute stir-fry on a weekday night to Baby Back Ribs and Grilled Corn in the backyard, or a towering Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. JOY will show you the delicious way just as it has done for countless cooks before you.

Even after 75 years, the span of culinary information is breathtaking and covers everything from boiling eggs (there are two schools of thought) to showstopping, celebratory dishes such as Beef Wellington, Roast Turkey and Bread Stuffing, and Crown Roast of Pork.

Happy Anniversary, JOY!The much anticipated 75th anniversary edition of Irma Rombauer's kitchen classic Joy of Cooking promises to be as indispensable as past editions of this generational favorite. In addition to hundreds of brand-new recipes, this Joy is filled with many recipes from all previous editions, retested and reinvented for today's tastes.

Take the new Joy for a test-run in the kitchen with these featured recipes for Roast Brined Turkey and Apple Pie, and watch a video demonstration for their recipe for 10-in-One Cookies. And read on for celebrity chef "Odes to Joy," Joy timeline, and Joy trivia.



Odes to Joy


"Great cookbooks are not just collections of interesting recipes. They are, first and foremost, books that tell a story, the story of how people lived and cooked at a particular point in time. They reveal, to borrow an expression from James Beard, their delights and prejudices, their view of the social order, their appetite for serving others food that meets the expectations of their social class. Food can be anything and everything from fuel to an object of intellectual curiosity to full-bore hedonism that transports the mind and body far from the dinner table with just one overwhelming bite.

I started cooking out of an early edition of Joy when I was only 7 years old. I remember making a basic chocolate cake with 7-minute frosting. The cake turned out fine, but the frosting resembled gruel and was my introduction to the importance of following a recipe to the letter. Evidently my lack of patience and precision had led me astray. But after that first brush with culinary failure, Joy led me to many, many successes over the years; more to the point, I became enamored of Ms. Rombauer's voice, the matter-of-fact charm that led her to suggest "stand facing the stove" as a sensible first step in any recipe.

The amateur but highly evolved enthusiasm that Irma Rombauer brought to the world of home cooking was a breath of fresh air after the slightly earlier era of culinary dowagers Fannie Farmer, Mrs. Beaton, and Marion Harland. To those pillars of culinary wisdom, recipes were shorthand for cooks who had spent a lifetime in the kitchen. A pie pastry recipe might be written as "make a paste." But Ms. Rombauer was there to hold our hands, to put food in a social context and give it attitude, energy, and meaning in a world where food was leaping past the narrow formality of the Victorian age.

For all of our worldly knowledge about ingredients and culinary custom, few cookbook authors have managed to perfectly capture, without artifice or self-conscious chatter, the vernacular of an age. Irma Rombauer introduced us to a room in our home--the kitchen--that was to become a place of enjoyment, not just one of backbreaking labor. She represented the essence of the new American experience, which suggested that everything in life could be transformed into pleasure with nothing more than the proper attitude. And what better way to celebrate this new age than to have a smashing cocktail party with the perfect hors d’oeuvres?

The original Joy of Cooking was mind over matter, the perfect mix of attitude and function. Even as times have changed, the Joy stands out as a watershed volume, a book that speaks to the very heart of who we want to be in the kitchen: producers of our own story, directors of the good American life.

And, according to Ms. Rombauer, all we have to do is take that first easy step and "stand facing the stove." --Christopher Kimball, founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated

"I'm often asked to pick my favorite cookbook. Considering that there are over 3,000 cookbooks published each year, it's a daunting task to try to narrow them down. Speaking as a chef who never went to cooking school, I've been enthralled by certain cookbooks, immersing myself from cover to cover and learning about exotic cuisines from all over the world. But for just plain basic information, both the original and revised Joy of Cooking are still my bibles. I can't tell you how many times my wife Jackie and I have thumbed through the stained and broken-backed copy of Joy in our home kitchen, looking for our favorite angel food cake recipe, our favorite skillet corn bread, our favorite fluffy biscuits, and crisp waffles, and on and on. It's tough to picture my family table--or, in fact, the American table--without a well-worn copy of Joy of Cooking in the background." " --Tom Douglas, author of I Love Crab Cakes!

"I highly recommend this book as a must-have in your kitchen. Chock full of great information, this book takes all of the guess work out and leaves no stone unturned." --Paula Deen, author of Paula Deen Celebrates!






"In our kitchen, Joy of Cooking is a tool as indispensable as the chef's knife, the scale, the whisk. We actually own two copies--a shelf-copy for reading, and one whose sauce-splattered, dog-eared pages bear witness to just how much joy we get from Joy." " --Matt Lee and Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook





"Joy of Cooking is the ultimate reference guide that I have been using for years. It's timeless and packed with perfect recipes for the home cook that stands up to the test of time." --Tyler Florence, author of Tyler's Ultimate






"Joy of Cooking is a book I turn to whenever I have a question about food or cooking. The new edition is the combined effort of some of the best cooks writing today; I know I can trust its information. And trust is, to my mind, the essential quality of all great cookbooks." --Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook






"When Andrew first contemplated becoming a chef in the 1980s, he asked two Boston chefs of his acquaintance what books he should read. Each independently recommended Joy of Cooking as THE classic with reliable recipes for just about everything. (The second chef urged him to look for an early copy for the sheer entertainment value of reading how to cook a possum.) A decade later, when we interviewed 60 of America’s leading chefs for our first book Becoming a Chef, we asked them the same question--and again Joy was one of their five most recommended books. In fact, we recommend buying two copies, like we did: we keep our chocolate-smudged copy of Joy in our kitchen, and a reading copy on our bookshelves." --Andrew Dorenburg and Karen Page, authors of What to Drink with What You Eat


"Our Joy of Cooking is dog-eared, flour dusted, chocolate smudged, oil spattered, and easily the most used cookbook on the shelf. The staggering amount of information in the book taught us the basics when we were in our teens and has informed our cooking for the decades since. We wish we had written it!" --Johanne Killeen and George Germon, authors of On Top of Spaghetti




"I received a copy of Joy of Cooking in my late teens. I have treasured the cookbook ever since and still use it frequently as a reference. In the late 80's I was asked to represent American Cooking in Italy. I cooked all over the country for 2 months. The only book I took was Joy of Cooking. When ingredients that I had ordered did not show up and I had to totally wing it, I used this book to get me out of a few jams--like what the proportions are to make your own baking powder! If I could have only one cookbook--other than my own of course!--it would be Joy of Cooking–-as it is the bible of American cooking" --Kathy Casey, author of Kathy Casey's Northwest Table


"I have purchased Joy of Cooking for all my restaurant libraries as well as my own. The recipes always work--always--and the informational chapters are accurate, to the point, and incredibly helpful--couldn’t live with out it!!" --Cindy Pawlcyn, author of Big Small Plates




A Brief History ofJoy

1930: The United States stock market crashes creating the great depression.
1931: Irma Rombauer takes $3,000, the modest legacy her husband leaves at his death, and she self-publishes the first Joy of Cooking. She is 54 years old.
1932: Irma tries to sell her book to a commercial publisher, Bobbs-Merrill of Indianapolis, IN, and is rejected.
1933: Prohibition is repealed and Adolf Hilter becomes to Chancellor of Germany.
1935: Bobbs-Merrill receives another submission of the Joy of Cooking from Irma. This version is not the self-published book but a revision, typed and bound in 15 notebook binders.
1936: March 26 is the publication date for the first commercial Joy of Cooking. The first print run is 10,000 copies and the book costs $2.50.
1937: The Golden Gate Bridge is completed in San Francisco and Gone with the Wind, a Scribner book, wins the Pulitzer Prize.
1939: Bobbs-Merrill publishes Irma Rombauer's book Streamlined Cooking, a cookbook dedicated to convenience foods. The book is not a commercial success.
1940: Freeze-drying is invented.
1941: Pearl Harbor is attacked and America enters World War II.
1943: The bestselling "wartime" edition of Joy of Cooking is published which includes how to creatively deal with the food rationing during World War II.
1946: A "post-war" edition is printed with very few changes.
1947: The microwave oven is invented.
1951: Marion Rombauer Becker joins her mother Irma as co-author of this edition.
1955: Gunsmoke debuts on CBS.
1961: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the President of the United States.
1962: Irma Rombauer dies in her native St. Louis. The sixth edition of Joy of Cooking is published.
1963: The French Chef with Julia Child debuts on public television.
1969: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first to walk on the moon.
1970: The Beatles break up.
1974: President Nixon resigns and Stephen King’s Carrie is published.
1975: The first--and last--edition of Joy of Cooking that is completely Marion Rombauer Becker's work is published.
1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1980: The median household income in the United States is $19,074 and it seems the entire country is playing PacMan.
1981: The first genetically engineer plant--the Flavr Savr tomato--is approved for sale.
1984: Coca-Cola changes its 99-year-old formula and launches New Coke.
1990: East and West Germany unite.
1997: After a more than a two decade hiatus, the eighth edition of Joy of Cooking is published by Scribner with Ethan, Marion's son, at the helm.
2006: A new edition of Joy of Cooking, based on the writing and structure of the 1975 edition, is published to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Irma Rombauer's self-published cookbook.


Joy Trivia

• For the 75th anniversary edition, 4,500 recipes were tested that used a total of 400 pounds of butter, 300 quarts of milk, 485 pounds of red meat, and 275 pounds of fish and shellfish.

• The average age of a recipe tester working on the 75th anniversary edition was 46.7 years.

• Recipe testers spend 8,798 hours testing recipes and techniques for the latest edition.

• The knife was the first cutlery invented, followed by the spoon, and, much later, the fork (11th century A.D.).

• Caffeine is the most widely used behavior-changing chemical ingested worldwide.

• Eating cheese slows the decay of teeth.

• A light coating of oil speeds cooking and improves flavor of most grilled foods.

• Some of the most requested recipes from past Joy of Cooking editions include Chicken Marengo, Chocolate Cake (also known as the "Rombauer Special"), and Golden Glow Gelatin Salad.

• Ice is considered one of the most important ingredients in making drinks.

• Popsicles, baby back ribs, smoothies, and power bars are just a few of the recipes making their debut in the 2006 anniversary edition.

• The 2006 Joy of Cooking has instructions on using natural ingredients to color Easter eggs: beets for pink; chopped red cabbage for blue; tumeric for yellow; and the skins of 12 red onions for orange to burnt orange.

• Slow cooker recipes are included in the 2006 Joy for the first time.


Read more


Best price Click Here

The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go

The Just Bento Cookbook
The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go
by Makiko Itoh, Makiko Doi
4.9 out of 5 stars(51)

Buy new: $19.95 $11.78
44 used & new from $11.76

(Visit the Most Wished For in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

Product Description
Bento fever has recently swept across the West, fueled not just by an interest in cute, decorative food, but by the desire for an economical, healthy approach to eating in these times of recession. A leading light in the popularization of bento has been Makiko Itoh, whose blog, Just Bento, boasts hundreds of thousands of subscribers, all of whom love her delicious recipes and practical bento-making tips.

Now, for the first time, Itoh's expertise has been packaged in book form. The Just Bento Cookbook contains twenty-five attractive bento menus and more than 150 recipes, all of which have been especially created for this book and are divided into two main sections, Japanese and Not-so-Japanese. The Japanese section includes classic bento menus such as Salted Salmon Bento and Chicken Karaage Bento, while the Not-so-Japanese section shows how Western food can be adapted to the bento concept, with delicious menus such as Summer Vegetable Gratin Bento and Everyone-Loves-a-Pie Bento.

In addition to the recipes, Itoh includes sections on bento-making equipment, bento staples to make and stock, basic cooking techniques, and a glossary. A planning-chart section is included, showing readers how they might organize their weekly bento making.

In a market full of bento books that emphasize the cute and the decorative, this book stands out for its emphasis on the health and economic benefits of the bento, and for the very practical guidelines on how to ensure that a daily bento lunch is something that can easily be incorporated into anyone's lifestyle. This is the perfect book for the bento beginner, but will also provide a wealth of new bento recipe ideas and tips for bento aficionados.

From Just Bento: Deconstructed Salade Niçoise Bento

Salade Niçoise is a classic composed salad that originates from the sunny town of Nice in the south of France. It’s perfect for a summer bento lunch.

Makes 1 serving.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium potato
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 6–8 quail eggs, or 1 chicken egg
  • 2 tsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp Dijon-style mustard

Directions

Make ready three bento boxes: a large one to hold the lettuce and greens; a medium one for the potato, eggs, and tomatoes; and a small one for the tuna, olives, and dressing that fits inside the large one if possible. Wash, peel, and cut up the potato into ½ inch (1cm) cubes. Put the potato pieces in a small pan and add enough cold salted water to cover. Boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well. Coat lightly with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Carefully pierce the rounded end of each quail egg with a thin needle before boiling; this will make them easier to peel. Quail eggs only need to be boiled for 4 minutes to achieve the hard-boiled state. Peel the eggs. Make a simple vinaigrette by combining the rest of the olive oil, the vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper in the small bento box. Mix well.

To Assemble This Bento

Put the potato and eggs in the medium bento box. Decorate with the cherry tomatoes. Put the well-drained tuna, the capers, and the olives in the small bento box with the vinaigrette. Fill the largest bento box with the salad greens and lettuce. Nestle the small bento box in the greens, and put on the lid. You may want to pack everything together with an ice pack in hot weather. When ready to eat, simply put all the salad components into the large bento box: the potato and eggs first, and the tuna mixture on top. Mix well and enjoy!

Timeline

Prepare the potato, eggs, and tuna the night before and store in the refrigerator. Wash and dry the salad greens beforehand also. Pack the greens into the bento box in the morning for optimum freshness. If you eat a lot of salads, you could make vinaigrette in quantity and stock it in the refrigerator. I like to use a screw-top jar for this, and give it a good shake before using.

From Just Bento: Chicken and Three-Color Pepper Stir-fry Bento

This beginner bento is made with everyday ingredients that you may already have in your pantry. It can be assembled in twenty minutes or less without any advance preparation. It’s a good one to start your bento-making adventures with.

Makes 1 serving.

Contents

  • Chicken and Three-Color Pepper Stir-fry
  • Instant Cabbage and Cucumber Pickles
  • Blanched Broccoli
  • Basic White Rice
  • Cherry Tomatoes

Chicken and Three-Color Pepper Stir-fry

You can spice up this versatile and colorful stir-fry by adding some hot pepper sauce such as sriracha to taste. To ensure fast and even cooking, cut the peppers into small, regular cubes.
  • 1/2 Tbsp olive or other vegetable oil
  • 3 Tbsp roughly chopped green onion
  • 2 tsp peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
  • 1/3 each medium-sized red, green, and yellow sweet peppers, de-seeded and cut into 1/2 inch (1 cm) chunks
  • salt, for sprinkling
  • 2 oz (60g) boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch (1 cm) chunks
  • black pepper, to taste
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • lettuce or shiso leaves used as dividers, optional

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the green onion and ginger and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes until the oil is fragrant. Turn the heat up to the highest setting and add the peppers to the pan. Stir-fry with a spatula or long chopsticks. Sprinkle in some salt—this draws out moisture from the vegetables and cooks them a bit faster. Continue stir-frying for 4–5 minutes, until the peppers are cooked. Push the vegetables to the sides of the pan, and add the chicken to the exposed bottom. Leave for a couple of minutes, then turn over to cook the other side. Stir everything together, and add black pepper and soy sauce. Turn the stir-fry from the pan onto a cold plate so that it cools rapidly. When cooled, pack into the bento box, using the lettuce or shiso leaves as a divider. Ahead-of-time note: Cut up the vegetables and chicken the night before, so everything is ready to just cook. Be sure to keep the raw chicken stored separately from the vegetables for safety.

Instant Cabbage and Cucumber Pickles

Instant or overnight pickled vegetables are very popular in Japan. They are like dressing-less salads, and the salty, slightly sour crunch provides a nice contrast to other foods. They can be eaten immediately or kept stored in the refrigerator for 3–4 days.
  • 1 large green cabbage leaf
  • 2-inch-long (5 cm) English cucumber, sliced into thin rounds
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • squeeze of lemon juice

Cut out the tough vein of the cabbage leaf, and slice the rest into strips. Sprinkle the cabbage and cucumber with the salt, and massage well with your hands until the vegetables go limp. Let rest for at least 5 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Squeeze out any excess moisture before packing into a bento box. I like to put the pickles in a bento divider cup or cupcake liner to prevent the flavors from mingling with other flavors in the box.

Read more


Best price Click Here

The Homesick Texan Cookbook

The Homesick
The Homesick Texan Cookbook
by Lisa Fain
Release Date: September 13, 2011

Buy new: $29.99 $18.80

(Visit the Best Sellers in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

When Lisa Fain, a seventh-generation Texan, moved to New York City, she missed the big sky, the bluebonnets in spring, Friday night football, and her family's farm. But most of all, she missed the foods she'd grown up with.

After a fruitless search for tastes of Texas in New York City, Fain took matters into her own hands. She headed into the kitchen to cook for her friends the Tex-Mex, the chili, and the country comfort dishes that reminded her of home. From cheese enchiladas drowning in chili gravy to chicken-fried steak served with cream gravy on the side, from warm bowls of chile con queso to big pots of fiery chili made without beans, Fain re-created the wonderful tastes of Texas she'd always enjoyed at potlucks, church suppers, and backyard barbecues back home.

In 2006, Fain started the blog Homesick Texan to share Texan food with fellow expatriates, and the site immediately connected with readers worldwide, Texan and non-Texan alike. Now, in her long-awaited first cookbook, Fain brings the comfort of Texan home cooking to you.

Like Texas itself, the recipes in this book are varied and diverse, all filled with Fain's signature twists. There's Salpicón, a cool shredded beef salad found along the sunny border in El Paso; Soft Cheese Tacos, a creamy plate unique to Dallas; and Houston-Style Green Salsa, an avocado and tomatillo salsa that is smooth, refreshing, and bright. There are also nibbles, such as Chipotle Pimento Cheese and Tomatillo Jalapeño Jam; sweet endings, such as Coconut Tres Leches Cake and Mexican Chocolate Chewies; and fresh takes on Texan classics, such as Coffee-Chipotle Oven Brisket, Ancho Cream Corn, and Guajillo-Chile Fish Tacos.

With more than 125 recipes, The Homesick Texan offers a true taste of the Lone Star State. So pull up a chair--everyone's welcome at the Texas table!

Praise for The Homesick Texan Cookbook

"You don't have to be a homesick Texan to appreciate Lisa Fain's evocative, unpretentious prose and her accompanying seriously delicious (and easy to make) recipes."
--Ed Levine, founder, SeriousEats.com

"Finally, the voice and the down-home Texas cooking I love on the Homesick Texan blog is now between hard covers! Lisa Fain has an original voice, and I love her food--completely accessible, honest, and delicious."
--Michael Ruhlman, author of Ratio and The Elements of Cooking

"The sometimes funny and sometimes poignant memories of this seventh-generation Texan pining for the cooking of her homeland bring The Homesick Texan Cookbook to life. Lisa Fain's move to Manhattan has given Texans everywhere a great new resource for surefire recipes and Lone Star lore."
--Robb Walsh, author of Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook and The Tex-Mex Cookbook

"Written with equal parts humor and tenderness, Lisa Fain's book makes it easy to imagine your kitchen lies deep in the heart of Texas. Her enticing recipes for a wealth of toothsome Texas favorites prove once and for all that nothing soothes the homesick soul like good old Texas cooking."
--Rebecca Rather, author of Pastry Queen Parties

Read more


Best price Click Here

From Our Grandmothers' Kitchens

From Our
From Our Grandmothers' Kitchens
by Editors of Cook's Country Magazine
Publication Date: October 1, 2011

Buy new: $29.95 $18.37

(Visit the Hot New Releases in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

Whether it was a one-of-a-kind, soul-warming meal your grandmother used to make especially for you or a slice of deliciously spiced bread you tasted somewhere halfway around the globe, food has always been so much more than the food itself-it's a memory. What we ate, and when and where we ate it, becomes interwoven with who we are and where we came from: our family, our heritage, our friends. In an effort to preserve these heirloom recipes, Cook's Country Magazine asked its readers to submit their favorite recipes and the stories behind them. Family favorites for cookies and pies, casseroles and special-occasion suppers, old-fashioned breads and even preserves and pickles all came pouring in. From the more than one thousand submissions, our team tested and perfected the best to present here, in From Our Grandmothers' Kitchens. Read more


Best price Click Here

The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles's Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria

The Mozza Cookbook
The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles's Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria
by Nancy Silverton, Matt Molina, Carolynn Carreno, Mario Batali
Release Date: September 27, 2011

Buy new: $35.00 $21.19

(Visit the Most Wished For in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

A traditional Italian meal is one of the most comforting—and delicious—things that anyone can enjoy. Award-winning chef Nancy Silverton has elevated that experience to a whole new level at her Los Angeles restaurants Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, co-owned with restaurateurs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. A reservation at Mozza has been the hottest ticket in town since the restaurants opened and diners have been lining up for their wildly popular dishes. Finally, in The Mozza Cookbook, Silverton is sharing these recipes with the rest of the world.

The original idea for Mozza came to Nancy at her summer home in Panicale, Italy. And that authentic Italian feel is carried throughout the book as we explore recipes from aperitivo to dolci that she would serve at her tavola at home. But do not confuse authentic with conventional! Under Silverton’s guidance, each bite is more exciting and delectable than the last, with recipes such as:
Fried Squash Blossoms with Ricotta
Buricotta with Braised Artichokes, Pine Nuts, Currants, and Mint Pesto
Mussels al Forno with Salsa Calabrese
Fennel Sausage, Panna, and Scallion Pizza
Fresh Ricotta and Egg Ravioli with Brown Butter
Grilled Quail Wrapped in Pancetta with Sage and Honey
Sautéed Cavolo Nero
Fritelle di Riso with Nocello-soaked Raisins and Banana Gelato
Olive Oil Gelato

In the book, Nancy guides you through all the varieties of cheese that she serves at the Mozzarella Bar in the Osteria. And you’ll find all the tricks you need to make homemade pastas, gelato, and pizzas that taste as if they were flown in directly from Italy. Silverton’s lively and encouraging voice and her comprehensive knowledge of the traditions behind this mouthwateringly decadent cuisine make her recipes—both familiar and intricate—easy to follow and hard to resist. It’s no wonder it is so difficult to get a table at Mozza—when you’re cooking these dishes there will be a line out your door as well. Read more


Best price Click Here

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients
by Ina Garten
4.7 out of 5 stars(198)

Buy new: $35.00 $19.88
112 used & new from $12.17

(Visit the Most Gifted in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients By Ina Garten"Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics is the essential Ina Garten cookbook, focusing on the techniques behind her elegant food and easy entertaining style, and offering neaBook Description
Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics is the essential Ina Garten cookbook, focusing on the techniques behind her elegant food and easy entertaining style, and offering nearly a hundred brand-new recipes that will become trusted favorites.

Ina Garten’s bestselling cookbooks have consistently provided accessible, subtly sophisticated recipes ranging from French classics made easy to delicious, simple home cooking. In Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, Ina truly breaks down her ideas on flavor, examining the ingredients and techniques that are the foundation of her easy, refined style.

Here Ina covers the essentials, from ten ways to boost the flavors of your ingredients to ten things not to serve at a party, as well as professional tips that make successful baking, cooking, and entertaining a breeze. The recipes--crowd-pleasers like Lobster Corn Chowder, Tuscan Lemon Chicken, and Easy Sticky Buns--demonstrate Ina’s talent for transforming fresh, easy-to-find ingredients into elegant meals you can make without stress.

For longtime fans, Ina delivers new insights into her simple techniques; for newcomers she provides a thorough master class on the basics of Barefoot Contessa cooking plus a Q&A section with answers to the questions people ask her all the time. With full-color photographs and invaluable cooking tips, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics is an essential addition to the cherished library of Barefoot Contessa cookbooks.

Ina Garten's Roasted Turkey Roulade and Baked Sweet Potato "Fries"

I don't know anyone who looks forward to carving a turkey on Thanksgiving. You're at the table, everyone's watching, and you're struggling to carve a hot bird. Instead, I decided to make a roasted turkey breast stuffed with all kinds of delicious things--sausage, cranberries, and figs. No bones and it cooks to juicy perfection in under two hours. How easy is that?

Sweet potatoes are available year-round, but their prime season is really autumn and winter. Choose potatoes that are smooth and unblemished, and use them fairly soon because they don't keep as well as other potatoes. These potatoes are crispy like fries but they're better for you because they're baked. --Ina Garten

(Photo credit Quentin Bacon)


Roasted Turkey Roulade
(Serves 6 or 7)





















3/4 cup large-diced dried figs, stems removed
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup Calvados or brandy
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups diced onions (2 onions)
1 cup (1/2-inch-diced) celery (3 stalks)
3/4 pound pork sausage, casings removed (sweet and hot mixed)
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
3 cups Pepperidge Farm herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1-1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 whole (2 halves) turkey breast, boned and butterflied (5 pounds)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Place the dried figs and cranberries in a small saucepan and pour in the Calvados and 1/2 cup water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and celery and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage, crumbling it into small bits with a fork, and sauté, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, until cooked and browned. Add the figs and cranberries with the liquid, the chopped rosemary, and pine nuts, and cook for 2 more minutes. Scrape up the brown bits with a wooden spoon.

Place the stuffing mix in a large bowl. Add the sausage mixture, chicken stock, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and stir well. (The stuffing may be prepared ahead and stored in the refrigerator overnight.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place a baking rack on a sheet pan.

Lay the butterflied turkey breast skin side down on a cutting board. Sprinkle the meat with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Spread the stuffing in a 1/2-inch-thick layer over the meat, leaving a half-inch border on all sides. Don’t mound the stuffing or the turkey will be difficult to roll. (Place the leftover stuffing in a buttered gratin dish and bake for the last 45 minutes of roasting alongside the turkey.) Starting at one end, roll the turkey like a jelly roll and tuck in any stuffing that tries to escape on the sides. Tie the roast firmly with kitchen twine every 2 inches to make a compact cylinder.

Place the stuffed turkey breast seam side down on the rack on the sheet pan. Brush with the melted butter, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, and roast for 1-3/4 to 2 hours, until a thermometer reads 150 degrees in the center. (I test in a few places.) Cover the turkey with aluminum foil and allow it to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Carve 1/2-inch-thick slices and serve warm with the extra stuffing.


Baked Sweet Potato "Fries"
(Serves 4)




















2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Halve the sweet potatoes lengthwise and cut each half into 3 long spears. Place them on a sheet pan and toss with the olive oil. Spread the potatoes in one layer. Combine the brown sugar, salt, and pepper and sprinkle on the potatoes. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn with a spatula. Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Sprinkle lightly with salt and serve hot.

Ina Garten is one of the country's most beloved culinary icons and the author of five previous cookbooks. She can be seen on Food Network, where her shows, Barefoot Contessa and Back to Basics, are among the network's most watched. Ina also writes a column on entertaining for House Beautiful magazine.

Read more


Best price Click Here

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set)

Mastering the
Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set)
by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck
4.9 out of 5 stars(168)

Buy new: $89.95 $51.10
69 used & new from $37.99

(Visit the Most Wished For in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

The perfect gift for any follower of Julia Child—and any lover of French food. This boxed set brings together Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961, and its sequel, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two, published in 1970.

Volume One is the classic cookbook, in its entirety—524 recipes.
“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for nearly fifty years, has been teaching Americans how.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. The techniques learned in this beautiful book, with more than one hundred instructive illustrations, can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely usable. In compiling the secrets of famous Cordon Bleu chefs, the authors produced a magnificent volume that continues to have a place of honor in American kitchens.

Volume Two is the sequel to the great cooking classic—with 257 additional recipes. Following the publication of the celebrated Volume One, Julia Child and Simone Beck continued to search out and sample new recipes among the classic dishes and regional specialties of France—cooking, conferring, tasting, revising, perfecting. Out of their discoveries they made, for Volume Two, a brilliant selection of precisely those recipes that not only add to the repertory but, above all, bring the reader to a new level of mastery of the art of French cooking.

Each of these recipes is worked out step-by-step, with the clarity and precision that are the essence of the first volume. Five times as many drawings as in Volume One make the clear instructions even more so.

Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of this volume is that it will make Americans actually more expert than their French contemporaries in two supreme areas of cookery: baking and charcuterie. In France one can turn to the local bakery for fresh and expertly baked bread, or to neighborhood charcuterie for pâtés and terrines and sausages. Here, most of us have no choice but to create them for ourselves.
Bon appétit!
Read more


Best price Click Here

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1

Mastering the
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1
by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck, Sidonie Coryn
4.8 out of 5 stars(337)

Buy new: $40.00 $22.74
161 used & new from $19.90

(Visit the Best Sellers in Regional & International list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

This is the classic cookbook, in its entirety—all 524 recipes.

“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for more than forty years, has been teaching Americans how.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than 100 instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:

• it leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection;
• it breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire;
• it adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences;
• it shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the United States, that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients, for example, equivalent meat cuts, the right beans for a cassoulet, or the appropriate fish and seafood for a bouillabaisse;
• it offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.

Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America. Bon appétit!
This is the classic cookbook, in its entirety—all 524 recipes.

“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for more than forty years, has been teaching Americans how.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than 100 instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:

• it leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection;

• it breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire;

• it adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences;

• it shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the United States, that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients, for example, equivalent meat cuts, the right beans for a cassoulet, or the appropriate fish and seafood for a bouillabaisse;

• it offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines. Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America. Bon appétit!

Julie & Julia
is now a major motion picture (releasing in August 2009) starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. It is partially based on Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France. Enjoy these images from the film, and click the thumbnails to see larger images.



Read more


Best price Click Here