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Summary: Nicknamed "how to make a salad in 4 months"
Review: Salad in 4 months? First, you use the addresses given to order seed ... select from nearly 60 items. Grow. Hand select leaves to construct salad. Wash. Dress. Build salad a leaf at a time.Seriously, that is the strength of this cookbook. If you chose, you may start with the information on how to grow herbs - from the basics to those requiring very special care. Then in using the herbs, the recipies give a wide variety of options allowing you to adjust the recipes to ingredients available to you. At the same time, you are shown new uses for herbs or new herbs to substitute for your old standbys. An example of the approach is the salad - the leaves are served whole, in cutting and gathering the ingredients onto the fork, the diner is allowed to choose what flavors he or she wishes to mix together - a subtlety of approach that was new to me. The recipes are in general very practical - some clearly "company" dishes , other appropriate for every day. The recipes often include background on the cooking practices that lead to the recipe. For example whole fish grilled on fennel stalks describes how fennel grows, its uses in the Mediterranean as a grilling bed, and then slide into the recipe. This book should be considered high on the required cookbooks list for those who enjoy cooking with fresh herbs - and for those who don't to show them why they should.
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Summary: I grew all these herbs. Now what?
Review: So when I moved into my new house, I started an herb garden thinking it would be cool to incorporate them into my meals. When they all finally matured, I was so happy, but didn't know what to do with them, so I set out looking for a cookbook that centered around herbs. This was the best I found, and after trying out a few, it has very, very well written recipies. Everyone I tried came out perfect, and tasted scrumptious! Honestly. The recipies have are as descriptive as the rest of the book. "The mixture will be satiny & sticky and have a consistancy between soft dough & thick batter." Additionally, there is detailed explinations on how to start, care for, cook, store, dry, and love your herbs. Albiet a tad pricy, definately worth every penny in it's depth, honesty, detail, and quality.
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Summary: The Best Cookbook Out There
Review: The Herbfarm Cookbook not only is filled with absoloutly scrumptious recipes but also is an excellent guide to basic cooking technique and herb properties. Even when I have no herbs available I will look up an Herbfarm recipe to use as my technique guide. The book is complete with herd substitutions in case a certain herd is not available. The herbs in the recipes blend so well that a better meal is unimaginable.
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Summary: A real treasure
Review: The recipes in Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbfarm Cookbook will make your taste buds perk up and sing. And they'll have your friends begging for dinner invitations. After reading an essay by the author on growing herbs, I bought this book to learn about herb gardening. Three months later, I find it my favorite--and most-used-- new cookbook since I discovered Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking thirty-odd years ago. The Herbfarm Cookbook is not merely an extraordinary source of scrumptious recipes; it has transformed the way I cook--even the way I think about food. Traubman uses herbs to intensify the flavors of foods--in glorious combinations. He infuses the cream for a panna cotta with ginger and lavender or turns a simple white gazbacho into the essence of summer with the addition of mint, parsley and tarragon. Purees of fresh herbs form bases for relatively light yet rich-tasting sauces. While he may call for a half cup of basil here or ¾ cups of tarragon there, none of his dishes are overpowered by a too-dominant flavor. In fact, the amazing thing about cooking with herbs in this manner is the way they underscore the tastes of star ingredients. Vegetables as ordinary as parsnips and carrots become sublime. The simplest roast chicken or linguine in clam sauce gains intriguing overtones and new interest.
Halibut roasted in an herbal green robe. Couscous salad with cumin, cilantro and apricots. Appetizers of broiled figs sprinkled with thyme on gorgonzola-slathered croutes or mussels on little beds of broiled mint pesto. Every recipe I have tried has been amazing. And most of them have been surprisingly simple. The author is the chef of one of America's most acclaimed restaurants. Yet his book is a joy for an amateur like me who doesn't keep truffles and foie gras on hand or have access to even one helper. Even the herbs are, for the most part, easy to find, and there are plenty of suggestions for substitutes. Best of all, cooking from this book has given me a firsthand understanding of the excitement of modern American cuisine. Bringing out the very essence of a food...giving the taste buds a new thrill of recognition...taking the familiar and making it new and wonderful. For someone who loves to explore ways of making food delicious, The Herbfarm Cookbook is a revelation. And by the way, it's also a fabulous guide to herb gardening.
Rating:
Summary: A real treasure
Review: The recipes in Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbfarm Cookbook will make your taste buds perk up and sing. And they'll have your friends begging for dinner invitations. After reading an essay by the author on growing herbs, I bought this book to learn about herb gardening. Three months later, I find it my favorite--and most-used-- new cookbook since I discovered Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking thirty-odd years ago. The Herbfarm Cookbook is not merely an extraordinary source of scrumptious recipes; it has transformed the way I cook--even the way I think about food. Traubman uses herbs to intensify the flavors of foods--in glorious combinations. He infuses the cream for a panna cotta with ginger and lavender or turns a simple white gazbacho into the essence of summer with the addition of mint, parsley and tarragon. Purees of fresh herbs form bases for relatively light yet rich-tasting sauces. While he may call for a half cup of basil here or ¾ cups of tarragon there, none of his dishes are overpowered by a too-dominant flavor. In fact, the amazing thing about cooking with herbs in this manner is the way they underscore the tastes of star ingredients. Vegetables as ordinary as parsnips and carrots become sublime. The simplest roast chicken or linguine in clam sauce gains intriguing overtones and new interest.
Halibut roasted in an herbal green robe. Couscous salad with cumin, cilantro and apricots. Appetizers of broiled figs sprinkled with thyme on gorgonzola-slathered croutes or mussels on little beds of broiled mint pesto. Every recipe I have tried has been amazing. And most of them have been surprisingly simple. The author is the chef of one of America's most acclaimed restaurants. Yet his book is a joy for an amateur like me who doesn't keep truffles and foie gras on hand or have access to even one helper. Even the herbs are, for the most part, easy to find, and there are plenty of suggestions for substitutes. Best of all, cooking from this book has given me a firsthand understanding of the excitement of modern American cuisine. Bringing out the very essence of a food...giving the taste buds a new thrill of recognition...taking the familiar and making it new and wonderful. For someone who loves to explore ways of making food delicious, The Herbfarm Cookbook is a revelation. And by the way, it's also a fabulous guide to herb gardening.
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Summary: Absolutely Fabulous!
Review: This is a great book. He is my favorite northwest chef, and his book sits beside my very thumbed copy of In Season by Greg Atkinson of Canlis (in Seattle). I am looking forward to cooking and learning with Jerry as I did with Greg. A beautiful book, all around!
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Summary: Best Cookbook Ever!
Review: This is literally the best cookbook I have ever owned. Most cookbooks, there are a few good recipes, and many many unusable recipes. Every recipe in this book that I've made (about 25 so far...) has been FANTASTIC. The dishes are elegant and delicious, without being overly complicated. Buy this cookbook. You won't be sorry!
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Summary: I can't get enough of this cookbook!
Review: This is, by far, the best cookbook I have ever used. The herb illustrations and the guide to growing herbs is unmatched. I have eaten at The Herb Farm where I got a taste of Jerry Traunfeld's magic first-hand. His cooking and his cookbook are equally beyond comparison.
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