The Sustainable Kitchen: Passionate Cooking Inspired by Farms, Forests and Oceans

Rating:
Summary: Restaurant-Quality Food for the Home Kitchen
Review: OK, let's get the disclosures out of the way: my husband and I are fortunate to live near Ashland, OR and we are huge fans of the Peerless Restaurant. I was also fortunate to be one of the recipe testers while they were writing their book. That said, this is a great cookbook with very do-able recipes that any home cook with a little bit of experience should be able to do. I tried 6 of the recipes during the testing phase and a couple of others since the book just came out and they were all winners.

I might not be able to duplicate the beautiful presentations that Stu and Mary offer at Peerless but the flavors of the home-cooked versions as compared to the restaurant versions are right on. The recipes give clear instructions, advice regarding advance preparations, ideas for substitutions, and wine recommendations.

Interspersed with the recipes are essays on how to make food choices that are good for our planet, eating seasonally, and interviews with artisanal food producers which give the reader an appreciation for the foods we eat and an understanding of how they are grown and produced.

This is an excellent, fun-to-read introduction to sustainable and seasonable cooking that tastes great too!

Rating:
Summary: Restaurant-Quality Food for the Home Kitchen
Review: OK, let's get the disclosures out of the way: my husband and I are fortunate to live near Ashland, OR and we are huge fans of the Peerless Restaurant. I was also fortunate to be one of the recipe testers while they were writing their book. That said, this is a great cookbook with very do-able recipes that any home cook with a little bit of experience should be able to do. I tried 6 of the recipes during the testing phase and a couple of others since the book just came out and they were all winners.

I might not be able to duplicate the beautiful presentations that Stu and Mary offer at Peerless but the flavors of the home-cooked versions as compared to the restaurant versions are right on. The recipes give clear instructions, advice regarding advance preparations, ideas for substitutions, and wine recommendations.

Interspersed with the recipes are essays on how to make food choices that are good for our planet, eating seasonally, and interviews with artisanal food producers which give the reader an appreciation for the foods we eat and an understanding of how they are grown and produced.

This is an excellent, fun-to-read introduction to sustainable and seasonable cooking that tastes great too!

Rating:
Summary: Enhanced with 75 color and b/w photos
Review: Stu Stein and Mary Hinds are acclaimed chefs and co-owners of The Peerless Restaurant in southern Oregon. Together with Judith H. Dern, they have collaborated in The Sustainable Kitchen: Passionate Cooking Inspired By Farms, Forests And Oceans, a compilation of fresh, seasonal, flavorful, original, and thoroughly "kitchen cook friendly" recipes. Enhanced with 75 color and b/w photos, these delicious recipes range from Asparagus Custard; Three Oyster Stew; Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Red Torpedo Onions and Pesto Vinaigrette; and Slow Roasted Ivory King Salmon with a Ragout of Mushrooms, Spinach and Fingerling Potatoes; to Sage Rubbed Leg of Pork with Apple-Fennel Pan Sauce; Root Vegetable and Onion Marmalade Pave; Chocolate Peppermint Brownie; and Honey Tangerine-Meringue Tartlet with Grand Marnier Pastry Cream and Berry Coulis. The Sustainable Kitchen will prove to be a welcome and appreciated addition to any kitchen cookbook collection!