Description:
You start with Duck Breast and Fuji Apples on Watercress, and end with a glass of Moroccan Apple Sharbat--and it's all apple all the way in between. Such is the slim wonder called An Apple Harvest, courtesy of award-winning authors Frank Browning and Sharon Silva. Both authors grew up with apples in the family--acres of apples--Silva north of San Francisco, and Browning in Kentucky. Browning, in fact, co-owns and operates an orchard with his brother. So these are not supermarket food writers. The appreciation both writers bring to their task begins with the seasons of labor that go into growing and harvesting a good apple. An Apple Harvest opens with combined reminiscences that give the reader a sense of how large, how grand the world of apples can be, given access to good and varied fruit. The introduction includes a brief history that traces the apple back to ancient origins in what is Kazakhstan today, a section on choosing apples, how to keep apples, a peel/don't peel debate, and a little something on cooking with cider, cider vinegar, and Calvados or applejack. The "Culinary Pomarium" that follows is an illustrated guide to modern apple possibilities. And then there are the recipes. International in scope, you will find first courses, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, and beverages. You will find a Waldorf Salad, this one including pomegranate seeds and red grapes. There's a Roasted Winter Squash Soup with Cider, and Steamed Clams Asturian Style, which calls for cider as well. How about Fujis and Kale? Or Fox Mountain Parsnips (with dried apples and hard cider)? The desserts section begins with Apple Dumplings. There's a Tarte Tatin recipe, followed by Kentucky Bourbon Apple Pie. Four more pies follow, one of them savory, with Swiss chard. As far as single-subject cookbooks go, An Apple Harvest sets the standard. --Schuyler Ingle
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