All-American Waves of Grain: How to Buy, Store, and Cook Every Imaginable Grain [Hardcover]

Barbara Grunes (Author), Virginia Van Vynckt (Author), Virginia Van Vynckt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

The acclaimed authors of ALL-AMERICAN VEGETARIAN brings us up to date on the wealth of old and new grains being grown in America. From old country favorites such as barley, millet, oats, and rye to native wild rice, amaranth, and new specialty grains, the authors describe the nutritional value of each grain, its growing habitat, and how to buy, store, and prepare it in delicious ways. The same attention is given to the by-products of corn, wheat, and rice.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Here is yet another grain cookbook, but it offers lots of information and a good collection of recipes of all sorts. Grunes and Van Vynckt (All-American Vegetarian, LJ 10/15/95) do include classic American dishes like Kentucky Burgoo and New England Blueberry Pancakes, but other recipes are inspired by our ethnic diversity: Fried Rice Wontons in Soup, Mushroom Risotto, and so forth. Wheat, corn, and rice merit their own chapters; there are also chapters on Native American Gifts (from North, South, and Central America), "Old Country" Favorites, and the newer ("rediscovered") specialty grains. There are more mainstream recipes here than in Rebecca Wood's The Splendid Grain (LJ 2/15/97), including many more baked goods, making this a good companion to her book.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805041311
• ISBN-13: 978-0805041316
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,507,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid introduction to the basics of whole-grain cooking, January 30, 2012

By 

Karl Janssen (Olathe, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All-American Waves of Grain: How to Buy, Store, and Cook Every Imaginable Grain (Hardcover)

I picked this cookbook up at a used bookstore a couple years ago and have found it to be quite useful. I've made about 15 to 20 of the dishes included here, a few of which I now make on a regular basis. The book is divided up into chapters devoted to individual grains. Wheat, corn, rice, wild rice, amaranth, quinoa, barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, rye, kamut, spelt, triticale, and teff are all covered, some more than others. Each chapter begins with some basic, helpful introductory material on the history and usage of each grain, followed by several recipes incorporating that grain.

Each recipe is accompanied by basic nutritional information--calories, fat content, fiber, etc.--but I will confess that I don't pay much attention to that. You know these recipes are healthy because the ingredients that go into them are healthy. This is not a vegetarian cookbook. There are a lot of meat dishes, but very few contain red meat. In general, however, the recipes are very vegetable intensive. I have frequently enjoyed the Kentucky Burgoo (a chicken and vegetable stew in tomato sauce with cornmeal dumplings), the Quick Root Vegetable and Barley Soup, the Cornmeal Mush with Sautéed Peppers and Sausage, and the Spiced Quinoa with Root Vegetables.

The only aspect of this cookbook I found disappointing was that I was hoping for more recipes with the grains in their complete form--rye berries, pearled barley, or buckwheat groats, for example. The Rye Berry Stir-Fry and the Millet, Cabbage, and Beef Stir Fry are good examples of this. About three quarters of the recipes in the book, however, focus on the use of whole grain flours for the making of breads, muffins, pancakes, crepes, pizza crusts, and more.

For the most part, I would not consider the dishes in this book to be quick and easy meals. There are exceptions; the Millet Berry Muffins are very easy to prepare and quite delicious. In general, though, these dishes do require some time and energy to prepare, but the recipes are not difficult to follow and they don't require exotic, hard-to-find ingredients. I'm no kitchen wizard, but I can follow directions, and I've had no problems preparing any of these meals. I've even managed to get good results from the yeast breads, which can be notoriously hard to make. The Whole Wheat Molasses Raisin Bread, Whole Wheat Bread with Cracked Wheat, and Lower East Side Pumpernickel all turned out well. This book is not illustrated, but I haven't found that to be a handicap. If you're interested in whole grain cooking, this is a very good manual to have on your shelf.