Cooking New American [Hardcover]

Martha Holmberg (Author), Fine Cooking Magazine (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: October 1, 2004

Cooking New American offers today's cooks everything they need to know to cook fresh, contemporary, and great-tasting food for family and friends. With Fine Cooking's most popular recipes by many of America's greatest chefs that include Bruce Aidells, Gale Gand, Caprial Pence, Alice Waters, and Joanne Weir, the book features fresh, delicious ingredients simply prepared, with all the tips and techniques to successfully prepare today's favorite foods. The 200 recipes selected by the editors of Fine Cooking deliver the fresh and bold flavors that have powered the American culinary revolution, yet all the ingredients are readily attainable at the supermarket. The range of recipes is exciting, but every dish is decidedly easy-to-prepare. With almost 400 step-by-step color photographs, an assortment of techniques, ingredients, tips from the pros, essays, preparation and serving tips, optional ingredients, shortcuts, recipe variations, and timesaving tips as well as ideas for cooking ahead and serving suggestions, Cooking New American is a private tutorial in preparing the kind of food that Americans truly love to eat.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The American palate changes constantly. Who would have guessed that salsa would replace ketchup as our condiment of choice? Even so, home cooking hasn't caught up with many of the "new" dishes we've come to enjoy. Addressing that gap, Cooking New American offers 200 recipes from Fine Cooking, a magazine devoted to telling cooks "how-to" as well as offering simple, tasty formulas. The book's recipes, which cover the full dish range from "small bites" through desserts, are the work of 75-plus food authorities, such as Alice Waters (Garden Lettuces with Baked Goat Cheese); Pam Anderson (Broiled Chicken Thighs with Coriander Rub); Norman Van Aken (Grilled Tuna with Mango and Habanero Sauce); and Gale Gand (Chocolate Terrine with Whipped Cream and Almond Brittle). Despite a few taste lapses (a recipe with rosemary-flavored blue-cheese sauce, for example), and at least one doubtfully edited formula (readers are advised to serve grilled red onions with optionally garnished Bermuda onion-topped flank-steak), the formulas are overwhelmingly attractive--traditional and modern fare that's easily prepared.

It is, however, the instructional asides that make the book so valuable. From "Cooking Right" tips (for example, to get the right vegetable thickness for a zucchini dish, "press down hard on a Y-shaped peeler") to sections like "Just What Is a Mojo?", the book abounds in genuinely useful advice. These tips benefit from color photos that show, for instance, the various stages of sugar-syrup caramelization. Ingredient and cooking-ahead pointers, as well as sub-recipes like those for quick pan sauces, further enhance this winning collection. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

A mere glance over the recipes and ingredients in this cookbook highlights how international American cooking has become. This volume brings together 200 dishes from Fine Cooking magazine, and covers everything from slight snacks to decadent desserts. The recipes, which are generally straightforward and accessible, emphasize the use of fresh, top-quality ingredients to bring out the flavor of simpler dishes like White Beans with Rosemary & Olive Oil and to anchor the taste of more exotic fare like Grilled Coffee-Brined Chicken Breasts. The Italian influence is big, as is evidenced by the book’s many elegant variations on bruschetta and pasta (some of which are standard, like Angel Hair with Mussels & Spicy Tomato Sauce, and others that are more inventive, like Squash Ravioli with Sherried Onion Sauce, Walnuts & Cranberries). The recipes also incorporate Chinese, Latin, Indian and Middle Eastern flavors. Though the dishes presented here are appetizing, the book is just as strong in what it offers by way of practical tips. Instructions on "Cooking Right" tell readers how to judge when a steak is seared properly and how to prepare lemongrass, and "Cook’s Choice" ideas explain key ingredients like ricotta salata and provide ideas for substitutions. Every page has one or more eye-catching photos that illuminate the process as well as the ingredients and the final product, which is always artfully plated. Although many cooks may have tried variations of these recipes before, this inspired collection will motivate many to revisit them.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561587281
• ISBN-13: 978-1561587285
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 0.9 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fine Cooking is created for anyone with a desire to become a more talented cook. It combines a distinct editorial point of view that celebrates the soul of cooking, with more (and more realistic) entry points for all levels of cooks, conceptionally rich features, skills and techniques no cook can succeed without, plus bigger, bolder photos and fresh graphics that connect the kitchen to the table.

Fine Cooking is unique in its 100% focus on food and its mission to give today's cooks -- no matter what their level of cooking skill -- the knowledge and confidence to become more talented cooks and enhance their pleasure in all things food. It's the only epicurean title completely dedicated to cooking. No wonder our brand-loyal readers agree, Fine Cooking is:

* Pure fun! -- an ongoing celebration of the enjoyment of cooking and entertaining
* Everything cooking -- the sources, tools, tips, and advice that make readers the best in the kitchen ... and in the company of their friends
* Packed with invaluable how-to's -- the highest quality, best explained cooking
* The key to kitchen success -- the most thoroughly tested and creative recipes
* Full of real insights -- from ingredients to shopping and buying
* The perfect fit for any lifestyle -- offering tips for every day, special days, and everything in-between.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Ideas December 20, 2004

By Jennifer A. Wickes VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Fine Cooking Magazine has released a new cookbook. Being a fan of Fine Cooking magazine myself, I am excited by their new innovative yet simple recipes that bring forth great meals and leave behind the boring meals of the past!

This new bestseller brings forth a new rage, the self-titled, Cooking New American. This book is not about America's past of meatloaf and dried pot roast, but new, creative meals. Lovely recipes such as Truffle-Scented Cornish Game Hens with Proscuitto and Wild Mushrooms, and Couscous with Ginger, Orange, Almonds and Herbs, are throughout this book.

This cookbook is beautifully photographed. The dishes look so tantalizing that one feels compelled to try some of these inspirational recipes! The recipes are easy-to-read and easy-to-prepare. Alongside any moderately-complicated recipe, there is a picture guide of what you are looking for whilst preparing your new meal.

If you are used to traditional American cuisine, and not ready for this new trend, then this book may come as a surprise with the ingredients. For me, it was refreshing to see ingredients such as porcini mushrooms, proscuitto, hazelnuts and more. But for others, it may be a deterrent.

For fresh, new ideas, pick up this cookbook. It would make a nice addition to your collection, as well as a wonderful gift.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Cookbook Ever! April 22, 2005

By JenCen

Format:Hardcover

My son gave me this cookbook for Christmas and I have probably used it at least weekly ever since! I love that most of the recipes are fairly short and whats great is that dishes are so good people assume they are much more difficult to prepare than they really are!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fabulous Cookbook July 24, 2005

By Patricia O'connor

Format:Hardcover

I received this cookbook as a present and have given it as a present to many people. I haven't had a failed recipe once. The instructions and quantities are clear and the sidebars with preparation tips are the best I've ever seen. I have committed to making at least one new dish a month. The risotto with corn, tomatoes & basil has become a staple at our house.