Customer Reviews

Enemy Of The Steak: Vegetarian Recipes To Win Friends And Influence Meat-Eaters

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Warning - do not buy this book if you have the authors' earlier book, "The Healthiest Diet in the World." The vast majority of the recipes are from that book. I have waited over a year for this book to be published, so as you can imagine I am quite disappointed that it is a reprint of that book (minus all the nutritional information). I am annoyed that I have to spend money on packing and shipping to return this to Amazon - the publisher should have made clear that this was another version of an earlier book. Note - if you do not have the earlier book, then pick this one up because the recipes are tasty.

The introduction in this cookbook was very well thought out. The neat and easy to read informational section houses organized lists of pantry staples and how to store them, ingredient explanations, and a unique chapter of how-to's and guides. Toasting nuts and seeds, roasting garlic, making tomato puree, cooking dried beans and grains, steaming versus stewing, guides to oven roasting, grilling, and pressure cooking vegetables ... it's all in there.

Once I was able to pull myself from the introductory chapters, I began perusing the recipes. This is a vegetarian cookbook, which means no meat or seafood. You will find recipes that call for honey, dairy, and eggs, but not many. Dairy alternatives (such as soymilk) are typically used rather than milk (yogurt is really the only dairy ingredient I saw used with any regularity), and, in general, for every egg-rich dish, you will find several tofu alternative recipes. For this reason, I would definitely rate this cookbook as useful for dairy-free and vegan diets.

However, this is a very soy-heavy cookbook. In some cases you could intuitively substitute a non-soy ingredient, but in most cases the soymilk, tofu, or soy flour called for seemed as though they might be required. Honestly, there were more recipes containing tofu than I have ever seen in a single cookbook. Like many, I have to limit my soy protein consumption for health reasons, so the soy-load in Enemy of the Steak is an unfortunate drawback for my own needs. However, if you are a big soy consumer, this could be a plus.

Luckily, this cookbook is packed full of recipes (over 250!), so there is still a good number that I can choose from. I am grateful for this, as the authors' recipes are imaginative, quite flavorful, and very easy to follow and prepare.