The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor [Hardcover]

Jerry Traunfeld (Author), John Granen (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

The secret to transforming easy dishes into extraordinary meals? Fresh herbs. In The Herbal Kitchen, IACP award-winning cookbook author and acclaimed Herbfarm Restaurant chef Jerry Traunfeld presents simple dishes using herbs straight from the market, windowsill, or garden.

Until recently, the fresh herbs available in supermarkets were limited to parsley and maybe dill. Today, thyme, rosemary, basil, cilantro, mint, and sage are among the many fresh herbs as close as the produce section or the farmer's market. Not to mention marjoram, lovage, tarragon, lavender, shiso, and so many others.

Jerry shows you how to incorporate these fresh herbs into your everyday home meals. So whether preparing a workday supper for the family, a special dinner for two or four, or a feast for a table of guests, using fresh herbs in your cooking will result in fresh and vibrant food.

The Herbal Kitchen includes some recipes that are home variations of the innovative dishes Jerry prepares at the Herbfarm, while others are fresh takes on familiar classics such as Herb Garden Lasagna or Shrimp in Garlic-Sage Butter. All are uncomplicated and prep time is minimal -- with the emphasis on spontaneity and the unmistakable flavors of fresh herbs.

Start off with Asparagus and Lemon Thyme Soup, Spicy Verbena Meatballs, or Rye-Thyme Cheese Straws before moving on to Cinnamon Basil Chicken, Side of Salmon Slow-Roasted in Dill, and Root Ribbons with Sage. Delectable desserts include Warm Lavender Almond Cakes, Rhubarb Mint Cobbler, and a sinful Chocolate Peppermint Tart.

Once you're hooked on cooking with fresh herbs, you'll want to grow them yourself. The Herbal Kitchen is filled with important tips for growing, harvesting, and handling each of the herbs used in the recipes. Valuable information on the varieties of each herb is also highlighted, such as how to tell the difference between Greek oregano and Italian oregano, why you always want to choose bay laurel over California bay, and what type of lavender is best for cooking.

Filled with stunning photos of the herbs, the techniques for handling them, and the finished dishes, Jerry's definitive guide is sure to be a classic, reached for again and again.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are herb gardens, and then there's the Herbfarm, both an award-winning restaurant with an award winning chef, Jerry Traunfeld, and an herb farm--literally. Over the past 14-years Traunfeld has had a farm's worth of herbs to work with in his commercial kitchen and at home. He opened the doors to his commercial kitchen with The Herbfarm Cookbook. And now he takes us home with The Herbal Kitchen. Here's a hint: It's all about heightened flavor through the creative use of herbs.

There's the humble roasted oyster, for example. Traunfeld makes a sauce of fresh sorrel, butter, shallots, cream, and lemon juice. Each oyster sits in its half shell atop a dollop of the sauce and bakes until plump. They are served topped with fine strips of fresh sorrel. Briny oyster meets tart sorrel gentled with cream and butter. Does it get any better? You bet it does. Roasted Oysters with Sorrel Sauce is but an appetizer, along with Minted Lentil and Goat Cheese Strudel, and Spicy Verbena Meatballs.

After a brief introduction to herb basics, Traunfeld moves on to appetizers and drinks (the Rosemary Gin and Tonic sounds intriguing). Chapters that follow cover soups, salads, fast suppers, meals for a crowd, intimate feasts, vegetable dishes, breads, and desserts. Consider the Shiso Crab Cocktail, or Black Olive Roast Chicken, Sides of Salmon Slow-Roasted in Dill, or Lavender-Rubbed Duck Breasts with Apricots and Sweet Onions.

These are precise, carefully thought-out and executed recipes, and they are all built around the masterful use of fresh herbs. You will want to attend to your gardening as much as your cooking with this book as inspiration. Work through The Herbal Kitchen from front to back and you will transform your relationship with herbs. The food you cook and eat will never be the same. And that's a delicious gift from one of the mighty. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

The James Beard Award–winning chef of the Herbfarm near Seattle, Traunfeld (The Herbfarm Cookbook) certainly knows a thing or two about cooking masterfully with fresh herbs. Whereas his first book celebrated restaurant-status dishes, this volume concerns simple dishes for the home cook. Traunfeld concisely introduces the basics of starting one's own herb garden; storing herbs; chopping, slicing and tearing herbs; and measuring herbs. Then he launches into the redolent recipes, many as straightforward as Prosciutto Melon with Lime and Cilantro; Dilled Celery, Asian Pear, and Hazelnut Salad; and Lemon Rosemary Chicken enhanced with dried currants and green olives. Recipes in the "Intimate Feasts" chapter, including Sea Scallops on Summer Succotash, and Lavender-Rubbed Duck Breast with Apricots and Sweet Onions, can stand as complete and creative meals, or be paired with a side from the vegetables chapter, such as Mashed Winter Squash with Bay Butter, or Salt-Roasted Potatoes. Herb-infused desserts like Strawberry Rose Geranium Ice Cream are lovely and not heavy. Throughout, Traunfeld offers insight into the use of specific herbs and ingredients, creating a work that is at once practical, informative and inspiring. Color photos. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060599766
• ISBN-13: 978-0060599768
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even Better than The Herbfarm Cookbook, January 18, 2006

By 

Stephanie (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor (Hardcover)

I have both of Traunfeld's cookbooks. I have had great success with the Herbfarm Cookbook, and did not think that there could be a better effort, but the Herbal Kitchen is even better. They are different books and I will use both, but the Herbal Kitchen includes more fabulous dishes that you can put together on a weeknight. The Herbfarm Cookbook is a much more thorough compendium of recipies and herb growing/properties information. Get them both.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my best cookbook., December 4, 2007

By 

Michael Goulish (Ann Arbor) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor (Hardcover)

I've never seen anything like this. This book makes me smarter. The recipes are much simpler than some other books I own, but the food comes out tasting -- amazing. And the recipe I just cooked (cinnamon chicken) ended up *looking* like it did in the book's photograph. Think about that for a while.

That's another great thing about this book -- it has a lot of photographs, and that helps me (a novice cook) a lot.

I think Mr. Traunfeld understands food in a way that other people don't. In simple things, like how to brown chicken pieces in olive oil, he's just practical and -- more correct than other books I have. Put it skin-side down in the oil and *leave it alone* for at least six minutes, then flip it over for two, then take it out. Yikes. It looked great.

But in his use of herbs and spices, he's some kind of saint. I think the Japanese have a phrase for it: "Living National Treasure." Who else would ever tell you to cook what amounts to Chicken Cacciatore with cinnamon sticks and star anise?

It scared me, but I did it, and oh my. It was one of the best three meals I've cooked in my life. (And it Looked Like The Picture.)

How about mushroom and nutmeg bread pudding for Thanksgiving? He said something like "It's like stuffing from Heaven." So I tried it, and I guess I'll be making it forever now. My wife was hiding packages of it in the refrigerator so she could eat it later. I'm not making this up. That recipe was simple, too.

What if all the most miraculous things are simple, after someone shows them to you?

I decided that a guy like that deserves more than the buck or two he got paid because I bought his book. :-)

---------------------------------------------
Eight Months Later
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It's August, 2008 now, and I have just finished my first attempt at Basil Lime Fizz from this book. I decided I would write this before I finished my first glass of it.

This is crazy. I want to give this guy another star, even if it breaks the Amazon Ranking Algorithm.

Since I wrote the first review, above, I have made this drink (He has several recipes for drinks, ice cream, and appetizers.) as well as the appetizers called Saltimbocca. Everything I have made from this book has turned out perfectly! I am cook of average ability -- an occasionally enthusiastic amateur who only knows how to do one meal by heart. I have never had *every* recipe from a book work out well before.

Not only work out well, but these things have each become instant-classic, top-ten-favorite things in my modest repertoire. And I have never looked at one of Mr. Traunfeld's recipes and thought "what the heck does *this* mean?" I think his are the only books where that doesn't happen.

Here's another detail about how practical he is. In another recipe, he said to carmelize onions in a sauce pan rather than a frying pan, because that will keep the juices from evaporating longer and help the process -- and you can stir the onions quickly without having them fly out of the pan. He has details like that all through his books. These are pointers to becoming a good craftsman with food, even while he's showing you how to do genius-level things with herbs.

I feel like a baseball talent scout who just watched a new kid hit five consecutive pitches out of the park. We -- really -- need to hire this guy.

...


Now I will finish my fizz.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best cookbooks published with simple recipes!, February 22, 2006

By 

SAW (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor (Hardcover)

I have a bookcase full of great cook books. This is one of the best I have ever used because the recipes are simple and so full of flavor and one is better the next. Most recipes have no more than seven or eight ingredients and the photos included really represent the final dish.