Customer Reviews

The Herbfarm Cookbook

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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So when I moved into my new house, I started an herb garden thinking it would be cool to incorporate them into my meals. When they all finally matured, I was so happy, but didn't know what to do with them, so I set out looking for a cookbook that centered around herbs.

This was the best I found, and after trying out a few, it has very, very well written recipies. Everyone I tried came out perfect, and tasted scrumptious! Honestly. The recipies have are as descriptive as the rest of the book. "The mixture will be satiny & sticky and have a consistancy between soft dough & thick batter."

Additionally, there is detailed explinations on how to start, care for, cook, store, dry, and love your herbs. Albiet a tad pricy, definately worth every penny in it's depth, honesty, detail, and quality.

I teach classes in growing and cooking with herbs. I have never found a more infomative, beautifully laid out and designed book on herbs.Like "Herbs and Spices" by Waverly Root It is chocked full of information and recipes. But somehow Jerry Trauneld's experience and passion for herbs shines through in a delightful user friendly way. This book is bound to become a classic.

I've been gourmet cooking and growing most of my own herbs now for years, some successfully, and others not so. In looking for some aid with what ails my herb garden, sought this one out as possibility.

It provided what I needed and more. What I needed was some specific help with cultivation and amount of each herb for the kitchen. Exactly one of the main portions of this book. The bonus is the exciting recipe collection that composes this award winning cookbook.

Feast your eyes and tastebuds on: Roasted Asparagus Salad with Fried Sage; Smoked Trout and Corn Pudding; Individual Crab and Lemon Thyme Souffles with Chervil Sauce; Shrimp and Tarragon Risotto; Poached Salmon Fillets with Tarragon Sauce; Grilled Flank Steak with Oregano Marinade; Apple-Rosemary Souffle; Red Pepper and Hazlenut Sauce.

If you're serious about cooking, this is must have on your shelves. Herbs and fresh ones are a must, and this provides advice from a pro oriented towards whatever size garden one can have.

Jerry Traunfeld has given us an excellent guide to growing, handling, and cooking with fresh herbs and edible flowers. He offers familiar as well as novel recipes that are simple yet far from boring. He also includes attractive full-color photos of finished dishes, botanical watercolors of herbs, and a helpful glossary. In sum, this is a valuable and well-researched book from an enthusiastic chef who shares his knowledge and expertise in a sincere and straightforward manner. "The Herbfarm Cookbook" sits alongside another great favorite of mine, Sonia Uvezian's "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen," a brilliant and highly original volume featuring fascinating text and exceptional recipes that make imaginative use of herbs (and spices). Both Traunfeld and Uvezian write remarkably clear recipes that even beginners can follow without difficulty. Every lover of good food should acquire these two books, which are certain to become classics.

If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would. My friends and I get together about twice a month for "herbfarm dinners" where we plan a menu from the book and then cook what have been the BEST meals we have ever had. We rate each dish when we are finished, and we haven't come across anything we dislike (and we have made about 3/4 of the recipes in there!). The fresh herbs and combinations that Traunfeld uses are simply amazing. It's great that we have been able to cook for ourselves some of the best food we have ever had. If you live someplace where fresh herbs are hard to come by (and a variety of them as well-- there are some used in here that you probably havent heard of before) then you may want to do some research beforehand to see if you can find the ingredients through mail order herb suppliers or something. Luckily we live in Seattle where there is a public market with lots of fresh herbs, though this book has also inspired us to start our own herb gardens! We hardly ever have to buy them anymore. You will not be disappointed with the recipes in this book-- they are FABULOUS. It also has all kinds of information regarding how to pair herbs, how to buy, store and prepare them. It's a good buy.

My wife and I love this book. Out of all the cookbooks I have, this is the one I visit most frequently. The herb combinations are wonderful. The writing style is comfortable and entertaining. I write comments to every recipe I try and this book has more ink marks than any other I own. Jerry's suggestions for alternatives to herbs are very helpful when I find I don't have the main ingredients.

His recipes pack a wallop of flavor that intrigue the palate. Try the Green-Roasted Fish Fillets (my wife's favorite), the Almond-and-Herb-Breaded Chicken (try it on a picnic....wow! what a flavor) or the Dilled Chicken Piccata (delicious). Another favorite of ours, Potatoes with Rosemary and Lavender.

Jerry does wonders with herbs, try it and enjoy..I don't think you will be disappointed.

Salad in 4 months? First, you use the addresses given to order seed ... select from nearly 60 items. Grow. Hand select leaves to construct salad. Wash. Dress. Build salad a leaf at a time.

Seriously, that is the strength of this cookbook. If you chose, you may start with the information on how to grow herbs - from the basics to those requiring very special care. Then in using the herbs, the recipies give a wide variety of options allowing you to adjust the recipes to ingredients available to you. At the same time, you are shown new uses for herbs or new herbs to substitute for your old standbys. An example of the approach is the salad - the leaves are served whole, in cutting and gathering the ingredients onto the fork, the diner is allowed to choose what flavors he or she wishes to mix together - a subtlety of approach that was new to me.

The recipes are in general very practical - some clearly "company" dishes , other appropriate for every day. The recipes often include background on the cooking practices that lead to the recipe. For example whole fish grilled on fennel stalks describes how fennel grows, its uses in the Mediterranean as a grilling bed, and then slide into the recipe.

This book should be considered high on the required cookbooks list for those who enjoy cooking with fresh herbs - and for those who don't to show them why they should.

The recipes in Jerry Traunfeld's The Herbfarm Cookbook will make your taste buds perk up and sing. And they'll have your friends begging for dinner invitations.

After reading an essay by the author on growing herbs, I bought this book to learn about herb gardening. Three months later, I find it my favorite--and most-used-- new cookbook since I discovered Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking thirty-odd years ago. The Herbfarm Cookbook is not merely an extraordinary source of scrumptious recipes; it has transformed the way I cook--even the way I think about food.

Traubman uses herbs to intensify the flavors of foods--in glorious combinations. He infuses the cream for a panna cotta with ginger and lavender or turns a simple white gazbacho into the essence of summer with the addition of mint, parsley and tarragon. Purees of fresh herbs form bases for relatively light yet rich-tasting sauces.

While he may call for a half cup of basil here or ¾ cups of tarragon there, none of his dishes are overpowered by a too-dominant flavor. In fact, the amazing thing about cooking with herbs in this manner is the way they underscore the tastes of star ingredients.

Vegetables as ordinary as parsnips and carrots become sublime. The simplest roast chicken or linguine in clam sauce gains intriguing overtones and new interest.

Halibut roasted in an herbal green robe. Couscous salad with cumin, cilantro and apricots. Appetizers of broiled figs sprinkled with thyme on gorgonzola-slathered croutes or mussels on little beds of broiled mint pesto. Every recipe I have tried has been amazing. And most of them have been surprisingly simple.

The author is the chef of one of America's most acclaimed restaurants. Yet his book is a joy for an amateur like me who doesn't keep truffles and foie gras on hand or have access to even one helper. Even the herbs are, for the most part, easy to find, and there are plenty of suggestions for substitutes.

Best of all, cooking from this book has given me a firsthand understanding of the excitement of modern American cuisine. Bringing out the very essence of a food...giving the taste buds a new thrill of recognition...taking the familiar and making it new and wonderful. For someone who loves to explore ways of making food delicious, The Herbfarm Cookbook is a revelation. And by the way, it's also a fabulous guide to herb gardening.

Despite the fact that this is, first, a cookbook, I found that it also offers the most comprehensive information regarding the growing and harvesting of herbs, including herbs in containers. For the first time, with Jerry's instructions, I am cutting my herbs in the right places (Italian parsley from the outside leaves in, cutting right at the bottom) so that they grow fuller and remain healthy. The best reference I've found.

Jerry Traunfeld has given us an excellent guide to growing, handling, and cooking with fresh herbs and edible flowers. He offers familiar as well as novel recipes that are simple yet far from boring. He also includes attractive full-color photos of finished dishes and botanical watercolors of herbs as well as a helpful glossary. In sum, this is a valuable and well-researched book from an enthusiastic chef who shares his knowledge and experience in a sincere and straightforward manner.

"The Herbfarm Cookbook" sits next to another great favorite of mine, Sonia Uvezian's "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen," a brilliant and highly original volume featuring fascinating text and exceptional recipes that make imaginative use of herbs (and spices). Both Traunfeld and Uvezian write remarkably clear recipes that even beginners can follow without difficulty. Every lover of good food should acquire these two books, which are certain to become classics.