International Pantry Cookbook: An Everyday Guide to Cooking with Seasonings, Prepared Sauces, and Spices [Paperback]

Heidi Haughy Cusick (Author), Pat Hilliard-Barry (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

The idea is smart and simple: Start with a basic recipe and then add spice, sauce, or seasonings for whatever style meal you crave. This time-saving cookbook features "master recipes" for soups, salads, and entrees, and pairs them with delicious variations that take only a few extra ingredients to create. Showcasing the tantalizing flavors of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia, and using commonly available or easy-to-prepare seasonings, mustards, chutneys, and more, The International Pantry Cookbook lets busy cooks take advantage of all the world has to offer.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As high-concept as the latest Hollywood film, The International Pantry Cookbook features eye-catching graphics and a strongly focussed idea: you can make a great variety of dishes by combining regional spices, sauces, pastes, and other seasonings with staples that are essentially similar the world over. By using prepared versions of many of these seasonings, you can save time while producing good results. Heidi Haughy Cusick provides 50 "Master Recipes" and 275 variations of them that are based on the cooking of seven regions: the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the American South. "Practical Seasoning Tips," such as stirring flour into an overly hot spice blend or rub to cool its flavor, punctuate the text.

The bold design of The International Pantry Cookbook is primarily black and white with brilliant orange accents, and the graphic layout is both off-beat and efficient. One "Master Recipe" and up to seven variations are displayed in two facing pages. For easy reference, Cusick also lists the names, addresses, and phone numbers of nearly every sauce and condiment company that might be of interest. This trove of recipes is best suited for cooks who have little time but who possess an adventurous palate and a desire to enlarge their repertoire with bold flavors. Look particularly for Indonesian Stove-Top Rice, Kung Pao Chicken Sauté, Curried Crab Crostini, and Za'atar-Spiced Roasted Vegetables.

Review

Reviews From:

The Bloomsbury Review

the Seattle Times

Most cookbooks that tout strategies for international cooking from what is in the average American cupboard lie. Take cooked rice. Italian? Dry oregano. Greek? Lemon juice and olive oil. Indian? Curry powder. French? Red cooking wine. The result: a vapid pile of white rice flecked or spotted with a tired, one-note flavoring. This book makes a three-prong attack on boring cooking. First is a well-organized explanation of authentic and tasty prepackaged spices and sauces. Second, the book is organized around a slew of basic recipes for everything from chowder to salads to biscuits. . . . Finally, each of these basic recipes is gussied up, using the exotics in the first section. The difference between these recipes and what you might find in the usual quick-and-easy recipe books is quality and depth of flavor. A resource directory will help you track down the more obscure ingredients.

A basic stove-top rice metamorphoses into its more creative Indonesian or Creole counterparts. Ordinary stuffed potatoes are transformed into a garlic-herb-infused side dish or a simple Mexican-inspired main dish. A chicken stew is jazzed up with exotic notes of cumin, coriander, cinnamon and ginger.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811816702
• ISBN-13: 978-0811816700
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,291,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good ideas for the best chicken ever..., February 5, 2010

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R. P. Moorman (Mentor, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: International Pantry Cookbook: An Everyday Guide to Cooking with Seasonings, Prepared Sauces, and Spices (Paperback)

I made the tastiest & moistest chicken ever with help from this cookbook. I bought this book to help me learn how to cook with my new inverted roaster and cooking bag to retain juices. I can cook a chicken or turkey with herbs in place of salt for my heart conscious father. There is reference to cooking with this kind of roaster. But I wish there were more recipes to teach me more recipes for an inverted roaster.