Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets [Paperback]

Deborah Madison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2008

First published in hardcover in 2002, Local Flavors was a book ahead of its time. Now, imported food scares and a countrywide infatuation with fresh, local, organic produce has caught up with this groundbreaking cookbook, available for the first time in paperback.

Deborah Madison celebrates the glories of the farmers’ markets of America in a richly illustrated collection of seasonal recipes for a profusion of produce grown coast to coast. As more and more people shun industrially produced foods and instead choose to go local and organic, this is the ideal cookbook to capitalize on a major and growing trend.

Local Flavors emphasizes seasonal, regional ingredients found in farmers’ markets and roadside farm stands and awakens the reader to the real joy of making a direct connection with the food we eat and the person who grows it. Deborah Madison’s 350 full-flavored recipes and accompanying menus include dishes as diverse as Pea and Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk; Rustic Onion Tart with Walnuts; Risotto with Sorrel; Mustard Greens Braised with Ginger, Cilantro, and Rice; Poached Chicken with Leeks and Salsa Verde; Soy Glazed Sweet Potatoes; Cherry Apricot Crisp; and Plum Kuchen with Crushed Walnut Topping.

Covering markets around the country from Vermont to Hawaii, Deborah Madison reveals the astonishing range of produce and other foods available and the sheer pleasure of shopping for them. A celebration of farmers and their bounty, Local Flavors is a must-have cookbook for anyone who loves fresh, seasonal food simply and imaginatively prepared.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In her previous cookbooks Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and the classic Greens Cookbook, among others, Deborah Madison scored with savory yet sophisticated fare--the kind of food even meat lovers relish. Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets finds Madison shopping those havens of quality, taste, and diversity, and devising recipes based on their seasonally available bounty. Among the 350 recipes--not all vegetarian--fans will immediately recognize the Madison hand in dishes like Soft Tacos with Roasted Green Chiles, Spinach and Green Garlic Soufflé, and Winter Squash "Pancake" with Mozzarella and Sage. There's more to the book, however: "Many people still think that the farmers' market is the place you go to for cheap food," says Madison. More to the point, they're a source for "truly local and therefore truly seasonal [food], quite likely raised by sound sustainable methods and by someone who might become your friend." It's a message most readers will embrace.

The book offers chapters deftly arranged by fruit and vegetable families as they appear in the markets, such as "The Vegetable Fruits of Summer: Eggplants, Tomatoes, and Peppers" and "A Cool Weather Miscellany," which includes recipes such as Sautéed Artichokes with Potatoes and Garlic Chives and a marvelous "essence-of" soup, Elixir of Fresh Peas. Madison also treats unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, presenting the likes of lamb quarters in a soup made with Sonoma Teleme cheese, and sugar loaf chicory simply grilled and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Recipes for delightful salads like Melon Salad with Thai Basil also appear, as do a selection of pastas and risotto, such as Winter Squash Risotto with Seared Radicchio, and sweets like White Peaches in Lemon Verbena Syrup and Date, Dried Cherry, and Chocolate Nut Torte. With sidebars like Atlanta's All-Organic Market: Late October and color photos throughout of vendors, produce, and many of the dishes, the book offers the perfect match of Madison and the markets. --Arthur Boehm --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Madison (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone) celebrates the seasonality of produce from farmers' markets across the country in this sophisticated cookbook. Sharing a few meat recipes, Madison has organized this collection by category (Corn and Beans, Stone Fruits, etc.) and included recipes mostly using vegetables and fruits. Not just another how-to for arranging tomatoes on a plate, the book presents such year-round recipes as Cabbage and Potato Gratin with Sage, or Corn and Squash Simmered in Coconut Milk with Thai Basil, alongside tributes to highlighted markets. Vegetarians will welcome main courses such as Braised Root Vegetables with Black Lentils and Red Wine Sauce or Asparagus and Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding. Recipes do demand close reading: one calls for a can of coconut milk but uses only part. However, shoppers learn how to use sunchokes (Sunchoke Bisque with Hazelnut Oil), Concord grapes (Concord Grape Tart) and even hickory nuts (Hickory Nut Torte with Espresso Cream). Madison's custom preparations suit farmer's market boutique style: she cuts each type [of squash] in the way that best preserves its form: lengthwise for the zucchini, crosswise for pattypans and round squash. Chefs will love the Herbs and Alliums chapter introducing Marjoram Pesto with Capers and Olives and Herb Dumplings for Soups and Ragouts. Also strong are composed salads, such as Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Pomegranates and Pistachios, the eggs and cheese chapter and extensive fruits and desserts, such as Blood Orange Jelly and Greg's Huckleberry Pie. This is a book cooks will reach for to enliven repertoires.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767929497
• ISBN-13: 978-0767929493
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 0.8 x 9.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deborah Madison is the author of nine cookbooks and countless articles on food, cooking, and farming. Currently she blogs for Gourmet and Culinate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful cookbook focusing on FRESH ingredients, September 28, 2002

By 

Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets (Hardcover)

Deborah Madison's "Local Flavors" hews to her longtime trajectory along the path of encouraging her readers to make use of what's fresh. Of course what's fresh is always better than what's been shipped in, and Madison focuses on this edict with this cookbook chock-full of recipes making use of fresh, fresh, fresh produce from the farmer's market.

The cookbook is handsomely done, with easy recipes and numbered directions (so helpful when you look away and then need to find your place again). While readers on the coasts or in big cities will have no problem finding the ingredients they need, those in smaller or rural areas will have some difficulty. Ingredients that are regularly called for here include palm sugar, blood oranges, lemon verbena, pineapple sage, chantarelles, orange flower water, and more. Still, the recipes are imaginative, the photography sumptuous, and Madison's enthusiasm for her subject positively contagious.

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars inspiring recipes, but not always complete, January 7, 2009

By 

T (CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets (Paperback)

The recipes in this book are amazing. I cook largely with seasonal food from farmers markets, and this book offers creative ways to make great seasonal dishes. It also has some wonderful vignettes about different farmers markets the author has visited.

Unfortunately, the recipes, as wonderful as they are, are often incomplete. I've had this book for a month now and have cooked out of it maybe 15-20 times since I got it. I'd say over 3/4 of the recipes have some step missing.

For example, when making a tart, she describes how to cook the vegetables, and then how to make the egg mixture, but doesn't describe how to combine them before popping it in the oven. I'm sure most chefs know how to do this, but I wasn't sure, so I had to go online to figure out how a tart is prepared. Answer: put the vegetables on the bottom of the tart shell and pour the egg mixture over it.

There are many omissions of the sort I describe above, and I usually have been able to go online to figure out how a "typical" tart is made, or bread pudding, etc. I'm not sure if these omissions are due to the fact that this is common knowledge among other, better chefs, or whether the book was written hastily without much testing. In either case, it's actually been a bit of a headache for me.

That said, I again must emphasize how amazing the food in here is. Last night I made an asparagus and mushroom bread pudding which was unlike anything I've ever made before. She has creative ways to cook wonderful veggies like fennel, chard and endive, which I would never had thought of using epicurious or allrecipes websites.

I think based on other reviews, I am going to check out her "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," which seems like it might be for more novice chefs, and may also have been more thoroughly tested.

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cookbook for Everyone!, July 22, 2002

By 

Monique Verrier (Healdsburg, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets (Hardcover)

I have to admit that Deborah Madison is my favorite cook (Alice Waters comes in second). I have all of her cookbooks and give them to family members as gifts. In her last two major cookbooks, Deborah seems to have gotten to the heart of cooking. Her recipes are straight forward, the combinations of flavors well planned and the results fantastic. I've tried many of the recipes in this cookbook and would repeat every one. The ease of these recipes lends itself to experimenting with what's in season and what's growing in my garden. This is a book for someone who loves food from the earth. Most, but not all, of the recipes are vegetarian. This is one of my top 5 cookbooks!