Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

Unlike a lot of cookbooks, this was a delight to read. I find Deborah Madison to be a good observer, and the subject matter benefits from her keen eye--and ear. She certainly finds creative ways to exploit the typical farmer's market fare. The only significant flaw with this book is that Ms. Madison simply tries to cover too much ground--literally and figuratively. Many of the ingredients are obviously regional in nature and availability, and are therefore beyond the reach of many readers. Still, this is a finely crafted volume and the author should be commended for elevating the subject matter to a very high level. Well done!

I bring out this cookbook every week after shopping at the farmers market, and it encouraged us to try unfamiliar looking greens and vegetables. Living in California, none of the ingredients are out of reach, and we find most if not all of the ingredients at our local market and grocery stores.

Unlike some other cookbooks, Crescent Dragonwagon for one, there are no faulty techniques, if you follow her instructions you get flawless results. And after a couple of tries, you can substitute and experiment. Her recipes do tend to be classic french with plenty of butter and other dairy, so as folks who watch their cholesterol, I have substituted olive oil for the butter and tofu for the eggs in some recipes with no ill effects. I would suggest that if you are a serious cook you would have an extensive herb garden of your own anyway, so that finding ingredients like marjoram, sage, lemon thyme and sorrel do not mean a trip to a specialty grocer.

Unlike the Chez Panisse cookbook, this one is suitable for vegetarians to use too, since while it does include recipes for market meats and fish, most veg recipes do not include meat stocks, bacon etc type of flavor enhancers like you find in the Chez Panisse cookbook. As a vegetarian myself, I always hesitate to adapt those wondering whether the results will be bland and missing the oomph when you are rushing to get a meal on the table.

I purchased this book after reading about it in Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" I shop at our local market a lot so I thought this book would be helpful. I LOVE reading Madison's stories and I agree with her advocation of local markets. This book is great for figuring out what to do with veggies when they are in season. The book is arranged by type of food for example - Greens, Nightshades, Stonefruits, which is both beautiful and useful. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that I do find this organization a bit confusing if I want to make a whole meal. For example, the soups are spread across all of the chapters, so you need to know what your ingredients are, not that you want to make soup - but this is often how we shop at the market, so I think it will just take a bit of getting used to. Bottom line - if you love your market, you will love this book!

Over the years I have come to rely on Deborah Madison's cookbooks as those where I can make any recipe in the book and the result will be perfect. Purchased when we joined a "Community Supported Agriculture" and began getting a weekly box of more and more unusual vegetables, this book is perfect for understanding certain vegetables: when they are at their best, and how to prepare them. After "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," no Madison cookbook will ever again seem encyclopedic enough!!

I am on box #3 for my CSA, and have to say this book is the book I use the most. Three great spring recipes so far, all very easy to prepare and two for ingredients that few of my other cookbooks cared to mention even in passing (nettles and sorrel). I live in Minnesota, and I was concerned buying a California based book, but the utility has been outstanding. The Greens chapter is particularly useful, as we have a CSA (Harmony Valley Farms) that loves to pile on the greens.

I agree with the other Minneapolis reviewer - this combined with "Asparagus to Zucchini" decodes many an interesting CSA box. Add in "Vegetable Love" and you are really set.

Perhaps it is unsophisticated for me to enjoy pictures in cook books as much as I do - but I find it hard to cook without them. This book is full of lush vegetable and food photos. The recipies are true to the title, teaching the reader how to use ingredients from local farmers' markets and/or farm shares. The recipies range from simple to more advanced. I've already ordered more to give as gifts. This is one of the best books I've used in years. Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets

I just purchased this new cookbook by Deborah and I am not disappointed. Deborah Madison comes across as a teasured friend in all of her cookbooks. You can't help but trust all of her tips and recipes because she is so passionate about fresh, healthy food. In Local Flavors, she packs the book with so much information about shopping and enjoying farmers markets. Buying and using fruits & vegetables in season is not only practical, but ensures you are getting the most delicious produce. This book is for all who believe in "eating by the seasons" and for those who support locally grown foods!