Customer Reviews

The New Now and Zen Epicure: Gourmet Vegan Recipes for the Enlightened Palate

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

 

 

This is one of the very best vegan/vegetarian cookbooks I own, and I have well over 20. I've made a number of recipes from it, and all have come out superbly. The dishes are imaginative, and some, like the tofu bourguignon, are good enough facsimiles of the traditional version to satisfy carnivores. I'm especially fond of the roasted red pepper soup and alwys try to keep some of the cashew-tofu-based sour "cream" on hand. Best of all, most of the recipes aren't fussy, requiring hours of preparation. If you're an established vegan, just starting out or simply want to incorporate more vegan dishes into your diet, I can't think of a better book to begin with.

I had never heard of this cookbook until I stumbled across it at my local library. Having read it, I'm surprised that isn't more widely known and used. Every recipe I tried worked as promised (that doesn't happen too often) and was delicious (that's even rarer). Even better, she doesn't focus on one course- soups, dinner, desserts- or even just the food you're going to eat. She offers recipes for everything from breakfast to dinner, desserts to vegan kitchen staples.

Because of this book, I was inspired to make soy yogurt- no problem. And once you have soy yogurt, you have the making for soy sour cream- strain the yogurt as you would dairy yogurt. Save the whey, and then use it for your breads. Because of this book, I have also been using agar to make custards I've missed since giving uo dairy and eggs, and they are so delicious. This book inspired me to make tofu cheese (tofu fermented in miso), and while it doesn't work as a cheese replacement for everything, the flavor has been a welcome addition to my table. Finally, and most importantly, this book inspired me to make my own soy milk and okara, the left overs from the soymilk process. Okara is amazing in your baked goods- they add so much fiber, but they also give a delicious nutty taste. You could buy soy flour, but okara is so much cheaper. It can also be used in vegan patties or vittles- so delicious and moist.

Here's the thing- I've seen recipes for all of these ingredients in other cookbooks. However, other cookbooks make it sound like there is a deep dark mystery surrounding their preparation and that you have to observe the utmost care- blah blah blah. The author seems to be aware of that attitude, but she's also shaking her head while she tells you how easy it is to do. And if you follow her instructions, it is.

If you're a vegan, this can expand your capabilities in the kitchen.

This is a problem that happens with a lot of a cookbook - the publishing companies don't know how format them for ebooks. The ingredients lists are scattered all over the book, the layout is atrocious and half of the links in the table of contents don't go anywhere and usually make my Kindle crash and freeze. Absolutely awful. The recipes themselves look great, but my god it's a pain in the ass to use so I probably won't bother making any of them.

Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner has some stunningly wonderful recipes in this book. Her believable bacon recipe is worth the cost of this book alone. I put her right at the top of the vegan cookbook author elite along with Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Colleen Patrick Goudreau and Robin Robertson.

This is a very good cookbook, but only in traditional format. Unfortunately it does not have an indexed table of contents rendering the Kindle version nearly useless as a reference book which is ultimately what a cookbook is. Cookbook authors who publish ebooks please do your homework and think of what you are doing.

My family makes the tofu pancakes just about every Sunday. They are delicous and easy to make. I love this book, I am about to purchase one for a friend!