The Spicy Food Lover's Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Buying, Growing, Storing, and Using the Key Ingredients That Give Food Spice with More Than 250 Recipes from Around the World [Hardcover]

Dave DeWitt (Author), Nancy Gerlach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2005

The first part of the book focuses on the main ingredients that give the world's food its spice: Ginger, Horseradish, Wasabi (The Roots); Chile Peppers and Chile Products (The Pods); Mustard, Black Pepper, and other Peppercorns (The Seeds). Each ingredient is thoroughly examined in terms of its horticulture and history, along with advice on how to grow your own, what forms to purchase, and the best uses for each. In addition, there is a fascinating survey of spicy cuisines around the world - how they developed and how they inter-mingle. Sprinkled throughout the books are boxes and sidebars filled with fascinating food facts and health information, as well as lively anecdotes from the authors' word travels in search of spicy foods. The second part of the book consists of an astonishing range of recipes, from the mildly piquant to the fiery. For example, Moroccan Charmoula (a cilantro-based pesto that's served with fish) and Mango Kuchela (a spicy East Indian relish), South African Cape Curry Powder, Crab-Boil Spice Mix, Mole Poblano, and Creamy Horseradish Sauce, Cracked Black Pepper Sugar Almonds, Gravlax with Creamy Mustard Sauce, Ginger Curry Pumpkin Bisque, Grilled Corn and Chipotle Soup, Pork Vindaloo, Cincinnati Five-Way Chilli, Kung Po Chicken, Tamarind Mint Shrimp Curry, Black Beans and Rice with Cuban Sofrito, Chai Tea, Gingerbread, and even Pfeffernusse cookies. In addition to these and many more, there are "cool down" recipes, to temper hot spices, as well as a series of menus guidelines for putting a spicy meal together so that flavours, colours, and textures, compliment one another.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Few foodies are more devoted than those who belong to the fiery food cult. These are the people who keep a bottle of Tabasco in their purses for emergencies, whose palates are never blistered, whose tastebuds never timid. This volume, which catalogs every pepper, chile, curry and mustard known to man, is for them. Beginning with a guided tour through the spice regions of the world and a brief history of the spice trade, it shifts gears about a third of the way through and becomes a cookbook, offering up an eccentric collection of recipes. First come the spice rubs, pastes and blends, from the Moroccan Ras El Hanout, which is "used to flavor tagines, couscous, lamb, and game," to the Southwest Seasoning Rub, which the authors advise sprinkling in a pot of pinto beans. Next up are appetizers and snacks, and then several varieties of main courses, including meat-based selections like Korean Chap Chee and vegetarian mains like Egg Fritters in Chile Sauce. There are even recipes for cool down dishes like the deliciously flan-like Queso Napolitano and an old-fashioned Cucumber Slaw. While these recipes are rather loosely linked-one gets the feeling that the authors included any dish that requires a twist of pepper-they are easy to make, fun to eat and guaranteed to please the most ardent fans of piquant foods.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Dave DeWitt is the publisher of Fiery-Foods & BBQ magazine, the founder/manager of the Fiery Foods trade show and www fieryfoods.com, and the author of more than 31 cookbooks, including The Whole Chile Pepper Book (Little, Brown, 1990), with more than 100,000 copies in print. He has appeared as an expert on spicy food throughout the broadcast media. Nancy Gerlach, a registered dietitian, was the founding editor of Chile Pepper magazine, and is currently the food editor of Fiery-Foods & BBQ magazine. She has written for many publications and has developed recipes for several of Dave DeWitt's previous books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584794119
• ISBN-13: 978-1584794110
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For spicy food lovers, September 11, 2006

By 

Wendy Schroeder (Englewood, Co United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spicy Food Lover's Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Buying, Growing, Storing, and Using the Key Ingredients That Give Food Spice with More Than 250 Recipes from Around the World (Hardcover)

Do you or someone you know love spicy foods? Ginger, horseradish, wasabi, chili peppers and mustard? This is the book for you. Lots of information including history of the foods. This is especially for people who are not afraid to try something different to cook and eat.

Another nice feature is a "recipe heat scale" using flames. One flame is mild, 2 is mild to medium, 3 is medium to hot, 4 is hot. Five is extremely hot for those who like to annihilate their taste buds (I call it the "scorched tongue policy").

My only complaint is there is no photos. I don't expect photos for all the recipes but some would be good to have. It's just a nice bonus.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great way to give spicy food a try, November 13, 2006

By 

R. Attorri (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spicy Food Lover's Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Buying, Growing, Storing, and Using the Key Ingredients That Give Food Spice with More Than 250 Recipes from Around the World (Hardcover)

Some people love it spicy, and others hate it. In fact, spicy food is not just about fire and heat. There is considerable flavor in those spicy ingredients, and introducing these flavors subtley is simply too frightening to many. The best part of this book is the heat rating (1 flame to 5 flame) for each recipe. If you don't think you like spicy food, try some of the 1 flame recipes and introduce yourself to some great cuisine. As your palate becomes more adventurous , you might try some of the hotter dishes. Start with Olive and Artichoke Tapenade, then serve Medallions of Pork with Flamed Cognac and Green Peppercorn Sauce. No one will pull the fire alarm, but they'll all wonder how you learned to cook with so much flavor. This book not only provides recipes from throughout the heat spectrum, but it also draws on the full expanse of international cuisines. You'll get all kinds of ideas that you might not come across in most cookbooks. Enjoy, this book is fun!