Customer Reviews

The Splendid Grain: Robust, Inspired Recipes for Grains With Vegetables, Fish, Poultry, Meat, and Fruit

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had so much fun (and great meals) trying recipes from this book. There are so many grains available to us, besides the everyday rice and corn, but if you are like me, you don't always know what to do with them. The Splendid Grain is full of terrific ways to use locally available grains such as Quinoa, Millet, Amaranth and Wild Rice. The book also contains excellent meat recipes such as the oatmeal and spice coated "Better than fried chicken." I took "Onions stuffed with Millet and sun-dried tomatoes" on our last camping trip and cooked them in the campfire. They were superb alongside smoked pork chops. Try the popped Amaranth cold breakfast cereal, or just sprinkle it on your next tossed salad for a boost of crunch and nutty flavor. It couldn't be easier to do. You will never make waffles with plain wheat flour again, once you try "Tef waffles" Tef tastes almost like hazelnuts, and combined with cinnamon it is truly a treat. I must say I was most amazed with the "Couscous Marmalade Torte," it is very tasty and very light (even with the whipped cream on top). It is the easiest and quickest dessert I have made in a long time, and all my guests wanted seconds! I highly recommend The Splendid Grain, it is a terrific resource, taking you from selection, storage and the cooking methods for specific grains to delectable recipes with a new twist. Put it in your shopping basket, you won't be sorry.

I knew nothing about this book when I checked it out of the library, except that it had recipes for some of the more unusual grains. It is only now that I looked it up on Amazon that I discovered that it won the James Beard award. I am not the least bit surprised, however, because all the recipes I have tried have been consistently delicious, wholesome, and creative. You will find very few run-of-the-mill recipes in this cookbook.

I check many cookbooks out of the library, but for many I can't find any recipes that I want to make, or if I do find recipes to try, once I make them I am generally not impressed. So I was amazed when I opened this cookbook to find so many intriguing recipes, each of which turned out better than the last.

Some highlights: The grilled millet and butternut squash cakes had so few spices I was sure they would be bland, but they weren't. They were subtle but sweet and crunchy and addictive. The millet, quinoa, and burdock pilaf again looked underseasoned, but the burdock adds a great earthy depth to the pilaf, and again, I could not stop eating this dish. Wood's recipe for Locro, a South American soup, has a large number of ingredients, but it is well worth the effort. The barley and beans that make up the bulk of this soup make it substantial and extremely filling. The celeriac is sweet and delicious, the anise seeds add a subtle mysterious note, and the roasted New Mexican chili and the kombu create a great tasty broth with more depth than a typical vegetarian soup.

The only recipe that I was disappointed in was her basic recipe for "steamed" amaranth. Wood swears it's the best way to cook amaranth, but I thought it turned out exactly the same as it always does when I cook it--gooey, but tasty. Also, as a previous reviewer noted, Wood doesn't use too many green vegetables in this cookbook, but since it is a grains cookbook I can forgive this one shortcoming.

Overall, this book is full of healthy, nutritious, creative, well-tested recipes that please the palate and the body, and are reasonably quick to prepare. The flavorings are generally subtle, but perfectly balanced, allowing the taste of the ingredients to shine through. If you like very strong tasting food, however, you might find the recipes a bit bland. The recipes are not all vegetarian, but there are enough vegetarian recipes that I just returned my library book and ordered this book on Amazon.

Who says whole grains have to taste like health food? Rebecca Wood lays out everything you need to know about the common grains (oat, wheat, barley, rice), the not-so-common (quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat) and the downright rarely eaten in this country (tef, Job's tears). For each one she explains how/where it is grown, how to buy and store it, what it is used for, its nutritional advantages, etc. She gives basic recipes for cooking the grains plain or nearly so, as well as more complicated recipes and suggestions for what to pair with what. The chapters are divided first by the continent to which each grain is native and then by the grains themselves, and then for each grain there are recipes for plain grains, soups, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. I like this organization, although if you want to make a whole grain dessert, for instance, you'll have to look through the chapters on the various grains or in the index, as there is no organization by type of dish, e.g., soups, desserts, etc. The intros to each dish give you a good idea of what to expect, the instructions are pretty clear, and the results are spectacular. The Winter Squash and Quinoa Pottage is amazingly great (especially if you make it with homemade stock -- it is particularly awesome using the vegetable stock recipe from The New Basics Cookbook, but was also good with Swanson low-sodium chicken broth), is ridiculously easy, and extremely high in protein and vitamins. Just wash the quinoa really well first. Takes less than 1/2 hour plus the time to wash the quinoa and cut the onion and squash. The pinon (pine nut) crackers with amaranth are all whole grain, super easy and the only problem with it is that it's hard not to eat the entire batch myself as soon as it's done. Recipes include a good mix of vegetarian items and ones with meat so it's a good book no matter how you eat. My only quibble is that measurements for baked goods are given solely by volume, rather than by weight, which is more accurate, but it's a small one. This is my new favorite cookbook.

This book is layed out by grain, making it easy to navigate, and has a good range of recipe-types (main dishes, breads, desserts, breakfasts). The recipes are healthy in a very holistic and balanced way.

I have already tried several recipes, all of which I was extremely pleased with- they were easy, and delicious. I can't wait to keep cooking from this book, it will surely be turned to again and again.

This is an Outstanding Cookbook by Rebecca Wood! In this book you won't find much for pictures, it's strong point is the wonderful recipes for Grains with Vegetables, Fish, Poultry, Meat and Fruit. I love it when reviewers list a variety of recipes in a book, that alone will make me want to purchase a book!
The Contents are divided into categories such as Native American Grains which include Wild Rice, Corn, Mesquite, Amaranth, and Quinoa. Native Asian Grains which include Buckwheat, Millet, Rice, and Job's Tears. Native Near Eastern Grains which include Barley and Wheat. Native European Grains which include Rye and Oats. And Native African Grains which include Sorghum and Tef. This book also includes Mail Order Sources if needed.
There are 394 Pages of information and Fabulous Recipes such as:
Wild Rice Tortillas With Poached Huevos Rancheros and Ginger-Peach Salsa, Elderberry Blossom and Wild Rice Griddle Cakes with Hot Apple Syrup, Mom's Wild Rice Stuffing, Whitefish Stuffed With Wild Rice, Traditional Grits, Cornmeal Mush, Posole From Scratch, Creole Corn Oysters, Corn and Clam Chowder with Roasted Parsnips, Herbed Posole Salad with Dried Cranberries, Stir-Fried Dried Scallops with Baby Corn and Bean Sprouts, Southwestern Cheese Sandwiches with Sweet and Hot Pepper Sauce, Greens and Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Honey Carmel Corn with Roasted Almonds, Sage and Blue Corn Skillet Bread with Fresh Corn, Santa Fe Spoon Bread, Corn Tortillas with Marjoram, Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips, Corn and Quinoa Raspberry Muffins, Hominy Breakfast Cakes, Strawberry and Blue Corn Waffles, Popped Amaranth Cold Breakfast Cereal, Pinon Crackers, Quinoa and WInter Squash Potage, Quinoa Soup-Saigon Style, Quinoa Carrot Cake, Quinoa Butterscotch Brownies, Homemade Buckwheat Noodles, Jicama and Buckwheat Salad, Panfried Buckwheat Breaded Catfish, Baked Blinis with Strawberry Sauce, Buckwheat Rolls with Thyme and Oregano, Buckwheat Waffles with Peach Butter, Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins, Overnight Millet Buckwheat and Coconut Waffles, Apricot Millet Breakfast Cake, Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Chinese Almond Cookies, Purple Amasake, Barley Poppy Bagels, Barley Flatbread with New Mexican Chilies, Yellow and Purple Bean Tabbouleh, Eggplant Zucchini Tofu and Penne Salad, Dutch Apple Pie, Wheat Pastry for Pies and Tarts, Pueblo Bread Pudding, 100% Whole Wheat Bread, Thin-Crust Pizza, Easy Rye Bread, Boston Brown Bread, Pumpernickel Bread with Currants and Walnuts, Coarse-Grain Sourdough Rye, Cream of Shiitake and Broccoli Soup, Irish Tabbouleh, Orange and Coconut Drop Biscuits, Oat Groat Pancakes, Granola, Vegetable Stock, Chicken Stock, Fish Stock, Shiitake Dashi Stock, Tofu Mayonnaise, and so much more! This is just a sampling of the Varieties of Recipes you'll find in this book. I felt it was important especially in this book of Grains to list many recipes, as you can see these Healthy Grains can be much more than a side dish! You cannot go wrong with this cookbook! If you are looking for different ways to use grains this is definitely the book for you!

Where was I when The Splendid Grain won the James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence and the International Association of Culinary Professionals Julia Child Cookbook Award? Usually I am waiting with bated breath to see who wins these awards and I have read and digested all the cookbooks in the running. It is like the Academy Awards for the cookbook world. "The Splendid Grain" by Rebecca Wood did win the award and deserved it. It is filled with text that engages and recipes that have kept us cooking since I first discovered it about three years after it came out.

My only excuse for not having found it earlier is that I had one year old twins who never slept and all I did was nurse, look about with bleary eyes and try to make noodles for the fifth night running. I guess The Splendid Grain would have been of no use to me then. I would have cried when I read it. All these recipes for bagels made with barley flour and Strawberry Blue Corn Waffles that I could not cook because I was on the floor baby-proofing the outlets or cleaning up oatmeal from the baseboards.

I read an article on bread by Laurie Colwin back before I had children. Wisdom wasted on the uninitiated. In it Laurie Colwin said that she found a bread cookbook when her daughter was young and she read it as fiction because that is what bread baking is to people with babies. This is not just to let me off the hook for missing a great cookbook when it came out but to say buy it even if you have no kitchen because it makes such a good read.

The recipes in "The Splendid Grain" are easier than they appear. I made bagels with my three kids and a few assorted extras over on play dates. We made the dough in a few minutes and then let it rise while we kept the dog from scaring one child and we forgot about the dough all together by the time the dog was on a leash and the child pacified. When we came back to the dough it had a strange gray color from the barley flour but this was a plus for the under seven set.

Making the bagel shapes was easy enough for three year olds. Boiling was fun and baking easy and we were done. The dozen were gone immediately. I had one that I split with my husband. They were an eerie Halloween gray but had a complex taste from the barley. I forgot about them in my rush to try the next recipe from The Splendid Grain. I was informed at school a few days later that my son's friend, the one who is scared of the dog, was never coming over again if I did not stop upstaging her mom by doing things like making these great homemade bagels. I guess they did not forget about the bagels for a while.

We made waffles, and breakfast cakes; winter squash potage was the hit of a Hanukkah party for which we promised to make Matzoh Ball soup but I just couldn't leave old Rebecca Wood to do it. No one missed the Matzoh Balls, and I make excellent Matzoh Balls. We had cornmeal mush instead of oatmeal. Real Vietnamese Spring Rolls are the plan for dinner tonight. She makes it look so easy. On the still-to-try list is a Rye and Cauliflower Casserole and Quinoa Soup Saigon Style.

The Apricot Millet Breakfast Cake is what brought the book to my attention. I would like to thank my friend Jeanie for the cake I finished before I could share it with the kids as intended. Jeanie was a chef and cake baker extraordinaire before kids. I trust her food judgment and envy her huge Hobart mixer and professional range. She gave us a piece of this cake as I was picking my son up from a play date. Jeanie showed me "The Splendid Grain." "You've seen this, right?" I hadn't. I wanted to borrow it but she wouldn't let it go--a sentiment I appreciated.

So I went out and bought the book. That was about six weeks ago. I slept with it next to my bed. Read all the fascinating information about each kind of grain and read the recipes, as Laurie Colwin taught me, as a good novel and not a cookbook. Then I started making grocery lists for all Rebecca Wood weeks. This has continued for at least a month and no one has stopped eating long enough to thank me. But I want to thank Jeanie publicly. This gift of "The Splendid Grain" does not raise her in my esteem, it simply reminds me of how highly she is held (even though she would not lend me her copy).

You do need to add a salad or some steamed vegetable to the all Splendid Grain menu. But no protein need be added as she has every combination of chicken, prawns, tofu, you name it in the recipes. It is just a little light on salads or some kind of green stuff.

I have a mind to call Rebecca Wood and thank her for this book. She researched so thoroughly and cooked so plentifully for us, her readers. Rebecca wood covered it all. Ancient food from the Americas to a Norwegian friend's mother's recipes. From macrobiotics to blinis with caviar and Christmas Hen. Normally I am wary of someone trying to cover the whole world and every grain. Things tend to get diluted and hodge-podgy. Not so in "The Splendid Grain." Each recipe is crisp and novel.

I am grateful. It is the week after Christmas as I am writing and Hanukkah has passed into the winter. I have been made aware this year of how the traditions I find around me all stress this time of year as a time to bring light and warmth into your heart in this darkest time of the year. Rebecca Wood's book feels like a warm hearth to me, and a good friend cooking for you. I am grateful that I am out of the dark woods of parenting early childhood. I am grateful to Jeanie for bringing this book and a lot more into my life. The Splendid Grain came to me through a warm friend and I have shared it with my friends over the winter. I am grateful for the feeling of warmth and the book that has helped inspire me to share it.

I initially checked this book out at the library and just had to have my own copy. The author has done years of research and provides very detailed and interesting information about various grains to include their origins, historical uses and various methods of preparation. There is also a section detailing little-known places where you can order seeds to grow your own or purchase ready to use grains/grain products. This book should be in every home cookbook collection!

I'm inspired by The Splendid Grain. I've been getting back to healthy eating and a healthful lifestyle after several years of being off track, and this book gives lots of great idea, recipes, information about getting those whole grains back into my diet.

Thank you for reminding me what is important.

This is one of the greatest cookbooks I have ever owned and I am so glad I found it! For anyone that needs a real crowd pleaser at picnics or parties, the Quinoa Butterscotch Brownies are absolutely superb and every time I make them people croon over how terrific they are. And for those that need it to be so, they are gluten free! They are not healthy by any means, if I remember right there are 2 sticks of butter in them, but they are delicious. Quinoa can be a little irritating to crush into flour in my blender but that is my blender's fault.

The other recipes in this book are also terrific and I cannot wait to try the ones that I haven't made yet. She provides information on all of the grains at the beginning of each of their sections as well as a terrific mail order section at the back of the book for those that do not have ready access to these grains in their local grocery store.

All in all I highly recommend this book as it is informative and the recipes are tasty. The way it is sectioned by grain is also quite helpful because I do not have something like Tef so if I want a quinoa recipe I don't have to go through tef ones first!

I have been trying to incorporate more whole grains into my families diet for both health and environmental reasons. As such, I have been collecting whole grain cookbooks in order to learn more about using these dietary superstars. This book offers both fascinating background on the origins and uses of the both the well known and the obscure whole grains (I'm still trying to find Job's tears-no luck!) Of all the cookbooks I have, this has the most scholarly, complete, and interesting background information on the different grains.

The recipes we have tried (around 10 or so) have all been interesting and delicious (there is one that uses wild rice, blueberries or huckleberries, and salmon-it sounded so weird we had to try it but it was awesome!). These are recipes that tend to be more complicated and use a lot of ingredients and steps, they are more suited to weekend cooking. This is also not a vegetarian cookbook, many of the recipes contain meat. This book does not contain any photos which is unfortunate but the considerable merits of the book outweigh this minor shortcoming. This book was definitely a winner, highly recommend.