Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods [Paperback]

Eugenia Bone (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 12, 2009

For anyone who's ever headed to their local farmers' market reciting the mantra "I will not overbuy" but has lumbered home with bags overflowing with delicious summer strawberries, zucchini blossoms, and tomatoes, or autumn apples, pears, and cauliflower, this book will be your saving grace.

Well-Preserved is a collection of 30 small batch preserving recipes and 90 recipes in which to use the preserved goods. Preserving recipes like Marinated Baby Artichokes are followed by recipes for dishes like Marinated Artichoke and Ricotta Pie and Sausages with Marinated Baby Artichokes; a Three-Citrus Marmelade recipe is followed by recipes for Chicken Wings Baked with Three-Citrus Marmelade, Shrmp with Three-Citrus Marmelade and Lime, and Crepes with Three-Citrus Marmelade, and so on.

In this book, Eugenia Bone, a New Yorker whose Italian father was forever canning everything from olives to tuna, describes the art of preserving in an accessible way. Though she covers traditional water bath and pressure canning in detail, she also shares simpler methods that allow you to preserve foods using low-tech options like oil-preserving, curing, and freezing. Bone clearly explains each technique so that you can rest assured your food is stable and safe.

With Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods, you will never again have a night when you open your cupboard or refrigerator and lament that there's "nothing to eat!" Instead, you'll be whipping up the seasons' best meals all year long.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Bone's] alluring, easy-to-follow recipes for small quantities of jams, sauces, pickles and cured meats (more bacon!) are followed by recipes that incorporate them."
—The New York Times

"In these waste-not, want-not times, its no surprise that canning and preserving are staging a comeback. What is surprising, though, is how elegant and accessible these endeavors are in the hands of food writer Eugenia Bone."
—Fine Cooking

About the Author

EUGENIA BONE is the author of At Mesa’s Edge and Italian Family Dining. Her work has appeared in Saveur, Food and Wine, Gourmet, the New York Times, and many other publications.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307405249
• ISBN-13: 978-0307405241
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have been writing about food for twenty years. My first book, At Mesa's Edge, was nominated for a Colorado Book Award. My second book, Italian Family Dining, was written with my father, artist and cookbook author Edward Giobbi. My third, Well Preserved, was nominated for a James Beard Award. But now, with Mycophilia, I'm writing about science. That might seem incongruous, but in fact, recipe writing and science writing are not totally dissimilar: both require very precise thinking and evocative language. It took me years to understand the science (I was not a biology major, not by a long shot) and to navigate the erudite and eccentric community of professional and amateur mycologists, but producing Mycophilia has been the most profound writing experience of my career. Mushrooms turned out to be the window by which I came to understand nature in a deeper way.

For mushroom recipes, links to mushroom clubs, and more, go to http://mycophilia.com/

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So Much More Than a Canning Cookbook November 3, 2009

By M. Hill TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Well-Preserved is not a compendium of canning recipes. Why does this need to be stated? Because the cover of the book pictures an attractive arrangement of filled canning jars so readers may rightfully deduce this is an encyclopedia of canning recipes. Further, the title "Well-Preserved: recipes and techniques for putting up small batches of seasonal foods" taken at face value, would lead a reader to believe the book contains nothing but canning recipes. This too is not an accurate representation of the contents of the book. The cookbook only contains 29 recipes for canning, freezing and curing, and 88 recipes that illustrate how the author uses the canned and preserved foods. Confused? Well, a look at the other reviews would indicate a number of readers are confused and annoyed the book didn't deliver what they expected. To make matters worse, another book was released almost to the day, in May 2009, with a nearly identical title, so potentially some of the purchasers of this book may have thought they were buying that book.

This is such an unfortunate circumstance for the author, Eugenia Bone, because she has created a very special cookbook. As much a writer as a chef, she lavishly shares her stories and by the end of the book, the reader has entered the life of Ms. Bone and knows as much about her and how she learned a technique or where she buys her produce or the story behind a recipe or about her apartment in New York City or her cabin in Colorado or her children and husband as about canning and preserving. If only the book had a title like "Recipes Using Foods Preserved at Home" the criticisms would be non-existent....

Clearly, this is not a book for someone strictly seeking canning recipes - there are only 17 actual canning recipes, the remaining 12 recipes involve other methods of preservation such as refrigerator or freezer techniques. But, books filled with canning recipes are easy to find. This is a book filled with ideas on how to creatively use foods preserved at home. Ms. Bone carefully explains how to properly can and preserve, launches into the recipes she turns to time and again to create these preserved foods and then follows with recipes utilizing the preserved goods - a complete circle. Will I follow what she does to the letter? No, but as she tosses excellent ideas out by the handful she gives the reader ideas for other combinations and ways to use the preserved foods, all things I will definitely apply in my cooking.

I did not plan on reading the book from cover to cover but I did. I also had no plans to write a review defending the book, but as an avid canner I learned much from the book - just not what I expected to learn. No one wants to waste hard earned money or precious time, but this book, in its proper context, is cohesive and filled with value. Sometimes we head-out on a trip and end-up off the path on what results in a much better adventure. That's what this book is - a scenic excursion. Read more ›

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Preserved is Well Done! May 21, 2009

By Amy W. Nymark

Format:Paperback

Although I'm always drawn to beautiful covers when viewing cooking/technique books - this beauty delivers on the inside, too. Being a beginner at jarring and canning - it can be intimidating to step into a world where usually the experts have been doing and observing techniques since they were young. This book is wonderful for the beginner - the steps - the techniques - the processes and the practicality comfort the reader and THANK YOU FOR THAT! Great approach to help us save food AND money! Amy Nymark

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Canning and preserving for the down-home gourmet June 25, 2009

By J. Hurley

Format:Paperback

I got this book out at the library and now it is on my wishlist. It is a definite keeper. I have used many books on canning and preserving. This is the one I find most inspirational.

If you want to know the basics about canning get the Ball Blue Book. That will deliver bulk recipes for many different types of produce albeit with few pictures and little description.

Well-Preserved is the other end of the spectrum. It goes beyond canning and offers recipes for curing, smoking, freezing, and preserving in oil. It has lovely photos and descriptions of each of the 29 "master recipes" as well as several mouth-watering recipies using each of the preserved foods. This book will make you want to prepare, share, and eat the bounty of your garden with style.

If I want to know how to make strawberry jam I'll grab the Ball Blue Book. However, if I want to lovingly prepare Concord Grape Walnut Conserve to tuck into those holiday packages with a little note suggesting to use it to top baked brie, or turn into a tart, or use as stuffing for a dessert ravioli, it is Well-Preserved I will reach for.

39 of 47 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Mostly fluff, only about 8 preserving recipes June 10, 2009

By S. Siegal

Format:Paperback

I am seconding the other 1-star review. I am no canning expert, but I expected this book to contain canning recipes. There are about 8 of them. Do the math--that's over $2 per recipe, plus an awful lot of precious shelf space. I'm returning this to Amazon.

If you want to can things and have absolutely no idea how to use what you've canned, I suppose the other recipes might be useful (each canning/pickling recipe comes with a bunch of regular recipes using the canned/pickled item). If you are mystified by freezing food there is a description in here of how to do it (but you COULD just try sticking it in the freezer!). And if you like pretty pictures, there are plenty here!

Just don't expect to learn a whole lot about canning itself.

82 of 103 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Should be renamed "Small Batches of Pickling Recipes" June 5, 2009

By Maya Cointreau

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I never would have bought this book if I had been able to look through the table of contents. There are very few actual canning/preserving recipes in here -- it is more of a cookbook for how to use the few preserves it teaches you make. For every preserve recipe, there are 4 more food recipes for how you can use the preserve. I was VERY disappointed. I don't need or want more cookbooks, so this total waste of money as far as I was concerned.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Different is good- a welcome addition to my library October 24, 2009

By Kazi Pitelka

Format:Paperback

As a long time preserver and canner, and a collector of books on the subject, I find this book to be a refreshing change. So far this summer I have put up 20 to 30 cases of a wide variety from many sources. I don't agree with many of the complaints- I like the very things they view negatively. No basic canning information- thank you, I don't want that in every book. Yes- many freezer items, making it possible to can things that don't survive well in an acid or sugar base. Sometimes you can something and don't know how to use it, so the recipes are inspiring. Now that summer is well under way and I am editing my previous review of this book I can say that everything I have tried has been great. The ceviche with the tomatillo sauce is a winner (with avocado). My family goes nuts for the Foriana sauce, among others. Too few actual canning recipes? No, these have obviously been lived with for a long time and tested in many ways. I find those great books with 500 recipes in them to be often inconsistent. This is a different, inspiring, unusual and wonderful book.
p.s. another new winner- The River Cottage Preserves Handbook.