Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World: New York: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World [Hardcover]

Carolynn Carreno (Author)

Book Description

Series: Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World | Publication Date: May 1, 2005

Known as much for its pizza, bagels, and baklava as for its dazzling restaurants, New York has always inspired culinary heights. Williams-Sonoma New York, which includes recipes such as Puerto Rican Black Bean Soup, New York Cheesecake, and more sophisticated fare like Polenta Crostini with Chanterelles, is a celebration of the big apple and its favorite foods.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxmoor House; 1 edition (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0848730054
• ISBN-13: 978-0848730055
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 0.8 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #466,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty cookbook, needs a different title., December 10, 2005

By 

Bradley P. Lacke (Athens, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World: New York: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World (Hardcover)

I'm a huge fan of the WS cookbooks, a huge fan. Taught me how to cook. But after reading this latest entry in Authentic Cuisines of the World, I'm starting to feel some nagging vibrations from my BS-meter.

Granted, I'm no culinary expert or professional, but one of the most recognizable trends of the past few decades (and all due props to WS for its influential part in the grand scheme)--has been a back-to-the land approach originating our of San Francisco (WS-HQ) called, quite appropriately, "California Cuisine". California Cuisine traded in the fancy-schmoopy cuts of meat and elaborately prepared sauces we'd learned from French cooking in favor of the Tuscan approach--fresh in season produce, simply prepared to display the inherent deliciousness of the source ingredients. And California cuisine is delicious, and fresh, and utilized (with some degree of artful ingredient combination) in most contemporary restuarants. This is why restaurant menu entries now make a point of telling you the origin and species of every tomato and leaf in the dish. Out with pretentious cooking techniques, in with plain old tasty ingredients, in season and arranged simply--who can argue with that?

Well--anyone who enjoyed food from NYC before 1980...or French food...or the local cuisine of New Orleans, or London...which happens to represent about 1/2 of the Cuisines of the World Williams-Sonoma has claimed to "cover" in separate books in which it really just applies the California Cuisine standard to a couple indigenous novelties. Case in point-- I picked up their New York book and was expecting some fittingly gritty and greasy New York-style food. You know, pizzas and other Italian fare, bagels, Jewish and kosher recipes, sushi, Vietnamese, etc. We're talking about the Big Apple here--the hub of the world! I'm pretty sure that the pulse of New York's culinary heart was beating long before California Cuisine became the latest fad.

So, if you're like me, you'll be rolling your eyes by the 5th time this book trots out the same "Little known fact--New Yorkers just LOVE quality, seasonal ingredients! Like the ones found in this dish, 'Broccoli Rabe with Roasted Garlic'!" The "Truffled Waldorf Salad" is exactly what more of this book should have been like--after all, who needs another recipe for the original version? Instead, the Table of Contents reads like an organic peat farmer got ahold of it "Heirloom Tomato Tarts with Goat Cheese", "Maple Caramelized Vegetables", etc. Harlem gets a nod with one dish, and it's Sweet Potato Pie. I don't know about that one.

I'm not trying to completely bash this book--you'll notice the four-star rating. It's a great, pretty cookbook; the recipes are inventive, attractive, delicious, and comprehensively pictured in big color photographs. If your main priority is authenticity, on the other hand, you'd better look elsewhere. You could probably walk up to Central Park bum and get a better list of 40 essential New York recipes. If you like the idea behind this series but aren't particular about the subject, Florence, Rome, Paris, and London fare much better on both fronts.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Some Things I've Got to Try, August 4, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World: New York: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World (Hardcover)

In order for a restaurant to survive in New York it's got to have something going for it. And that something is usually the quality of its food. Note: New York here really means Manhattan, and to a slightly lessor extent the other boroughs.

When I first picked up this book it fell open to page 86, polenta crostini with chanterelles. Polenta is grits. And in step 4 they fry the grits. That's almost the same as hush puppies. Then you add a topping of mushrooms and a couple of kinds of cheese. Well, now I know what's for dinner tonight. And any book that gives you a new recipe for grits has got to be pretty good.

Kidding aside, this is a beautiful book. It is profusely illustrated and absolutely guaranteed to give you some ideas that you'll want to try. What more can you possibly ask out of a cookbook?

It's been a while since I lived in the city. I've been thinking of going back for a visit. This book has confirmed it, I'm going to go start looking for tickets.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 2 Good Recipes, December 3, 2008

By 

the og one "athfwatcher" (hell, california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World: New York: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World (Hardcover)

Sadly I have only made 2 recipes from here. The ziti and the espresso choc. buttermilk cupcakes. I haven't attempted to make any of the other recipes in the book really so I can't rate on that. The ziti is super good, but really rich, unless you have a big family you might end up having to give some away. Its a lot of pasta. I really like eggplant a lot and it tastes pretty good. The cupcakes are the most moist cupcakes I have ever made. Everytime I make the cupcakes I am always complimeted on how yummy they taste. They are so good I don't even make the frosting, they don't need it. 2 suggestions though, use quality espresso like lavazza or illy and use ghiradeli cocoa. I think I made the frosting one time, the frosting was way too rich and it was like enough frosting for two cakes, it was too much and too sugary. When I make the cupcakes I make two batches because they go really fast, but I make them one batch at a time. On the other recipes, I just haven't had the time to get into it. I am sure they are alright, even though the [cooking] difficulty level seemed a lil high for me on some of them.