Love may be the key word in the title Things Cooks Love, for we are enamored of this spectacular and unique book. How could we not love a book that understands the subtle use of our favorite tools and ingredients, speaks of their use as if in a kitchen whisper, then offers sensational recipes? Beautifully produced by the elegant Sur la Table and author Marie Simmons, Things Cooks Love bursts with sensational recipes, information and exceptional photography by Ben Fink. But this book has a secret at its core.
A book about 'things' could easily be a mere catalogue of kitchen necessities, but this is about the implements we love, and the secret of the book is that it is about the sensuality of cooking, about touch and texture, the aromas of food in the process of preparation, the visual delight of our many-hued ingredients as they gather together into a dish. At its essence Things Cooks Love is a sensual book, primarily speaking of the implements we touch with our hands. This is not a book touting only expensive high-tech tools, but one that respects the quality of the implements that have been used in the kitchen for centuries. The electronic food processor is here, but it shares pages with the humble food grater, the hand-held food mill ("there is no better tool for turning out smooth purees"), as well as implements that have been rediscovered as the world shrank through travel. We love these tools for their sensuality as well as their use. As but one example, we are reminded of the sensuous pleasure of the simple and humble mezza-luna, the Italian 'half-moon' blade which can chop more evenly than a machine while affording us the pleasure of rocking the blade back and forth and inhaling the aroma of basil or oregano that rises as we work. The implements we love are those that we touch with our hands, those that bring the kitchen alive to our senses.
This is an all-inclusive book that discusses 125 pieces of kitchen gear, all accompanied by Marie Simmons delicious recipes. It is Simmons who is responsible for the sensuality of the book and we sense it in her imaginative recipes that put our beloved tools to use and result in creative new and classic dishes.
Things Cooks Love is divided into three major sections: Essential Cookware and Tools; Cooking with Kitchen Essentials; and Globe-Trotting Kitchen Essentials.
Thee first section is divided into two sections, the first a guide to the basic kitchen tools, the second and the well-stocked global kitchen. The basics are the kitchen tools which serve as hard-working and sturdy allies through years of food preparation, things such as a hard-working roasting pan, a bulb baster, a garlic press, a spatula. Each merits a small discussion. For the second part of this section, Simmons acknowledges our love for international cooking, for experimenting with other cuisines beyond the tried and try and lists the primary tools to set free the cook's creativity.
Part two concerns cooking with kitchen essentials, on the stove and in the stove, as well as the hand-held tools we love, from a meat pounder to a chef's torch to the mortar and pestle (pesto like no other!) and the more modern immersion blender, that time-saving tool which can blend a soup in a flash or be kept at the bar for making pureed or blended fruit drinks. The list continues from the whisk to the mandoline which makes any sliced food a little more elegant.
The third part deals with globe-Trotting kitchen essentials. Here you find world-wide kitchen equipment, each implement with recipes and each nation represented with its staple ingredients. Knowing that not every kitchen has every piece of equipment Simmons kindly offers substitutes. Each recipe includes preparation and cooking times, serving portions, and implements necessary to prepare the dish. Simmons covers the essential tools for Asian, Mexican, French, Indian, Iberian, and Moroccan recipes.
From Italy comes the Tuscan mattone, a glazed terra-cotta dish with a heavy disk like lid that weighs down a chicken evenly as it cooks, resulting in a crisp skin and moist, succulent meat (with a pollo al mattone recipe). Among other tools there is the pizza stone and peel from all of Italy as well as the indispensable mezza-luna.
There is the French chinois (tomato and saffron broth with saffron cream recipe) and the classic crepe pan, a fondue pot (fontina fondue with grappa and chopped broccoli recipe) and a mussel pot (mussels and fennel in orange broth recipe).
There are tools that head to Asia, such as the rice cooker, the bamboo steamer (steamed sea bass in a ginger and scallion 'net') the Japanese suribachi (asparagus with miso-sesame sauce recipe), tools for sushi and the rice cooker.
For the Indian kitchen, Simmons suggests a spice grinder for the freshest taste, the karahi, the indispensable Indian pan used for almost everything (coconut and curry lamb stew with green beans and potatoes recipe). For the Moroccan kitchen there is , of course, the tagine in its many varieties, the couscoussiere for the perfect couscous (couscous with raisins, golden onions, and butternut squash recipe).
For the Iberian kitchen, you will find such tools as the classic paella pan, the cataplana, a domed Portuguese pan, the earthenware cazuela (summer vegetable casserole with manchego). For the Mexican kitchen there is the molcajete, the rough=textured mortar and pestle hand carved from volcanic basalt rock (mango and chipotle chile guacamole),terra-cotta bakeware (red rice with roasted poblano chiles and queso chihuahua) .
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