The Tinned Fish Cookbook

Van Olphen, Bart. The Tinned Fish Cookbook. Photographed by David Loftus. Translated by Laura Vroomen. New York: The Experiment, 2020.

This cookbook's recipes feature an often overlooked ingredient--canned fish. While I loved the concept and the book's gorgeous illustrations, I found very few recipes I would consider incorporating even occasionally. Most of the usable ones feature ingredients like tuna, salmon, mackeral, or crab. Others features anchovies, sardines, and other canned fishes. Persons who really love canned fishes may want to give this one a try, but for those of us who probably don't want to venture much further afield than variations of tried and true recipes, this one is an optional purchase. I received an advance review copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Graze

Dowling, Paul. Graze: Healthy Graze Craze Recipes to Kickstart Your Metabolism. s.l.: s.n., 2019.

Grazing involves eating 6 small meals per day rather than 3 larger ones. Cookbook uses the same ingredients over and over. I'd be completely bored with food if I ate only from recipes in this recipe for a couple weeks. The author uses oatmeal, granolas, quinoa, etc. in abundance. Many recipes are influenced by Hispanic cultures. Recommended for persons seeking this type diet or cookbook, but it's not one for me. I love my Southern foods too much! I received an advance review copy through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.

Homegrown

Jennings, Matt with Jessica Battilana. Homegrown. Photographs by Huge Galdones. New York: Artisan, a division of Workman, 2017.

Chef Matt Jennings, owner of a Boston area restaurant and former owner of one in the Providence area, offers recipes showcasing New England foods with a bit of a twist. The book provides commentary about New England foods as well as Jennings' life and career. The recipes are generally not for those who want things that can be prepared quickly. They tend to be for those who truly savor cooking. Many of the ingredients may be difficult for persons in some parts of the country to locate. The book is beautifully illustrated by the photography of Huge Galdones.This review is based on an advance review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation of an unbiased review. I attended a webinar about forthcoming cookbooks in which the publisher's representative offered to send advance review copies to any attendee through NetGalley or Edelweiss.

Bone Soup and Flipped Bread

Larkey, Sue Spertus. Bone Soup and Flipped Bread: The Yemenite Jewish Table. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2017.

The author gives readers insights into both the cultures of Yemen and of the Jewish people in this volume. A great deal of cultural and background material is woven into the book  -- from the introductory chapters which are almost entirely cultural to the recipes grouped in two sections. She shows the reader the importance of food to the Yemen Jews in normal things in the life cycle -- birth, circumcision, Bar/Bas Mitzvah, betrothal, marriage, days of blessing, and mourning. She also shows the importance of good in the feasts and holidays and on the Sabbath by the Jews. This is a winning combination for anyone interested in more than just a recipe book. The cultural foodways shine in this volume. I received an electronic advance review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Religion in North Carolina

Every once in awhile, you stumble across a collection so rich that it just begs to be shared! Such was the case last weekend when I ran across a collection on Internet Archive called "Religion in North Carolina." Partner institutions for the project are Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University. The collection's description states "the materials in this collection include local church histories, periodicals, clergy biographies, cookbooks, event programs, directories, and much more."

At the time I'm writing this post (in advance), there are 6,222 items in the collection. That's pretty amazing. The collection has seven collections within it. I will list each and give a few examples of materials included.

Meetings, Proceedings, and Conference Reports (2727 items)

Minutes of the Buncombe Baptist Association of Buncombe County, 1931-1940
Minutes of the United Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North America, 1930
Minutes of the Salem Presbytery

Church and Religious Body Histories (1102 items)

Henry R. Mathis. Along the Border: a History of Virgilina, Virginia and the Surrounding Area in Halifax and Mecklenburg Counties in Virginia and Person and Granville Counties in North Carolina.
Winnie Wills Broglin. Antioch United Methodist Church, Hot Springs, North Carolina: Built on Faith.
Adelaide I. Fries. Records of the Moravians in North Carolina: volume II, 1752-1775.

Newsletters, Newspapers, and Serial Publications (1520 items)

Zion's Landmark (vol.  33, 1899-1900)
American Jewish Times-Outlook (1961-1962)
The Primitive Baptist (vol. 6, 1841)

Ephemerals: Cookbooks, Event Programs, and Directories (368 items)

St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Washington, N.C.) Keys to the Kitchen
O. Norris Smith and Rebecca H. Smith. Family Burying Grounds and Abandoned Church Cemeteries in Guilford County, N.C. and Immediate Environs
Dedication Service of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Creech Road, Raleigh, North Carolina, Sunday, August 28, 1977

Clergy Autobiographical and Biographical Materials: Journals, Testimonies, Etc. (152 items)

M. W. Williams and George W. Watkins. Who's Who Among North Carolina Negro Baptists with a Brief History of Negro Baptist Organizations
C. T. Thrift. Robert Paine. Methodist Bishop: a Great North Carolinian, Person's Greatest Son
S. C. Ray. I'm Glad I Stayed, 1949-1979

Theosophy, Philosophy, Psychology & Religion (77 items)

Claude E. Spencer. Periodicals of the Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups
Alva Washington Plyler. What Western North Carolina Owes
James O. Kelly. Essay on Negro-Slavery

Sermons of North Carolina (111 items)

R. H. Morrison. Funeral Sermon of the Rev. John Robinson, D.D., Late Pastor of Poplar Tent Church, Preached at Poplar Tent, February 22d, 1844
C. Daniel Crews. What It Was, Was Jesus: for the 250th Anniversary Service of the Southern Province of the Moravian Church, Wait Chapel, Wake Forest University, Sunday, November 16, 2003
W. A. Harper. The Spirit of Elon College: An Excellent Spirit

The list above is a mere drop in the bucket of what is available via this resource. I've tried to include materials from many denominations and even from Judaism.

Tacolicious

Deseran, Sara with Joe Hargrave, Antelmo Faria, and Mike Barrow. Tacolicious: Festive Recipes for Tacos, Snacks, Cocktails, and More. Photography by Alex Farnum. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014.

Featuring recipes from San Francisco's Tacolicious, this cookbook is full of great recipes with very nice illustrations featuring the taco and tortillas. The tacos include interesting ingredients such as ribs, goat, lamb, and much more in addition to the more traditional offerings. It also has a large section on cocktails, mainly featuring the margarita since it pairs well with tacos. There are a few non-alcoholic beverages in the section that the younger ones and those who don't drink alcohol can enjoy. It is really much more than a cookbook. The authors have done a great job telling the story of the taco and relating stories about ingredients. They've also given the outline of a party featuring the taco as well as some quick recipes to go along with it. There is a glossary of ingredients, a list of places where one can order ingredients online, a listing of restaurants in California and Mexico that the authors enjoy, and a good index. This cookbook is certain to be a hit with those who can't get enough of tacos. I received an advance e-galley of this title from the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

The Homesick Texan's Family Table

Fain, Lisa. The Homesick Texan's Family Table: Lone Star Cooking from My Kitchen to Yours.  Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014.

Lisa Fain grew up in Texas but currently resides in New York. In this volume, she takes Texas cuisine, much of it from her own family, and gives it a bit of a New York twist by adding or substituting other ingredients and by using Kosher salt instead of the salt that would be most commonly used in the Southern States. She has quite a few Tex-Mex inspired dishes as well as some with hints of barbecuing. Many of the traditional Southern desserts are also included. Each sections is prefaced by a family story. The dishes themselves either give a family story, information about an ingredient and its use in Texas, or another interesting tidbit for the reader. Recipes vary in the degree of difficulty and amount of time it would take to prepare.  Persons looking for a book that will provide pure Texas recipes will want to find a different cookbook. Those who like twists on family favorites will enjoy this one. This review is based on an e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation of a review.

Taste of Romania by Nicolae Klepper

This is not a terrible cookbook. It is just one that failed to inspire me as others do. It was interesting to see the kinds of food that Romanians eat, to learn a little about the history of the country, to read a folktale or two, to read a couple of poems that describe the country, etc. Many of the dishes seem to be somewhat similar to goulashes. Romania wasn't a country until the latter half of the 19th century. This relatively new country's cuisine has, therefore, been influenced by the cuisines of many nearby countries as well as France. There is an extensive bibliography in the book, and the indexes appear comprehensive. The predominant cheese used throughout the book is caşcaval. In the Kindle version of the book, there is often a footnote indicated by one or more asterisks. Unfortunately it is very difficult to determine which asterisk goes to which page because they begin at about 97% of the way through the book on the Kindle edition with each footnote being on a separate page. I was able to determine that the one for this type of cheese was usually a footnote indicating other cheeses that could be used for Americans unable to locate this cheese. One thing I noted about Romanian cuisine is the extensive use of sour cream in just about everything. I've decided that I can just add some sour cream to a dish and call it "Romanian." It's an interesting book, but it's not one that I'll be using often. 3 stars.

Book Review: From the Jewish Heartland

Steinberg, Ellen F. and Prost, Jack H. From the Jewish Heartland: Two Centuries of Midwest Foodways. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2011.

Authors Ellen F. Steinberg and Jack H. Prost have done a marvelous job combining social history with cookbooks and recipes to create an outstanding book on Jewish foodways in the Midwestern United States over the last two centuries. The authors have examined extensive published and unpublished sources, and their research is evident. As a genealogist, my favorite portions of the book were those which talked about Jewish culture and shared recipes from eras long ago, especially when the sources of such recipes were handwritten cookbooks or other manuscripts. I loved that they had researched in newspapers and manuscript collections to find the materials to adequately document their research. They did not overlook the many resources which can be found on the Internet. Carefully chosen photographs and facsimiles illustrate the text. This book will be treasured by persons interested in Jewish history, those interested in foodways of various ethnic groups, and by genealogists and other historians. This review is based on an advance reader's e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation that a review would be written.

At My Grandmother's Knee - by Faye Porter

Porter, Faye. At My Grandmother's Knee: Recipes and Memories Handed Down by Women of the South. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011.

Every Southerner will recognize the recipes in this collection. If they were not prepared in your own family, you knew someone who brought them to the church dinners. This is a collection of recipes compiled by the author. The recipes are headed by short vignettes that include a quote from a granddaughter about her grandmother who made the recipe. The graphic design and layout of the book were nice and the food photography was excellent. Unfortunately the cookbook suffers from a major problem in regards to organization. The order in which groupings of recipes were presented was problematic. For example, there is a section on pies and cobblers, then cakes, then cookies, then one on chocolate pies, and then on other desserts. Why are the pies and chocolate pies not combined or at least together? The earlier sections also suffer organizational issues. I was actually disappointed in the book. The author, in her introduction, calls this book part history and part cookbook. Unfortunately the book failed to deliver on the history aspect. The vignettes were so short that a reader never got a sense of the grandmother in most cases. If this book was a tribute to grandmothers, why weren't there photographs of the grandmothers to accompany the recipes? The e-galley I read was missing the index so I'm unable to review that aspect of the book. I probably won't go out of my way to purchase a new copy of this book, but if I do happen to find it at a bargain price in a used bookstore or on a bargain table, I might consider it. This review is based on an advance reader's e-galley provided by the author through NetGalley. 2.5 stars.

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea

Bob reviewed this cookbook earlier in the week. It sounded too good to pass up, so I ordered a copy which arrived today.

Southern cuisine--some of it "kicked up a notch." Each recipe contains notes that point to the history of the dish or hints about the dish's preparation. Information about some of the South's interesting culinary history can also be found--such as a brief history of the Chinese groceries in Greenville or stories about the recipes or those important to its history. A great addition to any cookbook collection.

Food for the Soul (by Chana Rubin)

3.5 stars. [LibraryThing Early Reviewers program].

This book simply rehashes most of the information about maintaining a healthy lifestyle that is heard on the news of on cooking shows that focus on healthy lifestyles. Having grown up in a home where my mother was a dietician, most of the first portion of the book was old news to me. The book, however, is very readable and informative for someone who lacks basic knowledge about healthy lifestyles. It will be easily understood my most readers. Toward the end of the narrative portion of the book, the author addresses specific concerns of her Jewish audience. The last part of the book consists of recipes which focus on the use of whole grains and fresh ingredients. Most of the recipes look tasty and should add a great deal of flavor to the diet without the high calorie counts of some other choices. It would have been nice to have photographs of most or at least some of the recipes. An extensive bibliography is included.

This is the 3rd of my Non-Fiction Five Challenge books. Right now I'm running way ahead of schedule.