Wednesday, December 24, 2008

In a Cuban Kitchen or Zen of Fish

In a Cuban Kitchen

Author: Alex Garcia

Immensely appealing and alluringly spicy, Cuban food has exploded in popularity. Recently, many Nuevo Latino chefs have chosen to interpret it in various “fusion” dishes, but the real home cooking of Cuba is delicious and rewarding on its own. Discover in a new cookbook which not only explores the riches of the cuisine but also reveals the unique beauty of Cuba itself. Influenced by the diversity of cultures that have settled on this Caribbean island over the centuries, including Spanish, French, African, Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese, true Cuban cooking is exciting and varied. From such festive finger foods as croquetas, pastelitos, and bocaditos to traditional entrees like arroz con pollo, picadillo, and bistec emanizado, there’s a wealth of savory dishes to explore. Learn how to create the traditional medianoche, or Cuban sandwich, brew a cup of bracing café cubano, and make the sumptuous dessert known as dulce de leche. In addition to the treasury of 100 traditional recipes, compiled by an accomplished Cuban-born chef, In A Cuban Kitchen provides a fascinating look at sugar cultivation, rum production, and other native resources essential to Cuban cuisine.



Table of Contents:
Introduction6
Glossary13
Tapas and snacks15
Salads, sandwiches, and soups31
Marinades, sauces, and dressings59
Fish and seafood69
Meat and poultry93
Accompaniments and rice dishes117
Desserts139
Coffees and drinks159
Index175

Books about: Mergers and Acquisitions or Your Career in Psychology

Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket

Author: Trevor Corson

Everything you never knew about sushi—its surprising origins, the colorful lives of its chefs, the bizarre behavior of the creatures that compose it—is revealed in this entertaining documentary account by the author of the highly acclaimed The Secret Life of Lobsters.

When a twenty-year-old woman arrives at America's first sushi-chef training academy in Los Angeles, she is unprepared for the challenges ahead: knives like swords, instructors like samurai, prejudice against female chefs, demanding Hollywood customers—and that's just the first two weeks.

In this richly reported story, journalist Trevor Corson shadows several American sushi novices and a master Japanese chef, taking the reader behind the scenes as the students strive to master the elusive art of cooking without cooking. With the same eye for drama and humor that Corson brings to the exploits of the chefs, he delves into the biology and natural history of the creatures of the sea. He illuminates sushi's beginnings as an Indo-Chinese meal akin to cheese, describes its reinvention in bustling nineteenth-century Tokyo as a cheap fast food, and tells the story of the pioneers who brought it to America. He shows how this unlikely meal is now exploding into the American heartland just as the long-term future of sushi may be unraveling.

The Zen of Fish is a compelling tale of human determination as well as a delectable smorgasbord of surprising food science, intrepid reporting, and provocative cultural history.



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