Cookbook off: Stephanie Vs Maggie PART ONE: Maggie's Harvest
July 22nd 2008 01:52
The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander and Maggie's Harvest by Maggie Beer get boiled down!
Firstly, both these books are in the heavy weight division. It would be advisable to do some light stretching before picking either of these babies up as at over 1000 pages each these are serious cook books. All warmed up then? Let's go...today gentle reader, we will start by looking at Maggie Beer's recent publication Maggie's Harvest
I am quite a fan of watching Maggie Beer on ABC1's The Cook and the Chef- she makes everything look so easy and wholesome. She is also the 'cook' as opposed to the 'chef' which in our Australian 'we don't like no tall poppy' way like, as it means she is a culinary maestro of the people. Although, on the telly, she makes out that anyone can rustle up a quince stuffed pheasant in minutes her book Maggie's Harvest stumps readers at the ingrediants level. Sure everything sounds delicious such as Salsify with Coffin Bay Oysters and oyster mushrooms with sparkling wine sauce but most of the recipes involve things that you just won't find down at the local IGA on your way home from work (such as Salsify, spelt, sorrel or verjuice). Maggie Beer is the poster girl for verjuice - I reckon she might even bathe in the stuff. It doesn't appear in the book's glossary (for me to trry and explain what this wonderstuff is), but it seems to make an appearance on every second page. Perhaps the book should be called Maggie's Verjuice Harvest
The content is divided by seasons with the idea that you should be cooking things from your garden that are growing at the time. As much as I like this concept I have a few problems with it- firstly this is an Australian cookbook. Old Mag's loves talking about Australian produce and what regions have the best jerusleum artichoke growers or quince paste production houses. I find it surprising then, she uses the European model of seasons to create structure to the book. Australia, in all her glory as a continent spanning tropics to steepes just doesn't do seasons in the eurocentric style. I think the book would have been better if she just grouped into warmer months or colder months - she was obviously struggling as Stephanie Alexander already nailed the best way to format a cookbook by whole food types (which will be discussed in Cookbook Off: Stephanie Vs Maggie PART TWO).
Aesthetically, it is a lovely although somewhat impractical. It has a quilited cover (perhaps a design feature to absorb spills when cooking?) with some fancy embrodiery thing going on, that if they just left off would have probably halved the cost of the book and made some four year old sweat shop employee's life a bit easier. Alot of the content makes the publication more appropriate as a coffee table book (you can read all about Maggie's personal reasons for enjoying almonds and understand their importance in the geo-political framework of the Machievellian era). There are large slabs of text that make it tricky to refer to recipes quickly whilst actually cooking.
Given this format and the types of recipes themselves this is not a book for novice cookers. It's for people who know exactly how to bruise a juniper berry without worrying that the vinno cotto will explode and are looking for more recipes they can use verjuice in.
Firstly, both these books are in the heavy weight division. It would be advisable to do some light stretching before picking either of these babies up as at over 1000 pages each these are serious cook books. All warmed up then? Let's go...today gentle reader, we will start by looking at Maggie Beer's recent publication Maggie's Harvest
I am quite a fan of watching Maggie Beer on ABC1's The Cook and the Chef- she makes everything look so easy and wholesome. She is also the 'cook' as opposed to the 'chef' which in our Australian 'we don't like no tall poppy' way like, as it means she is a culinary maestro of the people. Although, on the telly, she makes out that anyone can rustle up a quince stuffed pheasant in minutes her book Maggie's Harvest stumps readers at the ingrediants level. Sure everything sounds delicious such as Salsify with Coffin Bay Oysters and oyster mushrooms with sparkling wine sauce but most of the recipes involve things that you just won't find down at the local IGA on your way home from work (such as Salsify, spelt, sorrel or verjuice). Maggie Beer is the poster girl for verjuice - I reckon she might even bathe in the stuff. It doesn't appear in the book's glossary (for me to trry and explain what this wonderstuff is), but it seems to make an appearance on every second page. Perhaps the book should be called Maggie's Verjuice Harvest
The content is divided by seasons with the idea that you should be cooking things from your garden that are growing at the time. As much as I like this concept I have a few problems with it- firstly this is an Australian cookbook. Old Mag's loves talking about Australian produce and what regions have the best jerusleum artichoke growers or quince paste production houses. I find it surprising then, she uses the European model of seasons to create structure to the book. Australia, in all her glory as a continent spanning tropics to steepes just doesn't do seasons in the eurocentric style. I think the book would have been better if she just grouped into warmer months or colder months - she was obviously struggling as Stephanie Alexander already nailed the best way to format a cookbook by whole food types (which will be discussed in Cookbook Off: Stephanie Vs Maggie PART TWO).
Aesthetically, it is a lovely although somewhat impractical. It has a quilited cover (perhaps a design feature to absorb spills when cooking?) with some fancy embrodiery thing going on, that if they just left off would have probably halved the cost of the book and made some four year old sweat shop employee's life a bit easier. Alot of the content makes the publication more appropriate as a coffee table book (you can read all about Maggie's personal reasons for enjoying almonds and understand their importance in the geo-political framework of the Machievellian era). There are large slabs of text that make it tricky to refer to recipes quickly whilst actually cooking.
Given this format and the types of recipes themselves this is not a book for novice cookers. It's for people who know exactly how to bruise a juniper berry without worrying that the vinno cotto will explode and are looking for more recipes they can use verjuice in.
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