Texas Home Cooking
Author: Cheryl Alters Jamison
The definitive guide to Lone Star cookery, with over 400 recipes.
Library Journal
This undertaking by the authors of The Rancho Chimayo Cookbook ( LJ 11/15/92) offers more than 400 recipes from every region and subculture of their home state. A section on Texas classics includes recipes for ``real'' barbeque, lots of chili, Tex-Mex favorites, and chicken-fried steak and other cowboy fare; ``Lone Star Specialties'' covers breakfasts, desserts, and Super Bowl menus; and in between are lots of meat dishes, relishes and condiments, and side dishes. Headnotes and sidebars are fun and folksy (too much so at times). Stephan Pyles's The New Texas Cuisine ( LJ 4/15/93) provides an individual interpretation of Texas cooking; the Jamisons' book is a more wide-ranging version. For most collections.
Book review: Good Housekeeping Great American Classics Cookbook or When French Women Cook
Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran's Chocolates
Author: Fran Bigelow
Advance praise for Pure Chocolate
“To feast your eyes on Fran’s delectable chocolate creations and read her expertly written recipes will send you into the kitchen at once!”
—Chuck Williams, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
“I’ve been enjoying Fran Bigelow’s chocolates and chocolate desserts for almost twenty years and have long thought of her as one of the finest chocolate makers in the world. I rejoice at her wonderful book—when Fran writes a chapter about ‘everything you need to know about chocolate’ you can be sure it’s brilliantly the real thing. And her recipes are tried and true, inspired, and delicious. No real chocolate lover should be without this book.”
—Nick Malgieri, author of Perfect Cakes and Chocolate
“Every chocolate-lover will cherish this extraordinary book. Fran Bigelow—pure perfectionist, pure artist, pure innovator—shares her legendary expertise through her sumptuous recipe collection—the key to 100 percent pure pleasure!”
—Flo Braker, author of The Simple Art of Perfect Baking and Sweet Miniatures
“Fran Bigelow’s recipes are irresistible—and many are surprisingly easy. I think this is a great book.”
—Richard Callebaut
“The recipes in this book are the culmination of more than twenty years of chocolate mastery, as Fran shares all her secrets to achieving pure chocolate perfection.”
—Joan Steuer, founding editor, Chocolatier magazine
Publishers Weekly
Artisanal chocolatier and baker Bigelow, who owns Fran's Chocolates in Seattle, knows her bean, and it shows in this generous, appealing collection of chocolate recipes. Many of her signature treats boast finishing touches that add a bit of glamour: Her L'Orange, a fruit and nut torte, is topped with Chocolate Butter Glaze and is "pebbly with almonds"; an entire chapter of "Silken Dessert Sauces" such as Chocolate Espresso Sauce offers quick finishes with oomph. Bigelow has a professional's eye, seen in White Chocolate Coconut Cream Bars that show off pretty stripes from the side, and Triple Chocolate Pyramid, constructed by cutting a rectangular cake into two triangles, then stacking them against each other, but she's sympathetic to the home cook, too, immediately offering a list of easy recipes that'll deliver "a quick chocolate hit." After a clear explanation of tempering chocolate, Bigelow whips off a list of Quick Treats with Tempered Chocolate, like Dipped Cherries and Nut Clusters. While all these confections are inventive-Dylan's Birthday Cake hides a chocolate filling made tangy with cr me fra che; Brie White Chocolate Cheesecake proposes an intriguing combination-none are silly or gaudy. General information on such topics as working with chocolate and holding a chocolate tasting are equally commonsense, never condescending. 40 photos. Agent, Judith Riven. (On sale Oct. 12) Forecast: Bigelow has made a name for herself beyond the Seattle area with an active Web site (www.franschocolates.com), which may attract readers beyond regional fans. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Fran's Chocolates, based in Seattle, is known for its truffles and other chocolate confections, including her Gold Bar (which may be the best chocolate bar in the world). But when owner-confectioner Bigelow opened her first store, it was a pastry shop. Here are recipes for her delectable cookies and bars, tarts and tortes, cakes, truffles, sauces, and other sweets, from White Chocolate Coconut Cream Bars to Almost Burnt Sugar Ice Cream. Mouthwatering color photographs make the book even more irresistible. A good companion to Alice Medrich's Bittersweet, another chocolate memoir, this is recommended for all baking collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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