Product Description

The book that taught America how to cook,
now illustrated with glorious color photography

ALL ABOUT
VEGETARIAN COOKING

A fresh and original way to put the classic advice of Joy of Cooking to work -- illustrated and designed in a beautiful and easy-to-use new book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13475 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

Amazon.com Review
Is it possible to improve upon perfection? Apparently, the answer is yes! Joy of Cooking reaches new heights with this series of illustrated volumes. All About Vegetarian Cooking begins with a short section on organic ingredients and nutrition for vegetarians and then plunges into a collection of more than 100 of Joy's best-loved vegetarian recipes. With the addition of cooking tips, serving suggestions, and more than 150 stunning photographs of finished dishes and cooking techniques, this is truly a joy.

After more than 60 years, we've learned to trust America's favorite cookbook to provide clear, well-written recipes that always work for dishes as diverse as falafel, spanakopita, and succotash. Perusing its pages, however, used to be a very plain experience. Now it's just plain mouthwatering! The full-page photograph of the Grilled Eggplant and Roasted Red Pepper Panini dish--focaccia with tapenade and fresh mozzarella--is a showstopper and leaves nothing to the imagination. The big earthenware bowl of Winter Vegetable Couscous redefines comfort food. And the golden, crispy crust on the Persian Rice, made with basmati rice, saffron, onions, and dried apricots, will leave you breathless and starving. Somehow, we never noticed these gems buried deep in the big Joy. Mixed together in the vegetables section, we didn't realize until now how many of them are dishes that can stand alone as entrées.

Joy has always been a good bet for kitchen novices, but these volumes go the extra step by illustrating the finished dish (always reassuring for a beginner) and suggesting many useful techniques, such as how to separate eggs, press tofu, and prepare artichokes. For those of us who already own a copy (or two) of the original tome, this adaptation is simply inspirational and a great addition to anyone's cookbook library. The presentation is so beautiful and stimulating, you'll hardly recognize that the recipes are the good old reliables, all dressed up and ready to go. --Leora Y. Bloom

About the Author
Ethan Becker is the son of Marion Rombauer Becker and the grandson of Irma S. Rombauer the original author of Joy of Cooking. He attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and has been a devoted home cook all his life. Continuing a family tradition stemming from the conviction that fine cooking depends upon the freshest ingredients, Ethan is an enthusiastic organic gardener. He and his wife, Susan, live at the family home, Cockaigne, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Szechuan Spiced Tofu

4 servings

Vary the hotness of this dish by adjusting the amount of chili paste. As with all stir-fries, have all the ingredients measured, chopped, and ready before beginning to cook.

Heat in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat:

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

Add:

2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add:

One 8-ounce can flower-cut baby corn, drained

4 cups ½-inch-thick slices bok choy

½ small onion, sliced

Stir-fry until the bok choy is slightly wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Combine and stir in:

½ cup Vegetable Stock, 17

2 tablespoons light or dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon black bean sauce or black bean paste

1 tablespoon dry sherry

2 teaspoons chili paste

1 tablespoon cornstarch

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, lightly cracked if desired

Boil, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in:

One 10½-ounce package extra-firm tofu, pressed if desired, 80, and cubed

Heat through for 2 to 3 minutes. Arrange on a serving platter:

One 12-ounce package Chinese-style egg noodles, cooked

Spoon the tofu mixture over the noodles and garnish with:

¼ cup shredded peeled carrots

2 tablespoons sliced scallions

SZECHUAN PEPPERCORNS

The dried reddish-brown berries known as Szechuan peppercorns are not related to black peppercorns or chili peppers. The spice has a clean, spicy-woodsy fragrance that has made it popular in all regions of China for centuries. Szechuan peppercorns are sold in plastic packages. They keep well in a covered jar.

Toast Szechuan peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat until they begin to smoke (do not worry if a few blacken slightly) and then grind them in a mortar or spice grinder. Store excess powder in a jar.

"Seasoned oil" -- made by heating Szechuan peppercorns in peanut oil until they blacken, then straining the oil and discarding the peppercorns -- makes a wonderful cooking oil for stir-fried dishes, or it may be used for dressing Chinese salads.

Copyright © 2000 by Simon & Schuster Inc., The Joy of Cooking Trust and The MRB Revocable Trust

Smoked Tofu Burgers

6 servings

Tofu burgers are great for lunch or dinner. This flavorful patty mixture can also be baked as a loaf in a small loaf pan at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes.

Soak in warm water to cover until softened, about 20 minutes:

¼ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms

Drain, discarding the liquid, and squeeze out the excess water from the mushrooms. Chop the mushrooms, discarding the tough centers and stems. Heat in a large skillet over medium heat:

2 to 3 teaspoons chili sesame oil

Add the shiitakes along with:

1 cup finely chopped broccoli

florets and stems

1/3 cup finely chopped red bell peppers

¼ cup sliced scallions

2 teaspoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

1½ teaspoons minced garlic

Cook, stirring, until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Combine with:

One 6-ounce package smoked tofu, finely chopped

1 cup cooked brown rice

2/3 cup dry unseasoned breadcrumbs

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon light or dark soy sauce

Remove to a food processor and pulse several times, until a spoonful of the mixture can be pressed into a ball. Shape the mixture into 6 patties (or burgers), using about ½ cup for each. Cook in a lightly greased skillet over medium heat until browned, 3 to 5 minutes each side.

Copyright © 2000 by Simon & Schuster Inc., The Joy of Cooking Trust and The MRB Revocable Trust

Customer Reviews

Excellent vegetarian recipes . . .
The first cookbook I ever used was a 1954 edition of Irma Rombauer's "The Joy of Cooking." The updated version of this classic is still one of my primary sources.

This new edition repackages the vegetarian recipes already contained in "The Joy of Cooking" into a useful smaller volume. The extras include shopping and cooking techniques and full color photos of many of the dishes. The photography is excellent, and will tempt you to drop everything and head for the kitchen.

The same "never-fail" standard of the original is preserved here. The recipes are well written, and include easy-to-locate ingredients. If you're a vegetarian and have been avoiding getting the original all-inclusive "Joy of Cooking" because you'll never use most of the recipes, then this is definitely the book for you. While a large number of the recipes are for ovo-lactos, there are a substantial number that are suitable for vegans as well.

And even if you're not vegetarian, you'll still find tempting treats in this volume.

Cheap and easy cooking - perfect for college kids.
I am only a college student whose cooking skills are almost nonexistent, yet this particular book made me the chef of the day. The first thing I cooked out of this book was the cheese stuffed eggplant - at first I was terrified how it was going to come out, but the recipe was delicious, meat free (meat's expensive, so meat free is a great plus for a poor college kid), and with pictures to compare whether what I have made is actually what was supposed to be made. My roommates liked it very much, nobody complained, and I didn't blow up the kitchen or anything :).

I highly recommend it to anyone whose major concern is the ability to cook cheaply and effectively. Most of the recipes include things which can be stored for a couple of days prior to final preparation. It also includes a basic overview of dietary needs of a meat eater and vegetarians, explaining the alternatives for both. But the best thing about it, that since it is so beautiful and classy looking, it gives you confidence to cook and doesn't make you feel like a total moron in the kitchen.

Classic vegetarian recipes.
Most households including mine had a copy of Joy of Cooking. It was quite a tome, but this selection of vegetarian recipes in Joy of Cooking: All About Vegetarian Cooking is contained in a slim volume, easy to handle in the kitchen, and with great color pictures. I think these recipes are all in the latest Joy of Cooking, but to have them all in one place, with pictures and tips for beginning chefs, is very useful. The book is priced to fit a student budget, but contains recipes which range from casual dining to fancy enough for entertaining friends. The recipes also include a variety of courses. A good summary of the variety of vegetarian diets is included in the beginning, as well as an alternate food pyramid for vegetarians. A section of Egg recipes is included, for those who eat eggs along with their vegetables. This is one of those cookbooks which you can just pick up and read, and it really lives up to its name, and should be a useful holiday present for anybody.