Product Description

Trina Hahnemann's offering, The Scandinavian Cookbook, brings the essence of Scandinavia to life and to the table. Lars Ranek's food and landscape photography is just as remarkable as Trina's seasonal recipes.

Trina offers a modern twist on Scandinavia's traditions with wholesome and mouthwatering dishes organized by the calendar month. Her progressive take on taste celebrates the region's rich traditions of family meals and festivals, as well as its robust seasons, with simple recipes made from healthy and timely ingredients.

We get a sampling of the seasons with delicious recipes for an entire year's worth of fabulous and easy-to-prepare main courses, sides, desserts, and more. From Swedish Christmas Ham, Skagen Fish Soup, Salmon Burgers, and Kartoffelkage, to yummy Layer Cake with Strawberries and traditional Crisp Vanilla Danish Butter Cookies, readers will quickly discover that Scandinavian cooking is always in season.

Scandinavia may be a small region, but when it comes to food, its influence and impact are big.

Taste the traditions and the seasons.

* Cooks will enjoy 340 rich and evocative four-color photographs by Lars Ranek, who uniquely showcases the beauty he finds in the food and culture of Scandinavia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42446 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review
The book has 115 recipes divided by months and grouped into seasons to make the most of the local foods available in the Nordic region. The photography is gorgeous, (done by Lars Ranek, one of Scandinavia's premier food photographers), and features beautiful shots of the recipes, the ingredients and the countries themselves, making this the kind of cookbook you want to read and enjoy. Each recipe or grouping of recipes has notes about the history and customs of the dish, so I found myself learning a lot going through the book and selecting recipes to try. Hahnemann set out to show that modern Scandinavian cooking has "evolved" from the more traditional recipes and many of the dishes take inspiration from other countries and cultures while making the most of local ingredients. --Kahakai Kitchen, June 23, 2009

The recipes are a mixture of familiar traditional recipes, variations on the traditional (like fish cakes in curry sauce), and new recipes using traditional Scandinavian ingredients. There are photographs of almost every dish, interspersed with photos of the raw ingredients and cityscapes, landscapes and people, all of them in glorious colour. The abundance of photographs means that this is not just a recipe collection, but actually a gorgeous coffee-table book as well. --Ice Cook, May 23, 2009

Review
Trina Hahnemann's offering, The Scandinavian Cookbook, brings the essence of Scandinavia to life and to the table. Lars Ranek's food and landscape photography is just as remarkable as Trina's seasonal recipes. Cooks will enjoy 340 rich and evocative four-color photographs by Lars Ranek, who uniquely showcases the beauty he finds in the food and culture of Scandinavia. Trina offers a modern twist on Scandinavia's traditions with wholesome and mouthwatering dishes organized by the calendar month. Her progressive take on taste celebrates the region's rich traditions of family meals and festivals, as well as its robust seasons, with simple recipes made from healthy and timely ingredients.

The Scandinavian Cookbook is an amazing cookbook. The photos are absolutely beautiful. There are plenty of recipes for people with special diets, including spelt buns and plenty of meat and fish dishes, or recipes than can be altered to accommodate.

Review
I am mad about this book, The Scandinavian Cookbook by Trina Hahnemann. I have to pace myself with this book, especially during the May, June, July and August chapters because the pages are filled with images that remind me of my childhood.

Customer Reviews

Aebelskivers in December and currants in July
Having a Danish heritage, I picked this book up and immediately turned to the index to find the author's Aebilskiver recipe. Would it resemble the one I have had every Christmas over the past MANY years? Alas, no Aebilskiver recipe is to be found in The Scandinavian Cookbook. As I read this book however, I am stunned by the photography of Lars Ranek. I am an armchair traveler as many of us are in this economic downturn, and the recipes and photographs transport me to the world of sea and ice instantly. It permeates the recipes and not only tempts the palate but also gives a "taste" of Scandinavia. Although it is the perfect cookbook to read, the true test lies in the success of the recipes.

I couldn't choose which dishes to try first so used a common tactic I often resort to when perusing menus in a new restaurant. Someone told me years ago the quality of a restaurant is directly proportional to its ability to produce a good roast chicken. So the roast chicken made the cut along with the summer green salad and apple trifle. Ms. Hahnemann gives menu recommendations with many of the dishes and makes planning easy. Being a bit of an explorer, I added the pickled beets and rye bread to my list. Surprisingly, my grocery list was short as each recipe is straightforward with few ingredients, allowing the primary flavors of each dish to shine. The salad was light and flavorful, the chicken moist and tender. My family raved over the roast vegetables and they were a welcome change from the standard potatoes. I made the apple trifle in individual glasses and the vanilla added aroma and smoothness to the dish. The croutons were great but next time I make this (and I WILL make it again!) I will crumble palmiers from my local bakery to save time. I also added some nice vanilla and sweetened the whipped cream.

Ms. Hahnemann has done a lovely job of incorporating Scandinavian flavors for those of us in America while using ingredients that are found locally. I am not sure how the Waldorf salad made the cut (it originally was made in New York by a Swiss maitre d'hotel!) but this proves to be a minor distraction. She has arranged the cookbook based on seasonal recipes so although I miss my beloved Aebelskivers in the December section, I cannot wait for currants to come into season so that I may try the beautiful red currant and strawberry smoothies in July!

A Feast for the Eyes and Palate!
First of all, this is a beautifully photographed cookbook. The photographs, not only of the food, but of the Scandinavian landscapes, are breathtaking. The book is printed on heavy paper which gives it the appearance of a finely made volume. I am tempted to leave it out on my kitchen table for guests to read as one would display a coffee table book.
I like the way the cookbook is arranged, by months of the year. This is quite practical and encourages you to use seasonal ingredients. You should have no problem finding the majority of the ingredients in this book. The recipes themselves are very organized and easy to read. The author precedes each one with a short background of the dish, which makes interesting reading. This is not a cookbook you will open to make only one or two dishes. This is a cookbook which will encourage you to cook.
Not only are the recipes practical and simple enough to make for an informal family meal, but many are also appropriate to serve at a fancy dinner party. Your guests will be impressed. The recipes are not difficult to make and even the novice cook can prepare an extraordinary meal. The majority of the recipes are geared towards dinner, but there are many that could also be appropriate for a light lunch or brunch. Most of the desserts are also appropriate for an afternoon tea.
I recently prepared a three course dinner for my husband using the recipes in this cookbook. For the first course I made the Cauliflower Soup with Grilled Scallops. The soup had a nice creamy consistency with hints of garlic and curry. The scallops had a nice lemon tang. For the second course I prepared the Lamb Shanks with Apricots and Spices and Parsley Mashed Potatoes. The recipe is amazingly easy and in no time I had a delicious smelling meal simmering on the stove. The lamb was amazingly tender and the spices and apricots complemented the lamb perfectly. My husband absolutely loved it. Since we are getting fresh CA strawberries here now, for the final course I made Meringues with Strawberry Mint Salsa. The meringues were light and airy and the strawberry mint salsa very refreshing and a perfect ending to a perfect meal.
I can see that this cookbook will easily become one of my favorites. I have over 540 of them and I have been impressed by the quality of the recipes and the ease of preparation. The pictures of the dishes are absolutely mouthwatering, and the Scandinavian landscapes so serene and inviting. If you can't visit Scandinavia, the next best thing is to enjoy this cookbook.

In all, this is a delightful book, one that you will use again and again.

Scandinavia on your plate and in picture
Nothing says as much about a region and its people as food and the accompanying traditions. In the same vein Trina Hahnemann's The Scandinavian Cookbook captures the essence of an entire year in Scandinavia as she takes us through each month with her offering of recipes, traditions, experiences and local customs.

Her recipes are stunning in their simplicity. They are homey with a modern, sophisticated twist using seasonal ingredients creating a culinary cross section of Denmark, Sweden and Norway while emphasizing freshness and flavor, and local availability to satisfy any baker or home cook. The recipes' simplicity is juxtaposed by dazzlingly beautiful photographs by Lars Ranek, making this easily one of the most exquisite books in my collection.

The recipe gems that immediately jumped out at me that I will definitely create are Rye bread, and Spelt buns, several fish dishes, the Fruit porridge with cold cream (a warm summer day favorite already, although we usually have it with milk!) and the Layer cake with strawberries. The glossary is a fountain of information for the American home cook with ingredient explanations and web site resources for finding special Scandinavian food items in the US.