Product Description

In this book, the author takes cooks on a culinary voyage around the world to discover the favorite comfort foods of nearly 50 countries.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #222730 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-04
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.14" h x 7.90" w x 9.12" l, 1.75 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From Amazon.com
The global scope of stews and other long-simmered, richly warming dishes is vast. Clifford Wright's Real Stew offers 300 recipes for this delicious fare--everything from basic Irish stew through stroganoff, bouillabaisse, gumbo, feijoada, and much more. What makes Wright's dishes--and cookbook--different from similar efforts (besides its "all-under-one-roof" commitment) is his insistence on authenticity. Readers will find, for example, a recipe for the famous French Daube Provençale that calls for salt pork in addition to slab bacon, plus beef or veal foot, among other ingredients. Wright's devotion to the real thing will excite most readers, and while it may discourage others, all will find the recipes clear and easy to follow. The results of Wright's devotion to formulas in every way justify the kitchen (and shopping) duty required.

The recipe selection is definitive. The section on lamb stews, for example, contains over 50 mouthwatering recipes, from the paprika-hot Classic Lamb Stew of Andalusia; piquant Abruzzi Lamb Stew with Egg and Lemon Custard; and Sweetly Saffroned Lamb, Onion, and Golden Raisin Stew of the Jews of Morocco; to Indian Rogan Josh and Martinique-Style Mutton Curry, among others. Other sections, like those on seafood stews and vegetable stews, are equally comprehensive--and enticing. Wright also provides inviting background material, and sidebars such as "What's a Cardoon?" and "Cuisine of the Poor," which details the birth of many stew-type dishes. With notes on equipment and a comprehensive list of ingredient sources, the book is full of worthwhile information as well as wonderful cooking. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
Wright, James Beard Award winner for Mediterranean Feast, could have subtitled this collection of recipes for one-pot meals from around the world "Comfort Foods of Many Nations." The usual international suspects are here, from Feijoada to Bouillabaisse, but with his trademark intellectual curiosity, Wright has uncovered plenty of less familiar dishes as well, such as a Thirteenth-Century Hispano-Muslim Stew with various cuts of lamb, cassia and lavender; and Piquant Mutton and Zucchini Stewed in Vinegar from Tunisia. Headnotes and sidebars are rich with etymology (Solyanka, a traditional Russian stew, means "confused") and history (the homeland of Octopus Stew from the Island of Djerba was believed to be the land of the lotus eaters mentioned by Homer). Chapters are divided by main ingredient in the stew, with selections heavy on meat there are separate chapters for beef, veal, lamb, etc., and the lamb chapter contains 60 of the book's 300 recipes. Even many of the selections in the vegetable chapter, such as Bean and Cabbage Stew from the Roussillon, are flavored with some meat. With dishes ranging from straightforward Braised Beef Short Ribs in Merlot to multilayered Duck, Sausage and Chestnut Stew from Lombardy, this is one book that can satisfy many palates.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Culinary historian Wright (The Mediterranean Feast) here offers an impressive exploration of stews-that comfort food found in one guise or another in almost every culture, from the Cordoban Farmer's Wife Stew to a Swedish Salmon Stew to an Old-Fashioned American Beef Stew. Lengthy headnotes provide culinary history and other background, and numerous boxes explore such topics as "What's a Cardoon?" or "The Cuisine of the Poor." For most collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.