The Cookery Book Game #9: 'First or Last'

morning glory said:
I thought it was the date you had put. Don't think it matters really! I've edited out reference to 4 weeks.
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Not exactly.
36642
 
Mountain Cat said:
An Invitation to Indian Cooking, by Madhur Jaffery. Here I was, stuck out in Indiana in the 70s, missing the ethnic cookings of New York City, attending grad school at off-campus housing with a kitchen. The only Asian restaurant in town was a fully-Americanized Chinese restaurant complete with American-style dinner rolls served with every meal. SO when I lucked into this thin paperback with no photos (which weren't required back then), I had to snag and cook from it.
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Great experience for a young cook - you must have been as adventurous back then as you are now. I used one of Madhur's books for an earlier round of the challenge and was rather surprised by a few what I would call 'inaccuracies' in the recipe. She is always revered as the queen of Indian cooking which is why I was surprised.
 
morning glory said:
Great experience for a young cook - you must have been as adventurous back then as you are now. I used one of Madhur's books for an earlier round of the challenge and was rather surprised by a few what I would call 'inaccuracies' in the recipe. She is always revered as the queen of Indian cooking which is why I was surprised.
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I, too, have one of her cookery books and I have to say that I'm not overly Impressed with it. We never cook from it and I have a much better "Indian" cookery book in the the book Mango Soup.
 
Here we go again - once again I've spotted differences between the photographed recipe & the written recipe. In this case its a recipe from Zatoun, my chosen book. Now I perfectly well understand 'food styling' in order to make a dish more photogenic - and I do it myself. But I'm not talking about a garnish or the way the food is arranged on the plate. In this case and others I've found, there are whole integral ingredients which are visible in the photograph but which don't appear in the recipe.

The dish I'm cooking is Roast Okra and Spicy Tomato and the ingredient appears to be thin slivers of garlic which are in the sauce. It might be something else but logic says its probably garlic. There is no garlic in the recipe. I'll post a close-up of the rogue ingredient later...
 
morning glory said:
Here we go again - once again I've spotted differences between the photographed recipe & the written recipe. In this case its a recipe from Zatoun, my chosen book. Now I perfectly well understand 'food styling' in order to make a dish more photogenic - and I do it myself. But I'm not talking about a garnish or the way the food is arranged on the plate. In this case and others I've found, there are whole integral ingredients which are visible in the photograph but which don't appear in the recipe.

The dish I'm cooking is Roast Okra and Spicy Tomato and the ingredient appears to be thin slivers of garlic which are in the sauce. It might be something else but logic says its probably garlic. There is no garlic in the recipe. I'll post a close-up of the rogue ingredient later...
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I notice this frequently myself. I've seen it a few times at Allrecipes, where a member will submit a recipe and the Allrecipes kitchen will make it and film a short demo video.

They'll follow the recipe, but when it gets to the end and they're showing the finished dish (in slo-mo, no less) there will be nuts or garlic or wilted greens in the dish that wasn't listed in the recipe and wasn't shown in the preparation.

I also see it frequently on various blogs, and it's funny, because people in the comments will call the author out on it. It'll either be something that's in the finished recipe's picture that isn't in the recipe, or something listed in the recipe that never appears in the directions/method. It's why I'm always very leery of "Hi, my name is Brandi, and I'm a mom, recipe developer, and food photographer! Welcome to Brandi's Burnings!" type blogs. :laugh:
 
I just re-read the recipe & the garlic has magically appeared. :whistling: I was tired after driving back from Essex last night....

Nevertheless, it is something that happens quite often.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I, too, have one of her cookery books and I have to say that I'm not overly Impressed with it. We never cook from it and I have a much better "Indian" cookery book in the the book Mango Soup.
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I have to admit looking over that book in the past year - I'm not as impressed as I was in my 20s -when her (Jaffrey's) book was essentially the only game in town. No Internet to scour or anything. And especially in Indiana book shops back then... this was doing good. (Although I do miss independent book retailers these days...)

I shall look for Mango Soup.
 
Mountain Cat said:
I shall look for Mango Soup
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I dessert that you will not be successful on that front.

It is a great book and introduced me to a whole range of spices I had not used before, plus it had taught me how to mix the spices to our tastes. I do wish my copy was in better condition but at least it shows i use it! :whistling:

The UK part of Amazon, the book depository, or UK eBay will be the most likely places because she's a UK cook. I purchased my copy directly from her back in 2009 I think it was. I don't think she had had it reprinted though which is a real shame.
 
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Recipe - Cheese-Stuffed Tortillas

I thought I'd include some step-by-step photos:


Brown ground beef...

Brown ground beef...


Add tomatoes, garlic, and seasonings...

Add tomatoes, garlic, and seasonings...


Add cheeses to tortillas...

Add cheeses to tortillas...


Roll up and into a baking dish...

Roll up and into a baking dish...


Top with sauce...

Top with sauce...


Out of the oven...

Out of the oven...


On the plate...

On the plate...


Close-up!

Close-up!


This came out of my most recent cookbook, Mary & Vincent Price's Come Into The Kitchen Cook Book, and from the "Westward Empire" chapter, placing it between the American Civil War and Victorian chapters.

Here are a couple of other interesting photos from this chapter:


Beaver Tail

Beaver Tail


Presidential Dinner

Presidential Dinner


So if you were wondering what to do with that beaver tail in the back of your freezer...you're welcome! :wink:

Onto the recipe:

This really feels like a 19th century version of a busy weeknight 30-minute meal. Cheese-stuffed tortillas in a no-fuss meat sauce. It's quite tasty, even if it is a bit on the straightforward side. Not much prep to do, comes together in a snap, and it's filling and satisfying.

It's got a much more Italian (-American) taste profile, even if the tortillas suggest Tex-Mex.
 
Another new recipe from Mango Soup and this time Khandvi.
They are basically spicy chickpea flour pancakes made with yoghurt and served with a spicy tarka. I served them alongside last night's pomegranate yoghurt rice as per the serving instructions of the latter. And very nicely complimentary of each other they were.

Pomegranate Yoghurt Rice and Khandvi

Pomegranate Yoghurt Rice and Khandvi

served with baked almond & cashew Feta

Pomegranate Yoghurt Rice and Knandvi
Pomegranate Yoghurt Rice and Khandvi
Pomegranate Yoghurt Rice and Knandvi
Hubby's plate of food
Making of the Khandvi
Making of the Khandvi
Making of the Khandvi
Making of the Khandvi

Khandvi (spicy chickpea flour pancakes)


I'll add a write up and links to the recipe once I've rounded up 7 bantam chicks off the veranda as it's going dark and also finally a little rain! Fingers Crossed it stays raining for longer than a minute this time!
 
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