The Best Cookbooks List

MACARONS by Cecile Cannone

 

 

This small 6 inch x 6 inch paperback  is much like a macaron: small, but packing a huge punch. 

A beautiful little package that delights with each turn of the page, I predict Macarons is going to become the go-to gift-giving idea this year for all who love these tiny pillows of sweetness. For me, it has gone to the top of my cook book pile. 

Even more than being a cook book, it is a story. It is about a young Parisian chef and her husband who dreamed of living in the Big Apple and made their dream come true. They opened a small cafe/bakery in New York City dedicated to the macaron cookie and never looked back, fueled by a macaron craze that has swept through the sweet world.

When I was traveling throughout Europe in 2010, I was taken aback by the macaron craze there. It seemed everywhere I went chocolate makers were adding on macarons to their repetoire. La Duree in Paris spread to satelite outposts in French department stores and to London. The Salon du Chocolat (the Parisian chocolate trade show) was as much about macarons as it was about chocolate. And bakeries were showcasing multi-colored macaron towers in their windows.

I love them. So naturally I would love this little cook book. They are one of my favorite cookies, especially if they are not too sweet. And there are so many flavors to explore in making them: from green tea to rose to pistachio to whatever your imagination can come up with.

I like the way this particular book is organized. The first part teaches you how to make the macaron shells, and the second part teaches you how to make all the fillings that go in the center...including ganache, buttercreams, and jams.

The only thing you should keep in mind is that before you can use the recipes you will have to accumulate certain ingredients that perhaps are not readily available in your local food store. However, they are easily available online. For instance, you will need to order gel paste food coloring, powdered egg whites, almond flour or almond meal (all available online from King Arthur Flour), and a good candy thermometer and food scale.

If you can't wait to make your own and you live near NYC, you can visit the author's bakery: MacarOn Cafe, 625 Madison Avenue at 59th Street, New York, New York, or at their other location at 485 7th Avenue at 36th Street, New York, New York, where they not only have macarons for sale but serve French cafe food and sandwiches.

Yet one more reason to love Catherine de Medici (one of my favorite historical figures)! Rumor has it that she was responsible for introducing macarons to France! Merci, Catherine! And merci, Cecile Cannone for producing a macarons cook book Catherine de Medici would have approved of!

Macarons by Cecile Cannone (Ulysses Press, 2011)

Recipe From Macarons:

Printable Recipe

Rose Buttercream Filling

(if you don't make macarons, this could be used to frost cupcakes or a cake)

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup superfine granulated sugar

1 cup rose water (can purchase online)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter

5-8 drops edible essential rose oil

Method:

 1. Beat together the eggs and the sugar with an electric mixer at high speed. You want your batter to double in volume and become fluffy. 

2. Pour into a saucepan over medium heat, add the rose water, and stir until the liquid evaporates and the mixture forms a compact batter.

3. Pour into a shallow dish, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator.

4. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and beat at high speed, using the mixer's wire whip attachment. When the butter starts to expand in volume and become fluffy, add the chilled rose batter and whip again. For a stronger rose flavor, add a few drops of the rose oil; how much you need depends on the brand.

5. Frost or use for filling macarons.

 

 

SALTED by Mark Bitterman

Mark Bitterman knows how to write.

Listen to his words, "Gradually the essence of my life took physical form: a lifelong pursuit of food and travel, curated in salt."

This wonderful book is at once both a historic and scientific reference guide to salt as well as a poetic expression of Mark Bitterman's passionate interest in it. Most of the stunning photography is his and shows that the creation of this book was a work of love.

Once you have read it, you will never look at or taste salt in the same way again.

He steers us away from the bland white industrial salt we find in cardboard boxes on supermarket shelves loaded with anti-caking aluminum and bleaching agents towards the artisanal all natural salts, still full of life-giving minerals and in colors of the rainbow.

"Let fall dark crystals of Cyprus black flake salt on medallions of seared pork and plantains and you will feel the turgid rush of Incan discovery."

The first part of the book covers the history of salt and how and where it is produced, including a valuable reference guide to over 150 artisinal salts.

"South African Pearl is basically a snowball of powdered salt. As you bite, the salt's pearlike shape vanishes before you can identify its presence; only the finest film of salt remains, and this, too, dissolves instantly into whatever moisture is present, be it your food or your mouth."

The second half of the book is recipes. The first one that I am going to try? Soft Pretzels with Hickory Smoked Salt! When I work my way to the recipes made on salt blocks, my first try will be the Fried Bacon and Eggs.

I was so enamored with this book that I went to visit his newly opened store, The Meadow, in New York City. It's small and packed with fresh flowers, chocolates, all kinds of salt varieties.....and apricot colored salt blocks to cook on.

I learned from reading Salted that these blocks can attain a very high heat of 600 degrees, making them excellent for searing, grilling and frying---not to mention making them an intriguing table presentation.

 
 
You can also buy large chunks of salt and finely shave them with these salt microplanes.

Between the book, Salted, and the store, The Meadow, you come away with a vastly improved understanding of the most common and most essential ingredient in cuisine. It may be a crazy idea, but I would love to see them go one step further and open a restaurant or cafe dedicated to celebrating all the many uses and types of salt. Salt Block Cafe?! 

Salted by Mark Bitterman

The Meadow, 523 Hudson Street, New York, New York

The Meadow, 3731 N. Mississippi Avenue, Portland, Oregon

Recipe from SALTED:

Printable Recipe

Honey Ice Cream With Sugar Maple Smoked Sea Salt

Ingredients:

2 vanilla beans

3 cups half-and-half

1/2 cup aromatic honey, such as eucalyptus, avocado, or heather

4 extra large egg yolks

2 two-finger pinches maple smoked sea salt

Method:

1. Cut the vanilla beans in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds. Put the seeds and the pods in a medium saucepan with the half-and-half and honey and stir to disolve the honey. Heat over medium heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 8 minutes.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool covered for 1 hour. Remove the vanilla pods. Mix in the egg yolks and cook over medium to low heat, stirring constantly, until lightly thickened and a thermometer reads 170 degrees (about 10 minutes). 

3. Remove from the heat and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Transfer to an ice cream maker and make according to the manufacturer's instructions. Scoop out and serve the ice cream. Serve sprinkled with a little smoked salt.