I’ve long been a fan of Mark Bittman’s gregariously engaging style and presentation.
Anyone who has watched more than a few minutes of his vast library of podcasts knows that the man is a serious ham (oh the irony!).
At times I’ve found myself transfixed, watching entire episodes on preparations of foods that I don’t even like, just because he’s so darned entertaining and fun.
I’ve owned How To Cook Everything for years, and though I don’t often cook whole recipes from it (in general because I don’t like the limitations that a recipe puts on my creative intentions) it sits right there on the easy-to-reach shelf alongside The Joy (Of Cooking) and various other handy encyclopedic references, like my 27 volume Time Life Cooking set from the 70’s. I own a few other Bittman tomes too, like Food Matters, Quick And Easy Recipes From The NY Times, and I’m sure there’s another one or two in there somewhere, but I’ll be damned if I could tell you which ones, which I suppose points out how often I use them.
And after what seemed like a ridiculously long time, I finally managed to get a copy of How To Cook Everything Vegetarian recently. Ever since I read Food Matters, I’ve been meaning to pick up a copy, but every time I went to one of my local book shops, it’s always the one book in his massive repertoire that’s consistently absent. For a bit I began to wonder whether that was because it was so incredibly popular that nobody could keep it in stock, or because it was so unpopular nobody wanted it.
Once I managed to find the book and got the thing home, I still hadn’t formed an opinion, but it certainly is voluminous. Where I’d thought that How To Cook Everything was at times overwhelmingly large, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian outpaced it by close to 70 pages, cracking the 1,000 page barrier. But, in true Bittman style, the book is chockful of diagrams, explanations and tidbits, going far beyond how most authors generally think to write recipes and cookbooks to make the whole both educational and interesting.
Eyeing up the book, I often wonder if he had the same problem convincing his editors that a book this comprehensive and large would sell, as Julia Child supposedly did with Mastering. I can attest that its size has made it somewhat daunting to jump into thus far, but the Everyman has his own take on the reason for its grandiose nature. He postulates that the book is so copious because it takes more time, effort or ingredients to make vegetarian food taste better. Not having cooked anything from it yet, I’m not sure I agree with him on his theory, but it certainly made for an interesting conversation.
But why, you are wondering did I so badly want this book? Well, the short answer is that while I do intensely love my meat, I am fully aware that I probably eat a little too much of it. I’ve been trying to find ways to increase our non-meat consumption for several months now, and though I do have a handful of tasty recipes in my arsenal, there’s no harm in sussing out a few more. Particularly of interest to me have been finding alternative methods of preparing tofu that don’t suck (because the 1 way I know and use slight sauce variations for is getting a bit boring) as well as learning how to use some of the more esoteric whole grains like spelt and kamut. I already love wheatberries and bulgur and quinoa, but as I’ve previously mentioned, grain salads and cooking with grains in general has a tendency to be my undoing.
With How To Cook Everything Vegetarian in hand, I hope to change all of that. Perhaps along the way we’ll even get a little bit healthier along with the planet. What a novel idea; with Mark as my guru, I’ll never go hungry again!
Until next time…
Tags: Books, Cooking, Food Matters, How To Cook Everything, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, Irma Rombauer, Julia Child, Mark Bittman, Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, Quick And Easy Recipes From The NY Times, The Joy of Cooking
[...] has taken the first step and bought herself a vegetarian cookbook, specifically Mark Bittman's. Will her love of dead flesh end when she (and the cynical Everyman) discover how much tastier and [...]
I’ve had this book for about a year now and just have not been excited to get into it. I guess I am looking for a good read with some tasty recipes. I know that is what Bittman probably has in here but the danged thing just looks like a textbook. It just looks like work. I hope you find some good stuff in there.
I know what you mean, DMS. A book this large can be difficult to get excited about, but I’m going to get into it.
Since I don’t really cook from recipes very often, I mostly just flip through for inspiration, and while I was doing that last night, I was inspired to create a soup. The recipe that triggered it was a roasted squash and chipotle soup, but instead I made a roasted squash, zucchini and sweet potato soup with ras al hanout.
It’s a little bit smoky, a little bit sweet and just complex enough to keep me interested without the meat.
Looks like we were reading the same sections last night. I never got to soups but gave the stock section a good going over.