Monday, November 7, 2005

Recap of Several Food Magazines

Yesterday I posted that I would spend the afternoon reading my latest collection of fabulous food magazines. I managed to briefly scan through five. Here are some articles and recipes that stand out.


Waitrose Food Illustrated's cover of a wooden box of beautiful spices yelled "Pick me first!!!" I've dog-eared a number of recipes to test out, most of them related to the Gateway to India article on spices. The photography is so spectacularly gorgeous, I almost want to rip them out and hang them on my wall. Instead, this will be a coffee table keeper for a long while. Not only are the photos amazing, many Indian spices are described using common names along with their Indian counterparts - like turmeric (haldi), saffron (kesar), black onion seed (kalonji) and more. That's followed by a supper party recipe collection called "Curry in favour" with Tandoori jingha (baked prawns) with mint and coriander chutney, kala murgi (blackened cumin chicken), baingen aur shaid raita (honey aubergine raita), gobi matar (cauliflower and peas with cumin) and for dessert mango kheer (mango rice pudding). There's another set of articles and recipes from Mexico as well that made my mouth water.

Saveur's cover was the next to capture my attention. It had the most perfect pumpkin pie on the cover. The article, Kentucky Home, is about the McClure's Thanksgiving with 13 children and their families all coming home to celebrate. The story is wonderful and the recipes awesome. The menu, for those of you, like me, who need to know...
Roast turkey with corn bread dressing, creamed corn, coleslaw, apple pie, pumpkin pie recipes are provided, but there's a picture of the family around the table that has at least 15 bowls and platters and you can't even see the turkey. What a feast!!!

There's also a cooking lesson for wild mushroom sauté I can't wait to try.

The third magazine I enjoyed was Food and Travel. Lots of dog-eared pages but Harissa spiced, slow cooked lamb with coriander and apricots, baked sweet potatoes with chilli and lemon zest sauce, and Catalan caramel cream will be first to try out. The photos throughout the magazine are gorgeous.

The November issue of Gourmet has almost every page turned down!. First recipes I’ll try are the curried pumpkin soup and the sweet potato pie with gingersnap pecan crust.
For Shauna who writes the most wonderful blog devoted to gluten free foods – gluten free girl – and all the rest of you with gluten allergies, there’s an article called “Sweets Without Wheat”- Chocolate chip cookies, lemon layer cake and a pizza crust that all look awesome. And for those of you who love Ruth Reichl, their editor in chief and author, there’s an article on her dream kitchen – You Have To Check It Out - we should all be so lucky!!!

Finally, Cook’s Illustrated: The Best Recipes for Holiday Baking. Cook’s Illustrated is more scientific than the rest of the magazines I buy. My foolproof baked rice comes from an earlier edition. This month they help you fix pie shell problems. Good for me – mine never come out right. I love their equipment and ingredient testing features where they not only tell you which they’ve tried, but also which are top rated, runners-up, standard setters, too much money and poor performers. This month it’s cookie sheets, food processors, pastry brushes, cocoa, dark chocolate and more. Each article always uses photos and drawings to help you create the perfect whatever.

So I still have a number of magazines to go through, plus the New York Times Style Magazine this weekend was mostly about food – recipes, restaurants, tools, in story and photographic splendor. So, obviously there’s another afternoon of delightful reading in store for me. How lucky am I!?!

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