New challenge for September
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Let's talk about the new challenge which should start in September.
As I stated back in May, I thought it would be nice to alternate between larger, more general cookbooks (like The Essential New York Times) and smaller, more focused, perhaps ethnic cookbooks.
Which cuisines and which specific cookbooks are folks interested in cooking from come September? -
I'm game for anything. I might be without a kitchen, though, as my remodel should start this September (or October, or ...).
I didn't expect to enjoy the NYT cookbook so much, it was an awesome challenge book. -
I had a much busier summer than I had anticipated but I managed to cook 4 recipes from the NYT cookbook. What I liked was that I didn't have to go searching for ingredients. I live in a very rural area and I simply don't have many ethnic ingredients available to me so I skip many of the challenges.
I'd like to tell Andrew to wrap up this challenge but I need some suggestions to move on to.
Ohhhh ... to have a kitchen remodel. -
Beth, what sort of cookbook would YOU like? We could consider a different sort of a smaller focused cookbook. For instance, what about a cookbook for breakfast items? Or vegan? Or salads. I have nothing in particular in mind, but its most fun when we get broad participation.
And don't get me started about my kitchen! -
I spent a bit of time looking for cookbooks that are newly popular, and found this article about the wild success of Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. I don't know, Beth, you might have difficulty finding the ingredients, but if we could figure out how to publicize it, possibly it could bring new people into cookbooker (if the article is correct about this book's wild popularity).
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I'm not sure how to publicize cookbooker. It would be nice if reviews could be posted to Facebook as that would draw people in - eatyourbooks used to do that in the beginning. It really would be nice to have a larger crowd.
Jerusalem may be a good idea but I just wonder if it's already been "done" so to speak by most of those who might be interested in a cookbook challenge. Zosia has written a number of reviews already so maybe she could chime in. It's certainly a popular book and I know it's been suggested for a challenge before.
Personally, I'm open to anything though I'd love to see a good vegetarian challenge. That hasn't happened in a while. -
I will scout around for vegetarian. I also love vegetarian cookbooks.
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There are the Deborah Madison books. I have an older one on vegetables and another on fruit desserts. Her newer book (on my wish list) has been very well-reviewed.
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Kateq - which Deborah Madison book do you mean by newer?
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I do love Deborah Madison's "savory way" cookbook, and have been intrigued by the 2013 title - Vegetable literacy. It gets excellent reviews on Amazon. Her other fairly recent classic (10th anniversary edition in 2007) is "vegetarian cooking for everyone", also well reviewed on Amazon. It looks like there are 65 owners of Vegetarian cooking for everyone (maybe more if all the versions were summed), but there are also quite a few reviews already. Vegetable literacy is only owned by 3 cookbookers....
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I think Jerusalem would make a good challenge book. It has a wide variety of recipes including vegetarian and most are very family friendly; the dishes are, after all, what the authors ate growing up. There are a few specialty ingredients required but some can be easily substituted and most recipes don’t call for them. As Beth mentioned, I have cooked from the book (and have really enjoyed it) so the excitement of exploring a new book/cuisine has passed but there are still many recipes I would like to make so I would certainly participate.
Having said that, I was looking forward to exploring a new cuisine with this next challenge, specifically Asian (Chinese? Japanese?). I don’t have a book recommendation but if there's enough interest, perhaps the challenge could be set up like the grilling challenge and cookbookers could cook from whatever Chinese (or Japanese) cookbook they owned with the reviews tagged “Chinese challenge” (as an example).
I also like the idea of Deborah Madison's new book or another vegetable cookery book.
I'm looking forward to the next challenge, regardless of what's chosen.
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QS has it -- "Vegetable Literacy" -- I'm about ready to give in to temptation and order it.
I too have cooked from the various Ottolenghi books and love 'em.
I would love any of these. A Chinese or Japanese (or Asian) would be great fun. I still have bookmarked recipes from our Greek challenge and tons of post-its sticking out of my NY Times book...
I must say I do like our mini-challenges (like Pi Day) -
Could we do all books from one author (e.g., Deborah Madison or Nigel Slater), or is that too much?
A salad book (or books?) would be nice, although it's getting past the season.
I do like the longer timeframe we've had on Essential, but reviews have tapered off in the last couple of weeks, I guess with vacations and whatnots.
Or an ethnic book that's owned by lots of people? -
Can I put in for a book that is available internationally. Jerusalem certainly qualifies, besides which I have a copy. It's no good having a Chinese, vegetarian or whatever book if it's only published in the US. It will be hard for the rest of us to get hold of, and difficult to use because of unfamiliar measurements and ingredients.
I'm in favour of Nigel Slater, got lots of his books, but I've never heard of Deborah Madison, I presume she's American. Seasonal challenges are OK by me so long as they are appropriate for the season here - spring is coming up!
My personal nomination is Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion, one of the all time great cookbooks. -
Looking back, we had been talking about doing an Asian challenge next and I'm thinking that is the direction we should take. If we did as Zosia suggests and go with any Asian cookbook, it might increase participation and would help those of us who have difficulty getting certain ingredients.
I'd love it if people could list the Asian cookbooks that they currently have or those they are interested in cooking from. -
I like the idea of an Asian challenge as well. I've been meaning to dive into some of my Korean cookbooks but keep putting it off. We loved eating Korean food while in CA for a few years but can't find any Korean restaurants near us in NC. I have several Asian cookbooks including Korean ones not sure I have all of them listed at Cookbooker yet. I like the idea of another Vegetarian challenge as well maybe we could do that after the Asian one. I enjoyed the Essentials challenge but didn't get to cook as much as I would have liked from it as my Mom got worse and finally passed away. I also only got to keep the book for 3 weeks since I got it though our inter-library loan program. I love cookbooker and keep encouraging members of a cookbook collectors group to join. A few have but don't think they have participated much. I keep trying to think of ways to get others to join but nothing comes to mind.
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My condolences southerncooker.
If I had to choose one book from the ones I own for an Asian challenge it would be either Every Grain of Rice (Chinese) or Japanese Farm Food. I'm not suggesting either book for the challenge; these are the books I would cook from for the "Asian" challenge. -
So sorry for your loss, Southerncooker.
I too like the idea of an Asian challenge. I have several recipes bookmarked in Every Grain of Rice and in Japanese Farm Food. It would be fun to cook from several Asian cuisines.... -
Okay, I'd like to write to Andrew to get this challenge started as soon as possible. Only 3 people own each of two books suggested - Every Grain of Rice and Japanese Farm Food - so I'd hate to go with just those two.
How does everyone feel about a general Asian themed challenge where we could use any cookbook and tag our recipes with "Asian challenge"? That sounds like it could be fun and we could have participation from those who don't own Asian cookbooks but like to use websites for inspiration.
There are 253 titles currently tagged "Asian". As I am sure there are many people, like me, who have never tagged their books, it is likely there are even more Asian cookbooks owned by cookbookers.
Any thoughts? -
I think a general Asian Challenge is a great idea, that way we can use what ever Asian cookbooks we have and also blogs or websites that have Asian recipes. Hopefully more people would participate that way. I know how to tag a recipe with the Asian Challenge and will try and remember to do that but not sure how to tag a cookbook as Asian. I looked at a couple of the Asian cookbooks I have on cookbooker and couldn't figure out how to tag them that way. Maybe I'm over looking something.
Zosia and BethNH thanks for your kind condolences. -
That is a great idea! It is inclusive yet focused on one goal. Just one thought, we might want to define asian so its clear to everyone. For example, I have Burma, which I think is asian, but of course Indian cookbooks would not be asian.
SC - so sorry - your friends here all love you. -
SC, sorry for your loss!
I actually think a general Asian challenge is too broad. The cuisines are very diverse and would (theoretically) include everything between Iraq and Japan, Russia and Indonesia. It's a bit like doing a general Western challenge. I would focus on one large country or several smaller ones, or one or maybe two or three authors (I for my part would be very happy to take this as an excuse to buy the Fuchsia Dunlop books, they've been on my wishlist for quite a time). -
I love hashing this out with everyone. I do agree that a general Asian challenge is too large without some definition.
For example, when Chowhound did a challenge with Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook the chapters were broken down as follows:
India & Pakistan
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724596
Sri Lanka
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724598
Indonesia; Malaysia; Singapore
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724601
Burma
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724604
Thailand
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724605
Cambodia & Laos; Vietnam
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724613
The Philippines
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724615
China
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724617
Korea
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724620
Japan
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724621
I left the links in case people wanted to check out the discussions.
If people feel this is too broad and want to narrow down the list, let's discuss which countries we want to include in the challenge.
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I agree with friederike, that "Asian" is a bit too broad. Narrowing it by country or author would be useful.
On the other hand, I'd love to do Solomon's Complete Asian book. I've had it for a while, but never spent a lot of time with it. It gets lots of good recipe reviews. -
And thanks to BethNH for helping to keep the challenges going!
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Another idea might be to have a challenge for a single ingredient. Zucchini/courgette comes to mind right now since the garden is overflowing. (How can one single plant produce so many squash?!) But it could be something like harissa or sriracha or apricots or eggs or ...
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Kaye - maybe we could do a week-long mini informal zucchini challenge! After a month of travel, I came home today to find a jumbo zucchini...
And on the Asian theme, I will find a way to participate regardless of the rules we devise. For me, its most fun when we have broad participation. I am fortunate to live in a location with excellent library services. Unless terribly obscure, I can probably get my hands on a copy.
One thought that might broaden participation - are there any high-quality food blogs that specialize in asian cuisine? -
I was able to secure a copy of Solomon's Complete Asian book for $8.00 off Amazon yesterday! I will definitely be using this book as part of the challenge.
QS - I know there are some very good Asian food blogs and I could work on listing some.
What I'd like to do before the challenge goes live is to narrow down the definition of
"Asian" as far as cooking goes?
I think we could all agree on China, Japan and Korea but what other Asian countries would people like to see represented.
Personally, I don't care of all of the countries from the list above are included but I know that others would like to limit it for practicality. Please jump in and share so we can finalize things and let Andrew know. I'm starting to look forward to a new challenge. -
China, Japan and Korea sound find to me but like you BethNH I wouldn't care if all the countries you listed were involved.
Queezle Sister and friederike -- Thank you! -
I'm all in favour of using Solomon's book which, since she is an Australian, is readily available. I have her Complete Vegetarian Cookbook which is wonderful and is actually in two sections, European and Asian.
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ABE has several copies of Solomon's Complete Asian for less than $10, making it not a big financial burden for most. Although I really prefer challenges using books, I did find that there are many excellent food blogs, such as this one that mostly focuses on Korean foods.
I am impressed by the Amazon reviews of Solomon's book, and would embrace it as our challenge (and am agreeable to anything). It is owned by at least 13 cookbookers. -
Well, maybe we could change our minds and actually use a book since there are now a few of us who like the idea of the Solomon book and, as QS pointed out, it can be bought inexpensively.
What does everyone else think?
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You guys have never steered me wrong so I've gone ahead and ordered a copy of the Solomon book as well. Perhaps we could do a China/Japan/Korea challenge now and save Southeast Asia for another time...although including all of Asia is fine with me too.
I love the idea of an impromptu zucchini challenge to do now while the next formal challenge is organized. -
Zucchini game on! should we use the tag "zucchini challenge"?
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Sounds good to me!
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Good timing! I just prepared two zucchini dishes yesterday which I wanted to review today.
About publicity for cookbooker and attracting new members: I think Facebook is a very good idea! I also just started a new board on Pinterest with tried and tested recipes, all of them including a very short comment and most importantly, a link to the full review. If anyone is on Librarything or Goodreads or any other of those websites, reviewing cookbooks and including a link to the book on cookbooker might be a good idea as well. And don't forget blogs! -
I am on goodreads. That is a good idea, I will do it! You could probably also link to recipe reviews if you update it regularly as you progress through the cookbook.
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I just placed Solomon's Complete Asian on hold through inter-library loan at my local library. Now I need to find some zucchini recipes and visit the farmers market Friday after work.
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I went ahead and purchased an inexpensive used copy of Solomon's Complete Asian.... call me nuts.... I just told my mother I was going to pare down my cookbook library. But hopefully it will replace some of my (Asian) clunkers.
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Okay then.
I'm calling it. The next challenge will be Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook. It seems as though enough interested people either own, have purchased or can find a copy of it.
I'll contact Andrew and get dates set up. -
One more thing. I can't remember how long the previous challenges lasted. Two months? How long would people like this challenge to last?
Oooh ... the UPS guy just delivered my copy of The Complete Asian Cookbook!!! -
How does the new book look? How long will you maintain high interest in cooking from it? I think that the NYT challenge was perhaps a bit too long, it seemed like there were no reviews for the last several weeks.
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So maybe 6 weeks would be good. Starting soonish - ending Octoberish.
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My book arrived today and I just spent a very pleasant hour or so going through it. Lots of great recipes -- a whole mess of which I have indexed! This will really be fun....
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I emailed Andrew a couple of days ago and I'm still waiting to hear. I'd say if we don't hear from Andrew by the end of the day, we just go ahead and start the challenge.
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Sounds like a plan, Beth...
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I just send Andrew another email this morning. Hopefully, he'll pop in soon to change the challenge for us.
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Yes, I'm popping in now. I have been an absentee landlord, as you've noticed. Thanks for the email Beth! I will change the challenge in the next couple of days, but it's approved, so you can go ahead and start doing it and I will figure out the previous challenge and put things on the site. I can't offer prize books any longer - the site has never made money (quite the opposite, though it's not too expensive to run) and they were all coming out of my pocket. But I'll follow through with the two prizes from the NY Times challenge. Hopefully you'll still be challenge cooking just for the fun of it.
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Andrew, it's nice to see you here. I don't think any of us have been cooking for the prizes and I don't even remember one being offered for the NYT challenge. Mostly it's just fun to cook with a community of like minded individuals.
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I love the challenges, and if we decide we need prizes, I would be willing to make a donation. Perhaps we could have a "board" composed of some of the top users, and discuss details of prizes (if we need them) in an off-the-forum venue? Its OK, Andrew, to give Beth my email.
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My book arrived today! Wow there is a lot in there, but I have not yet looked carefully. It looks like fun.
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