Habana Cafe Cookbook
Author: Josefa Gonzalez Hastings
The Habana Cafe's list of "Bests" began in 1997, soon after this native Cuban family restaurant opened its doors on Florida's Gulf Coast and served its first steaming platters of delicious homemade food. Culinary wizard and owner Josefa Gonzalez-Hastings now shares the cafe's secrets of Cuban cooking as a celebration of her heritage. Many of the recipes were passed down from her mother and aunts; others are "nuevo Latino cuisine" -- a fusion of traditional Cuban foods with modern dishes. Cuban food and preparation have always been varied, she says, flavored by the ancestry of the island, with contributions from Spanish conquistadors, African slaves, Asian laborers, and Indian natives. Customer favorites are all represented here -- from appetizers and soups, seafood and vegetarian entrees, to classic dishes, desserts, and beverages -- with simple, straightforward directions, colorful photographs, and a glossary that will transform even the beginner cook into a proper cocinero cubano. Gonzalez-Hastings shares family stories and photographs of life in pre-Castro Cuba, recreating the days when Havana was a dining mecca, Ernest Hemingway frequented its restaurants, and the island gave birth to the daiquiri. As Josefa says, two things are always certain at her table -- "food and good times." With The Habana Cafe Cookbook, they will be certain at your table, too.
Publishers Weekly
Gonzalez-Hastings, chef and owner of the popular Habana Cafe in Gulfport, Fla., aims to blend a guide to Cuban cuisine, her own emigre family lore and today's fusion Nuevo Latino cooking. Alas, her slim volume fails to deliver: Gonzalez-Hastings's personal anecdotes combine nostalgia with anger at Castro without fully evoking the world that was lost, and she presents her recipe instructions in a perfunctory style, with too many fundamentals relegated to a superficial glossary at book's end. Novice cooks will be baffled by the absence of technical explanations, while Latino cooking fans will wonder why Gonzalez-Hastings includes dishes like Salmon on Mini-Bagel Crisps but omits Cuban staples such as annatto oil, calabaza and boniato. And though immigrant cuisines are always transformed on American soil, this chef advocates the use of bottled mojo sauce, Badia spice mix and bouillon cubes without useful comparisons to homemade alternatives. Gonzalez-Hastings is on more sure footing when she ties stories about the restaurant to specific dishes (e.g., the Cuban Sandwich or Moros y Cristianos [black beans and rice]), and there are buried treasures, such as her mother's Ham Croquettes. But when it comes to Nuevo Cubano cuisine, readers would be better off with Joyce La Fray's Cuba Cocina! or Mary Urrutia Randelman's classic Memories of a Cuban Kitchen. Gonzalez-Hastings's illustrated paperback may be welcomed as a souvenir of dining in the cafe, but as a cookbook, her mojo simply lacks mojo. 20 color, 10 b&w photos. (July) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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Baker's Tour: Nick Malgieri's Favorite Baking Recipes from Around the World
Author: Nick Malgieri
Nick Malgieri has journeyed far and wide during his thirty-plus years working as a professional baker. His experiences abroad have always informed the flavors and techniques of his recipes. Now the award winning master baker transports the world's greatest kitchens and bakeries to your home with this inspired gathering of more than one hundred cookies, cakes, breads, sweet and savory pastries, pies, and tarts, from the baking traditions of thirty-nine countries.
Look no further for chewy naan from India, rich chocolate Millennium Torte from Vienna, and crisp cannoli from Sicily. With A Baker's Tour at your fingertips, you don't have to tour Monaco for Prince Albert's puff pastry cake, Poland for the lightest, most flavorful babka, or Argentina for perfectly seasoned beef empanadas -- you don't even have to go to country-specific cookbooks.
The recipes here range from casual to sophisticated, and all have been adapted for American use, ensuring consistent, delicious results without sacrificing flavor. Supplemented by illuminating food facts and anecdotes, and illustrated with gorgeous full-color photographs, Nick Malgieri's A Baker's Tour is a satisfying and educational international collection of inviting, delicious recipes for home cooks and food lovers everywhere.
Publishers Weekly
Malgieri (Perfect Cakes, etc.) is a savvy guide to a panoply of breads, pastries, cakes and cookies made beyond America's borders. Though the European traditions of France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland prevail, he reaches as far as Syria, Jamaica, China and Egypt for dishes as familiar as Chinese Pork Buns and as exotic as Habibi Gullas Bakari (spicy meat pie in filo crust). Malgieri is a likable teacher who begins every section with technique fundamentals and opens each of the clear, precise recipes with a slice of history or a personal anecdote. However, this remains a book for experienced bakers armed with their own standing mixers (used in many recipes) who are ready to tackle complex Gallette des Rois (Three Kings Puff Pastry Cake), St. Gallen Kostertarte (chocolate pastry raspberry jam tart) or Sephardic Baklava. Malgieri excels in the cake section, where he revels in the complexities of Cassata alla Siciliana (ricotta-filled cake) and Kardinalschnitten (Austrian Cardinal Slices); his bread section is least satisfying, with intricate instructions for Lavash and Naan that are almost certain to frustrate. But overall, he does a good job of proving that for skilled bakers, it is a small world after all. Color photos. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
In his latest cookbook, Malgieri (Great Italian Desserts) presents 100 recipes, both savory and sweet, for baked goods from 39 different countries. Many are traditional recipes, and most of them are homey and rustic rather than elaborate pastry shop creations: Pain d' pices (Spice Bread), Babka, Semolina Cake with Lemon Syrup, and Sweet-Crust Apple Pie. Although countries such as Japan, Australia, and Greece are represented, the majority of the recipes come from Europe-not so surprising in light of the baking tradition there. Although there are some older cookbooks, mostly o.p., on international baking (e.g., Nancy Baggett's International Cookies), this is one of the few recent titles on the subject. For all baking collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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