World Cuisine

I’ve always been a summer kind of girl but I’ve got soft spot for winter holidays especially the festivities of the winter equinox. In Persian culture, on the first night of winter (which is also the longest night of winter), everyone stays up late to gather around one another, eat great food, and share poetry and stories. We call this evening Shab-e Yalda.

So while I don’t quite have the fire pit to gather my friends around, I do have my beloved coffee table (it can hold just the right amount of coffee table books than a true book collector can dream of) and every winter, I purchase a delicious cookbook to make new dishes and a new storybook for friends to discover when they come over.

For this year, I’m displaying two of the most beautiful books I have ever come across: the cookbook Pomegranates and Roses: My Persian Family Recipes and the illustrated book Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings which is a new illustrated version of Ferdowsi’s beloved tale. So whether it’s to celebrate Shab-e Yalda or any of this season’s holidays, both of these incredible books make fantastic gifts. They are visually striking, lavish in detail, and truly memorable.

So eat, read, and repeat all winter long…between the decadent recipes in Pomegranates and Roses and the 500 plus pages of illustrated beauty in Shahnameh…there’s plenty to get cozy and happy about over this holiday season.

I would love to take a moment to review The Sriracha Cookbook that arrived last January. I would also like to take a moment to tell you how much I love the book. But I can’t. I won’t. Why? Because I’m too busy stuffing my face with this recipe.

Let’s say this will be the shortest book review in Mattbites’ history. I’m going to be lazy and point you to what others have said about Randy Clemons’ book appropriately titled The Sriracha Cookbook from Ten Speed Press.

(It’s a fantastic cookbook, and if you’re crazy for the flavors of that certain chili sauce then you really need the book. Really. It’s wonderful.)

But about this pork. Oh damn, this pork. Forget calling this  “slow-cooked”: you’ll need an overnight brine plus an additional 12 hours of cooking time. Let’s try “half-a-day-cooked-but-well-worth-the-time-invested”, ok?  But Randy lets us know there are no shortcuts to these types of flavors and he’s right–it’s worth it. 

If we didn’t live in New York or LA (or Tokyo or London), we would have to make something from this cookbook at least once every two weeks, even if we did have to ship some of the ingredients in by mail order.  But it’s the concept of the fusion of the East and West that he does in a way that no one else does, fascinating to read and to experiment with.

Buy Nobu West

Please join us for a mucho dog-gone fantastico Tex-Mex BBQ Fiesta! Bill and I are having a party. So far, so good. But, how can I guarantee a dog-gone fantastico meal in Palm Beach when I need a genuine dog-gone Texan to prepare it. Count me out; I grew up in California where Mexican cuisine actually looks pretty and healthy. Not so, Texas. I need someone who understands brown – not green.

The Homesick Texan Cookbook - by the real purdy Lisa Fain - to the rescue. Firstly, I appreciate anyone who “after a fruitless search for tastes of Texas in New York City, takes matters into her own hands.” Secondly the dishes in her ‘own hands’ are wonderful!

Let’s cut to the chase; if you want to cook The Homesick Texan way, you can probably avoid buying cactus but you cannot avoid finding a source for Ro-Tel, a “spiced up can of tomatoes and chiles that is a standard ingredient in any Texan’s larder.” With the above-mentioned Ro-Tel tomatoes you can produce the perfect Chile con Queso. ‘Nuf said. That and a kitchen filled with iron skillets and a thorough knowledge of chiles, starts the delicious trek back to Texas and Tex-Mex heaven.