Foodist: Cookbook Reviews

Northwest Berry Cookbook

By Kathleen Desmond Stang

Attending to the cooking is one thing. But before a cook can set hand to ingredient, there's the shopping to account for. All too many Americans have forgotten how to shop for their food, how to select the best possible ingredients. If the apple is big and bright red, then it must be good, right? Well, hardly ever.

Now imagine trying to buy the best possible berries. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Not to mention currants, gooseberries, and cranberries. With Kathleen Desmond Stang holding your hand, you are sure to do well in supermarkets and a farmer's markets when berry season comes upon us. Even though this book bears the title Northwest Berry Cookbook, the information is valuable anywhere berries are grown, bought, and sold.

There are two basic sections to Stang's diminutive magnum opus. First there's all the information you are ever likely to need about the origins of some of our favorite berries, their characteristics, their various names, how best they are grown in the backyard garden, when to expect them in the market, what to look for, the kind of flavor to prepare for. Then there are Stang's recipes.

Kathleen Desmond Stang is somehow able to take the individual berries and imbue them with the heart and soul of the Pacific Northwest. These recipes still have morning dew on them. By using the information in the front of the book, you should become a wise and discerning shopper. Then, by using the best possible berry ingredients in Stang's recipes, you should become an absolute berry wizard in the kitchen.
Schuyler Ingle ...