Welcome to the voting thread for our September 2023 Cookbook of the Month. A little extension generated some nomination enthusiasm, narrowing our choices to two:
HOW TO VOTE: Click the knife-and-fork icon on the post below naming your choice. If you change your mind, you may click the icon again if you’re still within the time limit, or reply to this post and let me know. Please vote with the intention to cook one more more recipes and post about your experience should your choice win.
VOTING WILL CLOSE on SUNDAY, AUGUST 27 at 3 PM EDT/12PM PDT.
I was the one who nominated Afro-Vegan, but I’m removing my vote for it here so that it’s not likely to result in a tie. It wouldn’t be fun when so few people want to try a recipe from that book.
I can’t seem to un-like the comment, so please just mentally subtract one from Afro-Vegan.
It’s just as likely that someone won’t cook from Keller if it wins (again). I am really struggling to find anything I want to make from the Keller books. Just not my style of cooking and not particularly veg-friendly. There is a reason I deaccessioned my Keller books years ago. For this COTM, I got digital versions from the library, but I’m just not seeing much that appeals. If anyone wants to point me to something, I’m open to suggestions.
Like you, I’m passing on the Keller cycle - I avoid animal products and prefer to try recipes that are online or from books I can check out from the Internet Archive or my library. I just don’t find much that fits that criteria with Keller.
During the nominations, I zeroed in on ideas from The Woks of Life because I thought they’d be picked: spicy griddled tofu steaks, maybe with a rice pilaf with onions and dried apricots, some charred Chinese eggplant, and a tiger salad…
And if Afro-Vegan was picked, I was going to make the summer vegetable and tofu kebabs with pomegranate-peach BBQ sauce (p. 72), a wheat berry and pecan pilaf, some sauteed greens… and the vanilla spice ice cream that uses white beans and cashews (p. 175) - basically a health food!
Maybe in October people will be ready to move to another cookbook! Had you sketched out a menu for a Tenderheart or I Am From Here recipe?
I haven’t participated since HO closed for various reasons, all substantial. However, I have been following. I checked out the Keller books from the library and I am interested in a few recipes.
I’ve had Afro-Vegan since soon after it came out and have enjoyed cooking from it. Since we still here Boston area are now at the peak, finally, of “summer” produce, I know I will be able to cook from Afro Vegan in September.
Well, voting is now closed, and by a slim margin folks have chosen to extend Thomas Keller. I look forward to reading the reports from all those who voted for it.
Oh, yeah, I remember that barbecue sauce. It was good. Bryant Terry is really strong on condiments and spicing.
I’m vegan, and gluten-free on top of that. Keller has vegetable recipes, but they are pretty boring, side dish fare. I also have a CSA subscription, so a lot of my cooking centers around the seasonal produce in the box. Keller doesn’t have a lot really summery produce in his books (and I’m in the south, so summer isn’t ending anytime soon).
If your library offers digital books through Hoopla, all of Keller’s books are on there. That’s how I checked them out.
I’ve gotta take a look at that ice cream recipe. I know I haven’t made it. I have a pretty healthy ice base that I make using a high-protein plant milk combined with cashews, but this sounds even healthier. My sister was just asking a couple days ago if I had a healthy ice cream.
I use a high-protein plant milk like Silk Protein or Ripple. Both pea-based, although the Silk is a pea/almond/cashew blend. Per pint of ice cream, I blend 1 cup of the plant milk with 1 cup of whole raw cashews (makes 1.5 cups of thick cream). Then to that I add 70 g. of sugar, 70 g. sweetened, condensed coconut milk, about a tablespoon of booze, and whatever flavoring. The booze varies with the flavor. So for a coffee ice cream, I’d add a tablespoon of coffee liqueur, and 40 ml of cold brew coffee concentrate. None of the measurements are carved in stone. I mess around with it a lot.
I took a look at the Bryant Terry recipe, and with the exception of the beans, it’s similar to what I used to do before I came up the formula above. In a way, the beans are accomplishing the same thing as using the high-protein pea milk. I try to stay away from coconut milk as a dairy substitute, because it has no nutritional value. So that’s what I’d want to change about Terry’s recipe. I do used a little sweetened, condensed coconut milk in mine, but it’s a small amount and a minor part of the overall recipe. Still, when I gave the recipe to my sister, she complained about it, because her cholesterol is high and she’s trying to avoid the saturated fat (she’s NOT vegan). So I’m going to try to replace it with something for a coconut-free version.
