It is a fantastic book. I got it when it first came out in 1987, and it was the second Indian cookbook I ever bought (the first was Julie Sahni’s vegetarian book, which came out a couple years earlier). I have cooked a ton from it. And it has really aged well. Newer cookbooks are just… newer. Not better. Dakshin is a similar book for me. A much thinner book! But one that I have turned to again and again over many years.
I never liked the idea of a Rukmini Iyer month in the old format, because it would be so many books. It’s one thing when an author has 2 or 3 books, and another when they have 8. Now, yes, we have more time, but I feel like 8 books from one author will overwhelm the other two choices (if the intent was to still have two other choices - that wasn’t clear to me from the nomination and still hasn’t been addressed).
No, I meant it to be the “simple” book. I think there are 3-4 Roasting Tin books (which I did specify in my nomination), leaving aside the dessert one.
Thank you for clarifying. Looks like there are four, The Roasting Tin, Green Roasting Tin, The Quick Roasting Tin, and Roasting Tin Around the World.
If so-and-so months are OK, I’m going to nominate ERIC TUCKER MONTH. The books are just two, The Millennium Cookbook and The Artful Vegan. These are multi-part cheffy recipes from the Millenium Restaurant (formerly of San Francisco, now Oakland). These are books from the pre-Beyond era, and they have withstood the test of time. Both truly excellent books.
I’ve been cooking a lot lately from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s books and have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the recipes, so it would be fun to do some of hers. She has too many to do them all, so I would propose eliminating the easy books, the diet book, the baking books, and fake meat book, which leaves us with three that are arguably the best: Veganomicon, Vegan with A Vengeance, and the Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbooks (don’t think winter holidays here, it’s very broad). I’ll nominate this as SELECTIVE ISA CHANDRA MOSKOWITZ MONTH.
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LOAVES AND FISHES by Anna Pump
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riley, you and I might be the only two people on this board with that book! Iirc, there was a wonderful raspberry ice cream in the book.
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Just remembered another that has been nominated a lot by me and others: BLACK FOOD, by Bryant Terry.
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ENDLESS SUMMER Katie Lee Beigal
Folks, with less than 48 hours until nominations are set to close per my OP, we have only one title with more than two nominations, and then a plethora of titles with two nominations, which is around a plethora minus two titles too many for either a declaration or a run-off vote of some kind.
If you’ve nominated a title that’s been seconded once (or where you’re the seconder), that you’re especially interested in working from this spring, may I suggest making a case for it in a comment? Whether it’s simpler or more involved, what’s its appeal? In other words, help us drill down a bit or we’ll never get anywhere.
OK, I’ll bite. I’m going to start with Tenderheart, even though it has more than two nominations. No reason it shouldn’t have more still. I keep buying vegetable books, and I keep being disappointed with them. In a lot of them, even though the book is dedicated to vegetables, they are still relegated to a side dishes, or dishes that wouldn’t be very satisfying as a main. This book doesn’t have that problem. There are plenty of main dishes or one-dish meals. There are also desserts! I love using veg in baking, and was happy to see those. Another thing that often disappoints me in vegetable books is the lack of originality. I do not need another recipe for shakshuka. The recipes in this book are creative, without being difficult or fussy. These are, for the most part, not dishes you have seen before. One example would be the mapo eggplant. It takes mapo tofu and turns it on its head, with eggplant playing the role usually assigned to tofu, and tofu taking the place of the ground meat, to yield something fun and new. Finally, reliability. I’ve probably made a dozen recipes from this book, and haven’t come across a bad one yet.
Next up, the Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che. It has a whole chapter on tofu skin. That should be sufficient right there. This book came out out in 2022, along with another vegan Chinese book, “Chinese Homestyle,” by Maggie Zhu. I have both, like both, and nominated both, but the Hannah Che book is arguably the better and more intriguing book. I haven’t cooked a ton from it, but what I have made has been excellent, and I like that the book doesn’t just cover the usual suspects. This book made a number of best-of-the-year lists for 2022.
Israeli Soul or Michael Solomonov month: We did Zahav back in the chowhound days, but never got to Israeli Soul. Which is a shame, because as much as I like Zahav, I like Israeli Soul better. The recipes are less cheffy, and more homestyle/street food-y, and generally less complicated to make. Yet they also manage to be, to me at least, more exciting. I’ve cooked quite a bit from the book and been very happy with the recipes. I think this would be a popular book if selected. If we want to include Zahav along with it, I’m good with that as well.
The other two I nominated that got seconded are Persiana and Mezcla. I can’t say much about these, they just look appealing to me. I got Mezcla when the ebook was on sale, and saw a lot in it I’d like to make, but I have gotten around to cooking from it yet. Similar story with Persiana, and I have a couple other Sabrina Ghayour books, also bought as cheap ebooks, also mostly unused.
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I bought the Vegan Chinese Kitchen after viewing the tofu skin chapter! I haven’t cooked anything from it yet, but I would love a reason to do so.
I agree with your comments about Israeli Soul as well. It’s also worth noting that it has a LOT of recipes, and, if you use the hardcover book (vs. the ebook), the formatting is quite fun.
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@MelMM has persuaded me. If TENDERHEART, VEGAN CHINESE KITCHEN, or ISRAELI SOUL are selected I will buy the book(s) and cook along. Would be very happy to do more plant-based cooking.
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SOLOMONOV/ISRAELI SOUL
DISHOOM
I love DAKSHIN not sure there would be broad enough interest to carry 3 months in this specialized cuisine as wonderful as it is
Man, the first page alone of DAKSHIN on EYB is making me hungry. I have several wonderful South Asian books, but I wouldn’t be mad if I “had to” buy this one too.
I can definitely do some cooking from ISRAELI SOUL. It is available at my library and here’s hoping my kitchen reno is finished by April.
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How are we going to vote? How do we distinguish via category?
We are not going to vote unless there is a reason to (tie in the nominations). The coordinator will have some latitude in this process to ensure variety in the final selections.
My library has TENDERHEART so adding this. I own DISHOOM so could cook from this; it is not very weeknight friendly.
the thing I always liked about cooking Indian food for my family is that if I made any long-cooked dal and meat (or did some marination prep of something quick cooked) on the weekend, I could easily make rice or heat up some naan on a weeknight, make a simple veg or salad and finish any quick cooked meat on the weeknight obtaining multi meals. My family at least liked this a lot
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