I know overfishing is a big problem, however, so I need to first learn which fish I can eat (and eventually learn which ones taste good in Southwestern Ohio).  To help, I just found these two great articles from the New York Times:

• The Seafood Eater’s Latest Conundrum
• Loving Fish, This Time with the Fish In Mind

They are pretty good reads if you are interested in this.  I haven’t yet looked into the other websites they mention, but I may do a summary post soon.

What is your philosophy when buying fish or other seafood?  Do you worry about this stuff?  Do you know of other good articles on the subject?

What It Contains

If the title doesn’t give it away, the book covers everything, from breakfast to dessert, baking, salads, grains, vegetables, ice cream etc.  It has overviews of different foods and ingredients, and frequently illustrations on how to prepare them.

Bittman’s style is to give a basic recipe for an ingredient or technique, then provide variations on it.  It has a large glossary and menus for different meals.

What I’ve Cooked and How Good Was It

I received this book in December 2007 for Christmas, and ever since it has been a book that I turn to frequently.  Here are a few recipes that I’ve made and blogged:

• Tuscan White Beans –  Really good – much better than expected.
• Spiced Up Black Beans – Delicious.  Simple recipe but tastes great.
• Tomato-Onion Salsa -It was decent.  Worked well as a sauce, but not a salsa.
• Simple Creamy Pumpkin Soup – Very good pumpkin soup.
• The Best Calzone I’ve Ever Eaten – Amazing.  Literally the best calzone I’ve ever had.
• Basic Pizza Dough – Great basic recipe for pizza dough.

I’ve also made other dishes from the book that I never wrote about (for example, his roast chicken) and have used it as a reference frequently on different topics (trussing said roast chicken).

On the whole, his recipes have turned out quite good. Bittman’s nickname is the Minimalist, and in many circumstances this holds true as his recipes often have fewer ingredients when I compare them to other cookbooks.

The tomato-onion salsa wasn’t great, and I’ve had a couple duds in his Vegetarian book (some of which are mirrored in this book), so I think sometimes his minimalism can leave a dish lacking.

Still, many of his recipes are outstanding and I often turn to it as a starting point when considering a certain dish.

What I Like

Beyond the calzone, there are three highlights that make this book great: the overviews of ingredients and techniques, the presentation of a basic recipe plus variations, and the minimalism of the ingredients.

At the beginning of chapters or the introduction of new ingredients, Bittman always has a few pages describing the ingredients used, how to buy, store, and prepare them. This is invaluable when cooking with new ingredients.  Additionally, before many recipes he has small paragraphs explaining certain elements of the dish or a technique.  These are great for understanding what you’re doing and why.  Throughout the book there are also illustrations of different preparation techniques (like carving a roast chicken) that can be very helpful when doing something for the first time.

With regards to his style of giving a basic recipe and then variations, I think this is one of the most helpful ways to learn about cooking, ingredients and flavors.  First of all, the basic recipes are great for learning just how to cook something.  For example, when I decided to cook bulgur, I just wanted to know what it took to cook it – I didn’t need a huge list of ingredients for some fancy dish.  I learned more by cooking plain bulgur with some butter rather than following a more complex recipe.  Then, when you read the variations, you can get an idea of how different ingredients and flavors interact (i.e. what spices are added to make the soup Indian flavored).

The minimalism of the ingredients is great in the sense that the dishes are easier and less intimidating to make. If I have to go buy a huge list of ingredients for a weeknight dinner, I’ll probably pass.  His style makes cooking more accessible.

Oh, also, it is great as a reference for many food questions, recipes, and ingredients.  Sorry, that’s four I guess.

What I Don’t Like

Though the illustrations are helpful, sometimes they are too small or not clear enough.

I like his style of a basic recipe with variations for learning, but a huge tome like his book isn’t the best way to learn to cook.  It is easy to miss ingredients, techniques, etc.  Sometimes I think a simpler book, like Andersen’s How to Cook Without a Book can offer a better starting point. I see the book as combining the reference capabilities of something like the Joy of Cooking with accessability for new cooks through minimalist recipes and extensive explanations of ingredients and techniques – the reference-breadth can hurt the accessability, but is still obviously useful.  So it’s a quasi-negative (I’m big into the word “quasi” in this post apparently).

Who Should Buy It?

On the whole, this is a great book. I would highly recommend to people beginning to learn to cook. It is accessible with its ingredient and technique explanations and helps the user learn more with its style of basic recipe + variations.  Also, because it has such breadth, someone learning to cook doesn’t have to buy a bunch of books.  This book is definitely sufficient.

I probably would not recommend it to someone who has been cooking for a long time. The recipes are actually pretty varied for how much I talk about minimalism and accessability, but on the whole it covers the more basic side of cooking.

Does anyone else use the book?  Agree or disagree with my assessment?

For Top Chef watchers, this recipe came from Season 1, Episode 5 where the contestants in teams (in this case Dave and Tiffani, a friendly pair) had to combine two culinary cultures of San Francisco into a street food.

The recipe itself is a slow-roasted shredded pork, flavored with ras al-hanout, then topped with pickled vegetables and served in a pita.

Morrocan Cubanos Recipe

For the pork, you’ll need a 4-5 pound pork butt, bone in (and trimmed), two tablespoons ras al-hanout, one cup chicken stock, and one cup veal stock.  For the vegetables, you need 3 cups red wine vinegar (I think I cut this down to two cups – three was practically more than a whole bottle, it was fine), a cup of sugar, one tablespoon fennel seeds, four carrots, a red onion, and a few fresh jalapeno chiles.  You’ll also need some pitas.

To begin, turn on your oven to 275º F and get your pork butt (be careful – it is not actually the butt, but the shoulder) out of the refrigerator.  If you need to, go ahead and mix your ras al-hanout.

Rub the pork all over with the ras al-hanout and some salt.

Heat a large cast iron skillet or other heavy pan over a high-ish heat – whatever works well for browning.  High heat would be way to high on my stove, so I used medium-high.  Brown the pork on each side (a few minutes each probably).  I’d also like to point out that the browning of the spices made me cough like crazy.  Be careful.

Move the pork to a roasting pan and add the stocks and a half cup of water.  Roast the whole thing for 4-5 hours at the 275º F.

You want it soft enough to pull apart with forks.  Note: I occassionally basted the pork and turned it.  Also, the liquid in my pan got a little too dry, so watch it and add more water if necessary.

At any point between when you put the pork in the oven and when it will be done, you can work on the pickled vegetables.  First, julienne the carrots and onion, and slice the jalapenos thinly.  Place them in a heat-proof bowl.

Combine your vinegar, sugar, fennel and 3 cups of water in a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

When boiling, pour your vinegar mixture over the vegetables and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  You need to let the vegetables steam for about 20 minutes before pouring out all but a cup of the liquid.  Then you can go ahead and stick the bowl in the refrigerator until the pork is ready.  The recipe says the vegetables should be about room temperature when serving.

When your pork is done, remove it to a cutting board or platter.  Also, pour the juices in the pan into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.  You want to reduce it to a little under a cup.

While the sauce is boiling, shred your pork with a couple forks, then mix it with your reduced sauce in a bowl.

To serve, warm a pita in a skillet over medium heat, remove it, then add some pork and pickled vegetables.  Next? Feast.

How Was It?

It was fantastic.  The ras al-hanout really gives the pork a different flavor than you’re used it.  The pickled vegetables on top add a fresh crunch, along with it their vinegar-y flavor.  It all goes really well together.

No-Look Cooking

Recipe

• Season a pork butt with ras al-hanout, brown it, then roast it at 275º F with some meat and poultry stock until it can be pulled apart.
• Top with pickled carrot, red onion, and jalapenos.  Serve on a pita.

Techniques

• Slow roasting pork / Shredded pork – Brown then roast at 275º F.
• Pork butts make good shredded pork.
• Pickling vegetables: combine equal parts red wine vinegar and water, add some sugar, boil then pour over vegetables.  Allow the vegetables to steam, covered, then pour away some liquid.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Pork:

• 4-5 lb. pork butt, bone-in, trimmed
• Salt
• 2 Tablespoons ras al-hanout
• 1 cup veal stock
• 1 cup chicken stock

Pickled Vegetables:

• Two to three cups red wine vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups water
• 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
• 2-4 carrots, julienned
• 1 red onion, julienned
• 3 fresh jalapeno chiles, cut into slices

• Pitas, warmed in a skillet

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 275º F.  Season the pork butt with ras al-hanout and salt.
2. Brown the pork in a cast iron skillet over medium-high to high heat on each side.  A few minutes per side.
3. Roast the pork in a roasting pan with the veal and chicken stock, plus about a half cup of water, for 4-5 hours, or until the pork can be pulled apart with a fork.  You may need to add more water throughout the cooking so the stocks don’t solidify.
4. Boil the vinegar and 3 cups water with the sugar and fennel seeds.  Stir to ensure the sugar is dissolved.
5. Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables, then cover with plastic wrap and let them steam for 20 minutes.  Pour off all but a cup of the liquid, then store in the refrigerator.
6. When the pork is done roasting, remove it from the pan and shred it with two forks.
7. Boil the cooking juices in a sauce pan until reduced to a little under a cup.  Combine the reduced juices with the pork.
8. Warm a pita and top it with the pork and pickled vegetables.

What do you think?