Culinary Herbal

Culinary Herbal is not a cookbook, although it does have some recipes.

Instead, it's a book filled with information about different herbs - as well as other flavorful edibles, like garlic and horseradish and poppyseeds. There is information about how and where the plants grows, which cuisines use the plants, what they tastes like, and how to prepare and store the herbs.

What makes this book really handy is that while it talks about the herbs we're all familiar with, it also describes plants that are less common, and possibly less available in stores, like culantro, malva, and sow thistle.

At the back of the book there's information about growing herbs indoors and out, how to preserve the harvest, and typical problems you might encounter when growing your herbs.

The recipes are simple and useful, like how to make herb butters, vinegars. pastes, and syrups.

If you want to start using more herbs in your cooking, or you want to try growing some, or you're just tired of seeing the names of herbs in cookbooks with no information about them, this book is for you.

I received this book from the publisher for the purpose of a review.

Tasting Rome

When it comes to ethnic cookbooks, I think I have more Italian books than any other category. It makes sense. It was the first non-mom food I ever tasted, and I loved it from the first bite.

Tasting Rome by Katie Parla and Kristina Gill approaches the subject by including "traditional dishes and contemporary innovations, each selected for the story it tells about Roman cuisine and the way it transports the full spectrum of local flavors to the home kitchen."

While the book includes quantities of ingredients, the authors point out that typical Roman cooking doesn't get "bogged down with precise ingredient amounts or proportions." So you're welcome to adjust the recipes to taste while still being true to the spirit of the recipes.

Some of the recipes I've bookmarked for later include picchiapo (simmered beef with tomato and onion), concia (fried and marinated zucchini), coda alla vaccinara (braised oxtails), sformatino di broccolo romanesco (romanesco custard) and pizza romano (thin-crust Roman style pizza).

What's a little interesting here is the dishes that aren't in the book - no ravioli or lasagna, for example. There are pasta dishes - just not those very common ones. But there is gnocchi. And carbonara.

Overall, it's a good book to have in my collection, but I'm glad it's not the only one.

I received this book in order to to a review.

What do these three books have in common?

At first glance these books would seem to have nothing in common. I mean, there's one book dedicated to a high-end appliance, one that's meant for super-simple cooking and another that's written by a celebrity chef.

There are at least two things these books have in common, and it's certainly nothing you'd guess. I got all of them at the Housewares Show in Chicago, and they're all autographed. Yup. Scribbled upon by the authors.

The Vitamix Cookbook was written by Jodi Berg, and it's the first cookbook from the company that's more of a general book than one dedicated to (and included with) specific blenders. Of course, all the recipes take advantage of the power of a Vitamix. Judy Berg, by the way, is the president and CEO of the company, and the great-granddaughter of the founder. The book has some great-looking recipes and beautiful photos. And the recipes seem very approachable for a home cook.

Obviously, the book is written for folks who own Vitamix blenders, but I'm sure creative cooks could find a way to make these recipes using a different blender or maybe even a different piece of equipment. But still, I like my Vitamix, so that's what I'm going to use.

The middle book, Dump Meals, is written by pitch-woman Cathy Mitchell, who you might have seen on late-night television pitching her Dump Cakes cookbook. Whether you like her or not, she sells a ton of cookbooks. People like quick and easy recipes, and that's what this book delivers. Well, the easy part, for sure. But since they're made in a slow cooker, they can take a while to cook.

Since the point of this book is fast, easy, and few ingredients, there are a lot of shortcuts, like using spice or soup mixes for flavoring. If you're opposed to those, you could certainly use your own individual spices.

The book is written specifically for Crock-Pot slow cookers, but I have no doubt they could be adapted to other cookers or even stovetop cooking.

The final book in the trio, Essential Emeril, is of course written by Emeril Lagasse. The photos are mouth-watering, and based on my experience with other Emeril cookbooks, I'm quite sure the recipes will work. No doubt. I kind of want to make everything in this book.

Well, maybe except for the risotto with truffles, because I can't afford that kind of stuff. Fortunately, most of the recipes are more in my budget range. Although the book isn't promoting a particular appliance, Emeril has his own line of cookware, gadgets, and other cooking goodies.

So ... there we go. You'll probably see recipes from these books on my cooking blog, Cookistry, when I have a chance to browse through them. Time will only tell which one gets used the most.