The anatomy of a dish / Diane Forley with Catherine Young ; photographs by Victor Schrager.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forley, Diane.

Contributor:

Young, Catherine.

Schrager, Victor.

Laurie Burrows Grad Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooking.

Penn Provenance:

Grad, Laurie Burrows (donor)

Physical Description:

223 pages : color illustrations ; 30 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Artisan, [2002]

Summary:

This sumptuous cookbook, with its fresh and distinctive vantage point, offers nearly two hundred recipes, along with an engaging look at where the plant world and culinary world intersect.

What do Poached Eggs in Asparagus Nests, Leek and Apple Hash, and Sauteed Scallops with Onion Pan Gravy have in common? Asparagus, leeks, and onions (along with shallots, garlic, and chives) are all part of the botanical family Liliaceae.

Diane Forley's fascination with the properties and groupings of fruits and vegetables -- in the garden, in the kitchen, and on the plate -- suffuses The Anatomy of a Dish. But this is not a vegetable or vegetarian cookbook. It is a collection of the richly flavorful recipes Forley serves at her restaurant, illuminated by the culinary and botanical explorations that have led to her celebrated cooking style.

Forley, one of America's rising chefs, has arranged her book to reflect her conviction that vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes define sensibility in cooking. Part I, which serves as the book's foundation, looks at vegetables one at a time, and details some of Forley's favorite ways to prepare them. Cooking techniques are explained and applied to an array of vegetables to form side dishes and starting points for more complete meals. For example, artichokes are braised, shaped into griddle cakes, baked as gratins, and fried as snack chips; mushrooms are sauteed, pureed, and transformed into Forley's own Worcestershire sauce. A plentitude of notes alongside each recipe offer serving suggestions and menu-building links.

From single vegetables, the book moves on to vegetable combinations in salads, soups and stews, pastas, tarts, souffles, and breads. And then, fish, poultry, and meat are added to create dishes that The New York Times praised for being delicious yet "disarmingly simple."

Seasonal availability of ingredients inspires the recipes in the dessert chapter. These are alluring treats on their own, at any time, but they thoughtfully complement the savory dishes that precede them.

Cooking from this immensely engaging book, you'll come to expect the unexpected and be thrilled by each encounter. For example, you'll learn how plants are classified and marvel at the notion that the potato, eggplant, tomato, petunia, and the tobacco plant have much in common, starting with a five-petaled star-shaped flower. (The hugely toxic belladonna also has the same shaped flower. Is it any wonder that the Old World was reluctant to try these New World fruits and vegetables?)

Cooks who care to broaden their culinary horizons will find this side excursion into the world of botanical family trees as delicious as they'll find Forley's recipes, with their straightforward charm and exceptional soaring flavors.

Contents:

Why botanical study 9

My garden and my kitchen 11

Part I Building a dish

Vegetable Studies 29

Salads 59

Salad Greens Chart 61

Soups and Stews 77

Seeds: Grains and Pasta 93

Savory Pastries 107

Herbs and Spices Chart 111

Breads 115

About Flour 121

Part II Developing a menu

Adding Shellfish and Fish 131

About Fish 144

Adding Meat and Poultry 157

Meat and Poultry Cooking Temperatures 159

About Steak 166

About Chicken 174

Mushroom Chart: A Kingdom Apart 177

Part III Concluding with a sweet

Desserts 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page 210) and index.

Local Notes:

Presented to the Penn Libraries by Laurie Burrows Grad.

ISBN:

1579651895

9781579651893

OCLC:

50041496

Online:

Publisher description

Laurie Burrows Grad Collection Home Page