Book | Sybaritica
About a year and a half ago, I posted a review of Food Art – Garnishing Made Easy by John Gargone. I haven’t, until now, ever had a reply to any of my book reviews by an actual author, but Mr. Gargone took the trouble to drop me a line, obviously taking the view that I had been a bit overly negative in my assessment. I reproduce his remarks below:
I have always believed in constructive criticism. However you do not give me that input. This book has been a great success with customer reviews and is being utilized in many culinary institutions as a guideline to food garnishing. These techniques of been taught to thousands of food service personnel and home chefs. The basic methods outlined in detail can be utilized on a daily basis even at home. They are all simple quick and the presentations have astounded guests in many casino hotels and country clubs across the nation visit my many edible art galleries at foodgarnishing.com to see the many variations of the displays in my book Food Art, Garnishing Made Easy
Note; I wrote this book because most other food Garnishing books I have read and it’s been in the thousands have all been about garnishes that either took too much time but did not equal impact or two silly to present. My book also entails how to display food which is something I personally have not seen in any other book.
I don’t know that I can really respond to this other than to say that, although I try to be as fair and objective as possible, I am somewhat constrained by my own culinary experience and interests when reading and reviewing different material. I am not a professional cook and so I was possibly a little intemperate in suggesting that actual professionals might not find the book useful… perhaps I should have restricted myself to saying that Mr. Gargone may have assumed knowledge, skills and experience that many purchasers may not possess. As Mr. Gargone points out, others reviewed his work positively so, clearly, there can be two opinions on the issue. Obviously, my readers who choose to take a closer look at the book can make up their own minds…
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By: Todd-Michael St. Pierre
2013 – Ulysses Press
First of all, in the interests of full disclosure, I should advise that this book was sent to me free of charge by the publisher for (non-compensatory) review purposes. In the past, I have always rejected such offers, mainly because I don’t want to be in a position of reviewing something that doesn’t interest me, or that I feel I may have to say negative things about. In this case, however, there were two titles that interested me as being books I would probably have bought in any event and this one, fortunately, turned out to be pretty darned decent… Read more
1992 Wei-Chuan Publishing ISBN-13: 978-0941676298
I have to say that I bought this book on something of a whim. I don’t eat Mexican food very often and my library only contains 5 other volumes devoted to the cuisine. However, I really like the Wei-Chuan series of cookery books and I was curious to see how a Chinese Publisher might handle the subject. As it happens, though, I was ultimately disappointed with this publication on a couple of counts… Read more
2008 Aness Publishing ISBN-13: 978-1844763511
Almost all of my experience with Cambodian cuisine comes from trying the odd recipe from books broadly focusing on Asian, or somewhat more particularly, Southeast Asian cookery. There is no shortage of books on Vietnamese or Thai food, of course, but Cambodia has thus far received short shrift and it is not easy to get a sense of the cuisine of that nation from those generalized cookery books in which Cambodian dishes are not widely featured. As such, it was indeed a pleasant surprise when I came across this very nice little volume… Read more
by Elodia Rigante
1996, First View Books, ISBN-13: 978-1885440020
I have had this book for quite a few years now and I like to leaf through it from time to time even though many of the recipes it contains are often far removed from traditional Italian dishes. The book is chiefly about American-Italian food, specifically native to Brooklyn, and, even more specifically, the family favorites that have graced the table of the Rigante family. As such, it is not destined to become a classic amongst Italian cookery books but it is nevertheless… and I can’t express it much better than to say… a very *nice* book… Read more
2008, Anness Ltd., ISBN-13: 978-1844764235
My wife and I were just trying to remember which one of us bought this book. I rather suspect it was her because, although I do enjoy flipping through it, she really enjoys it and has tried more recipes out of it than I have… Read more
2000, Hippocrene Books, ISBN-13: 978-0781808019
Although this book contains over 200 recipes (as noted on the cover) it is less a cookery book than it is an introduction to the spices and other essential ingredients in Indian cookery. It is very nicely illustrated, provides a lot of interesting information, and is one of the gems of my collection… Read more
1996, We-Chuan Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0941676694
Since starting this blog, I have posted several reviews of cookery books from Wei-Chuan publishing. I generally like of all the books I have purchased so far and this latest one, which I only recently acquired, is one of the best I have come across yet… Read more
2004, Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-0764319600
I own quite a number of books dealing with the related topics of plating, garnishing and carving foods. This little volume touches on all three aspects of food presentation but, while it is fairly interesting to look through, it is definitely not one of the best in my collection… Read more
2005, Japan Publications Trading, ISBN-13: 978-4889961812
This publication belongs to the very nice ‘Quick and Easy’ series and is a special favorite of my wife, who enjoys trying many different kinds of pickling methods. The name of the book is just a little bit inaccurate but, in this case, the inaccuracy works to the benefit of the reader rather than otherwise because, in addition to providing a very comprehensive of Japanese pickling methods, some varieties from other parts of the world are featured as well… Read more