Susan Andres
asked:
This book sounds great to me, but would it be of much use to someone who don't cook animals or animal products?
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Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking,
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Sarah
Absolutely. There definitely is a good amount in the book that deals with animal products, but there's still a bunch of info on cooking veggies/grains etc. with precision. It's really half instruction manual, half recipes. Frankly it just has good, common-sense well tested advice backed up with science and pretty illustrations. Good for anyone who wants to cook anything better.
Katie
I'm a long-time vegetarian working on becoming fully vegan and I found the 1st half of the book (the theory part) VERY informative and interesting (even if the parts about butter don't ultimately affect my life, the science part of how it makes croissants flaky is interesting).
The recipes in the 2nd half are mostly useless, but if you are used to adapting recipes as part of your regular animal-free diet, there are some that I'm sure you could salvage with substitutions. : )
The recipes in the 2nd half are mostly useless, but if you are used to adapting recipes as part of your regular animal-free diet, there are some that I'm sure you could salvage with substitutions. : )
Bluehat
The first half of the book, which is the theory portion, is probably going to be way more useful to you than it is to the average person because it gives you some good ideas on how to improvise and adapt recipes. A lot of animal products are used for fat, and figuring out how to replace one fat with another that still "matches" the flavor profile well is a bit of an art.
The second half of this book, which is the recipe portion, is probably going to be hit or miss. There are some excellent vegan recipes in there, but there are also a lot of things you're going to wind up skipping over.
The second half of this book, which is the recipe portion, is probably going to be hit or miss. There are some excellent vegan recipes in there, but there are also a lot of things you're going to wind up skipping over.
Josiane
YES! I agree with Sarah's description. It should be a staple in every kitchen.
N
Honestly not so much. There is some interesting technique but as a vegetarian there is not a lot I would cook from it.
Alicia Bayer
I'm kind of half and half about the book. I found a lot of it VERY helpful and informative, but I disliked how much the author relishes animal products. It was even less helpful for me because I cook vegetarian and gluten free, and the author doesn't even acknowledge that gluten free people exist. She doesn't really acknowledge that anybody would want (or need) to avoid meat products or dairy either. The kitchen nerd in me did really appreciate all that I learned from the book, even though most of the recipes involved wheat, meat and dairy.
I would really advise skipping the Netflix series more than the book if you're vegetarian or vegan. It's pretty much a gleeful global excursion through cheese, fish, meat, etc., and the book does a better job getting into the information.
I would really advise skipping the Netflix series more than the book if you're vegetarian or vegan. It's pretty much a gleeful global excursion through cheese, fish, meat, etc., and the book does a better job getting into the information.
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