Raghavan Iyer (1) (1961–2023)

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy.

Want to impress your friends with only a potato? Then this book is for you!! I like that it doesn't just contain recipes, but a load of useful information about potatoes, such as the different kinds, use, purchase, and storage. Included throughout the book are high-quality color photographs of the finished products as well as photographs of step-by-step techinques. I love that above each recipe, Iyer tells the reader which region of the world it came from. This definitely kicks the plain old potato up a notch with a ton of inventive new ways to prepare them.… (plus d'informations)

Holy Exuberant Cookbooks, Raghavan!

This is an exciting, explosive collection of recipes showcasing potatoes. Iyer has an obsession with potatoes, and has put that to good use here.

The book explains many different types of potatoes, and four groups into which they fall: Floury/Starchy, Waxy, New and Sweet. I learned more about potatoes than I ever intended to learn. Discover each potato type's origin and how best to use it. Determine whether a potato is floury or waxy but using a specific dunking in brine trick.

The recipes look amazing, full of flavour and exotic combinations, as well as classic recipes that will be familiar to most cooks.

Some seem incredibly complex and mouthwatering include:
"Crash Hot Potatoes with Cinnamon Malt Vinegar"
"Llapingachos (Ecuadorian Filled Potato Cakes with Peanut Sauce)"
"Mojito Potato-Pomegranate Salad"
"Sweet Potato Rolls with a Creamy Cointreau Glaze"

But never fear, quintessential dishes like mashed potatoes, twice baked potatoes and French fries are included. Interesting variations for potato salad and tater tots round out the middle ground between familiar and unexpected.

I am expecting poblanos in my farm share today, so I will be making Potato Stuffed Chile Rellenos. And the recipe for Pierogies has so much explanation, it should be foolproof. I will try that when the weather cools a bit.

I love the international selection of dishes and ingredients, the author's reverence for the 'common' potato, the overall vibrancy of the writing, and the exciting recipes. Rich, lush, delicious recipes!

The only let down is that every recipe does not have an accompanying photo, only about 50% have photos! It is nice to see how a dish is meant to look. Delicious photos are so tempting, and encourage you to try the recipe. Now, I have an idea of how mashed potatoes and potato salads are meant to look, but have no idea how 'Lefse' should turn out, and Pommes Anna needs some illustration to help with assembly.

Highly recommended for every home chef. The variety of recipes makes this essential for anyone who experiences an abundance of potatoes.


**eARC Netgalley**… (plus d'informations)

If you love Indian food and love to cook, you will love this cookbook. If you are someone looking for easy recipes, or someone who does not like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen - this is probably not the cookbook for you.

I find this cookbook absolutely amazing, though. There are enough recipes here to try something new every night if you want! The recipes give very clear, specific instructions for working with types of ingredients you may not be familiar with. Iyer tells you the history of the recipes, describes unusual ingredients, and tells you where to find them and what will work as a substitute (or in some cases, what won't).

Many of the spice blends you'll use, you will have to make yourself. Although the spice blends are always delicious and pungent, be prepared that some are time-consuming to make. Don't try to make them without a spice blender - we didn't have one at first, but hand-grinding these spices in a mortar is NOT a good use of your time. You can get a decent spice grinder at most kitchen stores for $15-$20. You also generally won't need to make the whole spice blend recipe - he often gives recipes for creating 1-2 cups of a spice blend, when most recipes call for 1-2 tbsps at most. Obviously you can save the blend and use it later, so how much you make should be determined in part by just how much Indian food you plan to cook. On the other hand, it's worth making plenty of ghee and garlic paste from the outset, as both can be saved (in the fridge or your freezer) for use later, and they are time-consuming to make.

We've also found that Iyer goes pretty heavy on the salt. After the first few overly-salty meals, we've adopted the habit of always using between 1/2 and 2/3 the amount of salt he calls for. This seems to work great, making the dishes less obviously salty, and a good bit more heart-healthy. He also calls for fresh coconut frequently. We've found that the effort in using fresh coconut is not worth the pay-off. Substitute dried coconut (from the baking aisle) or for sauces, unsweetened canned coconut milk, and the recipes still come out great.

The book is broken down by the primary ingredient in each recipe (poultry vs. beef vs. vegetables vs. legumes). With a vegetarian in our house, we've so far found that most of the meat recipes are amenable to substitution with veggies or else meat replacement products (i.e. Quorn, Morningstar, seitan) and come out just as yummy. Many of the chicken recipes call for a whole bird, but I've also found that pre-packaged skinless, boneless chicken breast will work well in most cases - just reduce the cooking time appropriately.

Although we've enjoyed every recipe we've made out of this book, some are more worth the time than others. Most of the recipes are fairly time consuming, so an otherwise tasty meal can disappoint if you've spent an hour or two in the kitchen. Some of our favorites are the Bolly Colly, the Garlic Infused Split Black Lentils, and the Coconut Chicken with Potatoes. On the other hand, we found the Stuffed Anaheim Peppers and the Spicy Banana Peppers to be tasty, but not worth the time and effort we had to put in. On average, you can expect each recipe here to take ~45 minutes combined prep/cook time. With two cooks in our kitchen, we can generally make two recipes from this book simultaneously in about an hour or so.… (plus d'informations)