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  • Cookbooks

    My M.O. as being the Head Chef in my hale is that I do not have/use/consider cookbooks. I mix and mess and test and try stuff out, and it usually comes together in the end.

    But lately I realize that I don't cook as healthy as I should, and that has bothered me. This has led to many discussions amongst family and friends, because I am trying to change course here. A coworker (who is doing the Weight Watchers thing, as is just about everyone else in my office, mahalo to HMSA) suggested their bookTake-Out Tonight. I am skeptical because I know that my family's palette isn't very American/European, but more of a "Pan-Pacific fusion".

    I went to Borders tonight and bought the book. She was right! Although it is marketed as "resturant favorites", I realized that a lot of these recipes are already foods that my family enjoys, but never did figure out how to make, like spring rolls with dipping sauce, coconut curry chicken, etc. What sets this apart from other Southeast Asian cookbooks is all the nutritional stuff designed to cut down fat and calories and measure it up in W-W Points™ The rest of the W-W books didn't turn me on at all, but this one seemed to be the most like the diet I have/know/love.

    I am going to try out some of these recipes this week.

    What books do you have? Which ones gets you to refer back again and again? What do you look for in a cookbook? What turns you off about them?
    Last edited by Pua'i Mana'o; October 15, 2006, 08:54 PM. Reason: needed to add url link, but this new link system is screwy }-(

    pax

  • #2
    Re: Cookbooks

    The only cook book that I have so far to do my own cooking and grilling is George Foreman's Indoor Grilling Made Easy. The recipes are easy and I do it all in the George Foreman's Mean Lean Fat Grilling Machine. I love it!
    Aloha Kakou, maluhia a me aloha mau loa (Hello everyone, peace and love forever)

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    • #3
      Re: Cookbooks

      I'll second Take Out Tonight. Lots of good, easy stuff.

      We use the "Best of Cooking Light" quite a bit - it too has nutritional info at the end of each recipe (not a ton of info, but does have calories, carbs, proteins and sodium I think). Most are fairly easy with common ingredients.

      I picked up Le Cordon Bleu's "Complete Cook" home edition book a long time ago and it's got some good pictures and instructions on cooking technique, but has some rather complex recipes that have proven to be fun weekend "experiments."

      But the one we grab most probably is the ol' "Joy of Cooking." I'll even sit and read it when I'm bored.

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      • #4
        Re: Cookbooks

        "Kill It & Grill It" by Ted and Shemane Nugent and "Dr. Shintani's Hawai'i Diet Cookbook" are a couple of cookbooks that I use if a wild pig or pesky jungle fowl hangs out at my place a little too long.

        However, I usually have someone else do the cooking most of the time.
        Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū ā ē ī ō ū -- Just a little something to "cut and paste."

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        • #5
          Re: Cookbooks

          Originally posted by achow View Post
          The only cook book that I have so far to do my own cooking and grilling is George Foreman's Indoor Grilling Made Easy. The recipes are easy and I do it all in the George Foreman's Mean Lean Fat Grilling Machine. I love it!
          So what did you cook on the GFG Sunday?

          Originally posted by Jonah K View Post
          "Kill It & Grill It" by Ted and Shemane Nugent ...snip.... I use if a wild pig or pesky jungle fowl hangs out at my place a little too long. However, I usually have someone else do the cooking most of the time.
          Ted would be proud. Got that pig in a Stranglehold?

          Originally posted by Pua'i Mana'o View Post
          My M.O. as being the Head Chef in my hale is that I do not have/use/consider cookbooks. I mix and mess and test and try stuff out, and it usually comes together in the end.What books do you have? Which ones gets you to refer back again and again? What do you look for in a cookbook? What turns you off about them?
          I used to do that...mix until it's right and then because of all the wine accompanying me along my culinary journey, forget to write it down! I have more cookbooks than you can imagine. Inherited a bunch when we bought our in-laws house, and my father-in-law is an incredible cook. We also have duplicates and multiple printings of Joy, Fannie Farmer, James Beard, etc. I do love cookbooks. Good thing I love cooking, too. Which is why I'm trying to convince myself that I also love to exercise. I certainly love to be healthy! I do have a WW cookbook. I got it at Costco earlier this year but I don't know if it's this one or not.
          Aloha from Lavagal

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          • #6
            Re: Cookbooks

            There are forty-three cookbooks in my LibraryThing collection. Most of them were collected long before I started cooking, but I use 'em. I particularly like the 1963 Ladies Home Journal one, because it has the recipes I grew up with. The one I use the most is probably Joy of Cooking.
            http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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            • #7
              Re: Cookbooks

              I've got two 5-shelf bookcases filled with cookbooks; about 2/3 are cookbooks --mostly "ethnic" including a whole bunch of local kine grines cookbooks (the spiral bound UE cookbooks are great) and Pacific Rim stuff (Roy and Sam's books) plus cookbooks from the Time-Life series and Thai, Indian, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and vegetarian--and 1/3 are baking/dessert cookbooks, plus I think I must subscribe to every foodie magazine available.

              I usually refer to the baking cookbooks because baking requires you to be a little more rigorous with the ingredients and measurements, and oftentimes I'll also go to the web to find stuff (recipes.com is a good source).

              Miulang
              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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              • #8
                Re: Cookbooks

                Originally posted by Jonah K View Post
                "Kill It & Grill It" by Ted and Shemane Nugent and "Dr. Shintani's Hawai'i Diet Cookbook" are a couple of cookbooks that I use if a wild pig or pesky jungle fowl hangs out at my place a little too long.

                However, I usually have someone else do the cooking most of the time.

                LOL...Ted Nugent....I love the Free For All Album, and all his stuff from the 70's. he has a line of jerky that is great, and he is pictured on the package on top of a Buffalo with a crossbow, and it says "I test drive all my meat"

                He's about as Politically UNcorrect as you can get, but always good for a laugh.
                http://tikiyakiorchestra.com
                Need a place to stay in Hilo ?
                Cue Factory - Music for your Vision

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                • #9
                  Re: Cookbooks

                  Originally posted by Jonah K View Post
                  "Kill It & Grill It" by Ted and Shemane Nugent
                  Would be him to put somethin' like that out. Hilarious! What a perfect name!

                  Perhaps there's a dish in that book titled "Wango Tango Waffles"? Or how about, "Cold Stranglehold Chicken" or "Cat Scratch Beaver Steaks". lol

                  Alice Cooper owns a really popular rib joint in the mainland. Then there's Sammy Hagar with his Cabo Wabo Resaurants & Tequila (no Eddie, you can't have any). I understand Sammy's working on a cookbook based on the dishes served in his popular restaurants.

                  My mom left us her entire cookbook collection (more than 30) she mostly bought super-duper cheap at a Thrift Shop in Aina Haina. We're talkin' beautiful $25+ hard cover stuff she got there for literally PENNIES. The ones I've referred to the most are the local ones like the Honwanji wirebound book series and Sam Choy's Cooking from the Heart (his carrot soup in there is da' bomb!).

                  Otherwise, I get most of my recipes (if I need one) from the net. It's easier to Google for it than thumb through pages. Still, cook books are good to have as a tangible reference.

                  I have yet to try Auntie Lynn's PBS recipe, but I will.. sounds so ono!
                  sigpic The Tasty Island

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                  • #10
                    Re: Cookbooks

                    How did this cookbook work out for you, Pu`ai?
                    But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                    GrouchyTeacher.com

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                    • #11
                      Re: Cookbooks

                      thanks for asking, Scriv!

                      I love this cookbook! Thing is, I glance at the Italian and Greek selections, admire the Indian, but really only stick to the Chinese, Japanese and Thai offerings. One thing fab about it was to get me to try other things than just oyster sauce (my family lives on oyster sauce, and if you asked me to bake you a cake, it too would have oyster sauce ).

                      Do you want me to share a recipe that was tested/approved by the Mana'o Family?

                      makes 4 servings (so I double this recipe):

                      2 t canola oil
                      1 lb scallops
                      1 T grated fresh ginger
                      2 cloves garlic
                      2 cups bean sprouts
                      1 cup fresh chinese peas
                      1 red bell pepper, cut
                      1/2 cup shredded carrots
                      2 T light coconut milk (this comes in a can in the Asian foods isle; it is the second pressing, not the first pressing of coconut milk, and as such it has less fat content, but no addtl fillers like sugar, cornstarch, etc)
                      1 T packed lt brown sugar
                      1 T low salt shoyu

                      in a skillet, cook the garlic and ginger first in the oil, then add everything else, until the veggies are how you like them (I like them a bit undercooked for the bite) and then the scallops and then eat.

                      serving size: 1 cup. 148 calories, 5g fat, 1g sat. fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 269 mg sodium, 3 g fiber, 13 g protein, 47 mg calcium, 14 g carbs, WW points: 3

                      why I love this book:
                      -as you can see above, the nutritional profile is extensive
                      -no funky fakey food substitutions. Use real sugar damnit, not splenda! Also, lowfat yogurt (instead of that nasty fatfree version) is used in recipes calling for yogurt.

                      pax

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                      • #12
                        Re: Cookbooks

                        I ADORE this book by Madhur Jaffrey:

                        http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffrey...9983848&sr=1-5

                        It has a lot of Indian recipes in it (really great homestyle-Indian----like your Indian mother would cook for you), but also interesting Japanese and other Asian dishes. As someone who has India in her blood, and given that Indian is not a very common cuisine in Hawaii, I find it to be quite handy.

                        I, too, tend to just Google a recipe if I cannot remember how much baking soda or whatever goes into something. I like not having the paper around clogging up my life. But this book has stuff in it that I have not found online.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Cookbooks

                          I love and collect cookbooks.

                          My newest favorite is, and this is going to sound terribly boosterish, "What Hawaii Likes to Eat," by Muriel Miura and Betty Shimabukuro (yes, the Star-Bulletin food editor, my co-worker).

                          Some of the recipes therein have appeared in the pages of the Star-Bulletin in the past, but most of them have not, to the best of my recollection.

                          It hits stores soon and I really recommend that you at least look through the table of contents and flip through the pages at the book store. You'll prolly want to buy it after that.

                          Previously, again with the boosterism, my favorite was, "By Request," a compilation of recipes Betty has dug up over time for the Star-Bulletin including her piece de resistance -- the recipe for Chicken Alice's famous wings! Really good and easy to make -- great on a Super Bowl Sunday! (If you've not picked up that book and really want the Chicken Alice recipe, just do a keyword search on the Star-Bulletin Web site.)

                          There are other popular restaurant recipes in "By Request," too, from places like Side Street Inn and finer-dining joints.

                          I've got several community fundraiser-type cookbooks too (and was, er, "published" in one, because my mom is a member of the fundraising org.).

                          Those are so much fun, because they're usually homespun recipes that are favorites of other families, that somebody was proud to share. I've had a few IBEW cookbooks for several years -- and still use many of those recipes!

                          Then of course I've got the humangous "Joy of Cooking" and "The Gourmet (magazine) Cookbook," which are voluminous tomes. I've used JoC more than Gourmet ...

                          All that said, I do find myself using the Internet as my main go-to source for recipes. THEN I'll turn to my massive desktop recipe files harvested from all over, then to my cookbooks and then my Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines for recipes/inspiration. Hey, we can't all just go run off to Le Cordon Bleu or CIA or French Culinary Institute just cause we might like to!
                          **************************************
                          I know a lot less than what there is to be known.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Cookbooks

                            Originally posted by Erika Engle View Post
                            Hey, we can't all just go run off to Le Cordon Bleu or CIA or French Culinary Institute just cause we might like to!
                            Disagree with every fiber in my being: you can do anything you want to do. You just may choose not to do it at this time.

                            Did you ever hear Martha Stewart talk about how she cooked her way through the JoC once? That is how she trained herself early on. She went page-by-page through it....

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