MisterHobgoblin
1st January 2012, 07:16 AM
Tasting India is marketed as a cookbook. Therefore, I have decided to review it as such.
The book is very large and heavy, and lavishly bound in silk. Whilst the silk binding is undoubtedly beautiful, it is impractical for a cookbook that is designed for use as such. The book itself is separated into regions, each one set out with plenty of double spread photos and a bit of narrative before launching into the recipes. This means that many of the pages are a dead loss for a cookbook. Kolkata and Darjeeling, the first section, for example starts on page 0 (yes, page 1 is the second page) and the first recipe is on page 38. There are a lot of recipes, but they come almost as an afterthought after the photos and travelogue.
The recipes do seem to work. I have tried four recipes so far. The fried tamarind fish (using the tamarind liquid described at the back) and the okra masala were first up. Both tasted divine, although the fish did take longer to cook through than the recipe suggested. Second up were the tamarind prawns and the choko and spinach. The former was sensational and earns the book an extra star even though it is clearly not designed as a cook book. The choko and spinach is great and all the more noteworthy for making choko taste interesting.
Overall, the impression is that the recipes have been bound up in a coffee table book that was never designed to see the inside of a kitchen. The recipes are meant for showing off a love of good food rather than for creating good food. That seems to be a crying shame, but might be more forgivable if the book were marketed more honestly as a decorative item. And as a decorative item, it probably wouldn't need quite so many recipes. So overall, we have an expensive hybrid product that is probably not quite fish and not quite fowl. But the recipes are pretty fab if anyone ever gets around to trying them.
****0
The book is very large and heavy, and lavishly bound in silk. Whilst the silk binding is undoubtedly beautiful, it is impractical for a cookbook that is designed for use as such. The book itself is separated into regions, each one set out with plenty of double spread photos and a bit of narrative before launching into the recipes. This means that many of the pages are a dead loss for a cookbook. Kolkata and Darjeeling, the first section, for example starts on page 0 (yes, page 1 is the second page) and the first recipe is on page 38. There are a lot of recipes, but they come almost as an afterthought after the photos and travelogue.
The recipes do seem to work. I have tried four recipes so far. The fried tamarind fish (using the tamarind liquid described at the back) and the okra masala were first up. Both tasted divine, although the fish did take longer to cook through than the recipe suggested. Second up were the tamarind prawns and the choko and spinach. The former was sensational and earns the book an extra star even though it is clearly not designed as a cook book. The choko and spinach is great and all the more noteworthy for making choko taste interesting.
Overall, the impression is that the recipes have been bound up in a coffee table book that was never designed to see the inside of a kitchen. The recipes are meant for showing off a love of good food rather than for creating good food. That seems to be a crying shame, but might be more forgivable if the book were marketed more honestly as a decorative item. And as a decorative item, it probably wouldn't need quite so many recipes. So overall, we have an expensive hybrid product that is probably not quite fish and not quite fowl. But the recipes are pretty fab if anyone ever gets around to trying them.
****0