Amazon.com
Soyfoods have been a staple in Asian cooking for millennia, but until recently only a few Westerners took much interest in cooking with them. Now deemed a "miracle food," soy may help prevent cancer, lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease, prevent osteoporosis, and relieve the symptoms of menopause. Award-winning natural foods cookbook author and food writer Lorna Sass shares her decade of soyfood cookery research in The New Soy Cookbook, pairing soyfoods with ingredients and seasonings of cuisines from around the world. Beautifully laid out and illustrated, the book includes more than 40 recipes using soymilk, tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, and miso. The recipes reveal influences from all over, highlighting the cuisines of China, Italy, Thailand, Indonesia, and France, reflecting a delicious fusion of East and West.
Red Lentil Soup with Indian Spices, Tempeh Braised in Coconut Milk with Lemongrass, Curried Tofu with Spinach and Tomatoes, Sage-scented Cornmeal Scones, Pumpkin Tart with Pecan Crust, Codfish and Clam Chowder, and Black Soybean Salsa with Swordfish Strips are only a sampling of the tempting recipes you will find in Sass's lovely compendium. With only a few desserts, Sass focuses more on savory dishes using no meat, very little dairy, some seafood, and somewhat unusual ingredients such as quinoa, shiitake mushrooms, mesclun, kabocha squash, and broccoli rabe. With mouthwatering photographs, The New Soy Cookbook would make a handsome addition to any inspired cook's bookshelf. --Gretel Hakanson
From Publishers Weekly
Soy products attract interest from a diverse audience: vegetarians looking for a non-animal source of protein; women looking for natural source of estrogen; those hoping to reduce their cholesterol levels. Sass (Complete Vegetarian Kitchen; Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure) offers something for everyone here. Such recipes as Tempeh Simmered in Red Wine with Herbes de Provence or Country Tempeh P?t? suggest the kind of ersatz creations used to comfort non-meat eaters when feeling deprived of boeuf bourguignon or a terrine rich with goose liver. Strict vegetarians will have to bypass the addition of several seafood recipes (Chunky Codfish and Clam Chowder; Shrimps, Mussels and Tofu in Lemongrass-Miso Broth), while the cholesterol conscious will eschew Tempeh Braised in Coconut Milk with Lemongrass. Once such requirements are sorted out, however, the collection's variety and overall excellence shine. Notable are the p?t? mentioned above, with its combination of garlic, brandy, walnuts and green peppercorns, and the basic and highly versatile Baked Seasoned Tofu, which can profitably be used in almost any stir-fry, as croutons in many soups or simply as a side with greens. Sass offers plenty of practical advice about using the bean in every guiseAtofu, tempeh, soy sauce, soy milk, miso and in its unprocessed form, as the boiled fresh green soybeans occasionally found in Japanese restaurants as the delicious edamame. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Cookbook Digest
Soy is emerging as one of nature's most effective helpers in matters of diet and health. THE NEW SOY COOKBOOK by Lorna Sass is an attempt to introduce most of the basic forms of soy used in cooking and throw a little light on its background. The book does do that in its introductory section and in recipes using four basic soy variants, from the now-familiar tofu to the still rather exotic tempeh, along with soymilk and soybeans themselves. The recipes in this book are very good and often quite simple, covering the normal range of eating from appetizers to wraps to desserts. 'Desserts?' you exclaim. Well, there aren't many but try resisting a dessert sauce made with Grand Marnier and silken tofu.
Home
