Andrea Chesman

I bought this cookbook the first summer we had a CSA share and decided it was time to revisit. Although we enjoyed some of what we tried, I think I’ve already tried all the recipes (less than a dozen) that appeal to us. Something in the recipe formatting doesn’t feel inviting and most of them are not designed for substitutions, which are often essential if you’re using local produce. It’s not a bad cookbook, just not one that suited our family well. I’d consider putting it in the show more giveaway box but it’s falling apart even from minimal use because it doesn’t have a lay flat binding. show less

This is a good overview of a variety of food preservation techniques: canning, freezing, drying, cold storage, pickling, as well as turning your fruits and vegetables into other foods that can then be preserved (jams and jellies, juices, wines, fruit leather, etc.). It doesn't go into great detail about anything, and I don't think I'd want to try most of these techniques if this book was the only set of instructions I had. But it told me enough about each technique for me to decide if I'd show more ever want to do it and gave me a good idea about how much labor and equipment each would take. show less

Pointless nutrition rant

If there is anything that we know for sure it is that the science of food and health is changing rapidly and that what we know and knew are probably wrong. Look at what happened with coconut oil in Aug 2018. Yet Storey editors have not dissuaded Andrea Chesman, who has no health credentials whatsoever, from larding her book with polemics on fats in the diet. She cites no peer reviewed research, trots out the common conspiracy theories, does not accept that science is show more iterative, knows little about alternative cultural preferences (especially for "rancid" fats) and spouts her own personal truths at length. Allowing Ms Chesman this exposure to future embarrassment is unconscionable behavior on the part of editors, especially as the rant is pointless. No one who avoids animal fat will ever open the book. The photos would make vegetarians swoon.

The discussion of caul fat is just wrong. Ms Chesman (or perhaps her editor) does not seem to know what a ruminant is and how ruminant digestion works. Several times pigs are included in sentences about ruminants.

The text (of the ARC anyway) is a choppy in places and could use some rearrangement of paragraphs. As usual with Storey, the ARC is prepared with horrible fonts that may or may not be changed in the final version. (Story releases their books for review as long as 9 months before the publication date and does not send reviewers notifications of changes to the text or layout.)

The cookery part is stunningly good in a Mrs. Beetonly sort of way, but taken as a whole experience, the book falls short.

I received a review copy of "The Fat Kitchen: How to Render, Cure and Cook with Lard, Tallow and Poultry Fat" by Andrea Chesman (Storey) through NetGalley.com. show less

By about late December I'm already bored with baked beets and pickled turnips, so it's nice to have a cookbook with lots of recipes focusing on root vegetables. For anybody who tries to eat seasonally (and isn't lucky enough to live in SoCal), this cookbook will hopefully provide some alternatives to your standard recipes.