Edward Espe Brown
Author of The Tassajara Bread Book
About the Author
Edward Espe Brown is author of the Tassajar Breada Book and past president of the San Francisco Zen Center. He helped found and run the internationally acclaimed Greens restaurant in San Francisco with the renowned chef Deborah Madison
Image credit: How to Cook Your Life party, 2007, photo by Andrew Zakem
Works by Edward Espe Brown
The Greens Cookbook: Extraordinary Vegetarian Cuisine from the Celebrated Restaurant (1987) 740 copies, 5 reviews
The Complete Tassajara Cookbook: Recipes, Techniques, and Reflections from the Famed Zen Kitchen (2009) 114 copies, 1 review
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Brown, Edward Espé
- Other names
- Jusan Kainei
- Birthdate
- 1945-03-24
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- Buddhist Priest (ordained 1971)
writer
chef - Organizations
- Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
Soto Zen Buddhist Association
Peaceful Sea Sangha - Short biography
- Edward has been practicing Zen since 1965, and was ordained as Soto Zen Buddhist priest in 1971 by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, who gave him the Dharma name Jusan Kainei, which means "Longevity Mountain, Peaceful Sea."
Edward is also an accomplished chef, who helped found Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and worked with Deborah Madison in writing The Greens Cookbook. Edward's other books include The Tassajara Bread Book, Tassajara Cooking, The Tassajara Recipe Book, and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings. He also edited Not Always So, a collection of Suzuki Roshi's lectures. In 2007, Edward appeared in How to Cook Your Life, a critically acclaimed feature-length documentary film directed by Doris Dörrie. - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- San Anselmo, California, USA
Fairfax, California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- California, USA
Members
Reviews
the only bread book i've ever owned and the only baking book i ever use. have had to make small modifications to the recipes over the years (taking out the dry milk, and modifying rise times because I live in england and not california) but always produces hearty, wholesome, real food that brings me back in connection with the world.
only word of warning is that this doesn't make the fluffy light white bread or cracky desserts that we're used to in the 21st century, so if you're seeking that show more you may want a different book! show less
only word of warning is that this doesn't make the fluffy light white bread or cracky desserts that we're used to in the 21st century, so if you're seeking that show more you may want a different book! show less
The Greens Cookbook: Extraordinary Vegetarian Cuisine from the Celebrated Restaurant by Deborah Madison
This edition of The Greens Cook Book is out of print. There is a newer edition, but I have not seen it so cannot compare the two. Years ago, maybe around 1999 or 2000, I had the most amazing soup at a Portland restaurant that specialized in breakfast and lunch. I mentioned how much I loved it to the waiter who said it came right out The Greens Cook Book. Money was tight so I went to Barnes & Noble, picked up the cookbook and copied out the recipe, intending to buy it later, but later never show more came. Recently, one of my reviews at Powells.com was used in their email newsletter and they gave me a $40 credit as a thank you. I dithered about what to get, but finally decided I was finally going to get this cookbook for once and for all. And now, after all this time, the used copy was only five dollars. Nonetheless, at that ridiculously low price, it still more than 260 recipes that are still tested in the toughest trial there is, a restaurant kitchen.
The recipes are organized by the kinds of dishes you might want to make with chapters on salads, soups, pasta, casseroles, tarts, sandwiches, pizza, savory pastries, side dishes, sauces, and desserts. At the end of the book, there’s a section on pairing wines with vegetarian dishes, recommended kitchen tools, seasonal menus, and a glossary of foods used in the recipes. All in all, it’s a deep dive into vegetarian cooking that highlights simple flavors and your own creativity. More than one recipe gives you a list of possible ingredients so you can more or less make your own using their broad parameters.
There’s nothing flashy about The Greens Cook Book. There are no beautiful photos that will make you drool. The only illustrations are simple outline sketches of herbs and greens. The short introductions to recipes are just about the recipe, without any personal stories or history. It’s a serious cookbook focused on the recipes, not on the personality of the chef. It’s full of recipes that are delicious and you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy them.
This is one of those cookbooks that become a staple, a foundational book like “The Joy of Cooking” or “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.” In addition to its rich collection of vegetarian recipes, it includes the basic on making soup stocks, sauces, and other building-block recipes that many cookbooks assume you know.
This is vegetarian cooking the way it should be. Cooking new and delicious dishes that are about abundance and flavor. Many vegetarian cookbooks focus on deprivation, trying to replicate the meats you have left behind. There is no deprivation in The Greens Cook Book because this is vegetarian cooking as a thing itself, not a replacement. There’s no feeling of being left out or of missing flavors. It’s all about great vegetables and ways to cook them that bring out their own rich and sumptuous flavor.
You can find The Greens Cook Book wherever they sell used books, including Powells and Amazon. There is a newer edition, but I don’t know if anything is different.
The Greens Cook Book at Powells Books
Greens Restaurant
Deborah Madison author site
Edward Espe Brown on Facebook
★★★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/the-greens-cook-book-by-d... show less
The recipes are organized by the kinds of dishes you might want to make with chapters on salads, soups, pasta, casseroles, tarts, sandwiches, pizza, savory pastries, side dishes, sauces, and desserts. At the end of the book, there’s a section on pairing wines with vegetarian dishes, recommended kitchen tools, seasonal menus, and a glossary of foods used in the recipes. All in all, it’s a deep dive into vegetarian cooking that highlights simple flavors and your own creativity. More than one recipe gives you a list of possible ingredients so you can more or less make your own using their broad parameters.
There’s nothing flashy about The Greens Cook Book. There are no beautiful photos that will make you drool. The only illustrations are simple outline sketches of herbs and greens. The short introductions to recipes are just about the recipe, without any personal stories or history. It’s a serious cookbook focused on the recipes, not on the personality of the chef. It’s full of recipes that are delicious and you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy them.
This is one of those cookbooks that become a staple, a foundational book like “The Joy of Cooking” or “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.” In addition to its rich collection of vegetarian recipes, it includes the basic on making soup stocks, sauces, and other building-block recipes that many cookbooks assume you know.
This is vegetarian cooking the way it should be. Cooking new and delicious dishes that are about abundance and flavor. Many vegetarian cookbooks focus on deprivation, trying to replicate the meats you have left behind. There is no deprivation in The Greens Cook Book because this is vegetarian cooking as a thing itself, not a replacement. There’s no feeling of being left out or of missing flavors. It’s all about great vegetables and ways to cook them that bring out their own rich and sumptuous flavor.
You can find The Greens Cook Book wherever they sell used books, including Powells and Amazon. There is a newer edition, but I don’t know if anything is different.
The Greens Cook Book at Powells Books
Greens Restaurant
Deborah Madison author site
Edward Espe Brown on Facebook
★★★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/the-greens-cook-book-by-d... show less
I should probably branch out at some point, but this is almost the only book I've ever referred to in more than seven years of bread baking. I occasionally dip into Crescent Dragonwagon's Soup and Bread Book because of its fantastic cornbread recipe, but Tassajara is the one I keep returning to. Brown's basic yeasted bread recipe produces an incredibly full, satisfying loaf, and his stories about baking for the Tassajara monastery make for good reading while the dough rises. This is a truly show more essential cookbook. show less
This small beige book, first published in 1970 (my edition is the fifteenth printing of 1975, indicating its popularity) would not shout out amongst the glossy offerings in the bookshop. It doesn't need to , though as its reputation does the work. It revolutionised my baking. Ignore the recipes that talk about smooth, silky dough - that is likely to be too dry. Tassajara tells you not to be afraid of stickiness. This book was produced by the bakery at the heart of the Tassajara Zen community show more in Berkeley, California. Edward Espe Brown started the famous Green's Restaurant in California and is still a Zen teacher. show less
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 2,676
- Popularity
- #9,594
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 30
- ISBNs
- 60
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 2