The Hungry Mouse Presents A Holiday Feast

A Holiday Feast is a step-by-step manual to planning a complete holiday celebration, from appetizers to desserts and homemade gifts for your guests. It’s 70 pages, and features 21 mix-and-match holiday recipes for appetizers, soups & sides, entrees, and desserts designed to complement each other on a menu.

Preview

The clean, modern layout is packed with The Hungry Mouse’s signature pictures, designed to inspire and instruct. (So you can see what “cook until brown” really means—and learn how to get that pesky cake out of its pan without wrecking it.)

Previously Unpublished Recipes

In addition to our all-time holiday favorites from The Hungry Mouse, the book also includes these five new, previously unpublished recipes:

• Restaurant-Style Prime Rib (plus everything you need to know about shopping for a rib roast)
• Baked Scrod with Buttery Herbed Bread Crumbs
• Toasted Almond Ice Cream
• Chocolate Fudge Cake
• Apple Cider Cake with Cranberries and Walnuts

Buy A Holiday Feast Today

Printed Book, $21.99 (available through CreateSpace, an Amazon.com partner)

E-Book, $9.99

The e-book is a PDF with an interactive table of contents that makes the book easy to navigate. Orders are securely processed through PayPal and e-Junkie.

What’s the difference between the e-book and the hard copy?
Format. That’s it. The e-book and the hard copy have exactly the same content.

Are you interested in this book for Amazon’s Kindle?
We don’t own a Kindle yet, but know a lot of you do.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Thanks for your support!

The Hungry Mouse has been a labor of love for the last year-and-a-half. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go right back into our kitchen to keep The Mouse House running.

Publication Date: Nov 09 2009

ISBN/EAN13: 1449590543 / 9781449590543

Page Count: 72

Binding Type: US Trade Paper

Trim Size: 8? x 10?

Language: English

Color: Full Color with Bleed

Related Categories: Cooking / Holiday

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The Tea Drinker’s Handbook

By François-Xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste
Published by Abbeville Press

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: Think reading about tea sounds kind of, well, bland?

Think again.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook is an insightful, educational, and thoroughly delightful read.

I liked it so much, in fact, that it’s earned a place of honor in my library. I keep it on the same shelf as my grandmother’s original Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook from 1950 and the few other books that I refer to most often.

Granted, I’m an avid tea drinker—and have an admitted soft spot for books about food that take a deep dive into a single subject.

This book is one part history lesson, one part art book, and one part practical reference guide. It’s the kind of thing you’ll read for enjoyment, then flip through for inspiration or clarification before you hit the market to pick up some tea.

Maybe it’s the gorgeous photography. (With pictures on every page, this book is ridiculously easy on the eyes.)

Tea plantation in Sri Lanka, from The Tea Drinker’s Handbook, by François-Xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste, and published by Abbeville Press

Maybe it’s all the tasty bits of information sprinkled through the pages.

There’s a definite art to writing nonfiction in a way that’s compelling and genuine. Authors François-Xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste have clearly mastered it.

And there’s no doubt that these folks know their tea. They founded Le Palais des Thes, a chain of international tea shops, and have travelled the world for more than 20 years seeking out rare teas.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: So what’s inside?

The book takes a really deliberate and methodical route through the winding history, ecology, and mythology of tea.

That said, it’s really easy to read—a surprising and huge plus for a book as packed with facts as this one. The pages are broken up with pictures and call-outs with tips, instructions, and other interesting tidbits.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: The front of the book

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook opens with a discussion of tea as a plant. The authors explain where it came from, and how it’s cultivated and harvested, down to the different colors of tea.

(If you’re ever offered a cup of yellow tea, take it as a compliment. Yellow tea is really green or white tea that’s of such exceptional quality that it’s fit to grace an emperor’s teacup.)

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: The middle of the book

The center section is thick and devoted to how to properly brew tea. Most importantly, it gets into how tea tastes—and why (physiologically) it tastes the way it does.

The authors start with a brief—but very understandable—chemical description of just what happens when tea meets water. They get into brewing time, water quality and temperature, and how to conduct a proper tea tasting.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: The back of the book

Now, the authors may have had me at the beginning (roundabout their description of wild and ancient tea trees), but this last section is the reason I’ll keep reaching for this book.

Entitled “The world’s 50 best teas,” the back of the book is a very user friendly reference guide to tea.

It runs through a little bit about tea’s history in China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka—and then provides in-depth information on 50 different kinds of teas. Each tea gets a page.

All the info I can imagine I’ll ever want on a single type of tea is right here—from alternate names and spellings, to the type of tea and when it’s harvested, to what it tastes like and how to prepare it.

The last few pages include a Tasting Table, which is a chart of brewing times and methods for each tea, for when you just want to look something up quickly.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: The Hungry Mouse’s verdict

Honestly, this is an all-around fabulous book. If you’re interested in tea, definitely go have a nibble on this one. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook: Where to get a copy

Order your copy straight from the good folks at Abbeville Press.

The Tea Drinker’s Handbook
By François-Xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste
ISBN: 978-0-7892-0988-7
240 pages, 200 full color illustrations
cloth binding
$29.95

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Copyright 2008-2009 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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So, when I ask my friends what they have the most trouble cooking, the answer will very likely be: “Meat!” (Or, “Steak!” or “Veal!”) Sometimes it’s, “I can’t grill pork chops. They always dry out, no matter what I do.” Or, “Every time I roast a chicken, it’s burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.”

The most important thing I’ve learned over the years is to match meat to cooking technique. Try to sear a brisket then serve it, and it’s going to be tough. Give it lots of slow, long heat, and it’ll melt in your mouth.

The first thing I tell my friends is, “When you buy your meat, ask your butcher how to cook it.” Followed by, “Do a little reading.”

The good news is, there are a lot of great cookbooks about meat. They’re well organized, easy to read, and make it easy to find the info you need. For quick online info, Lobel’s of New York is encyclopedic in its information.

Here’s a quick overview of some of my all-time favorite cookbooks—along with a few that are still on my shopping list.

The Complete Meat Cookbook, by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly
This is the book that I always turn to first. (Admittedly, Aidells has already won my heart with his fantastic chicken and apple sausages.) Aidells and Kelly open up with a comprehensive primer on cooking techniques, from roasting to poaching—and everything in between. They discuss each method, which cuts of meat are best suited to it, and how to select those cuts at the market. Then, they give you a “Master Technique” for each.

The bulk of the book is divided by type of meat: beef, pork, lamb, and veal. Each section talks about how to select cuts, and includes illustrations to make identification easy. I often turn to the “Steaks at a Glance” chart, which lists out every possible type of steak (along with its various regional aliases) and how it’s best prepared. The recipes are well written and easy to follow, and show you how to put their Master Techniques to work.

The book is made up of recipes and illustrations, peppered with full-color photo pages. If you had to pick just one book on meat, I’d say this is the one to buy. It’s comprehensive, and easy to read and reference.

How to Cook Meat, by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby
And this is the second book I turn to. I love Schlesinger just a wee bit more because he’s a local guy, and heads up the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, MA—one of my favorite watering holes. If you’re in the area, go have a bite. The spicy food—and luscious cocktails—will knock your socks off.

Like The Complete Meat Cookbook, the front of this book also has a detailed description of cooking techniques. The text is longer and less chunked up, which means it takes a little more time to scan for the info you need. There’s also a good discussion about different types of meat-specific cooking equipment.

The rest of the book treats each type of meat in its own section. Each chapter opens with background information on cuts of meat and what to look for at the market. This is followed by a handful of recipes. Each recipe has a handy sidebar that tells you what cut you need to make the dish, other names for it, and what you can substitute if you can’t find what they recommend. There’s also a “Butcherspeak” blurb, which gives you insider tips on what to ask your butcher for.

Steaks, Chops, Roasts & Ribs, by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated
This book is extra close to my heart (and my stomach) because I had the honor of doing some editing and proofreading on it. The good folks at Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen are known for their relentless and thorough recipe testing, and this volume is no exception. What’s more, they explain how and what they tested, which can save you the time—and hassle—of experimenting with certain things yourself.

The book’s front matter features a meat-buying guide, complete with several detailed illustrations. Then, instead of being organized by meat, each of this book’s 16 chapters is devoted to a cooking technique (as in, “Chapter 4: I Want to Grill Chops.”) Each chapter includes a preface that describes how they arrived at their current recipes. They explain what they did that worked—and what didn’t. Each chapter is also packed with recipes and variations. For example, the section on “Braised Lamb Chops” includes four separate dishes.

The last chapter of the book, “Rubs, Sauces, Salsas, and Gravy” is packed with all sorts of yummy, spicy goodness to help you dress up what you make. (Hoisin, Honey, and Ginger Glaze, anyone?)

Pigs And Pork: 90 Recipes from Italy’s Most Celebrated Chefs, by Daniela Garavini
This book is a glorious tour of the pig as an integral part of our culture and society. Filled with folklore and lavish pictures and illustrations, it’s just one volume of Konemann’s “History, Folklore, Ancient Recipes” series.

The first part of the book takes you through the rich history of the pig throughout the ages, including a chapter on recipes from the 16th through 19th centuries. (Wondering how to cook Pork with Eels? Look no further.) The remainder of the book features recipes from 55 Italian chefs, complete with wine pairing recommendations.

Heller’s Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making, by B. Heller
First published in 1904 by Chicago’s B. Heller & Company, Heller’s Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making is basically a meat-packers manual. While not necessarily 100% relevant for the home cook, it’s a great read for anyone interested in the history and how-to of American meat packing. If you want to snag a copy, you’ll need to track it down on eBay or Old Cookbooks, or give Bonnie Slotnick a call. You can also download an electronic version of the book through the American Libraries Internet Archive.

The front of the book is devoted to proper dispatching and dressing of animals. The back portion details packing-house recipes for fresh and cooked sausages. The proportions are gigantic, but in theory, the recipes could be scaled down and monkeyed with by a determined (and adventurous) home cook. There’s a really good section on how to properly hang sausages to dry. The final pages showcase display ads for butcher’s supplies, including Freeze-Em-Pickle and Bull-Meat-Brand Flour.

(For all you zombie apocalypse conspiracy theorists out there, stick this one on the shelf right next to your US Army Survival Manual.)

Books I have my eye on
You know—and I admit that I have a problem—you can never have too many cookbooks. Here are a few I’d like to add to my collection. (My list is vastly longer, but I’ll save the rest for the inevitable Part II of this article.)

The River Cottage Meat Book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Somehow, I have a feeling that anyone who runs a 60-acre animal farm can teach me a thing or two about how to cook meat. Originally published in the United Kingdom, this version has been retooled slightly for an American audience.

The Meat Buyer’s Guide, by the North American Meat Processors Association
I have a thing for manuals and guide-like books. The more it looks like a textbook, the more likely I am to be (inexplicably) drawn to it. This book is a food-service standard for buying beef, lamb, veal, pork, and poultry. While it’s not a recipe book, I’d be interested in getting an inside perspective on the modern meat business.

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn
I’ve haven’t made my own sausages. Yet. Growing up, I would listen to my father’s Italian barber talk about how his attic was hung thickly with all sorts of salty, cured meats in various stages of drying perfection. I also love a good culinary challenge—which is exactly what the several-days-long process of making a salami presents. Sign me up.

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Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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