Winstein’s (Your Fertility Signals, 1991) two-volume work will teach readers how to make the cheeses they know and love—and probably some they’ve never heard of.
The author first experienced fine cheese while traveling to Denmark as a teenager but didn’t try making it until many years later. In 1993, she took a one-day cheese-making class and was frustrated when she couldn’t replicate the strong tastes that she remembered. She began taking more advanced classes in Massachusetts and Vermont with a number of master cheese makers. In these volumes, Winstein hopes to convey the tips that she picked up from them in addition to her own knowledge from years of trial and error. Cheeses are helpfully grouped by order of complication to allow beginners to start small and then challenge themselves as they gain more experience. The photos in the book are in black and white; the author explains that monochromatic images show better detail about texture, that the ink will fade less over time, and that, in her opinion, the style is more aesthetically pleasing. The design is sparse and simple, with large pictures of each step. The recipes are very wordy, however, and color photos might have been preferable for readers who absorb information more readily from images or have poor vision. It’s possible that a reader may look at these texts and think that they contain much more information than they want about cheese making; however, the perspective of this book indicates that cheese is a precise undertaking and that if a person is truly hoping to make quality product, they’ll need to know everything here. In addition to recipes and an index of terms, there’s information about milk choice, starter cultures, rennet, cleanliness, safe cooking procedures, and equipment. It’s clear that the book is meant for people who are serious about taking on cheese making as a hobby or as a small business venture. Potential readers should also note that they may need to find a local source of raw milk, as Winstein explains that supermarket milk has limited functionality for cheese creation.
A massive wealth of knowledge for dedicated cheese-making students.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9985959-5-5
Page Count: 670
Publisher: Smooth Stone Press
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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With this detailed, versatile cookbook, readers can finally make Momofuku Milk Bar’s inventive, decadent desserts at home, or see what they’ve been missing.
In this successor to the Momofuku cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar’s pastry chef hands over the keys to the restaurant group’s snack-food–based treats, which have had people lining up outside the door of the Manhattan bakery since it opened. The James Beard Award–nominated Tosi spares no detail, providing origin stories for her popular cookies, pies and ice-cream flavors. The recipes are meticulously outlined, with added tips on how to experiment with their format. After “understanding how we laid out this cookbook…you will be one of us,” writes the author. Still, it’s a bit more sophisticated than the typical Betty Crocker fare. In addition to a healthy stock of pretzels, cornflakes and, of course, milk powder, some recipes require readers to have feuilletine and citric acid handy, to perfect the art of quenelling. Acolytes should invest in a scale, thanks to Tosi’s preference of grams (“freedom measurements,” as the friendlier cups and spoons are called, are provided, but heavily frowned upon)—though it’s hard to be too pretentious when one of your main ingredients is Fruity Pebbles. A refreshing, youthful cookbook that will have readers happily indulging in a rising pastry-chef star’s widely appealing treats.
Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-307-72049-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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