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Stir
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Stir in the media
Editor and author Maggie Ball writes in a review published by www.dietandbody.com:
I ate once at Manfield's restaurant, The Paramount, in Sydney, Australia. It was a sublime experience. The decor was fairly basic -- white tablecloths, white walls, and minimal decorative elements -- but the food was delicious, decorative, the focus of all our attention.
As soon as it became available, I purchased Manfield's cookbook Paramount Cooking and tried to recreate her tuna with garlic aioli, or the chocolate mocha tart with its architectural cone of espresso ice cream that nearly had my chocoholic husband in tears. But they were really hard, and my versions had little to do with those gorgeous creations we had in the restaurant. Most of Manfield's recipes were similarly complex, involving ingredient lists that referenced other recipes..., and the final product involved a kind of artistic touch where colors, layers, and textures were combined in a way that woulc cause Alice B Toklas or even Frank Lloyd Wright to swoon.
That was then. Now Manfield has closed the Paramount Restaurant (alas) and created her own line of ready-made spice pastes, pickles, and jams, which removes a few steps from her incredible recipes, bringing the avid beginner much closer to perfection. Manfield's latest cookbook, Stir, is actually much simpler than Paramount Cooking. There are none of her extraordinary (and complicated) desserts, and most of the recipes can be made with ready-prepared ingredients, in very short time.
For those readers keen to create, there are a range of pantry/long-term fridge items which form the basis of these recipes, including Chili jam, Harissa, Sambal bajak, Spiced eggplant pickle (tried this one very successfully), Laksa paste, Black pepper and lemongrass stir-fry paste, Satay spice paste, Spiced tomato chili pickle, Preserved lemons, Green masala paste, Cilantro peanut pesto, Massaman curry paste, Green curry paste, and Red curry paste. Most of these will keep for several weeks or even several months, making the day-to-day cooking process quite quick. At the back of the book, there are a range of recipes for basics like spice powders, liquids, butters, extracts, syrups, batters, and stocks.
Despite Manfield's philosophy that food should be created for taste and quality first, with whole-milk products, quality oils, real stocks, real quality meat, and coconut cream and milks, the recipes in this book are very healthy, with lots of fresh seafood, fish, vegetables, fresh herbs, and spices for flavor. The recipes are innovative, and include things like spicy soups, satay seafood, unusual salads, vegetable and seafood tempuras, fresh fish like Baked salmon with preserved lemon chermoula, curries, and rices. Most of the recipes are quick, most are simple, and most involve strong spices, the freshest ingredients, and full use of the olfactory glands. Few home or professional cooks have Manfield's dedication to detail, skill, or food design flair, but Stir is the easiest of Manfield's cookbooks to date -- full of Asian influences, rich flavors, and heady descriptions.
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Charlie Trotter on "Stir" - "These are recipes that are meant for both the home cook and the professional—a rare find in today’s cookery books. As Chris Manfield continues to push the envelope and explore the possibilities of influence from around the world, we are all the beneficiaries." |
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