[.ca] The New Soy Cookbook: Tempting Recipes for Tofu, Tempeh, ... (ISBN 0811816826)

From Amazon.com:
Soyfoods have been a staple in Asian cooking for millennia, but until recently only a few Westerners took much interest in cooking with them. Now deemed a "miracle food," soy may help prevent cancer, lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease, prevent osteoporosis, and relieve the symptoms of menopause. Award-winning natural foods cookbook author and food writer Lorna Sass shares her decade of soyfood cookery research in The New Soy Cookbook, pairing soyfoods with ingredients and seasonings of cuisines from around the world. Beautifully laid out and illustrated, the book includes more than 40 recipes using soymilk, tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, and miso. The recipes reveal influences from all over, highlighting the cuisines of China, Italy, Thailand, Indonesia, and France, reflecting a delicious fusion of East and West. Red Lentil Soup with Indian Spices, Tempeh Braised in Coconut Milk with Lemongrass, Curried Tofu with Spinach and Tomatoes, Sage-scented Cornmeal Scones, Pumpkin Tart with Pecan Crust, Codfish and Clam Chowder, and Black Soybean Salsa with Swordfish Strips are only a sampling of the tempting recipes you will find in Sass's lovely compendium. With only a few desserts, Sass focuses more on savory dishes using no meat, very little dairy, some seafood, and somewhat unusual ingredients such as quinoa, shiitake mushrooms, mesclun, kabocha squash, and broccoli rabe. With mouthwatering photographs, The New Soy Cookbook would make a handsome addition to any inspired cook's bookshelf. --Gretel Hakanson

Recipes for entertaining, not for everyday use:
I thought that the final results of many of the recipes were tasty and aesthetically pleasing. However, many are also quite time-consuming, and use hard-to-find and/or expensive ingredients (lemongrass, Herbs de Provence, fermented black beans, chipotles in adobe, etc.) Some recipes use another recipe as one of the ingredients, making the dish a afternoon-long project. I can see how someone just beginning a vegetarian lifestyle would be very intimidated by this book. I wasn't thrilled with the presentation. There aren't as many photographs as the review led me to believe, and the lists of ingredients are very hard to read. It's strange that the measurements are in bold type (1 TABLESPOON!) and the ingredients are in small, fine print (olive oil). I was also disappointed to find a total of only forty-two recipes in the book, several of which include seafood. I will refer to this book for holidays or Sunday dinners, and I'll keep looking for an "everyday" soy cookbook.

Not For Practical Use:
If you are keen on entertaining your vegetarian friends, go for this book, but if you are looking for a handy helper for every day use, forget it. (Instead, reach for Deborah Madison.) THE NEW SOY COOKBOOK should be billed as gourmet fare; nothing wrong with same, but again, this one will not help the everyday family cook who is trying to add the benefits of soy to the family diet.

Extraordinary ways to enjoy soy meals!!!!:
Exotic spices, fresh ideas on how to prepare soy products! My own cooking taste like someone else cooked dinner! Terrific soup recipes to warm a dark winters night. Very tasty deserts. Love the glossary that describes how to handle tempeh, miso and cooking with soymilk, helpful for a new vegan cook.

A Fantastic Soy/Asian style cook book:
I bought this book hoping I would find new ways to incorperate soy foods into my diet with simple recipies and I did. I also found fantastic examples of asian style cooking which I also love! This is a wonderful book. I am lucky enough to live near 3 great asian markets with helpful owners that show me the way through finding some of the ingedients but most of them can be found in a regular grocery store. I have never bothered to write a review for a book before but this one compelled me. Buy it!

10 Out of 10 for Making Vegetarian Cooking a Delight!:
I am neither Vegetarian nor Vegan and am used to eating delightful meals in delightful restaurants world-wide. When I met my Vegan boyfriend I was in despair as to what to cook for him. Everything I tried tasted the same (to me). But Lorna Sass has saved me! Her meals are superb! Subtle yet zesty! Those that grumble about too many ingredients are churlish. Each recipe is worth whatever effort it takes to track down what is required. These are meals of the finest order. Yes, they take time! But the end result is well worth it. It has turned Vegan cooking into a pleasure, rather than a chore. The recipes with fish I will reserve for myself. For the rest, Vegan boyfriend is eternally grateful, and so am I. The spinach/dill soup would be a rave even in Paris!