[.ca] Perfect Vegetables: Part of "The Best Recipe" Series ... (ISBN 0936184698)

From Amazon.com:
Perfect Vegetables is the work of Cook's Illustrated magazine, a publication devoted to providing the "best" American recipes. Like the magazine, from which its contents is largely drawn, the book offers super-tested recipes--as many as 18 tries for stuffed tomatoes, for example--for an A to Z vegetable range, artichokes to zucchini. The book also includes dozens of technique and equipment notes ("Stir-Fry Basics," is one), plus a short section on vegetable soups. An impressive recipe range is here and accounted for--classic dishes like grilled eggplant and braised fennel, plus "newer" formulas for the likes of Grilled Red Peppers with Mint and Feta and Glazed Curried Carrots with Currants and Almonds. Are these the ultimate versions of the dishes included? Certainly they represent exhaustive investigation--and most cooks will find the Perfect Vegetables take, which offers many technical refinements (preheat your baking sheet to ensure golden oven-baked fries, for example) enlightening. Vegetable entries begin with a detailed discussion that highlights the cooking methods for each that ensure best results. (Steaming, for example, gets the nod for artichokes, as it yields the "deepest, most pronounced flavor.") Master recipes follow, such as that for steamed artichokes, plus formulas for tasty accompaniments like Lemon Mint Vinaigrette, or variations, such as Roasted Baby Artichokes with Roasted Garlic Aïoli. Techniques are beautifully illustrated with line drawings and photos. The ingredient and equipment investigations, which often include ratings, are mini consumer reports. Devotees of Cook's Illustrated and those new to its "obsessive" approach to dish making, should happily embrace this encyclopedic compendium. --Arthur Boehm

excellent source of well-tested recipes for everyday veggies:
"Perfect Vegetables" provides recipes for 53 different vegetables commonly found in North America. Most recipes are for vegetable side dishes, although there are a few main dishes as well. This book is not appropriate for vegetarians as a number of recipes call for chicken stock, bacon bits, or pancetta. The book is very well organized and very practical. The authors sought to develop recipes that would require minimal preparation and cooking times, with as few dirty dishes as possible. Vegetables are listed from A to Z so you can quickly turn to recipes for whatever you have on hand. The recipes for a particular vegetable are then grouped by cooking method (saute, steam, braise, etc). The number of recipes per vegetable varies significantly (e.g. including recipe variations, 56 for potatoes versus 7 for bok choy). The recipes appear to be very well tested based on the three recipes I've made so far (I've only had the book for 2 days). Instructions are very clear, specifying the size vegetables need to be cut to and the cooking time required. If you follow their directions carefully, I believe your vegetables will be perfectly done. The font and layout of the book make it clear and easy to read and there are no major editorial problems. Some small appropriate sketches are provided in some areas to show cutting techniques. Aside from these, there are 14 colour pictures of finished dishes in the centre of the book. For each vegetable, the authors describe the taste and texture they hoped to achieve and how they were affected by various cooking methods. They also describe how the wrong cooking technique affects taste, which typically coincided with reasons I didn't like particular vegetables. After reading this book, I've been inspired to cook with more vegetables and try ones I didn't previously like. I highly recommend this book for people who want to add more vegetables to their diet or someone looking for recipes and instructions for cooking common vegetables.

Great vegetable recipes and ideas:
Thus far, I've made several recipes from this book and everything has turned out delicious! I've found it very helpful to use in planning side dishes for dinner parties or for dinner in general. Even if you don't follow the recipe exactly -- like improvising based on the ingredients you have on hand -- they provide enough variations for you to find something you can work with. Because the recipes are arranged alphabetically by vegetable used, it's very easy to browse and find exactly the recipe that sounds best to you. And, it's a great reference for ideas. Roasted Baby Carrots and Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic and Toasted Nuts were both fantastic.

Fabulous Book for Veggie Lovers:
Although we are not vegetarians, we, and our friends love fresh vegetables. This is the most comprehensive compilation of vegetable recipes we've seen, and an asset to anyone's cookbook collection. We have tried at least a dozen recipes, and we have made some of them more than once. Each one works just as described, and the additional information on why the particular method was chosen as the best is very useful. This is a winner!