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The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages
Knopf
October 2008
On Sale: October 7, 2008
392 pages ISBN: 1400044103 EAN: 9781400044108 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Part cookbook—with more than 120 enticing recipes—part
culinary history, part inquiry into the evolution of an
industry, Milk is a one-of-a-kind book that will forever
change the way we think about dairy products. Anne Mendelson, author of Stand Facing the Stove, first
explores the earliest Old World homes of yogurt and kindred
fermented products made primarily from sheep’s and goats’
milk and soured as a natural consequence of climate. Out of
this ancient heritage from lands that include Greece,
Bosnia, Turkey, Israel, Persia, Afghanistan, and India, she
mines a rich source of culinary traditions. Mendelson then takes us on a journey through the lands that
traditionally only consumed milk fresh from the cow—what
she calls the Northwestern Cow Belt (northern Europe, Great
Britain, North America). She shows us how milk reached such
prominence in our diet in the nineteenth century that it
led to the current practice of overbreeding cows and
overprocessing dairy products. Her lucid explanation of the
chemical intricacies of milk and the simple home
experiments she encourages us to try are a revelation of
how pure milk products should really taste. The delightfully wide-ranging recipes that follow are
grouped according to the main dairy ingredient: fresh milk
and cream, yogurt, cultured milk and cream, butter and true
buttermilk, fresh cheeses. We learn how to make luscious
Clotted Cream, magical Lemon Curd, that beautiful quasi-
cheese Mascarpone, as well as homemade yogurt, sour cream,
true buttermilk, and homemade butter. She gives us comfort
foods such as Milk Toast and Cream of Tomato Soup alongside
Panir and Chhenna from India. Here, too, are old favorites
like Herring with Sour Cream Sauce, Beef Stroganoff, a New
Englandish Clam Chowder, and the elegant Russian Easter
dessert, Paskha. And there are drinks for every season,
from Turkish Ayran and Indian Lassis to Batidos (Latin
American milkshakes) and an authentic hot chocolate. This illuminating book will be an essential part of any
food lover’s collection and is bound to win converts
determined to restore the purity of flavor to our First
Food.
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