Any thoughts: Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone?
I'm a veggie-lover, with a vegetarian streak. I was so excited to get this book and yet I find none of the recipes really speak to me. And, it's a huge book! The few that I have made have been a bit disappointing. I hate dissing someone as cool as Ms. Madison, but I just wanted to share my experience with this book. I'm shocked and I feel like I must be missing something. Anyone have a similar reaction?
Thanks for your thoughts...
I'd like to add that one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks is Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking.
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16 Comments:
I've not (gasp) read Madhur Jaffrey's books but my sentiment toward Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is similar to yours. It is one of the biggest disappointments in my library. I like the idea of it more more than the actuality - its not dog-eared, tagged and stained like most of my collection. I am vegetarian (and gluten-free).
tgchi at 11:43AM on 02/03/08
That's good to hear. (Of course, not for Deborah Madison.) Your experience is exactly on par with mine, but, I thought there was something wrong with me....I kept flogging myself "how can you not use this book?"
If you have the opportunity, check out M.J.'s book. It's old, but not at all dated. There has yet to be a recipe I've been disappointed by and I've jumped around that book quite a bit. There's also a lot of unusual (or new to me) flavor combinations that she shares that are just wonderful.
If you have any recommendations for veggie books, I'd love to hear them.
Potluckcraft at 12:04PM on 02/03/08
I actually really like Madison's book. The sauces are good, it gives me ideas for salads I like, and I use it as a very handy and informative reference book, I guess not so much as a book where I choose a recipe and make it start to finish. Sure I find lots of the recipes simple and the techniques I already know, but when I need some inspiration to think about coming meals for the week, it works for me. Maybe give it another chance or maybe not.
Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is truly excellent I agree.
I never got into the Moosewood books but lots of friends and roommates love them.
I also have been enjoying Super Natural Cooking (from Heidi of 101 cookbooks) and the new Veganomicon, from the post-punk kitchen, is bad ass. Really, I didn't get into their first book, Post Punk Vegan Kitchen, so much, but Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero created an amazing book with Veganomicon.
Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian seemed pretty great when I had it for a month before giving it to my brother and his girlfriend.
Oh and I don't know if this matters, but I am not a vegetarian or a vegan, but I use vegan and vegetarian cookbooks probably more than my others.
intheyearofthepig at 12:22PM on 02/03/08
intheyearofthepig, are you my brother? What's Mom's middle name? What's the name of the street where we grew up?
My brother gave my girlfriend and me Mark Bittman's HTCE Veggie and I love it, as I love the original How to Cook Everything. Basic but not always common recipes that are accessible and adaptable.
How about "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon? Totally different than the Bittman--filled with scores of well-researched "alternative" health info. And not just for Veggies.
lovelybunny at 12:34PM on 02/03/08
I don't have this cookbook, but I've had two others of Madison's in the past -- The Greens Cookbook and The Savory Way -- both of which I ended up giving away. Even when I was a pescetarian, I'd crack her books for ideas, but typically didn't find much of anything appealing. I found them not very helpful, not very inspirational, and barely used them at all. Personally, I don't care for her approach, her style, or her recipes.
LoCo at 1:33PM on 02/03/08
I actually really like Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The size was a little intimidating, but I've made several good recipes from it. I don't think any of them are particularly unique, but I don't think that's the purpose of the book. It give a lot of good, fairly international, sometimes pretty healthy, recipes for weeknights, weekends, and dinner parties. Some of my favorite recipes from the book are her Winter Vegetable Chowder, Beet and Arugula Salad with Ricotta Salata, and Lentil Minestrone. The only recipe I've made that I didn't really care for was potato soup, which really didn't have any flavor. I definitely wouldn't write off the whole book just for that one recipe, though.
I also really like the Vegetarian Epicure books by Anna Thomas
ChristineB at 1:57PM on 02/03/08
I was ready to leap to the defense of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but when I took a moment to think about it I realized that I have more "favorite recipes" in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. (I, too, eat everything but have cut back a lot on meat.) I think the Deborah Madison book is great resource for people who don't know what to do with most vegetables and need to be told how to saute greens or bake a potato. Some of the recipes I DO love and make repeatedly from the Madison are eggplant and chard lasagna, quinoa chowder (sounds weird but is yummy), peanut sauce for tofu, and pretty much all of the soups. Some of the basics are very good, too, like her recipes for pita bread (so fun and easy to make it yourself!) and fruit crisps.
Robin Bellinger at 2:03PM on 02/03/08
Hey, great feedback! This has been such a helpful discussion for me. Thank you. I'm going to check out the Eggplant & Chard Lasagna and her recipe for Pita Bread. But I'm going to stop feeling like a bad veggie-lover for not using this book more often.
I'm also going to investigate Bittman's HTCEV and Veganomicon–those girls are awesome. As for Moosewood, I liked the books at first, but there's something about the recipes where they all start to taste really similar after a while.
Thanks everyone!
Potluckcraft at 3:56PM on 02/03/08
I agree with the general sense about Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I don't often cook straight from it, though I'll take ideas.
But I got her much smaller Vegetarian Suppers for Christmas, and I love it. I've made 4 or 5 dishes from it already and all have been delicious, interesting, and well-received (the masa crepes with chard, spinach crepe cake, and mushroom and brussels sprout ragout are my favorites so far). I look forward to trying more and more. It's very dog-ear-able.
renzata at 7:17PM on 02/03/08
Thank you so much for all your information, fellow eaters. I have literally hundreds of cookbooks, not to mention a disgusting glut of magazines and periodicals. One thing that has been sorely lacking as a resource is a really great vegetarian book in the collection. I have browsed Deborah's VCE several times and also Bittman's new one. I recently discovered Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking and have to admit I was impressed (not as much with Cooking .01) but she does take really scrumptious photos of her food also, which goes a long way with me. I have a somewhat difficult time with cookbooks when they don't present a delicious photo of their finished product. (Julia is about the only one who gets a pass on this point with me). We're not committed vegetarians, however we are making a concerted effort to have one or two total veggie days a week for many reasons.
Now I can't wait to look for Veganomicon and Madhur Jaffrey's books. I have come so close to purchasing and always back out because I just want one that I know I'm really going to use. A lot. Any other suggestions for the favorite go-to vegetarian cookbook would be most appreciated for my little research project.
If anyone lives in the mid-west, have you been to Chrissie Hynde's new restaurant Vegetaranian in Akron, OH? Looking forward to that sometime this year.
frederika at 8:29PM on 02/03/08
i have vcfe and never crack it either. although i used to love to eat at greens when she was the head chef.
one of my favorite cookbooks, even though i'm not a vegetarian, is the tassajara recipe book by edward espe brown. i've been making some of those recipes for over 20 years now. some of my favorites: carrot orange soup, currant scones, polenta mushroom gratin, grandmother mary's coffee cake, cottage cheese dill bread. all the recipes are delicious and elegant and you can serve them at your nicest dinner parties.
cybercita at 9:15PM on 02/03/08
I bought the book soon after publication and use it now and then, often for inspiration when I have some vegetables to use up. There are quite a few personal favorites in the book. Off the top of my head: the carrots and hijiki seaweed, the sunflower-seed bread, the chickpeas with ginger, and the oat bread.
Marc at 2:17AM on 02/04/08
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is perhaps my all-time favorite cookbook, although I'm no longer vegetarian. I find it inspiring. Even if I don't follow a recipe exactly, it gives me ideas on what foods to combine to create wonderful meals and flavors. The vegetable section is a wonderful guide to how to prepare nearly every vegetable as well as what flavors complement it. All the soup recipes I've tried (which are many) have been amazing. The barley soup and white bean soup in that book are two of my favorites that I make every winter. I think it's a book for true veggie lovers -- I have a CSA and the vegetable section is great for trying new types of produce. I happen to love Deborah Madison's style - earthy yet refined - and I think it has influenced my own approach to cooking more than any other book.
KitchenKore at 10:07AM on 02/04/08
I don't own the book, but I checked it out from the library a few years ago and copied down three recipes that I make quite often: the potato and chickpea stew is out of this world, especially with some romesco sauce swirled into it--I don't use her recipe for the sauce, I use one I found on the internet. I also love the lentils with wine glazed vegetables, covered in puff pastry, and the winter squash galette. I think she is a wonderful recipe writer, she has a knack for creating dishes that use simple ingredients that just work together.
I agree with renzata too--Vegetarian Suppers is wonderful. I just got it a few weeks ago and have made about 4 things out of it--the root vegetable ragout with goat cheese sauce is delicious. I skipped the wild rice pancake and just put them in the buckwheat crepes from the previous page. I highly recommend this book for those looking to cook more vegetarian meals.
I also have Mark Bittman's HTCEV, and I would say that it's more for people who haven't a clue about vegetables. That doesn't mean it's not a good book, because it really is, especially the wide use of nontraditional ingredients to bring depth of flavor (umami, I guess) to vegetable dishes.
Eilen at 2:17PM on 02/04/08
I hadn't really thought about this before, but I tend to use Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as more of a reference book (as in, hmm...I just picked up some beets and rainbow chard at the market...what cooking methods should I use?) - but not really for the recipes. I turn to Bittman's HTCEV more often for recipe inspiration. I suppose both of them have their place in my bookcase, though.
Ande at 4:30PM on 02/04/08
I'm very late on this but the book was almost a total loss for me. It's holding up my computer screen otherwise I would say it is a total loss.
The recipes are disappointing. The taste always leaves me scrambling to fix it and sadly most of the time it doesn't get beyond a 2 out of 10 when I do fix it a bit. The methods leave me with undercooked, overcooked, never cooked right items.
And it does stupid things like the recipe that calls for putting flour in the boiling water. Now beginning cooks may think this does something but those who have been cooking for a while will suspect that Ms Madison was on something and so was her editor when that got into the book.
Your right about your feelings about the book. Thank Goodness I bought mine at a library sale where someone else junked it too no matter if it said "To .... Love Dad and Mom." So it was poor Mom and Dad whoever they were who wasted the cost of the book. And the kid was smart enough to dump it the next year. Smart kid.
JoePikeElvisCole at 4:30PM on 08/31/08