Romancing the Bean: Essentials for Creating Vegetarian Bean Dishes
"A personal book, a generous book a teaching book. Documented  here is a process of transmission, whereby the teacher doesn't just give  you impersonal formulas, but a way of seeing, feeling, and understanding  the ingredients and techniques." (Grace Krischenbaum,World of Cookbooks)"One of Americas seven best-selling natural cookbooks." (New Age  Sourcebook)"This is a complete introduction to understanding and cooking all sorts  of beans. In addition to specific and very yummy recipes, the author give  us the basics of bean cookery so that we are enabled to create our own  dishes.Try the black bean burritos in green chili sauce, or the frijoles  borrachos (drunken beans), black beans with garlic and cilantro, or lima  beans with tomatoes and corn. There is also a good section on tofu and  tempeh cookery.The dishes I tried were unusual, delicious, and easy to prepare. This  cookbook would make a good staple one in vegetarian and non-vegetarian  kitchens alike. Many people don't utilize the nutritional goodness of  beans because they don't have an understanding of how versatile they can  be.Romancing the Beanchanges all of that in a delightful way!"The New  Times, January 1994)"This lively little book certainly lives up to its name. Healthy,  delicious bean cuisine is the name of the game these days, and anyone can  play - from the novice cook to the seasoned gourmet. With a thorough  read-through and some hands-on practice, you'll surely fall in love with  bean cuisine (if you haven't already) and with Saltzman's recipes and  techniques.Unlike most cookbook authors, Saltzman gives you more than recipes. She  outlines basic techniques that can be used again and again, with slight  variation, to create an endless array of tasty bean dishes. I can't think  of a better way to teach people to improve their cooking.I read this book cover to cover, like a good novel and found it  thoroughly enchanting. I felt as if Joanne had invited me into her  kitchen, sat me down with a cup of tea and gave me a handful of private  cooking classes, complete with tasty samples and words of wisdom. By the  end of the book I was hooked, and ready to try some of her tasty recipes.The layout is great; recipe ingredients are set off in bold-faced sidebar  to make the recipe easy to read and shop for. Each recipe contains a  brief description of the cooking method or the dishs origin. After the  simple but thorough directions, you'll find notes about the cooking and  seasoning process, serving suggestions and yields. She also includes  notes about the type of bean, oil, salt seasoning, and herbs that are  called for and suggests variations for each.Even the timid chef will find ways to make friends with beans. Helpful  hints, user-friendly charts, and a discussion of usual and unusual beans  take the mystery out of bean cuisine.She does, however, use a rather excessive amount of nuts, oil and ghee in  some of the tofu and tempeh recipes. Cut the fat in these dishes in half  when you make them; they'll be just as tasty and far healthier.Pick up her companion book,Amazing Grains. It's as well written asRomancing the Bean, with lots of tips and techniques you and I'll be glad to learn." (Rachel Albert-Matesz,Veggie Life, 1994) --ReviewsHere's a basic handbook beginners will relish, with instructions on  everything from buying and storing beans to using pressure cookers and  fryers to cook them. The vegetarian recipes go beyond listing methods and  ingredients, probing how each dish was created and how it can be  altered. --The Bookwatch, November 1993This charming companion book toAmazing Grainsbrings new light and  understanding to one of the oldest foods available to humans - the bean!  Saltzman grasps that cooking is more than following a recipe or simply  throwing odds and ends in a pot and calling it dinner. Her appreciation  of the creative process which brings your spirit to your creation is  woven throughout the recipes. Bean lovers, rejoice. Skeptics, try again.  Our body and the planet will both benefit. --NAPRA ReVIEW, Winter/New Year 1994