Reviewed by annieb123 on
The Meat-Free Kitchen is a wonderful new cookbook and cooking guide. Due out 2nd March 2021 from Quarto on their Fair Winds Press imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook format currently available print version to come soon).
This is an everyday casual cookbook which contains delicious real engaging and appetizing food. The authors have also made the recipes variable, with optional additions (dairy) and substitutions to make them appropriate for a wide variety of styles/diets.
It's graphically appealing, well written, and accessible, with an array of vegetarian recipes to appeal to most tastes. I really liked the layout and formatting of this cookbook. The brief introduction covers the basics, with a very short overview of tools, ingredients, and supplies. The recipes which follow are arranged roughly thematically: breakfasts, soups, salads, snacks, burgers (a whole chapter!), bowls, pasta, casseroles, sides, and dips/sauces/dressings. There are a number of gluten-free recipes included, and these are clearly delineated. As the "egg" recipe section implies, not all the recipes are vegan-compliant. There are some lacto-ovo vegetarian recipes, but they too are clearly labeled. Many of them could be adjusted to become vegan friendly. Many of the recipes contain highlighted text boxes with suggestions for alternative preparations to make them vegan friendly.
Each recipe has its ingredients listed bullet style in a sidebar. Measurements are given in US standard with metric measures in parentheses (yay!). Special tools and ingredients are also listed, along with yields and cooking directions. The ingredients are mostly easily sourced at any moderately well stocked grocery or international foods store - there are some which will require substitution or sourcing from specialists. Nutritional information is not provided.
The recipes and tutorials are well photographed in color. The serving suggestions are very well styled and give visual cooks information about presentation and serving. Essential info, alerts, facts, tips & answers are highlighted in text boxes.
Four stars. There are a large number of really tasty recipes here. We've tried a number of them at home and they've all been tasty and error free.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 20 February, 2021: Finished reading
- 20 February, 2021: Reviewed