Field Guide to Produce

by Aliza Green

Published 1 March 2004
Grocery store aisles and farmers' market stalls are more colourful than ever, with heaping piles of familiar and strange produce. Sure, you'll recognise apples, pears, lettuce, and celery, but would you know quince, amaranth, jicama, or kumquats if you saw them? And no matter what you purchased, would you know how to eat it? The answers to these questions and more can be found in Field Guide to Produce, a handy reference to nearly every fruit and vegetable imaginable. If you've never seen the item before, flip through the colour section to find a photograph of it, and then refer to its full description. In the descriptive pages, you'll learn just what to look for in an ideal piece - whether at its sweetest, crispest, or most flavourful. You'll also find out about its country of origin and growing season. Step-by-step directions teach you how to prep the item before eating it (whether you need to peel it, blanch it, or eat only a certain part), and particular flavour affinities are listed to help you prepare it successfully.

Field Guide to Seafood

by Aliza Green

Published 1 March 2007
Doctors now recommend eating fish or shellfish two to three days a week, to reap the plentiful health benefits. For many, however, this is a daunting suggestion - the variety and number of different kinds of fish and shellfish is overwhelming. "Field Guide to Seafood" has come to the rescue. Continuing Quirk's successful line of food-related Field Guides, this book explains in detail everything you need to know about different kinds of seafood, from how it's sold to how to select it, how to cook it, and what flavours it goes with best. Full-colour photos aid in identification at the fishmonger. Don't go shopping without it!

Field Guide to Meat

by Aliza Green

Published 1 February 2005
At last, a field guide to identifying and selecting more than 200 different cuts and kinds of meat, from beef and poultry to game and cured meat!
 
An essential resource for every home cook or chef, Field Guide to Meat offers details on virtually every kind of meat available.
 
This practical guide includes more than 200 full-color photographs of cuts of beef, veal, pork, lamb, game, and poultry as well as more than 100 different kinds of cured meats and sausages. Cross-referenced with the photographs are in-depth descriptions of the cuts, including basic history, location in the animal, characteristics, information on how to choose the cut, and flavor affinities. Step-by-step preparation directions tell you whether the item is best marinated, braised, grilled, roasted, or pan-seared.
 
Trips to the butcher’s aisle will no longer be intimidating, and you’ll never end up with a cut that’s too tough for dinner.

Field Guide to Herbs & Spices

by Aliza Green

Published 1 January 2006
This work includes more than 200 different kinds of herbs and spices. Its handy size is easy to carry to the grocery or specialty store. It is a follow-up to Field Guides to Stains, Gestures, Produce, Tools, Meat, and Cocktails - all wildly successful, and a great year-round. It's the little things that make a meal taste so good - a sprig of rosemary simmering with the soup, chopped dill to infuse the yogurt, and cinnamon to give subtle heat to a bun. We're talking about herbs and spices, those essentials of cooking. But, would you know your thyme from your sage? Cumin from turmeric? "Field Guide to Herbs and Spices" is here to help. With color photographs of more than 200 different international seasonings cross-referenced to detailed text, you'll soon be flavoring your dishes like a pro. Learn a basic history of the spice (saffron used to be worth more than gold!), its season (if applicable), how to choose, how to prepare, a recipe featuring the seasoning, and some good flavor pairings. Meals will never be the same again!