I received this book as an advance reader copy from NetGalley.



I must admit that I’m such a geek that I do judge a book by its Table of Contents and its Index (which is hard to do with ARCs because the Index is usually unavailable.) I loved the Vegetable Butcher as soon as I opened it because the Table of Contents was so logically and cleanly organized. Butchery Basics comes first, then a few pages of Pantry Support, then each specific vegetable in alphabetical order. So if I’ve got a craving for

I received this book as an advance reader copy from NetGalley.I must admit that I’m such a geek that I do judge a book by its Table of Contents and its Index (which is hard to do with ARCs because the Index is usually unavailable.) I loved the Vegetable Butcher as soon as I opened it because the Table of Contents was so logically and cleanly organized. Butchery Basics comes first, then a few pages of Pantry Support, then each specific vegetable in alphabetical order. So if I’ve got a craving for sweet potatoes or tomatoes (or even garlic or ginger), I know right where to go just by looking at the Table of Contents. Unfortunately, the Table of Contents makes it obvious that this cookbook is nowhere near encyclopedic – at a lightweight 330-something total pages, each vegetable gets at most ten pages of ink. Just enough to whet the appetite.The Butchery Basics chapter was chock full of interesting information. Although I would have liked pictures to accompany the description of the “Holding a Knife” section, as the difference between the “pinch grip” and the “handle grip” seemed really subtle. In the “Basic Cuts” section, it was difficult to tell what the photographs were illustrating. Once the captions are cleaned up and references are properly inserted into the text, the photographs will add much more value.The Pantry Support chapter was a fairly short chapter with a relatively comprehensive list of the additional groceries that are usually necessary to cook vegetables. Additionally, it has fairly reasonable directions on toasting nuts and seeds, making breadcrumbs, and preparing two different types of vegetable stocks. The vegetable stock recipes were very straightforward and unfussy. One called for roasting the vegetables first, the other didn’t. Neither seemed to call for anything more exotic than a parsnip or a fennel bulb.This is definitely a “techniques and ideas” book rather than a “recipe” book. Each individual vegetable section begins with an overview page that highlights the best season for the vegetable, the best “partners” for the vegetable, the varieties of the vegetable, how to select the vegetable and how to store the vegetable. The section then moves on to the “Butchery Essentials” for the specific vegetable, followed by “Favorite Cooking Methods,” and finally a few specific recipes featuring the vegetable. The captions and photographs for the Butchery Essentials sections were very well done – clear and easy to follow (much more so than in the “Basic Cuts” section). The graphic for the Butchery Essentials section for the Wild Greens is terrific, as it illustrates what each of the different type of greens looks like. (Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to identify any of them except dandelion greens at the market.) The Butcher Notes that often accompanied this section were informative – for example, who knew that chilling an onion before slicing it would reduce the tear factor? The “Favorite Cooking Methods” section is genius, as it basically covers the simplest no-frills preparation of the vegetable, be it sautéing, steaming, boiling, blanching, braising, grilling, roasting, baking, etc. Photographs of the finished recipes featuring the vegetable were sparse. The recipes featuring the vegetable are fairly straightforward: an introduction, an ingredient list, recipe steps, and sometimes variations. Some vegetables did not merit any recipes featuring them – and I was shocked to see that both the ever versatile garlic and the super popular ginger were among those vegetables! But I was happy to see how many different tomato recipes there were. And a recipe for spaghetti squash as well. Although there was no meat or seafood included in any of the recipes (really? roasted brussel sprouts without bacon? pot pie without chicken?), there was eggs, butter, cheese and other dairy products included in some of them.The person who I can see getting the most use out of this book is the older of my two brothers, who is the father of two toddlers and a very competent cook. I can see him turning to a book like this when one of his girls decides she will only eat broccoli, so he has to come up with how to prepare broccoli seven different ways to Sunday. I can also see him turning to a book like this when one of his girls decides that she will not eat asparagus, so he has to come up with a way of making that tantalizing to a two year old.Another person who I can see getting a lot of use out of this book is a younger single girlfriend of mine, who is aspiring to learn more about cooking and healthy eating. A book like this will teach her the produce selection skills she didn’t learn by growing up going to the grocery store with a super fussy mom, the knife skills that she needs to know to be confident with that produce, and the flavor pairings and preparation techniques that will keep her diet healthy and interesting.Finally, the third person I can see getting a lot of use out of this book is a friend who has a highly productive summer garden and a share in a CSA, and who is always wondering what to do with all that produce (aside from making more kale chips). She also is a very competent cook, so I could see her mixing and matching between the best “partners” section on the introductory page and the “Favorite Cooking Methods” section to create her own recipes.Overall, reading this book was an enjoyable way to spend a snowed in winter afternoon. I look forward to the book’s release in print so that I can give it as a gift to the appropriate people. I also look forward to having the ARC for another month and a half so that I may have the opportunity to try some of the recipes. If I do, I will update this review.UPDATE: It is the dead of winter, so of course I am craving the sunny flavors of a good gazpacho. I decided I would try out the “Seaside Gazpacho” recipe on page 295, rather than trot out my own recipe, which is a bastardization of something from a 1980s vintage Time-Life Good Cooks series. Right off the bat, the Seaside Gazpacho recipe seemed fussier, as it called for seeding and coring the tomatoes, removing the crusts from the bread, as well as peeling and seeding the cucumbers. My recipe calls for none of that. I was in a lazy mood, so I started by simply washing, coring and chunking the tomatoes. Such begins my comedy of errors. My standard household Black & Decker blender was just barely large enough to hold all six tomatoes, if I packed them in there. So, the tomatoes couldn’t move enough to puree. I thought it would be a good idea to add the half cup of olive oil (out of order) to help loosen things up, and the tomatoes still wouldn’t puree. Finally, I removed a cup or so of tomatoes from the blender and that did the trick. The remaining tomatoes and olive oil pureed to a nice salmon color, and continued to puree when I added the leftover tomatoes and cucumber chunks. I didn’t feel like peeling or seeding the cucumber, so there were flecks of dark green in the pale pink puree, which is fine by me as I was going more for simplicity than for aesthetics. At this point, the blender seemed awfully full, so I poured off about two cups into a pitcher before adding the bread, salt and garlic. Yes, I had forgotten not only to start by pureeing the garlic clove, but I also forgot to buy a head of garlic. So I used one teaspoon of minced garlic from the jar in the fridge, which I later realized was actually the equivalent of two cloves. I was good and let the mixture set for 15 minutes before proceeding. Because my blender was so full, I added the red pepper, then pureed it, added the red onion, then pureed it, and finally added the sherry vinegar and did one last puree. Then I poured the contents of the blender into the pitcher and stirred vigorously to mix the two batches. Although I set the pitcher in the refrigerator for the flavors to blend for the minimum four hours, I immediately served myself a small bowl to see what my hands had wrought. It was very good. Silky and sexy is the best way to describe it. Where my version definitely tastes like garlic and raw vegetables (in a good way), this version tastes like something different altogether (also in a good way). I had another small bowl of the gazpacho two hours later, four hours later, and the next day. Yes, I timed my first two taste tests. I couldn’t tell much difference in the flavors from that first bowl I had immediately upon finishing it. Each bowl was fantastic, which is good news because I still have a pitcher three-quarters full of it.BOTTOM LINE: The Seaside Gazpacho recipe yielded great results. The prep work was a little too fussy for me (who felt more like eating than like practicing my vegetable butchery skills). There also seemed to be a lack of awareness of the size limitations of standard household blenders.UPDATE #2: For a recipe in Peace and Parsnips: Vegan Cooking for Everyone , I needed to butcher a butternut squash, which I had never done before. Fortunately, my ARC of the Vegetable Butcher was still valid. The instructions on how to butcher a butternut squash were flawless and easy to follow. I especially appreciated the suggestion that I could use a vegetable peeler instead of a knife to remove the skin, which worked much quicker for me.