1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes: Carol Fenster

By JULIE PRICE (special to Super Chef) For such a great cookbook 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes (Wiley 2009) has one of the worst jacket covers I think I've ever seen on a professional cookbook. It is a detailed watercolor of a table spread with food in front of a Palladian window adorned with a plant and decorative plate. I suppose the cover is meant to invoke a Midwestern charm and hominess, but it was a complete turn-off for this under-40 East Coast gluten-free foodie. If I were browsing through the cookbook aisle for a gluten-free cookbook, I probably wouldn't give it a second glance --unless I happened to notice the author, Carol Fenster. Her name would have caused me to take a second look. Carol wrote the gluten-free cookbook, Gluten Free Celebrations (2003) that quickly became my favorite when I was first diagnosed with Celiac disease and had to go on a gluten-free diet. Carol also is involved in an innovative gluten-free menu-planning website that looks like a very promising resource. But with a cover like this, I have to wonder how many other newly diagnosed celiacs will give this one a long enough look to see what is inside. So when it came time to sit down and look through this cookbook I made the necessary aesthetic alteration (peeled off the jacket and threw it in the recycling bin) and dug in with a great deal of anticipation. 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes is the Joy of Cooking for the gluten-free set. The introduction is a course on gluten-free cooking with helpful information for both the novice and the experienced gluten-free cook. It contains the important basics - such as what gluten is, where it shows up, why some people can't eat it, as well as detailed descriptions of all the ingredients used in gluten-free baking and how to use them effectively. I was interested to see that with this cookbook, Carol has moved from using rice flour to sorghum flour in her basic flour blend. To a gluten-free cook, the right flour blend is the difference between bread that has the texture of cardboard and something fit to eat. She writes in her introduction that since sorghum flour is now readily available in the stores, she was able to write a cookbook using this silky sweet flour in place of the gritty textured rice flour. Every chapter begins with a page of instruction about not only the cooking of each food category, but also helpful tips on where to buy particular ingredients and how to substitute and augment the recipes. Then each recipe begins with a paragraph of the kind of information a friend might write to you when giving you one of her favorite recipes. Recipes that include dairy products have suggested substitutes, since many people with gluten sensitivity also have sensitivity to dairy products. Sprinkled throughout the cookbook are sidebars with additional cooking and baking tips. Given the unique challenges associated with cooking and baking without gluten, all of this additional information is a big help. Finally, it was so refreshing to find a gluten-free cookbook that wasn't just about baking. Certainly baking is probably the biggest challenge for the gluten-free cook, but gluten shows up everywhere in all kinds of dishes. In 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes Carol has created an accessible and comprehensive resource. It is the kind of cookbook that would make a great gift for the person who wants to own just one easy to follow gluten-free cookbook that covers it all. Just be sure and peel off the jacket before you wrap it up! Previous articles: Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews, gluten free, Celiac Disease --> back to Cookbook Reviews --> back to Super Chef