Linda Bladholm

Linda Bladholm, a Miami chef and food columnist, provides a handy shopping guide for ethnic markets with 400 entries and over 200 illustrations. Part One covers the basics, including a chapter on Latin culture and cooking as well as seven chapters detailing key ingredient classes. Staples are described (alternate names are provided) as well as suggestions for using them. Part Two addresses items for cuisines by country or region: Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, the Caribbean and Afro-Caribbean. Sidebars include fun food facts. There is an index and four appendices on equipment, cooking techniques, 25 recipes, and mail order sources… (más)

If you've had the experience of walking into an Asian grocery store and being flummoxed by all the exotic ingredients labeled in Chinese or Japanese or Korean or Thai, but not English, and not being able to get help because no one speaks English, and if it is important to you to be able to find what you want or to try something new, then rush right out and buy this book, and your troubles will be over. Probably an overstatement; let's just say it will be a BIG help.

The author, Linda Bladholm seems to be extremely knowledgeable about Asian food, having lived and traveled in many Asian countries for ten years, during which time she "prowled the markets, cooked meals, snacked, slurped, and munched . . ." her way through countries too numerous to mention here.

This is not a glossy book with color photographs (after all, it is designed to carry with you), but it is well organized, attractively laid out and crammed with information.

Each chapter is devoted to a group of foods likely to be found together— as an example, take Flavorings and Condiments. The chapter is divided into Salty Flavorings (17 items), Vinegar, Wine and Sauces (12 entries), Nut and Seed Pastes (3 entries), Chili and Hot Sauces (12 entries), and Curry Pastes (7 entries).

Now let's examine one of the entries. I'm choosing shrimp paste in the Salty Flavorings category because it has a description I love: "it smells worse than it tastes . . . " (I think that's called damning with faint praise.) She begins by telling us what it is called in Thai (kapi), Malay (terasi) and Vietnamese (mam ruoc). Then what it is (ground, salted, fermented shrimp). Then a description of its appearance and smell, and the distinctions between several types. Then how to use it, what brands are best and how to store it.

Ms. Bladholm does the same for all 51 distinct items in this chapter. At the end of the chapter, there is advice on stocking up— the basic items the Asian cook always has on hand. She does this for every item in every chapter.

There are 18 chapters. Let's see, that's 18 times 51 . . . No, actually Flavorings and Condiments is one of the most populated chapters (Snacks & Sweets has 58), but Rice has 12 categories (that's a lot for rice!) and Noodles has 23. There is just an astounding amount of information packed in here.

At the end of the book, there are appendices for Basic Utensils, Basic Asian Cooking Techniques and Recipes. I think I have made it clear the admiration I have for this book, but, alas, it is not perfect. Ms. Bladholm, I think, loses focus in the recipe section. There are a mere 28 recipes, 9 of which are for herbal soups. Obviously, this is not a cookbook, nor was it meant to be. Should not the recipes be here primarily to answer the inevitable question: now what do I do with it (the dried jellyfish, the two-horned water-caltrope, etc.)? but Beancurd Cabbage, Vegetable Stir-fry and Singapore-style Chicken Curry require nothing that can't be found in any American supermarket, and in some of the others, fish sauce is the most exotic ingredient. I feel churlish for complaining after all the excellence preceding, but it is a disappointment.

The book itself, while not feather-light, is still manageable as a carry along. It is 5" by 9" and weights 8.8 oz.… (más)