Catalan Cuisine: Europe's Last Great Culinary Secret

The cookbook contains a wonderful description of the secrets of Catalan cooking. The instructions are easy to follow although some ingredients are a little challenging to find in local stores. The book is an excellent primer for anyone interested in discovering new tastes.

An authentic taste of the traditional Catalan cuisine. The recipes are not complicated and the ingredients are easy to find or substitute, the dishes are rich tasting.

Catalan cuisine is ancient. It earliest roots go all the way back to the Romans who occupied northeastern Spain. It uses many of the same ingredients as other Mediterranean cuisines -- tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, beans, pasta and all kinds of meat -- but it combines them in unexpected ways. Who would expect salt cod with honey, for example? Catalan cuisine has it, and Colman Andrews presents its recipe here. And who would expect a restaurant which specializes in salt cod? Andrews tells us that Barcelona has one. He says that one very unusual -- indeed unique -- feature of Catalan cuisine is its habit of mixing olive oil and lard together, in the same dish, as a cooking oil. Catalans also use butter as a cooking fat, making for rich, nourishing, tasty dishes.Catalonia has both mountains and seashore. So one may find spiny lobster stew (Civet de Llogosta) on the one hand and Andorran-style trout (Truita de Riu Andorrana) on the other.

In Catalan Cuisine, Colman Andrews draws upon the great cooking traditions of Spain's Catalonia region. This superb collection of regional dishes showcases the simple and vibrant flavors in hundreds of Catalonia's best and beloved recipes ranging from Valencian Paella with Shellfish; Eggplant Flan; and Sweet Red Peppers Stuffed with Duck, to Salt Cod with Garlic and Paprika; Pork-Stuffed Apples, and Cinnamon Ice Cream with Warm Strawberry Coulis. The recipes are "kitchen cook friendly" and will turn any family meal into a celebration of taste and delight.

I am a Catalan person living abroad, and sometimes it is difficult to explain friends that Catalan food is something different to what everybody knows as Mediterranean food, since being totally Mediterranean, it is not Italian nor French. This books discovers the authentic taste of Catalan food, that, as the author says, HAS TO BE DISCOVERED. Try it and enjoy your meals. I can say that CATALAN FOOD IS ONE MILLION BETTER THAN ITALIAN AND FRENCH. It keeps simple and accentuated flavors with simple raw materials, but obtaining an PERFECT COMBINATION.CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AUTHOR, and please continue plublishing thousands of more recipes of Catalan food.