The New York Times Bread & Soup Cookbook

This is a wonderful reference cookbook for breads and soups. The author begins with chapters on basic broth and stock recipes and basic bread and biscuit recipes. Then come chapters organized by ethnicity and culture, from New World recipes to Mediterranean to North European recipes, from Eastern European to Asian. The book closes with a chapter on fancy breads, restaurant soups, quick and easy soups, and health and diet soups. The book is great for suggesting creative ideas to use ordinary ingredients- -one of my favorite recipes that I learned from this book is a Mexican garlic tomato soup with oats. Tasty, but I never would have thought of doing that! The book is also a great reference when questions come up like "What's in buttermilk biscuits anyway?" "How can I make my own chicken stock?" This isn't a picture or coffee table cookbook- -it's for people who enjoy cooking from scratch with real ingredients.

I have had this book as my companion over the past decade and have few cookbooks as genuinely valuable in my collection. It is a treasure of wonderful instruction, education, history, and the all-around pleasures of making these most elemental of foods. The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook brings into my home the abiltiy to artfully present many forms of breads and a wonderful array of soups as mainstays of heartwarming family traditions, ethnic and regional explorations, and gourmet elements for entertaining specialties.