Seaweed A Cook's Guide - Softcover

Ellis, David R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555611974 ISBN 13: 9781555611972

Publisher: Running Press, 1999

A complete, easy-to-use cookbook with more than 50 recipes, and an intriguing resource about one of the world's most nutritious and increasingly popular foods.

The first book on cooking with seaweed is a cookbook for both the health-conscious and the adventurous cook. While some of the recipes are Asian, many recipes are variants of old favorites, such as lasagna, spaghetti, fish recipes, salad with seaweed dressing, and many more. Dulse, kelp, laver (called nori in Japan) and dabberlocks are collected and cultivated on the east coast of Canada and have always been especially popular in the maritime provinces of Canada and the New England seaboard states.

Contents: -A guide to the different types of seaweed available to the cook, from agar and arame to dulse, kelp, laver and sea lettuce. -Sources for seaweed, including where to look (in general) to find your own in the wild, how to identify it and how to gather what you find.

The book's 50 recipes are divided as follows: soups & starters; main courses; salads, vegetables & side dishes; chutneys, sauces & miscellaneous recipes; desserts. Directory of suppliers for North America.

This book is for: -The health-conscious, because seaweed is exceedingly healthful and has many vitamins and minerals, including C, A and B, and is lowfat. Seaweed has a fresh taste. -The adventurous, because seaweed is a surprisingly versatile cooking ingredient, and may be used in powdered, crushed, dried and fresh forms with delicious results. -The trendy, because seaweed's reputation as a "new" ingredient is growing. You can buy seaweed more and more easily in mainstream supermarkets, or you can order it through the mail. -The coasts, because this book tells you how to collect seaweed as well as how to cook it.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Introduction The mere mention of eating seaweed conjures up images of exotic or Asian cuisine for most of us. But seaweed dishes are nothing new or trendy. Countries in the Western world have been eating seaweed for years. From Wales to Iceland tothe United States and Canada, people haveincluded seaweeds in traditional recipes.

So why is it that most of us would be hard-pressedto name even one variety of seaweed, let alone know how to whip up a delicious dish with it? Thetruth is, although seaweed has been eaten in North America and Europe for many hundreds of years, it has always played a minor role in people's diets as tasty flavorings, crunchy garnishes, salads and relishes to give interest and sparkle to everyday food.

Our taste for seaweed (along with many other wildplants) took a downturn at some point, probably at the time of the industrial Revolution, when a cornucopia of manufactured foods was suddenly offered to ordinary folk. Presumably locally gathered seaweed started to seem tame in the face of all that seductive packaging and color printing.

Now, happily, things are beginning to change and seaweed seems set to make a comeback, as food enthusiasts and restaurateurs become more adventurous with ingredients, interested in new tastes and texture, and curious about our neglected food traditions and heritage.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.