Steve, I'll have a look for what you asked for -- but ya know, PDG is about my favorite of the salsas itself, tastes fresh and un-messed-with and just bursting with a full complement of vitamins. A fine way to get me to eat my veggies, perhaps because the stuff is really very like a salad. You can dial the heat up or down just as you like, and all that user-friendly stuff.


Some Like It Hotter is notable for lengthy ingredient lists, though too you can also omit some bits if you don't happen to have them handy. Likely I'll find more the salsa kind of thing you're looking for in The Whole Chili Pepper Cookbook.

I think that plantain would be too fibrous to really work out right. As I recall, also the flavor is more subtle than banana, and the spices would overpower the banana-yness of it all.

Now, if you had a strong desire to use plantain for something, I had some beef and plantain casserole stuff some years back ... I think the origin of the recipe was either Cuban or Dominican.

So you reckon plantain would end up behaving more like a squash, texture wise... hmm. And I've done a little Caribbean fried plantain this and that, and I'd always thought the plantain a little more strongly flavored, unless it was the frying that lent it the flavor.

Freely associating: Squash --> Pumpkin --> Pumpkin Pie... this should be good:

Gingersnap Pie Shell
1 1/2 cups fine gingersnap crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar

Pulverize ginger snaps. Blend w/butter and sugar. Press into buttered pie tin. Chill several hours. Makes 8-9 inch pie shell.

I don't know if you might set this crust by baking briefly like a graham cracker crust.

ooooooooh.

:drool:

I can very easily envision a cheesecake in such a crust.

Oh yes.

If I had to pick one first for salsas, Steve, I'd take
The Whole Chile Pepper Book. The index lists thirty-two sauces including salsas, cross-reffed with ten salsas proper. The book is organized by regional cuisines, with dishes and sauces together. If the salsas are anywhere near as much fun as their curry powder and chili powder recipes, you should be very happy.

cook books are only for giving you new ideas, a direction or to answer questions about certian ethnic seasoning trends/tendancies (beyond that... the 4th edition of proffesional cooking is all you will ever need)

The original Fanny Farmer Cookbook (written by Fanny Farmer Merritt, circa 1918)
Has everything you ever wanted to know plus some amazing recipes that still turn out perfect today.

I ordered The Whole Chile Pepper book from ABE. I'll report back . . .

yeah.. fanny farmer is a damn good one especially if you ever need to know how to cook on a wood fired cast iron stove, interesting in a historical sense, but yeah.. the recpies are solid and simple.

Good thread Brianna. I have a monster collection of cook books because I collect them. But y'know I always go back to my tried and true "Joy Of Cooking." Mine is circa '70's whatever. My very first cookbook. The Anne Lindsay cookbooks are pretty good and healthy...but I've stopped buying books (unless they're second hand...gets pretty expensive) and I get most of my recipes from the internet now. You can find everything out there!

I ordered 1 on friday from abe, will also report.

Beard on Bread is another one of my staples. *chuckle*

I use this one all the time. Definitely in my top three, maybe the best general purpose cookbook in the kitchen. I have several smaller specialty cookbooks that surpass it in that specialty.

Hey Big V - absolutely right - it has all the basics you could ask for!
I also use the Joy of Cooking and the Better Homes and Gardens basic...

any one into cooking Mediterranean foods?

MrsV has a couple of Greek cookbooks she consults once a week or so. DE-lish! :yum: