Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom by Deborah Madison

Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom Reviews

• 
  Mir

  Sample recipe: Cabbage Panade
  
  Yield: 4 servings
  Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
  
  INGREDIENTS
  
  Garlic Stock
  5 cups water
  6 whole, peeled garlic cloves
  12 fresh sage leaves
  1 dried bay leaf
  
  Panade
  
  1 garlic clove, halved
  3 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 1 tablespoon at room temperature
  1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
  ½ teaspoon juniper berries, crushed
  2 tablespoons coarsely chopped sage leaves
  1 small head green cabbage or Savoy cabbage (about 2 pounds)--quartered, cored and cut crosswise into ½-inch-wide ribbons
  1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus extra if needed
  ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  4 slices dark or light rye bread
  1 cup grated Swiss, Gruyère or Teleme cheese
  
  
  1. Make the garlic stock: In a large saucepan set over medium-high heat, add the water, garlic cloves, sage leaves and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes. Strain the garlic stock through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the solids.
  
  2. While the stock cooks, start the panade: Preheat the oven to 350°. Rub a 2-quart gratin dish with the halved garlic clove and the room-temperature butter. In a large, deep skillet set over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onion, juniper berries and sage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to brown and soften, about 10 minutes. Add the cabbage and ½ cup of the garlic stock to the skillet. Season with 1 tablespoon of the salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Season the cabbage with the pepper and more salt if needed.
  
  3. Transfer half of the cabbage to the prepared gratin dish. Layer with the rye bread slices and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Top with a single layer of the rye bread slices and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Add the remaining cabbage and pour the remaining garlic stock over the top. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake until the cabbage is bubbling and the edges of the cabbage leaves are browned, about 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before dividing the cabbage onto plates or into bowls. Serve drizzled with any remaining juices from the baking dish.
  
  
• 
  Nicole

  Before cooking any of the recipes, I read Vegetable Literacy every night before bed. It's a sweet read, anecdotal more than educational, and the recipes are deceptively simple looking. But deliciousness lies within these pages. Just looking at the recipes without making any of them, I was skeptical that they would be anything special. But making them--boy, Madison has serious skill in the combination of basic ingredients to create a mouthwatering meal. I've made three recipes so far--the quinoa cakes with beets, the cauliflower pasta with saffron and parsley, and zucchini with mint and pine nuts, and all three have been wonderfully tasty. What I love about them is that if you have a moderately well-stocked kitchen and herb garden, you won't have to make special shopping trips to get many of the ingredients used in Madison's book. Sure, she gets a little picky about olive oils, and smoked salt is a bit pricy, but for the most part, chances are you can find a recipe that you have all the ingredients for without looking too hard. In addition to this many of the recipes are also very quick and easy to make. These features are rapidly making this my go-to cookbook for everyday meals. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone even moderately interesting in cooking.
• 
  Eh?Eh!

  
  http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/ho...
  my favorites, things that made my eyes widen when I tasted them
  
  soy-braised tofu with five-spice powder
  anise shortbreads with orange flower water
  sauteed Jerusalem artichokes with rosemary and smoked salt*
  chervil-chive butter**
  sorrel sauce with yogurt***
  Rice with Spinach, Lemon, Feta and Pistachios
  Peanut Butter Cookies
  cauliflower salad with goat cheese
  Roasted Rutabaga Batons w/ Caraway and Smoked Paprika
  Carrot Soup w/ Tangled Collard Greens
  White bean and fennel salad****
  Summer Squash Tartines w Rosemary and Lemon
  Kale and Potato Mash with Romesco Sauce (almond and hazelnut)
  
  
  *I didn't have smoked salt so used kosher + some smoked paprika. I didn't think these would brown like Deborah said they would (BECAUSE HOW THIN IS THINLY SLICED LIKE DO YOU WANT ME TO GET OUT MY MANDOLINE CUZ I'VE GOT ONE), but I trusted and it worked.
  
  **Chervil! Who knew!
  
  ***I didn't have full-fat yogurt so used lowfat. I think the full-fat would cut the sharpness a little bit more.
  
  ****I confess: canned beans
• 
  Tim

  torn - ultimately, i think it's pretentious. it never quite reaches an encyclopedic level, though she nicely interweaves personal stories and background about the various individual vegetables. i like the categorical separation - interesting for knowledge-sake, but ultimately this does not make a fine cookbook. the recipes don't make sense in this order, so you would never use this book regularly, or for spontaneous cooking. she claims these recipes are easy, but they are each filled with the unique (random) ingredients about which she is educating us. there will always be something you don't have readily available - smoked salt, lovage, burdock, sorrel, black quinoa, crumbled coconut butter...! and she says things like, "of all the whole grains, i think i like oat groats best." and she includes a recipe for corn cookies. this really isn't practical, and she drives it home when she requests you to source your eggs as locally as possible - like from your next door neighbor's chickens. not any more literate after this compendium.
• 
  Laura Leaney

  This is a big beautiful book with a perfect title. Deborah Madison is like your mom (if she taught Home Ec, or as I used to call it Home Ick). The book is divided by vegetable family, such as "The Cabbage Family," and then further divided by type - like red cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower. The information on each vegetable isn't all that groundbreaking for me - although it's nice to be introduced, I guess. Carrot, this is Laura - Laura, this is Carrot, who did not get his orange color until the 16th century. Still, I like the list of all the varieties (even though I probably couldn't find most of them). How would you love to cook up the Violet de Provence heirloom artichoke? I know I would. Where the hell can I get one?
  
  Still, the recipes are fantastic and relatively simple, keeping the flavor of the vegetable at its most true. I especially like the "Seared Beets with Walnuts over Wilted Kale with Micro Greens" and the "Cauliflower with Saffron, Pepper Flakes, Plenty of Parsley, and Pasta." Today I'm making the "Summer Squash Tartines with Rosemary and Lemon for tonight's appetizer. The recipes are relatively simple, with a short ingredient list, which helpfully avoids what I call the "Bon Appetite Factor," that sensation of despair you get when the recipe column extends pretty far down into the next page.
  
  I'd love to have had more photographs, but then again the book is heavy enough. Hmmm. I guess I could use the internet to see a photograph of a Chioggia beet.
• 
  Kirsten

  This gorgeous book is especially essential for CSA members and farmer's market lurkers. It's arranged by vegetable families, and would be a wonderful reference when one is confronted with a relatively unfamiliar vegetable or a glut of whatever's in season. The writing is beautiful and somewhat chatty, like hanging out in the kitchen of an accomplished and warmly friendly chef. The author suggests flavor pairings for each vegetable family and also offers information as to which parts of the plant are edible -- can you sauté up the greens as well as eating the root? What bits should be saved for stock? I have yet to make any recipes from this book, but I think it's lovely and I suspect I will en up purchasing a copy of my own.
• 
  Julie Davis

  This is a beautifully written book which nicely weaves gardening and cooking anecdotes with factual information. Having read several other books which fill a similar niche I was interested to see how this one stacked up.
  
  I really liked the writing and author's voice. However, none of the recipes appealed to me. To be fair, Madison is speaking to vegetarians whenever she writes and I am not in that group, though I do enjoy a good vegetable recipe as much as the next person. These recipes may all be quite stellar but the titles and descriptions never looked enticing. I tend to enjoy vegetable recipes coming from ethnic sources, especially Asian, and there is something about her recipes that always looks a bit forced in the way that many vegetarian cookbooks have done in the past.
  
  I should add that there are some very basic recipes for most vegetables which anyone would enjoy, however, I have been cooking long enough that many of these are in my regular repetoire. Thus I must depend on the other recipes to make a cookbook valuable.
  
  Chalk it up to a disconnect between Madison and me. Others with different taste will probably get a great deal out of this book, not to mention the basic vegetable family knowledge which Madison conveys. I'll stick with Nigel Slater (Tender) and Bert Greene (Greene on Greens) as well as various Asian and Middle Eastern recipes.
• 
  Debra Daniels-Zeller

  I put this book on my list nearly a month ago, and this whole time I've been cooking and slowly savoring all the tips and information about the 12 vegetable families covered in it. It's too big to take anywhere to read, so I read it at night have delicious dreams. Initially I got this book because I'm a big fan of Deborah Madison's recipes. I always learn something new from Deborah's descriptions or explanations. When I first ordered it, I hadn't expected anything so huge and wonderful. THe cover is understated beauty, and though tHis looks like a beautiful coffee table book, it's so useful, I'll use it over and over again for refrence and recipe inspiration. After reading just a few pages, I could tell how much passion and work went into this book. One of my favorite aspects of this book is that Deborah shows us how to use parts of the vegetables that many people often toss out like radish greens and carrot tops. And I also love the tips for good companions for the vegetables in recipes. If you want to learn all about vegetables from gardening to stove, this is the book to get. You won't be disappointed.
• 
  Debbi

  This is a beautiful book. Deborah Madison is one of my favorite cookbook writers. She consistently creates a clear path to a delicious destination. Her ideas are innovative, yet down to earth. Vegetable Literacy is carefully researched and well organized, an interesting read for plant lovers as well as cooks. My reservation about the book is that it is too beautiful. I don't feel inspired to bring it into the kitchen, it doesn't beg to be splattered and stained. It sits on my coffee table where I dip in and read about carrots and artichokes between other things I'm reading. That said, I have tried Red Lentil and Coconut Soup with Black Rice,Turmeric and Greens...fantastic. There are at least another dozen recipes I plan to try. I only wish the 4 lb book was a bit more kitchen friendly.
• 
  Martha

  This is an amazing book. I had it from the library and only managed to get through the section on carrots and other family members and had to skim the rest of this not small book. I'll have to get it again, though it would be an excellent book for a serious cook to have in a personal library. The author takes a fresh (and very thorough) approach to growing, selecting, and preparing vegetables. One of the things I liked best was a list with each vegetable of what condiments or spices complement the selection. This is a cookbook but also a reference book of great value.
• 
  Stephanie

  I liked having a book that put things in families. However, I would have liked to see more photos of finished dishes. And, more photos of the unusual things listed. I don't need a photo of a carrot, but asafetida would have been something new.
• 
  D Dyer

  This book honestly changed how I cook vegetables. It has made me a more adventurous and more confident cook. I’ve returned to it so often that it’s practically falling a part
• 
  Gertie

  I got this on sale for $2.99 via BookBub, some of the recipes and information looks interesting. It's NOT a vegetarian book, though I believe it mostly is, and I am confident I can veganize anything in it.
  
  Looking forward to trying a few new simple recipes, and learning a bit about vegetable "families".
• 
  Cait

  I learned some things about vegetable families which I could have known but didn't. I struggle with cook books with too much writing, which lately is all chef autobiography. This is a little autobio, but a lot of hard botany facts. It wasn't a perfect mix, but I got some recipes to try, so further updates as warrent
• 
  Kevin

  Not just a reference and source book but an opportunity to expand our understanding and use of different vegetables that we may not have tasted.
• 
  Jeff

  Deborah Madison is well-known for vegetarian cooking. This book actually break vegetables down into their related families of plants, allowing us to see interconnections between different kinds of plants. I have made a number of the recipes in this book, and in other cases have improvised my own variations, following Madison's model, always with excellent results. I especially appreciate her sometimes sly suggestions for going beyond a strictly vegetarian diet, as when she notes that shrimp might be great in a dish for cauliflower and pasta. I've made it both ways, and it's delightful in both versions. With summer farmer's markets now in full swing, Madison's book is my bible of how to come up with wonderful meals from what's fresh at the moment. Anyone who is vegetarian and wants to expand their repertoire, or cooks who want to do more with vegetables than steam or boil them, will benefit from this beautiful book.
• 
  Lydia

  This is one of the most beautiful, thoughtful and useful vegetable cookbooks/gardeners handbooks I have seen in many years. Like Martha, I am also previewing the library copy--so I haven't fully digested the whole book, that will take years. I will need to live with it. Deborah Madison comes from a family of botanists, but also worked with Alice Waters, founded Greens restaurant, and wrote many cookbooks. This book is big-- 400 pages in a 11x11" format. Vegetables and herbs are classed by family, and each chapter starts with a history/overview of how it is grown followed by a listing of varieties, how to use, vegetable companions and recipes with beautiful photographs of selected dishes. There is a sources section for seeds and a decent index. How wonderful to find this as my Renee Shepherd's "More Recipes from a Kitchen Garden" falls apart.
• 
  Louise

  Vegetables are the new bacon/kale/quinoa/whatever. This cookbook/garden advice book is a good addition to anyone's cooking library. There's background about particular vegetables and what it's like to plant them. I like that the recipes are unfussy and easy to build off of. The pictures in here are beautiful and really do make me want to head down to the farmer's market or at least the garden store to pick up some fresh vegetables to eat/plant.
• 
  Kristen

  The first page I zeroed in on said, "The main caveat with leeks is that they can harbor sand and dirt within their many-layered shanks. . ." page 256
  
  Sold right there with the language!
  
  This book is a vegetable lover's haven.
  
  More lovely and mildly humorous text:
  
  "Leeks embody the delicate side of the allium tribe, adding more of a whisper and less of shout when it comes to the onion flavor."
• 
  Leigh

  This cookbook is big, expensive and is for folks who are SERIOUS about vegetables. For forty bucks, I can find a very good cookbook that'll have a wider range of recipes from all cooking disciplines and probably be more relaxing to read. For Gods sake, I just want to cook something, not get a doctorate in Advanced Theory of Avocado.
• 
  Marianna

  I like the way this book is organized. The information at the beginning of each section is wonderful. The recipes, not so much. Too many odd ingredients.
• 
  I am Cat。

  I wanted to like this--I've been vegan for over half a decade and I'm also a gardener. However this book just comes off as incredibly pretentious to me. I felt like the majority of the recipes aren't things people actually eat with any sort of regularity, and almost every recipe had at least one "exotic" ingredient that is difficult to source or expensive. Additionally, a lot of the recipes contain dairy--there were so many savory yogurt/ghee/sour cream/whatever variations that it feels overwhelming and redundant.
  
  The plant portion, tips for using the entire plant, and kitchen wisdom was lovely, but the recipes just totally threw me and I don't get who this book is for! It might have been better to make a gardening book with ideas and tips on how to incorporate these plants into everyday cooking rather than so many strange and bougie recipes. I'm sure many of them are delicious, but the combinations of ingredients and portion sizes were just bizarre and unrealistic to me. Maybe I'll change my mind when I win the lottery and get my own chef haha.
• 
  Abby Tamkin

  Beautiful combination of botany text and cookbook. Amazing pictures.
  I had to return it to the library before I got to make many recipes. Some are certainly not "accessible", but most look like things I could make and would want to eat.
  This education on vegetables has been especially useful in light of my CSA subscription. What do I do with these strange things? What *are* these strange things?
  But there were some vegetables I could not find in the book, or found only a line about.
  A great section to look for in all chapters is "Using the whole plant": details whether and how to use parts of the plant we are accustomed to disposing: cauliflower leaves and stem, carrot tops, greens from beets etc.
• 
  VillaPark Public Library

  Explore the edible plant world with this book, which divides vegetables into twelve biological families, sharing not just DNA but also culinary characteristics. So, for example, umbifeller herbs (cilantro, parsley, chervil, dill) complement and enhance the flavors of umbifeller vegetables (carrots, celery, parsnips). And as fascinating as that relationship is to discover, the recipes make easy but impressive sides and soups.
  
  
  Check this book out from the Villa Park Public Library!