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books2022-04-13 10:14 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote in books2022-04-13 10:14 pm
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Saka Saka
Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara
by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet
This is a full-color cookbook with many gorgeous photos. In addition to the recipes, it also includes interviews with people from Africa about their favorite foods from there. If you like learning about folks in different parts of the world, you'll enjoy these inserts.
The front matter is extremely useful. It includes the Cuisines of Africa, Tastes of Africa, Principles and Traditions, Benefits of African Cuisines, Main Specialties, Staple Ingredients Region by Region, and the Ideal Pantry. I was intrigued by the Principles section, with points like "Eating with your hands is completely normal" and "We do not eat baby animals." The section on Staple Ingredients makes a great comparison among west, central, east, and south Africa regarding starches, meats, produce, and spices. This part of the book is interesting and educational, whether or not you make any of the recipes.
Recipes are divided into bases and appetizers, mains, sides, street food, desserts, and drinks. One thing I really liked is that most have tips at the bottom regarding substitutions, spice tuning, or other modifications. Among the bases are three versions of nokoss (green, red, and orange) plus ntorolo. They can be used for flavoring recipes or as condiments. Together, they make most of a flight from low to high spice level; most folks would want to add a sweet one from somewhere else. The bissap ketchup (made with dried hibiscus flowers) is listed under the black-eyed pea fritters, and sounds amazing. There's a good yassa chicken, although it's the only yassa recipe. Both the mango tart and the coconut rice with fruit tartare make excellent use of layers. The poires belle hawa is the best nonalcoholic poached pear recipe I've seen: someone had the brilliant idea of using bissap (hibiscus drink, recipe also included) instead of wine. I have a tree of cooking pears, so I'll be able to try this come fall.
These dishes range from very simple to moderate in complexity, with nothing too elaborate. Some use ingredients that are common, or at least not too difficult to find. Others use things that are harder to find outside a big city or online ordering, and some frankly aren't found outside of Africa. It's interesting to look through see what seems feasible based on what things you thing you can find or not.
Downsides: 1) The decorative font used for the titles has gaps in some letters, like the A has no crossbar and the E has no back. It's big enough to figure out if you stare at it, but I found it annoying. If your eyes or brain don't do well at filling in gaps, it may be hard for you to read. 2) The index only lists recipe titles, so for instance, "Fish in Banana Leaf," not a list of all the recipes with fish as an ingredient. 3) As noted above, some recipes would be difficult or impossible to make outside of Africa due to ingredients.
On the whole, I found this cookbook interesting and informative. If you want a general book on African cuisine, this one gives you a great introduction to ingredients plus recipes from many different nations and local insights through the interviews. Highly recommended.
A tag for "cookbook" or "food" would be helpful.
by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet
This is a full-color cookbook with many gorgeous photos. In addition to the recipes, it also includes interviews with people from Africa about their favorite foods from there. If you like learning about folks in different parts of the world, you'll enjoy these inserts.
The front matter is extremely useful. It includes the Cuisines of Africa, Tastes of Africa, Principles and Traditions, Benefits of African Cuisines, Main Specialties, Staple Ingredients Region by Region, and the Ideal Pantry. I was intrigued by the Principles section, with points like "Eating with your hands is completely normal" and "We do not eat baby animals." The section on Staple Ingredients makes a great comparison among west, central, east, and south Africa regarding starches, meats, produce, and spices. This part of the book is interesting and educational, whether or not you make any of the recipes.
Recipes are divided into bases and appetizers, mains, sides, street food, desserts, and drinks. One thing I really liked is that most have tips at the bottom regarding substitutions, spice tuning, or other modifications. Among the bases are three versions of nokoss (green, red, and orange) plus ntorolo. They can be used for flavoring recipes or as condiments. Together, they make most of a flight from low to high spice level; most folks would want to add a sweet one from somewhere else. The bissap ketchup (made with dried hibiscus flowers) is listed under the black-eyed pea fritters, and sounds amazing. There's a good yassa chicken, although it's the only yassa recipe. Both the mango tart and the coconut rice with fruit tartare make excellent use of layers. The poires belle hawa is the best nonalcoholic poached pear recipe I've seen: someone had the brilliant idea of using bissap (hibiscus drink, recipe also included) instead of wine. I have a tree of cooking pears, so I'll be able to try this come fall.
These dishes range from very simple to moderate in complexity, with nothing too elaborate. Some use ingredients that are common, or at least not too difficult to find. Others use things that are harder to find outside a big city or online ordering, and some frankly aren't found outside of Africa. It's interesting to look through see what seems feasible based on what things you thing you can find or not.
Downsides: 1) The decorative font used for the titles has gaps in some letters, like the A has no crossbar and the E has no back. It's big enough to figure out if you stare at it, but I found it annoying. If your eyes or brain don't do well at filling in gaps, it may be hard for you to read. 2) The index only lists recipe titles, so for instance, "Fish in Banana Leaf," not a list of all the recipes with fish as an ingredient. 3) As noted above, some recipes would be difficult or impossible to make outside of Africa due to ingredients.
On the whole, I found this cookbook interesting and informative. If you want a general book on African cuisine, this one gives you a great introduction to ingredients plus recipes from many different nations and local insights through the interviews. Highly recommended.
A tag for "cookbook" or "food" would be helpful.