Book review: The Soul of a New Cuisine

In my apparent quest to own every book in the universe I got this book The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson from Amazon the other day. I was really excited about this cookbook because it was written by an Ethiopian adoptee. Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about the book.

Born Ethiopian, raised Swedish, and now one of New York City’s top chefs, Samuelsson has written an exotic yet accessible book that will hasten the coming of the African fusion cookery he envisions. His 204 recipes and 258 color photos are enriched with personal and political history; as in his many condiments and sauces, the balance is right. While he stresses the diversity and bounty of the second-largest continent, he repeatedly describes African cuisine as poor people’s cooking, crafted with simple tools and necessarily emphasizing starches, vegetables and big flavors.

Since Samuelsson is from Ethiopia, there is a nice emphasis on Ethiopian cooking, though many African countries are also covered. Some of the recipes look very traditional, and others have twists that seem almost Asian.

As Publisher’s Weekly suggests, this is a lovely book with gorgeous pictures. My only quibble with the book is that the pictures do not include captions. You can figure out generally what many of them are by what is on facing pages, but I would have enjoyed knowing more about some of the pictures.

All in all, this looks like a delightful book, and I am looking forward to trying some recipes from it. One of the first will be this very simple one for Ayib, a cottage-cheese-like side dish, served on injera as a complement to spicy stews.

AYIB

2 quarts whole milk
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped chives
salt

Bring milk to boil in a large pot over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and stir in lemon juice. Reduce heat to low and stir constantly until curds begin to form. Remove from heat.

Line a colander or sieve with cheesecloth. Spoon in the curdled milk and rinse under cool running water until the water runs clear. Place colander over a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours to drain.

Discard the liquid and stir chives into the cheese. Season with salt to taste.

Store in an airtight container for up to one week

Makes one cup

-Recipe courtesy: The Soul of a new Cuisine

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