Terrific Pacific Cookbook

"What a treasure TERRIFIC PACIFIC is! While reading it I could almost smell and taste all the wonderful aromas and flavors of its recipes. As someone who shares a love for the exciting foods and traditions of the Pacific Rim, I thoroughly enjoyed this cook's tour."

(Nicole Routhier, author of The Foods of Vietnam)

"Terrific. . . . A work of prodigious research, providing home cooks with easy-to-produce recipes that capture the alluring flavors of the Pacific."(Hugh Carpenter, author of Fusion Food Cookbook)

"In TERRIFIC PACIFIC Anya von Bremzenn and John Welchman bring alive the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Southeast Asia. They present a treasure trove of captivating Thai Malay, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian recipes. For anyone with even the slightest interest in Asian Cooking, this book is a necessity."

(Nina Simonds, author of China Express)

"One of the best of the year," was how USA Today described Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman's first cookbook, the James Beard Award-winning Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook. For their second, TERRIFIC PACIFIC COOKBOOK, the authors spent several years traveling, researching, cooking, and eating throughout the countries of the Pacific Rim.

The Pacific is the Mediterranean of the 1990s. Its where the new ideas in food are coming from. Its hot, light, fresh, exotic, and energetic. Its Thai, Vietnamese, Australian, Malaysian and Indonesian. Its Chinese-influenced, Indian-influenced, Japanese-influenced. Now Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman, award-winning authors of Please to the Table, present the terrific pacific in over over 260 glorious recipes and dozens of essays on spices, markets, pantries, techniques, and cultural traditions. Terrific Pacific is for people who've come to love the citrusy flavors of lemon grass and kaffir limes; who want to use more chilies, ginger, cilantro, spice rubs, and pastes; who are curious about curries. Visiting four-star chefs in Australia and roadside vendors in Penang, tea houses in Singapores old Chinatown and home cooks in Vietnam--wherever the culinary melting pot bubbles--the authors offer a spectacular marriage of flavors. And in an age of great treats, terrific pacific desserts stand out for being both simple and exotic. Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club's HomeStyle Books, and the Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service.
52,000 copies in print.

Publishers Weekly

The intricately spiced, multilayered flavors of the Pacific seduce the palate in the 300-plus recipes here. The authors (Please to the Table), who investigated ingredients and techniques on travels to Australia, Thailand, Malasia, Japan, Singapore and other outposts now culinarily ``in,'' deliver the goods on this newly popular cuisine in meticulously adapted recipes. However, three caveats for the home cook: considerable time and patience are required to capture such taste complexities as Griddle Breads with Curried Lamb; many dishes include fat-loading deep-frying; and, although substitutions are frequently suggested, such aromatics as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal are essential to many dishes. Those issues aside, this compendium, with many recipes that are not beyond the novice, offers an intensive course in this bold fusion fare and should prove to be a definitive volume. Broiled Bluefish with Caramelized Lemons blends seafood, citrus and herbs irresistibly; Pork Chops with a Mushroom Saute and Arugula Pesto is a rich, three-way marriage of flavors. HomeStyle main selection. (Nov.)

Like most of the culinary world, food and travel writer Anya von Bremzen has Spain on the brain. But unlike those who have recently discovered Spain's sophisticated flavors and innovative charms, Anya has spent the last 10 years writing about Spanish cuisine and culture. A contributing editor at Travel + Leisure, she has pioneered Spanish cuisine in publications like Food & Wine, Departures, Conde Nast Traveler and the LA Times.

In her latest tour de force, The New Spanish Table, Anya reveals the Spain she knows and loves, peppering delicious recipes with historical tidbits, cooking hints and true Spanish hospitality.

In addition to The New Spanish Table, Anya is the author of four ethnic cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook, Terrific Pacific Cookbook, The Greatest Dishes!: Around the World in 80 Recipes, and Fiesta! A Celebration of Latin Hospitality, which won Anya her second Beard award.

When she's not in Spain or traveling to some exotic locale to try a new restaurant, Anya lives in New York City.

John Welchman, who is also the co-author of Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook, is an art historian and travel writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The Village Voice, The Economist, and Artforum. He is a professor of art history at the University of California, San Diego.