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Fusion
Food Cookbook
by Hugh Carpenter & Teri Sandison
Copyright 1994, Artisan, A division of Workman Publishing
Co., Inc.
ISBN: 1885183003
by Mimi Hiller
I picked up my 22-year-old daughter on the way home from the supermarket
one day. "What are we having for dinner?" she asked.
"Shrimp, corn and roasted vegetables," I replied, smugly knowing she would complain without thinking twice.
She rolled her eyes a few times and grumbled about how I insist on making foods I know she doesn't like. Hold this thought. I'll get back to it.
The authors claim that their work "...celebrates a revolution that is occurring across North America." I personally believe it's more widespread than that, but since the book has been out for several years, it's possible the regional limitation may have been correct.
"Fusion food" is a phrase that has been bandied about in recent years as a trendy method of cooking, but like so many buzzwords, it sometimes defies definition. From the introduction, we learn that "fusion" may be a term which has more recently been coined to refer to food, but in its broadest definition, we have seen this as an on-going characteristic for centuries. For instance, when I think of Italian cuisine, pasta covered with a red sauce immediately comes to mind. Many of us know that Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy from China; further, prior to 1492, there were no tomatoes in Mediterranean cooking. This means that at some point, possibly hundreds of years ago, pasta with red sauce was an example of fusion cooking.
Modern-day fusion food is little more than the combination of flavors and ingredients, even techniques, of a particular cuisine with those of another cuisine to form a third unique hybrid culinary experience. Try a stir-fried chicken with some Caribbean spices. Or perhaps you could wrap chunks of lamb in banana leaves and braise them in a Tex-Mex sauce. I'm not sure how well these flavors would blend, but you probably grasp the concept.
Fine chefs everywhere are experimenting with unlike anything we've seen in the past. Carpenter and Sandison are no exceptions, and they have put together a compilation of recipes that will have your family and guests begging for more.
In putting this volume together, they created a flavor evaluation system as a guide consisting of the following criteria: Smell/Aroma; Taste; Flavor (the combination of smell and taste), which involves a complicated system of assessment; Eye appeal; Initial taste; The mouth feel of the food (temperature and texture); Development of full flavor in the mouth; and Aftertaste.
Fusion Food Cookbook is organized into the following chapters: For the Fun of It: Appetizers to Tease the Palate; Wild About Dumplings; Fusion Salads for Any Occasion; New Wave Soups for Main Entrees; Leaping Fresh from the Sea, Lakes and Rivers; Cross-Cultural Cooking with Poultry and Game; Red Meats for Winter Nights and Summer Barbecues; Stars and Supporting Roles with Pasta, Rice, and Breads; Magic with Vegetables and Eggs; and Chocolate Fantasies for Life Fulfillment. There are also sections called "Flavor Resources to Enrich Everyday Food" and "Conversion Chart."
The book, printed on heavy, slick stock, is packed with so many enticing recipes, you won't know where to begin Each is prefaced by interesting information about the dish or the ingredients used, as well as alternative cooking methods and cautions. Likewise, each one includes menu ideas for enhancing the dining experience.
The recipes themselves are beautifully laid out and carefully worded; there are no questions about what to use, or how to go about cooking. Wherever possible, the instructions are divided into "advance preparation" and "last-minute assembling." Each recipe is categorized by level of difficulty of preparation (easy, moderate or difficult), most categorized as easy or moderate, putting this in the range of the majority of people's ability. Best of all, most of the ingredients are available in my local supermarkets and specialty stores nearby, and I was able to prepare just about everything using equipment I already own.
Fusion Food Cookbook is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I've ever seen, but the last real measure of its worth is how well the recipes turn out. I give it a grade of A+. The marriage of flavors was impeccable in everything I tried, and while I would make every one of these recipes again, I'm inspired to continue trying new ones, and my family looks forward to each new attempt.
Let's get back to my daughter's whining about dinner. I prepared the Caribbean Shrimp with Allspice, Curry and Pineapple, Steamed White Corn with Szechwan Butter Glaze, and Roast Vegetables with Caramelized Glaze. First, a confession: fresh pineapple wasn't available, so I used canned pineapple rings, and because the only corn on the cob to be had was the frozen, mushy yellow ones, I opted for a bag of frozen white corn kernels, which worked very well. Because I couldn't coat ears of corn in the butter glaze, I merely stirred the sauce into the steamed corn.
This was not the only one meal I had prepared using Fusion Food Cookbook, and despite my daughter's protests upon hearing the menus, she was very excited about the way everything tasted. To further commend the recipes, she started doing something she never does: eating leftovers. I don't understand what it is about her and leftovers, but she's always refused to eat anything from a previous night's dinner, but that appears to have changed, or at least, as long as we're talking about these dishes.
As for my husband, he was in heaven. He ate every speck on his plate, simulataneously talking about our next (heretofore unplanned) dinner party. I happen to agree. If I want to show off my cooking skills, I know I will turn to this book.
Other recipes of note: Spicy gravlax with mango salsa, Beef satay with Caribbean jerk sauce, Creole salmon dumplings, Southwest jicama salad, Southwest Caesar salad with chile croutons, Tropical Isle bouillabaisse, Swordfish with Thai butter sauce, Barbecued lobster with herb butter-lime sauce, Barbecued salmon in New World pesto sauce, Stir-fried coconut curry chicken with bok choy and basil, Thai red curry duck Santa Fe style, Baby pork back ribs with secret Asian barbecue sauce, Soft Asian beef tacos with exotic mushrooms, Asian risotto with shrimp and smoked chicken, Polenta madness, Garlic mashed potatoes with mascarpone, Wild mushroom stew, Kahlua passion tiles, Chocolate sorbet with mangoes, White chocolate mousse with tropical fruits, and Chocolate ginger mousse with raspberry essence.
When I first looked through Fusion Food Cookbook, I was sure
I would only use it for entertaining. I no longer feel this way, for which
my family is grateful.
