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Overview
What is it about little balls of dough stuffed with all kinds of fillings that we love so much? Author and stuffed-food aficionado Chris Fennimore thinks he knows. It’s about the contrast of textures – the flaky and creamy in a single bite, or the rich with the mild. And the flavor pairings that transcend each individual element to create a unique magic.
Stuffed is a richly illustrated celebration of the amazing diversity and appeal of this simple universal concept, from humble to elegant. Inside, you’ll find recipes for traditional stuffed doughs, but also stuffed vegetables, bread, pastries, seafood, meats, and sweets. Everything from arepas to zeppoli. The recipes and accompanying stories pay homage to generations of home cooks – many that speak of childhoods spent in the warmth of family kitchens where food meant love.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781943366446 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | St. Lynn's Press |
| Publication date: | 09/03/2019 |
| Pages: | 192 |
| Sales rank: | 643,133 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.00(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Part One: DOUGH
The concept couldn’t be simpler. Take some dough, any dough, wrap it around a tasty morsel of meat, cheese, vegetable, or any combination thereof, and then fry, bake, boil or braise it until the dough is cooked and the filling is succulent. I have a feeling this has been going on in kitchens from one end of the globe to the other for millennia.
Once I started making my own ravioli, I realized what a labor of love it was for my mother to sit for hours rolling out dough, portioning the filling, sealing and crimping. Only then did I finally get it. It is the labor and the love that make these tasty treats so much more than just something to eat. Just like the Asian families who gather around the table to make mountains of dumplings to celebrate the New Year, the value of these dishes is in the sharing.
I encourage you to try these recipes as group projects. Make an assembly line of fillers and crimpers and make batch after batch of memories that will last much longer than the recipes themselves.
What People are Saying About This
"In this brilliant cookbook Chris Fennimore teaches us to make foods we love and then teaches us how to stuff them with even more foods we love. Me, I can’t wait to get Stuffed."
"Let’s face it, if we were all honest with each other we’d admit that our favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is not the turkey/gravy/mashed potatoes/assorted designer vegetables – it is the STUFFING, hands down. So Chris Fennimore is brilliant to expand on this topic and explore it through may different cuisines (and different wrappers) to bring us a delightful lineup of recipes that I personally must make."
"Chris Fennimore and I have been behind the stove together since 1998 when I began hosting my own Public Television show. Luckily, my visits with him became more frequent when we opened Lidia’s in Pittsburgh. As someone who loves to prepare dishes like ravioli, cannoli and crepes, I could not be more pleased to see this great collection of stuffed recipes from my dear friend, Chris Fennimore. These recipes are true to tradition, ethnically diverse and simply delicious for family gatherings. Stuffed is a must-have for your kitchens."
"Chris Fennimore has done it again and stuffed this book full of recipes from around the world; from empanadas to cannoli, Chris shows us that it’s the delicious surprise inside that counts."
"Chris takes us on a delicious, incomparable trip around the globe and shows why dumpling is a common language among different cultures. Stuffed is a happy reminder that there is a world of recipes we can make in our own kitchens."
Interviews
From the Preface of Stuffed:
Italians have their ravioli, Chinese their dumplings, and Poles their pierogi. All around the world and for generations people have enjoyed the experience of little balls of dough stuffed with a variety of fillings. It might be cheese or meat or potatoes, sauced with tomatoes, soy sauce or melted butter, but people love them.
And these are not the only “stuffed” foods that cross borders and culinary traditions. Think about empanadas, Cornish pasties and calzone. So it got me wondering why there is such a seemingly universal love of one food stuffed inside another. And I think there are a few good reasons.
First of all, when a filling is cooked inside some form of shell, the flavorings and spices are intensified and melded together in a unique way. It extracts the juices from meat and vegetables without drying them out. It brings the ooze to cheese and marries it to other filling elements.
And then here is the contrast of textures that juxtaposes flaky with creamy in one bite, or smooth with crunchy, or the rich with the mild.
Finally, the combinations create flavor pairings that transcend each individual element. I have been fascinated with stuffed foods for years and collect them from every tradition I can find.
For the most part these are ethnic foods, and it is curious to see the parallels in technique as well as ingredients. But it also means that these are predominantly comfort foods with long and well loved traditions. Many of the preparations are labor intensive since they involve the assembly of individual portions, if not individual bites. But the end results are delicious and deeply satisfying.
For the past 25 years I have been the producer and host of a series of cooking programs on public television. Unlike other cooking formats, these shows and the resulting cookbooks invited our viewers to send us their family treasures. We asked some of them to appear on the show and share their kitchen wisdom and family stories. From time to time in this book you will see recipes from some of those home cooks – recipes forged on the appetites of real people and made in home kitchens just like yours. No special ingredients or fancy equipment required. The show is called QED Cooks in Pittsburgh and America’s Home Cooking when episodes air around the country. The rest of the recipes I’ve accumulated over the years from family and friends and made my own. Feel free to add and subtract where you like to make them just as much your own.