Product Description

A vegetarian cookbook that draws from a world of culinary influences, this cookbook features over 200 low-fat vegetarian and vegan recipes, from Fig and Smoked Onion Filo Tart to Chocolate Almond Midnight Hazelnut Torte.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #240560 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the Author
Author's comments on the Millennium Cookbook
Hi, Thanks for your interest in the Millennium Cookbook. As chef of San Francisco's Millennium and author of the majority of the book, I thought I'd take a moment and chat about the book.

First of all thanks Joan Price on the great review! I must say Joan you say it all in a nutshell. Second of all I want to thank Sascha Weiss,Millennium's pastry chef, who's name is not listed as an author in the review of the book. His contrabutions of his amazing and inovative desserts are definitely an integral part of this work. So what we have here is the culmination of a number of years work from the kitchens of both Millennium and it's former sister restaurant Milly's (where I and this cuisine got started). What our cuisine is is creative vegetarian fine dining. All of our cuisine is vegan, or animal product free. A number of the dishes are also low in fat. As Joan Price's review stated we definitly dispel the myth of vegetarian vegan cuisine being bland, boring, and from the land of over cooked brown rice and steamed tofu,with all the appeal of a wet sock and pleather. Instead you are going to find as one critic put it "..cuisine akin to a worldbeat concert.." Bright, bold flavors, food prducts and concepts of many ethnic cuisines intrepretated and extrapolated in our own style, all animal product free of course. As opposed to our food looking like a haphazard monochromatic mess, we place as much emphasis on the visual appeal as well as the flavors, which is evident in the striking color photos in our book. Okay, there are some recipies that might take you all day, like it does us in the kitchen, but there are also plenty that are much simpler. The recipies that are longer can also be prepared as one aspect instead of the whole dish. Such as preparing our pumpkin curry sauce on it's own with out the other four sub-recipies that make up the Thai Stuffed Pumpkin. The bottom line is what you have is a really good resource of ideas and concepts as well as recipies on how to do our vegetable based cuisine. This I hope will appeal to all, vegetarian and nonvegetarian foodies alike.

Customer Reviews

Insanely Gorgeous
I first heard that the folks at Millennium were working on a cookbook over a year and a half ago, and I've waited impatiently until now. The results fully exceeded my (high) expectations -- the layout and photography are beautiful and all of the recipes I desire are there, including the divine (and surprisingly easy) plantain-cilantro torte. This should completely dispel the myth that vegetarianism necessitates asceticism and the corollary that animal products are necessary to create tasty food or even a decadent dining experience (ask my friends who've tasted the pumpkin cake with chocolate-hazelnut ganache). A good set of cookware and a craving for challenge are indispensable, however.

Some of the recipes are indeed quite complex -- even daunting in the sheer number of cross-references -- but making and serving them is pure joy, and the intermediary steps can be extracted for use in simpler dishes. The range of dishes is good, and the "Basics" section is very cool. Altogether, a nice counterpoint to the Green's style of egg & cheese laden vegetarian cooking.

Buy this book and throw a dinner party for a group of omnivorous foodies- then tell them no animals were abused in the process - they will be amazed. I'm devoting the year before the calendar millennium to mastering the entire collection of recipes - one Sunday dinner at a time.

Exceptional;y creative, original recipies in beautiful book
Review of The Millennium Cookbook by Dr. Neal Pinckney

The typical vegetarian cookbook presents a healthful and appetizing array of recipes, but most ofthem are the standard fare we all know and love. The Millennium Cookbook by Eric Tucker andJohn Westerdahl is a rare and very welcome exception. Here is a visually pleasing and well- organized collection of over 250 original and imaginative delights, worthy in every respect of theMillennium name.

If you've never had the adventure of eating in San Francisco's Millennium restaurant, you'll haveto look at the excellent color photographs in the book to get an idea of how exciting this can be. Each dish is a visual work of art and the flavors, textures and aromas tend to be both subtle and exotic, but always pleasing to the most finicky palate.

The Millennium Cookbook's recipes are all vegan (no animal products, no eggs, no dairy), some simple and relatively quick to prepare, others requiring the preparation that must be given to a culinary masterpiece. Each recipe has an analysis of calories, fat percentage and grams, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, sodium and fiber. Many recipes have low fat directions and analysis for those who choose to omit oil. In addition to devoting a section on each course of a meal (with decadently delicious desserts by Sacha Weiss), there's a how-to section called "basics" that explains how to cook grains, make seitan, smoke tofu, prepare stock and much more. This section alone is worth the $19.95 price.

The book is a faithful representation of a Millennium experience. Having met Chef Eric and delighted my taste buds there a number of times, I look forward to making almost all the treats presented. While my efforts may lack the unique atmosphere of that restaurant, I'll have the pleasure of an eating adventure worthy of any special occasion. And when I want to give anyone who loves food, vegetarian or omnivore, a special present - the Millennium Cookbook will be my choice.

The Millennium Cookbook, available early November, 1998, is published by Ten Speed Press, P.O. Box 7123, Berkeley, CA. 94707. Paperback, 10.25 x 8.25, 258 pp. ISBN: 0-89815-899-0.

----------------- Neal Pinckney is a retired psychotherapist and analyst who was told five years ago that he would soon die if he didn't have heart by-pass surgery. He didn't do either. Following the Ornish program, he is well and active, helping others with support groups fostering low fat vegetarian lifestyle changes. He is the author of the Healthy Heart Handbook, including 76 low fat vegan recipes.