Last of My March Purchases + One from April ~ Maida Heatter's Chocolate Desserts and Japanese Cooking

Maida Heatters's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts, published in 1980. Another great book by the doyenne of baking - and it's ALL about the chocolate! We start with a few introductory notes on the two types of chocolate ~ unsweetened and sweet ~ with a list of suppliers and brand names for each, then a few tips on ingredients, equipment and techniques.

Up first are Cakes which are divided into several sub-categories, the first being without or almost without flour and consist of  a rum chocolate dessert, Hungarian Rhapsody, torte souffle au chocolat, and a French Chocolate Viennese torte. The next set of cakes profiled are layer cakes with fillings & icings and include a St. Louis chocolate layer, a black cherry torte, a fudge cake, Chocolate Merry Go Round cake, and  an FBI chocolate layer cake that was a favorite of J. Edgar Hoover. In the chocolate cakes with fruit section, we have a sour cherry chocolate torte, chocolate pumpkin cake and a chocolate applesauce cake, while old fashioned cakes without icing offers up an 86 proof chocolate cake (made with bourbon and coffee), angel food or chiffon cakes and gingerbread. There are loaf cakes (orange-chocolate, sour cream or chocolate tea bread) and cheesecakes (mocha velvet, amaretto and chocolate marble) to round out the chapter.

There are Cookies galore ~ crisp toffee bars, macaroons, cowboy (a personal favorite), scotch shortbread, wafers & checkerboards, Florentines, spritz, oatmeal and brownies (honey, spice, ginger and whole wheat), while Pastries offers the famous Serendipity dessert, eclairs, madelines, profiteroles and pies (pecan, fudge and chiffon).

Cold and Hot Desserts delves into pots de chocolat, custards, charlottes, souffles, prune whip, the Harlequin (amaretto, coffee and cream), ice cream ( a very yummy chocolate chip cognac coffee), sherbet and mousses (Toblerone milk chocolate or chocolate) and Russian mud pie. Other Desserts include confections: fudge, rocky roads, fondue, truffles, chocolate covered strawberries, plus drinks: shakes and 19 drinks made with homemade chocolate syrup. There are also sauces (hot fudge, French chocolate and rum mocha) and chocolate decorations ~ curls, leaves, shavings and cigarettes.

The last chapter of Bonus Recipes are nine favorites from other books by Ms Heatter, a few notables are the Queen Mother's cake, black bottom pie, coffee butter crunch pie, mushroom meringues and chocolate peanut crescents.

Japanese Cooking - A Simple Art, published in 1980.  Over 500 pages filled with 220 recipes and 510 illustrations offering a concise but comprehensive overview of Japanese cuisine. There are two sections, the first section encompasses 20 chapters and consists of lessons, basic Japanese cooking techniques and types of prepared foods with basic recipes. Part two is filled with 130 selected additional recipes.

We begin with 17 color plates of fish, vegetables, ingredients (sauces, rice, noodles, shoyu, etc.), four typical meals for each season, tofu, rice dishes including sushi, plus fried and skewered dishes (kebabs and tempura), followed by menus for a typical Japanese meal, details on ingredients and illustrations of utensils used in the recipes. Helpful hints (including sketches) touch on selecting and cutting fish, chicken and vegetables, making Dashi (stock), slicing and serving sashimi (plus recipes for dipping sauces ~ sesame soy, plum soy and ponzu).

Continuing on with more techniques (and recipes), grilling and pan frying introduces yakitori, plus sauces (teriyaki among others), steaming (custard), simmering (shrimp or fish) and deep frying (tempura). In Japanese salads, there are 25+ dressings, including spinach with sesame, with one pot cooking we are treated to shabu shabu and chicken or fish pots, and the sushi section provides numerous choices of nigiri or nori rolls. The final chapter in part one is filled with information only (no recipes) on tea and sake.

Moving onto part two, we begin with Soups (beaten egg, green onion & tuna and chunky vegetable, followed by Sashimi (chicken, beef or fish) , then Grilled and Pan Fried dishes ~salt grilled clams, butter fried clams, stuffed foil baked salmon, grilled squid, steak teriyaki, grilled eggplant and teppan yaki.  Steamed Dishes consists of sea bream with buckwheat noodles or chesnuts,sake steamed abalone, braised pork and tortoise shell tofu, while Deep Fried Dishes focuses on crab, shrimp or chicken patties, crab & tofu balls and tea whisked eggplant.

For Salads we are treated to green beans & sesame seeds, a 5 color salad, abalone & kiwi and soused spinach, and One Pot Dishes delves into oyster stew and a cod & cabbage casserole. Rice Dishes pitches rice balls, eggs & rice and rice with greens, with Sweets presenting candied chestnuts, red bean jelly and cherry blossom mochi. The last chapter is filled with Miscellaneous fare ~ plum liqueur and kamaboko (fish cake) slices.