The Hungry Detective

Perhaps you have become weary of the glossy advertisements for copper bottomed pans that flaunt themselves with disregard in Food and Wine or Bon Appetite , but conversely find articles on silver service-ware of early 19th century Britain impenetrable in Gastronomica . Then Lucky Peach might be for you. You should also like swearing and have a flexible understanding of the word quarterly.

Chris Cosentino is a chef whose claim to fame has been his work with offal . His restaurant in San Francisco is called Incanto . I've eaten there, its really good. I became interested in Mr. Cosentino through a friend who turned me on to his now defunct Food Network show Chef vs. City. Watch this video because if nothing else the guy will charm you with his passion. Unfortunately, Chef Unleashed was not picked up, so it stands as a singular document to respecting the food the rest of us thoughtlessly put in our mouth. He'll have a cookbook released in March 2012 . Chef Unleashed from Chris Cosentino on Vimeo .

As hobbies go buying cookbooks fall right into my wheelhouse. Kind of expensive with limited future use. Regardless of my current interest in making the cookbooks I own and the ones I plan on buying in the future more practical, a cookbook like the one for Eleven Madison Park balances between being aspirational and being an art object. And while I''ll admit that the Eleven Madison Park Cookbook is not just meant to sit there and look pretty.... I think for most home cooks this book is meant to sit there and look pretty. And boy howdy she sure is gorgeous. Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook from Eleven Madison Park on Vimeo .

This will mark the first of what I hope will be a bit of continuing feature of The Hungry Detective. THD was always meant to be a combination of two things I love. Crime fiction and eating food that is above my means. Things never really meshed along those lines, and the idea was abandoned. But as things became a bit fallow around here I was turning more and more to culinary adventures. Now making brownies may not seem that adventurous, and I would agree. But when your experience until now has been open box, mix in eggs, dump in pan, then improvising a double boiler suddenly becomes something more than ordinary. Over the course of the last few months I have a acquired cooking literature both large and small. And while cookbooks have the heft of authority, zines like PUT AN EGG ON IT are just as fascinating to consume because of personal nature of something small and boutique.  The MISSION STREET FOOD book first tells the story of how a line cook and his girlf...

There is nothing so over as Summer.  It is odd that August chokes you with heat, and then suddenly it is six week later and I have to fight from turning the heat on. A trip home to visit my father for his 70th Birthday means this is showing up a little late. I also held off to see if a few more release dates firmed up. A good portion of this list has already arrived on shelves, so go out and buy these books. PIRATE KING - Laurie R. King - Out Now I have fallen behind on this series. I plan on correcting this short-sightedness soon. Her spin on Sherlock Holmes has always worked because she figured out a way to make Holmes second banana to Mary Russell. CITY OF SECRETS - Kelli Stanley - Out Now The second book in Ms. Stanley's highly regarded Miranda Corbie series. FEAST DAY OF FOOLS - James Lee Burke - Out Now Jonathan Franzen can suck it, Mr. Burke is America's best author. I'm only half serious, because I have not read Mr. Franzen. Mr. Burke on th...

Book releases in January 2012. Could. Not. Be. More. Excited! That it lacks an American publisher is unfortunate, but at this point in my life I'm more of an AmazonUK guy anyway.

It is the good fortune of The Hungry Detective to now and again receive books from authors, publishers or their associated marketing agencies. These books were received in the month of September 2011 THE DOVE OF DEATH - Peter Tremayne - Minotaur THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT - Jeri Westerson - Minotaur MISS DIMPLE DISAPPEARS - Mignon F. Ballard - Minotaur DANGEROUS TO KNOW - Tasha Alexander - Minotaur THE SINGLE SHOT - Matthew F. Jones - Mulholland Books THE BURNING - Jane Casey - Minotaur