The Gentle Art of Preserving: Pickling, Smoking, Freezing, Drying, Curing, Fermenting, Bottling, Canning, and Making Jams, Jellies and Cordials

by Katie Caldesi, Giancarlo Caldesi, Chris Terry (Photographer)

Overview

The growing popularity of vegetable gardening and buying locally grown produce has sparked an increase in home food preservation, such as canning, freezing, and drying.Join Katie and GiancarloCaldesion their two year-long journey discoveringdifferent methods of conserving food, as theycombine traditional tried-and-tested preservingtechniques with a thoroughly modernperspective, from smoking fish in Scotland to dryingchiles in Sri Lanka.Learn how to cure Italian charcuterie,make sausages, brine a chicken or prepare yourown delicious smoked salmon and mackerel.Discover practical tips such as freezingspice cubes, stocks and sauces to makingflavored oils and butters to provide tastyshortcuts for quick meals.Create summery cordials, sun-drytomatoes, ferment homemade yogurt and bakesourdough from your own starter. With over 200 recipes and color photographs; endless basic guides, strategies, and tips; sources and a bibliography, thisfascinating compendium will be your go-to accessible andauthoritative guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909487086
Publisher:	Kyle Books
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi own Caffé Caldesi in London’s Marylebone and Caldesi in Campagna, a beautiful restaurant in the English countryside. Katie is also the principal of their cooking school, La Cucina Caldesi, where she and Giancarlo have spent more than 10 years teaching students at every level. Katie is the author of The Italian Cooking Course, which was nominated for the James Beard Best International Cookbook award and the André Simon Book Award. Visit them online at caldesi.com.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction 7
Vinegar 14
Sugar 46
Salt 78
Air 120
Smoke 144
Oil, Fat & Butter 180
Alcohol 200
Fermenting 212
Heat 246
Cold 264
Suppliers 290
Bibliography 292
Index 296

Editorial Reviews

The Gentle Art of Preserving, by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, is a detailed, readable education about all the ways mankind has discovered to save today’s bites for tomorrow [or a few months or years down the road]... First and foremost, this book really is a bible, if not the bible, for food preservation. If you were a senior in college, polishing off a major in culinary science, then this would be the book for your food preservation course. This is not a science book with lots of equations or chemical diagrams. But Gentle Art is packed with facts and numbers to guide you into the details of preservation.

Cooking by the Book, 6/25/2014 - Cookbook Review: The Gentle Art of Preserving Brian

The Gentle Art of Preserving, by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, is a detailed, readable education about all the ways mankind has discovered to save today’s bites for tomorrow [or a few months or years down the road]... First and foremost, this book really is a bible, if not the bible, for food preservation. If you were a senior in college, polishing off a major in culinary science, then this would be the book for your food preservation course. This is not a science book with lots of equations or chemical diagrams. But Gentle Art is packed with facts and numbers to guide you into the details of preservation.

Cooking by the Book, 6/25/2014 - Cookbook Reviewer Brian

Technique: If you have followed our book reviews this year you know that I loved The Gentle Art of Preserving: Pickling, Smoking, Freezing, Drying, Curing, Fermenting, Bottling, Canning, and Making Jams, Jellies and Cordials. This book came as a surprise to me. I almost didn’t ask for a review copy but then I received it and I was truly drawn into the world of curing and preserving with vinegar, sugar, air, smoke, alcohol, oil, butter, fat, heat, cold and through fermentation. Sure there is plenty of non-dessert related content, but there is plenty for us dessert lovers such as homemade fruit leather, fruit cordials, marron glacé, jams and jellies and more. Tons of images. A great gift book or resource book for your own shelf.

Bakepedia, 7/25/2014 - Dede Wilson

There are two ways you could approach this book. You could use it solely for the recipes, gleaning ways to make your summer produce haul last all year round. There are plenty of really fabulous recipes — enough to keep you busy for many summers to come!
But along with the recipes, you can also use this book as a guide. Each chapter starts off with a comprehensive look at the type of preserving being addressed — preserving in vinegar, with sugar, with salt, air-drying, fermenting, and so on — and then the headnotes go into further details on using specific ingredients, making adjustments, and various useful preserving facts. Lots of places to dig in and get your preserving fix with this one.

Bakepedia, 7/25/2014 - .

Marrons glacés or candied chestnuts, are often purchased but they can be easily made at home with great success, as long as you follow the directions carefully. The process does unfold over a few days, so plan accordingly. Katie Caldesi has written an extraordinary book on preserving (read our review) which covers everything from drying to salting and, of particular interest to me, conserving with sugar. The book is a treasure trove of information and will be used in our Test Kitchen as a great resource for years to come. Try her Fruit Leathers and Low-Sugar Jam as well.

Bakepedia, 7/25/2014 - Marrons Glacés

Why you need this book: With so many fruits, vegetables, and herbs at their peak right now, it's the perfect time to start preserving summer's bounty. This comprehensive book covers every preserving method in depth and includes ideas for how to use the recipes. The preserving fever even extends to smoking seafood and curing bacon.

epicurious, 7/24/2014 - Alessandra Bulow

In a nutshell: When most people hear the word "preserving," they instantly think of summertime canning projects like making homemade pickles and strawberry jam. But canning is just one method of making food last. This new cookbook explores the extraordinary world of preserving, including age-old methods like smoking, salting and drying, along with modern approaches gathered from around the world. It's certainly a timely topic, not just because harvest season is here. More and more people are looking for ways to preserve food, keyed into a desire to eat better food, cut waste, and unplug from our throwaway culture. The book is broken down by the different ways foods are preserved – vinegar, sugar, smoke, alcohol, etc. – showing how those methods are used in different countries, with favorite recipes for everything from Scottish smoked fish to Sri Lankan dried chiles.
What's hot: Concerned about food safety if you've never preserved before? Their instructions for working with high- and low-acid foods is clear and easy to follow, and there's step-by-step advice on how to do things like heat processing, which should give home cooks confidence right out of the gate.
What's not: You're going to need more shelf space in your pantry with all the things this book will inspire you to preserve.

OregonLive.com, 8/12/2014 - Grant Butler

Summertime and the preserving is easy—it’s the time to capture Mother Nature’s incredible bounty from farmer’s markets, roadside stands and, if you’re lucky enough to have one, your own garden. All you need is a basket of tomatoes or blueberries or zucchini and a copy of Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi’s The Gentle Art of Preserving, which is chock-a-block with ideas and inspiration for using everything to its fullest, in ways that are good for our planet and good for your family. There’s a lot more here than making jams and sauces—Katie covers pickling, brining, smoking, salting, freezing, canning, fermenting, conserving in sugar and alcohol and under oil and fat. Each technique gets a full explanation, accompanied by an international array of recipes that showcase these time-honored traditions: Japanese Pickled Ginger; Rhubarb Cordial; Italian Sopressata; Smoked Trout Pâté; Labneh; Frozen Soffritto; Confit of Tomatoes. The pleasures of preserving can brighten the way you cook, eat and shop.

Bookpage, August 2014 - Sybil Pratt

The Gentle Art of Preserving, by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, is a detailed, readable education about all the ways mankind has discovered to save today’s bites for tomorrow [or a few months or years down the road]... First and foremost, this book really is a bible, if not the bible, for food preservation. If you were a senior in college, polishing off a major in culinary science, then this would be the book for your food preservation course. This is not a science book with lots of equations or chemical diagrams. But Gentle Art is packed with facts and numbers to guide you into the details of preservation.

Cooking by the Book, 6/25/2014 - Cookbook Review: Mug Cakes by Mima Sinclair Brian

Old pantry practices (pickling, canning) feel fresh in this lush book.

September 2014 Good Housekeeping

The Gentle Art of Preserving, by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, is a detailed, readable education about all the ways mankind has discovered to save today’s bites for tomorrow [or a few months or years down the road]... First and foremost, this book really is a bible, if not the bible, for food preservation. If you were a senior in college, polishing off a major in culinary science, then this would be the book for your food preservation course. This is not a science book with lots of equations or chemical diagrams. But Gentle Art is packed with facts and numbers to guide you into the details of preservation.

Cooking by the Book, 6/25/2014 - Brian