Okay, I get Oliver is writing for a non-American audience but the feeling I got from most of this book is an urge to scream "tourist!".
After he leaves New York he travels to just a few regions to sample the cuisine. As a resident of one of those areas (Arizona and New Mexico) I really just stared in disbelief at some of these recipes. His alterations of traditional dishes of these regions would result in something so far from the originals that I am truly wondering about the rest of the book.

library book read 5/11/2024 ( )

I had some mixed feelings about the book. First, the positive. The photography in the book is excellent. The recipes overall do look pretty good an appetizing, and Jamie's short essay segments are pretty good to read. The negative? This is not a book for those who need to or want to follow a healthy diet. I think that it is a bit of a sharp contrast to Jamie's more recent healthy eating campaign (just look up his TED talk to get an idea what I mean). But ok, I can do go along with that. What I really did not like is that a lot of the recipes call for ingredients that you are not likely to find unless you shop at Whole Foods on a regular basis (and that assumes you even have a Whole Foods in town, which we do not where I live now). So, that seemed to make the book a bit less accessible to me in terms of recipes I may have wanted to try making.

Having said the above, Jamie does give a pretty good look at American cuisine overall, showing it as the diverse canvas that it is from big cities like New York to the bayous of Louisiana to the Arizona desert. And what he is doing is giving those traditional cooking ways his own touch as well. I think this is a book people will enjoy, maybe make a recipe now and then as a treat, but it seems more enjoyable as a coffee table kind of book, i.e. very nice to look at. ( )

Spännande recept, fantastiska foton och superläcker form! Jamie Oliver förnekar sig inte - lika hungrig som man blir på hans mat, lika sugen blir man på boken.

Följ med Jamie Oliver på en passionerad kulinarisk resa genom de många kontrasternas land - Amerika. 120 recept finns samlade i hans smakrika, färgsprakande bok som är en storslagen och oemotståndlig matodyssé från New York via Louisiana, Arizona och Los Angeles.

Här blandas traditionellt och modernt och du lär dig laga allt från en lätt och fräsch vattenmelonsallad, peruansk ceviche och sallad på olika groddar till tonfisktartar, krabbollar med chilisalsa, mexikanska tamales med choklad och räkfylld plattfisk. Här finns lägereldsmat, bönor och chilikryddade popcorn och riktig "soul food" från Södern. I det obligatoriska BBQ-avsnittet hittar du både ölgrillad kyckling och en härlig surf"n"turf. Bland de smarriga efterrätterna kan du välja bland annat pecannötspaj med bourbon, persikoglass eller varför inte en blodapelsingranité?

Amerikansk mat har väl aldrig känts så spännande och exotisk som här i Jamie Olivers tappning. Till de flesta recept presenteras dessutom förslag på vin att dricka till.

Mellan recepten får vi hänga med Jamie på alligatorjakt i träskmarkerna, in bland de bästa kinesiska matstånden i Queens NY, på traditionell indianfrukost tillagad i en enda kastrull och till de tatuerade brödbakande gängkillarna på Homeboy Bakery i Los Angeles. De människor han möter och det de berättar ger en färgstark bild av ett mångfasetterat och fascinerande Amerika av idag beskrivet på Jamies särpräglade humoristiska och engagerande sätt.

TILL AMERIKA – KONTRASTERNAS LAND - ÅKTE JAG PÅ MIN MEST MÁXADE MATRESA NÅGONSIN OCH INSPIRERADES AV SEVÄRDHETER, INGREDIENSER, MÁTKULTURER OCH TRADITIONER. JAG VILLE HITTA DEN AMERIKANSKA KOKKONSTENS HJÄRTA - LÅNGT IFRÅN SKRÄPMAT OCH PLUSMENYER - DEN RIKTIGA AMERIKANSKA MATEN JAG BJÖDS IN I STUGA OCH TÄLT. JAG FOR FRÅN NEW YORK TILL NEW ORLEANS, FRÅN ENERGIN I LOS ANGELES TILL VIDDERNA I WYOMING – OCH FICK SMAKA PÅ MAT SÅ VIDUNDERLIGT GOD ATT JAG BARA MÅSTE DELA MED MIG AV DEN. 120 AV RESANS BÄSTA RECEPT FINNS SAMLADE HÄR, SÅ TA CHANSEN ATT SERVERA EN BIT AV AMERIKA, VILKEN RESA!

Another I think I'll actually purchase. (Hey, I work in a library!}
Love this bloke. ( )

The famous and adorable chef travels across America, meeting people and learning how to cook the local specialties. You would expect him to hit the foodie cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco, maybe throw in some New England too. New York is covered, with recipes from Chinatown and the Lower East Side, but throughout the rest of the book he's covering the places and foods that other cookbooks don't- to the Navajos sheep ranchers of Arizona, the alligator hunters of Louisiana, the soul food cooks of Atlanta and the cowboys of the Wyoming.
There are so many recipes here that I'll be trying out. They look delicious! I have several of Oliver's books and a couple of his recipes have become regulars for me. They tend to be easy and you don't need special equipment, which is great because I have no room to store another gadget.
Lots of the recipes have ingredients I'd never thought of adding to a dish, like thyme and oregano in a blackened catfish rub, but if you tried it, it's probably good. This is going on the shelf near the kitchen so I can grab it. ( )