Everyone loves soup, the world's most versatile dish. James Peterson's Splendid Soups, first published in 1993 and now updated, celebrates that fact with stunning comprehensiveness. Offering almost 300 tantalizing recipes ranging from the most pristine consommés to the heartiest peasant stews, the book also provides extensive technical information, tips, and serving suggestions that make it a true soup tutorial. The book's "ultimate goal," says Peterson, "is to give the reader the tools with which to invent," an aim he realizes with clarity, warmth, and precision. It's hard to imagine a cook who wouldn't embrace this authoritative yet companionable work.

The recipe range is vast. In 10 chapters that cover all the soup bases, including yogurt, bread, and fruit mixtures, Peterson offers an encyclopedic dish array. Among the entries new to this edition are Roast Garlic and Acorn Squash Soup, Thai-Style Hot and Sour Blue Crab Soup, and Dried Fruit Soup, a traditional Swedish specialty. Especially noteworthy is Peterson's introductory section on ethnic soups; a section offering strategies for reducing a soup's fat content (don't let meat broths boil, which homogenizes fat and liquid); and advice on what to drink with soup. With 40 color photos taken by the author, an equipment guide, and a useful chart for soup improvisation, the book is better than ever and a must-have for any kitchen library. --Arthur Boehm


From Publishers Weekly
Tremendously informative and stubbornly opinionated, master chef Peterson updates his classic soup tome by stirring new recipes and more international ingredients into the pot. Before getting to the recipes, readers are treated to a detailed remedial education in ingredients, featuring Peterson's humorously fussy explanations of dried and fresh herbs. The tried-and-true leek stands alongside the trendy galangal root as a soup essential, as Peterson enlarges the intermediate cook's familiarity with international cuisines. Peterson also seeks to re-educate readers on the proper methods for composing bouquet garni, making a roux and improving the flavor of the commercial broths they will insist on buying. He wisely intersperses his suggestions for technique alongside relevant recipes, making valuable information accessible for the busy cook. The recipes are roughly organized by ingredient and include the vast range of vegetable soups in some unusual combinations (Water Chestnuts with Watercress, and Sweet Potato with Chili and Lime). Other noteworthy concoctions include Spicy Brazilian Fish Soup with Coconut Milk; Shabu-Shabu; and Duck and Sherry Soup. Most of Peterson's recipes are not for the fat-phobic; whether he's extolling the virtues of heavy cream over milk and yogurt or encouraging readers to add a few pats of butter to any bowl of soup they order in a restaurant, Peterson throws caution to the wind. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Peterson is the author of the recent Essentials of Cooking and of several big, single-subject cookbooks that have become classics in the field, including the excellent Fish and Shellfish. Originally published in 1993, Splendid Soups is another of these, with hundreds of recipes from around the world and a huge amount of useful information. Although this new edition has not been heavily revised, it includes 50 new recipes and, unlike the earlier one, color photographs; most collections will want to add it. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Soup may be one of the last "perfect" foods around. It's often low fat, full of nutrition, and can be varied almost endlessly. James Peterson, noted for his exhaustive tomes on sauces, fish, and vegetables, has produced a revised and updated version of his encyclopedic Splendid Soups. This massive volume covers the empire of soup for both the professional chef and the home cook. He categorizes soups by their base, be it meat broth or vegetable. Meat soups, fish soups, crustacean soups, shellfish soups, bread soups, yogurt soups, and fruit and dessert soups round out the fundamental soup varieties. Within these classifications, Peterson includes soups from ethnic traditions of both East and West. An extensive glossary and a list of sources add to the book's utility for library reference collections. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Tremendously informative and stubbornly opinionated, master chef Peterson updates his classic soup tome by stirring new recipes and more international ingredients into the pot. Before getting to the recipes, readers are treated to a detailed remedial education in ingredients, featuring Peterson's humorously fussy explanations of dried and fresh herbs. The tried-and-true leek stands alongside the trendy galangal root as a soup essential, as Peterson enlarges the intermediate cook's familiarity with international cuisines. Peterson also seeks to re-educate readers on the proper methods for composing bouquet garni, making a roux and improving the flavor of the commercial broths they will insist on buying. He wisely intersperses his suggestions for technique alongside relevant recipes, making valuable information accessible for the busy cook. The recipes are roughly organized by ingredient and include the vast range of vegetable soups in some unusual combinations (Water Chestnuts with Watercress and Sweet Potato with Chili and Lime). Other noteworthy concoctions include Spicy Brazilian Fish Soup with Coconut Milk; Shabu-Shabu; and Duck and Sherry Soup. Most of Peterson's recipes are not for the fat-phobic; whether he's extolling the virtues of heavy cream over milk and yogurt or encouraging readers to add a few pats of butter to any bowl of soup they order in a restaurant, Peterson throws caution to the wind. --Publishers Weekly September 18, 2000



Book Description
Praise for the fully revised and updated Splendid Soups

"Jim Peterson's Splendid Soups is a comprehensive and mouthwatering atlas of the world of soup. It not only covers soups of all nationalities and every garnish, but provides a handy list of sources for every hard-to-find ingredient and kitchen tool, too. More importantly though, through his gargantuan world tour Jim empowers home cooks to strike out on their own and invent new soups. It just makes me want to get into the kitchen and start cooking!" -SARA MOULTON Host, The Food Network's Cooking Live; Executive Chef, Gourmet magazine; Food Editor, Good Morning America

"We love James Peterson. Splendid Soups is a bountiful source of enticing ideas!"-the moosewood collective Authors of the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbooks


From the Inside Flap
Filled with passion, warmth, and vitality, James Peterson’s exquisitely researched books have earned him a reputation as one of the finest food writers of our time, with two James Beard Foundation Awards to his credit for his classic Sauces and Vegetables.In Splendid Soups, Peterson uses clear, step-by-step guidance to explain the essential techniques for making broths and consommés, and then moves on to soups based on vegetables, fish, meat, and other main ingredients. Capturing the heart and soul of the world’s finest cuisines, 400 recipes offer an exciting and rich contemporary repertoire to explore, from the exotic Indian-Style Shrimp and Coconut Soup and the elegant Poached Duck Breast with Vegetables to the pungent Vietnamese Spicy Soup with Rice Noodles and the intriguing Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Raisins, and Almonds. In addition to bringing together the best soup-making techniques and recipes from around the world, Peterson shares the underlying soup-making guidelines that can be used to personalize recipes and create delicious signature dishes. Encouraging a deeper understanding of the ingredients and techniques of national and regional cuisines–including what foods work well together and when to add them to the cooking process–these guidelines liberate the cook from recipes and offer new ideas that will inspire a lifetime of culinary discovery. Throughout the book, helpful text boxes share tips on everything from how to make a base for vegetable soups to how to fix a soup that isn’t working out as planned. In addition, Peterson shares indispensable advice on choosing ingredients and selecting the proper pots and utensils, along with crucial thoughts on how to transform a soup from mediocre to magnificent, serving suggestions, and more–all delivered in his engaging and witty style. Whether it’s a classic Gazpacho brimming with the fresh flavors of summer or a sinfully indulgent Foie Gras and Truffle Soup, he shows how to bring out the very best that soup has to offer. Filled with exciting ideas and fresh flavor combinations, Splendid Soups is an enduring resource that belongs in every fine cook’s library.


Back Cover Copy
Praise for the fully revised and updated Splendid Soups "Jim Peterson’s Splendid Soups is a comprehensive and mouthwatering atlas of the world of soup. It not only covers soups of all nationalities and every garnish, but provides a handy list of sources for every hard-to-find ingredient and kitchen tool, too. More importantly though, through his gargantuan world tour Jim empowers home cooks to strike out on their own and invent new soups. It just makes me want to get into the kitchen and start cooking!" –SARA MOULTON Host, The Food Network’s Cooking Live; Executive Chef, Gourmet magazine; Food Editor, Good Morning America "We love James Peterson. Splendid Soups is a bountiful source of enticing ideas!"–the moosewood collective Authors of the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbooks


About the Author
JAMES PETERSON has taught professional and home cooks at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School and The French Culinary Institute. A French-trained chef and former owner of a highly acclaimed French restaurant in New York, he is also the award-winning author of:Sauces Winner, 1992 James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year Splendid Soups Nominee, 1994 James Beard Foundation Fish and Shellfish Winner, 1997 International Association of Culinary Professionals Vegetables Winner, 1999 James Beard Foundation Essentials of Cooking Nominee, 2000 International Association of Culinary Professionals and James Beard Foundation

FROM OUR EDITORS

Our Review
Splendid Soups: Recipes and Master Techniques for Making the World's Best Soups by the award-winning cookbook author James Peterson has just been re-released in time for the fall harvest. This is the most thorough, complete, and technically correct book on soup making that any cook would ever need. Although it teaches you how to cook as well as how to improvise soups, the recipes are so clear and concise that you can open to almost any page and find something easy to make without having to read pages and pages. This book would be as welcome to a professional chef as to a home cook. I can't imagine my kitchen without a copy. --Judith Choate

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An updated edition of the classic book on soups--from the James Beard Award-winning author of SaucesAlready recognized in culinary circles as one of the best food writers of our time, James Peterson continues to grow in stature and accomplishment with his thorough and appealing approach to food and cooking. Now he revisits his superb book, Splendid Soups, adding more than fifty new recipes and his own acclaimed photography to an updated edition that is a dazzling refinement of the original.Bringing together the best soup recipes from around the world in one indispensable, comprehensive, and tantalizing volume, Splendid Soups moves from the clearest consommes to the heartiest peasant soups and beyond. Along the way, Peterson shares essential information on ingredients, clear step-by-step instructions, serving suggestions, and crucial cooking tips on how to transform a soup from mediocre to magnificent--all delivered in his warm and witty style. Plus, he provides wonderful ideas for personalizing recipes.

*Includes 50 new recipes drawn from the best of the world's ethnic cuisines

*Nearly 40 full-color photographs of soup-making techniques and finished dishes

James Peterson (New York, NY) has taught professional and home cooks at Peter Kump's New York Cooking School and the French Culinary Institute. A French-trained chef and former owner of a highly acclaimed French restaurant in New York, he is also the award-winning author of Fish and Shellfish, Vegetables, and Essentials of Cooking.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Denver Post Books

A 650-page dissertation on everything from chicken soup to squid broth. Peterson is a great teacher, explaining along the way why goose fat or duck fat is better than chicken fat for matzo ball soup, how to clarify broths. Nearly every soup (there are hundreds) in this well-organized book comes with a Peterson introduction-- and often a bit of wit.—:( Authors Holiday Gift Guide)

Publishers Weekly

Tremendously informative and stubbornly opinionated, master chef Peterson updates his classic soup tome by stirring new recipes and more international ingredients into the pot. Before getting to the recipes, readers are treated to a detailed remedial education in ingredients, featuring Peterson's humorously fussy explanations of dried and fresh herbs. The tried-and-true leek stands alongside the trendy galangal root as a soup essential, as Peterson enlarges the intermediate cook's familiarity with international cuisines. Peterson also seeks to re-educate readers on the proper methods for composing bouquet garni, making a roux and improving the flavor of the commercial broths they will insist on buying. He wisely intersperses his suggestions for technique alongside relevant recipes, making valuable information accessible for the busy cook. The recipes are roughly organized by ingredient and include the vast range of vegetable soups in some unusual combinations (Water Chestnuts with Watercress, and Sweet Potato with Chili and Lime). Other noteworthy concoctions include Spicy Brazilian Fish Soup with Coconut Milk; Shabu-Shabu; and Duck and Sherry Soup. Most of Peterson's recipes are not for the fat-phobic; whether he's extolling the virtues of heavy cream over milk and yogurt or encouraging readers to add a few pats of butter to any bowl of soup they order in a restaurant, Peterson throws caution to the wind. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Peterson is the author of the recent Essentials of Cooking and of several big, single-subject cookbooks that have become classics in the field, including the excellent Fish and Shellfish. Originally published in 1993, Splendid Soups is another of these, with hundreds of recipes from around the world and a huge amount of useful information. Although this new edition has not been heavily revised, it includes 50 new recipes and, unlike the earlier one, color photographs; most collections will want to add it. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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