This is the August selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. This book is a cookbook for Salads by Jess Damuck. Who is Jess Damuck? From what I read, she is a food stylist that primarily worked with Martha Stewart.

Once again, this book is divided by seasons. The one thing that I thought was really brilliant was that there is a master list of ingredients broken into categories. Then, each salad draws on the ingredients in the category. So recipes are organized by ingredients in the category, with the assumption that (1. you are into salads) you have options if you are working from a standard pantry.

Because Jess is a food stylist, all of the photos are vibrant and look great. One of her technique suggestions was to use similar items in different shapes. Think carrots and parsnips. Think rounds and julienne. In my opinion, this is more of a presentation tip than a taste improvement.

This is about where the compliments end from me. I wasn’t present when the voting happened and I probably wouldn’t have protested anyway but I find it hard to get jazzed about salads. Jess uses a lot of jargon, techniques or ingredients that I have never heard of. When I last went to the store, I checked on a few of these things and nope, not there. So, unless you are growing yourself, good luck with duplicating.

Maybe it is because I already know this but she frequently uses a lot of combinations of textures such as leaves, nuts, cheese, proteins, etc. It therefore feels like most of the salads are a random catchment of ingredients than deliberate combinations. In the foreword, Martha Stewart says that her marker of a good cookbook makes her hungry. So far, I haven’t marked a single recipe yet.

Given that I think making a cookbook about salad new and fresh is going to be difficult, I think probably 10% of the recipes are a stretch. Here are two examples gazpacho and esquites (Mexican corn) that I wouldn’t call a salad at all. There are other things that are called salad but I would call sandwich spreads or toppings like arugula pizza or egg salad.

To be fair, I haven’t made anything out of it yet. If you remember last month, I have tried a couple more and was very pleased with Corned Beef Dinner for instance. So, maybe I will soften up. The truth is, I don’t see myself really making much. But, all it takes is a handful to be worth it. So, I owe it to the book club to try a few things.

End Your Programming Routine: What can I say? I am not looking forward to the next one either. It is about gluten free cooking. I am not really big on gluten anyway but I feel like trying to substitute never works well. I have to give Jess credit that she did something different. Just because I am not into it, doesn’t mean that this isn’t for someone.