Pantry and Palate

The purpose of a cookbook is, of course, to introduce new recipes and teach readers how to make those recipes. However, every once in a while, a cookbook comes along that is also fascinating to read. Pantry and Palate: Remembering and Rediscovering Acadian Food is once such cookbook. Acadian food is a mystery to many of us, and after reading this excellent cookbook, most will want to prepare Acadian food at home and introduce it to loved ones.

This book includes Canadian classics such as French Canadian Tourtière. There is a excellent recipe for Rhubarb Custard Pie, as well as one for Cranberry Pudding which is perfect for the holidays. The recipe for Scalloped Cabbage is very good and is a perfect winter side dish. There is also a section on breads that are unique and tasty. 

The recipes are easy to follow and understand. There are beautiful pictures so cooks can see what their finished dishes should look like. There are also pictures of local color as well as some antique recipes, which gives some personality to the book.

For those who may not be in the mood to cook, this is a great book to read while curling up in a warm corner on a lazy day. On days when one feels adventurous, it contains plenty of mouthwatering recipes and inspiring pictures to satisfy everyone. None of the recipes are particularly difficult, so this is a book suitable for beginning cooks all the way up to advanced; there are recipes that will appeal to everyone, and the recipes actually turn out as expected. Pantry and Palate: Remembering and Rediscovering Acadian Food will be a nice addition to any cookbook collection.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This book is part cookbook and part history lesson. It's fascinating to see regional dishes displayed in their own book. I think many home cooks have interesting stories surrounding their family recipes, and it's so neat to see Mr Thibault's. Although I would not attempt many of these recipes (mostly to do with needing to find hog heads) it's important to have them captured and preserved for future generations. An interesting and informative book!

The photos in this cookbook are gorgeous, and the recipes are approachable to all levels of cooks. What I enjoyed most about this cookbook is that it's a loving tribute to family history. I enjoyed the author's use of family recipes, photos, and handwritten cooking directions. This cookbook makes genealogy come alive for our current times. 

As a genealogist, it was fascinating to read the author's explanation of how Acadians introduce themselves, tracing family names back several generations.  As a home cook, I wanted to dive right in and prepare the delicious sounding foods. This cookbook will be a welcome addition to any kitchen library.

A wonderful historical look at the Acadian lifestyle.Love the handwritten historical recipies looks like an excellent cook book to add to your collection .

Pantry and Palate by Simon Thibault is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early September.

Somewhere in my brain, I had linked 'Acadia' to 'Cajun' when it's really the people who had originally lived and settled in the Canadian coastal provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, although some of them would make the trip south to live in Louisiana. Thibault happens to make it a family affair by bringing in the recipes of both his paternal and maternal Acadian grandparents and their respective cousins, whose written-out ingredient and recipe procedures are a little sparse and more about intuition, but Thibault adapts and even elaborates on each dish beautifully.

This is an interesting and visually attractive recipe book where old family recipes go together with a historical and cultural view of Acadians.

Before reading this book I was not aware of the specific cuisine and traditions of the Acadian communities in Canada. The term refers to the earliest European settlers in Canada and covers generally the areas of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Putting together the family traditions, the author created a special collection not only of recipes, but brought together an entire world with its own flavors and eating habits. 'So what is Acadian food? It's food that is humble homey, occasionally homely, and very comforting. It is made with love and devotion and from a larder that is small but mighty. It is made to be eaten'. A recommended read to anyone interesting in testing new recipes, but also discovering old forgotten cultures and the way in which they survived through food and family traditions. The visual part is also entincing, with beautiful photography which contributes to a better representation of the food stories.