Book Review: THE NEW WILDCRAFTED CUISINE BY PASCAL BAUDAR

       

  Simply a stunning book, the visuals, photos, are just perfection as is the rest of the book. This is not a plant ID book and not a cook book in the sense that that you have ever seen in the past, but a real breakthrough on originality in dining. Pascal offers a broad array of foods and drinks in an elegant and exciting way very clever in its presentation in an inspirational manner, yes even we can do it. Creating a form of foraging that is both a wild combo of ingenuity that demonstrates the huge potential of culinary art into practical recipes that nature provides.

Pascal’s hard earned infinite knowledge and the passion for the wild foods shine through in this presentation like you have never seen. We hear about books that are one of a kind and at last here is one that truly is one of a kind. Clear instructions for each recipe, that are unique, innovative ideas for using the wild flavors, all for your delight. The contents are amazing from making wild cheeses to primitive beers and cooking with dirt, sticks, bark, leaves, sap, and stones. Preserving by dehydration and making cold in fusions, creating wild spice blends and using wild mustards. How to make wild sodas and wild hot sauces to making jams and syrups with wild ingredients.

 Pascal states the book is not about identifying plants and not about cooking either it is about exploring from a culinary perspective what the wilderness is offering us. It’s about how to create interesting ingredients that will represent your local terroir as a forager, cook, or chef, to some degree it fills a gap between foraging and cooking. Many of the ideas and methods presented here you can use regardless of where you live most of the plants or related species are found around the world. 

Packed with information not one wasted photo or comment is to be found. Pascal has set a very high bar for anyone one to follow, and good luck with that. A most beautiful book I must confess that Pascal is a personal friend, and I am proud to be. His book has been a work of love in the truest sense. The detail is amazing, not to be missed, well worth the investment. A big book in every way. publisher is: Chelsea Green Publishing ISBN 97816035856061

                                                         REVIEW BY DUDE MCLEAN