(2002) Real Stew: 300 Recipes for Authentic Home-Cooked Cassoulet, Gumbo, Chili, Curry, Minestrone, Bouillabaise, Stroganoff, Boulash, Chowder, and Much More. By Clifford A. Wright. (ISBN: 1558321985 / 1-55832-198-5)

Book Description: Harvard Common Press, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., 2002. First Edition Thus, number line on copyright page reads: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Pumpkin Hard Cover Boards and Spine with Gold Lettering. 388 pages, 8.125" x 9.375" tall, 1.5" thick, Illustrated. As New copy - Never read.

Book Condition: As New. Front cover has a mild crease.

Dust Jacket Condition: As New. NON price-clipped DJ [$Not Stated].

About This Book: First Edition and Printing. THREE HUNDRED recipes. "In 'Real Stew,' culinary vagabond Clifford Wright takes on the entire world of stew, seeking out and giving us everyone's bowl of comfort, whether that bowl is enjoyed on Cape Cod, or in Veracruz, Sicily, Lebanon, Greece, Morocco, Aruba, Sweden, Brazil, India, or on the French Riviera. Almost 50 countries in all are represented here." 388 pages.

Synopsis: In this book, the author takes cooks on a culinary voyage around the world to discover the favorite comfort foods of nearly 50 countries.

Review: The global scope of stews and other long-simmered, richly warming dishes is vast. Clifford Wright's Real Stew offers 300 recipes for this delicious fare--everything from basic Irish stew through stroganoff, bouillabaisse, gumbo, feijoada, and much more. What makes Wright's More...dishes--and cookbook--different from similar efforts (besides its all-under-one-roof commitment) is his insistence on authenticity. Readers will find, for example, a recipe for the famous French Daube Provençale that calls for salt pork in addition to slab bacon, plus beef or veal foot, among other ingredients. Wright's devotion to the real thing will excite most readers, and while it may discourage others, all will find the recipes clear and easy to follow. The results of Wright's devotion to formulas in every way justify the kitchen (and shopping) duty required.

The recipe selection is definitive. The section on lamb stews, for example, contains over 50 mouthwatering recipes, from the paprika-hot Classic Lamb Stew of Andalusia; piquant Abruzzi Lamb Stew with Egg and Lemon Custard; and Sweetly Saffroned Lamb, Onion, and Golden Raisin Stew of the Jews of Morocco; to Indian Rogan Josh and Martinique-Style Mutton Curry, among others. Other sections, like those on seafood stews and vegetable stews, are equally comprehensive--and enticing. Wright also provides inviting background material, and sidebars such as What's a Cardoon? and Cuisine of the Poor, which details the birth of many stew-type dishes. With notes on equipment and a comprehensive list of ingredient sources, the book is full of worthwhile information as well as wonderful cooking. --Arthur Boehm 

About The Author: Clifford A. Wright won the James Beard/ KitchenAid Cookbook of the Year award and the James Beard Award for the Best Writing on Food in 2000 for "A Mediterranean Feast" which was also a finalist for the IACP Cookbook of the Year award. Saveur magazine chose the book for its Saveur 100 list  His book "Mediterranean Vegetables" was chosen one of the top ten Cookbooks of 2001 by the Chicago Tribune and his first cookbook, "Cucina Paradiso: The Heavenly Food of Sicily," was a "best book of 1992" in the New York Times Book Review’s Christmas List.  He is the author of 14 books, of which 12 are cookbooks and a contributor to eight others.  His latest book "The Best Soups in the World" will be published by Wiley in 2009.  Colman Andrews, former editor of Saveur magazine called Wright "the reigning English-speaking expert on the cuisines and culinary culture of the Mediterranean." As an independent food scholar he has lectured at the Center for European Studies at Harvard, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, the Rusk School for International Affairs at Davidson College, the Culinary Institute of America, and other universities.  He also writes for food magazines such as Saveur, Gourmet, Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, and Bon Appétit and wrote all the food entries for Columbia University's "Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East." His scholarly articles on food have appeared in peer-review journals such as Gastronomica, Food and Foodways, and Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean Studia Arabo-Islamica Mediterranea. Wright is also a nationally recognized cook and has been a guest chef on Sara Moulton’s Food Network show and has taught cooking classes at Sur la Table, Central Markets in Texas, the Institute for Culinary Education in New York, the Rhode Island School of Design and other cooking schools around the United States and in Italy.  Wright opened his own cooking school, the Venice Cooking School in California in 2009 with fellow award-winning cookbook author Martha Rose Shulman.  He is on the Advisory Board of the journal Alimentum: The Literature of Food and is a contributor to Tomatoandhealth.com as well as writing a for his own web site www.cliffordawright.com and his blog cuisines-mediterranean.blogspot.com.

For the latest cooking class listings and to register for Clifford A. Wright and Martha Rose Shulman's Venice Cooking School please visit www.VeniceCookingSchool.com