The Flavors of Olive Oil: A Tasting Guide and Cookbook

256 Pages·2002·25.73 MB·English

by  Deborah Krasner

U.S. $30.00
Can. $47.50
alk along the aisles of almost any grocery store
r r in America and you’ll be overwhelmed by the
shelves of olive oil: bottles from France, Greece, Italy, and
Spain; cold-pressed oil; hand-pressed oil. How do you
know which oil is best? Which one should you choose for
salads? For sauteing? For dipping?
In The Flavors of Olive Oil, Deborah Krasner demystifies
the world of olive oil. Olives—just like wine grapes—respond
directly to variations in climate, soil, cultivation, and har¬
vest, so each oil is unique. By classifying olive oil in four
distinct groups (delicate and mild, fruity and fragrant,
olivey and peppery, and leafy-green and grassy), Krasner
guides readers through the different characteristics of more
than 150 different olive oils, providing a step-by-step tasting
guide to the flavors and aromas of each one. With notes on
oils from Italy to Morocco to California, Krasner transports
the reader to olive-oil-producing regions around the world.
As all good cooks know, olive oil is an essential ingre¬
dient in preparing great food. In this comprehensive
volume, Krasner incorporates olive oil into more than
100 delicious, mouthwatering recipes. With everything
from appetizers and small dishes to breads and desserts,
Krasner showcases each type of oil and combines com¬
plementary flavors. Leafy-green and grassy oils stand out
when combined with shellfish in Seared Scallops on
Chickpea Crepes. The fruity oils sing when combined
with pasta in Penne with Pesto from Naples. The pep¬
pery oils retain their boldness in the recipe for Seared
Sirloin Steak on a Bed of Watercress, and they add com¬
plexity to mashed potatoes in Olive Oil and Rosemary
Mashed Potatoes.
Demonstrating that olive oil isn't just for use in savory
dishes, Krasner offers recipes like Gingered Carrot Cake
with Figs, “Hot” Chocolate Cake, Orange Chocolate
Chip Biscotti, and Apple-Cherry Cardamom Strudel.
These recipes, and many more, will showcase the delicate
(continued, on bachflap)

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/flavorsofoliveoiOOOOkras

also by Deborah Krasner
Kitchens for Cooks: Planning Your Perfect Kitchen
Heirloom Skills and Country Pastimes:
Traditional Projects for the Kitchen, Home, Garden, and Family
From Celtic Hearths:
Baked Goods from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales
Celtic: Design and Style in Houses of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales
Deborah Krasner
Illustrated by Elizabeth Krasner
Photographs by Ann Stratton
Simon & Schuster
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New York, NY 10020
Text copyright © 2002 by Deborah Krasner
Photography copyright © 2002 by Ann Stratton
Illustrations copyright © 2002 by Elizabeth Krasner
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered
trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk puchases,
please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales:
1-800-456-6798 or [email protected]
Design by Vertigo Design, NYC
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9876543
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krasner, Deborah.
The flavors of olive oil: a tasting guide and cookbook / Deborah Krasner;
illustrated by Elizabeth Krasner; photographs by Ann Stratton,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Cookery (olive oil). 2. Olive oil. I. Title.
TX819.042 K73 2002
641.6’463—dc21 2002070744
ISBN 0-7432-1403-X
Th S BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY DEAREST DAUGHTERS,
Abby and Lizzie, who have grown up eating this food.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For teaching me so much about olive oils and about other ingredients, I am
deeply indebted to Diane Harris Brown, Wendy Lane, and the Interna¬
tional Olive Oil Council, who sponsored trips to Greece, Spain, and Sicily,
and seminars in Stresa, Italy, which educated me greatly. I am also pro¬
foundly grateful to Marina Thompson and to the cooks, food producers,
and wine makers of Friuli and Umbria who hosted and taught our small
groups of food and wine journalists about the foods and wines of their re¬
gions. Marina also arranged for me to spend two days with the great Italian
cook Paola di Mauro, who furnished an unforgettable example of cooking
with generous amounts of olive oil from her own olive grove.
Here in the United States, Beatrice Uggi of Esperya has been espe¬
cially generous in teaching me about less well known ingredients and
specialty products. Cindi Nicolson of The Olive Merchant was the first
vendor to be excited about this project and to support it with tasting sam¬
ples, and Karine Lefrere of Oliviers&Co, Ari Weinzweig of Zingermans,
and David Tourville of the Olive Oil Club each contributed oils and
insights. Ken Skovron, of Darien Cheese, awed me with his olive oil
knowledge and was full of help. Manicaretti Imports sent me an extraor¬
dinary selection of outstanding oils, as did Corti Brothers and DeMedici
Imports. Thank you too to Simpson and Vail, Foodmatch, Foods from
Spain, Spirit of Provence, and A Cook’s Wares for sending oils for tasting.
Thank you to Kathleen O’Neill of Culinary Inspirations in Turkey,
who took me to the grill restaurant in Bodrum, where we both experi¬
enced vanilla-infused olive oil for the first time. Thank you too, Kathleen,
for your help in deconstructing Turkish food, and thank you to the
Turkish Tourist Board for bringing me to Turkey in the first place.
Kathy Gunst has been a true friend, source of inspiration, traveling
companion, and a generous resource, honest critic, and recipe tester dur-
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS