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not only does cornstarch help seal in
flavor and ensure tenderness of proteins
while frying, it helps thicken sauces for
such dishes as Happy Family (pork,
chicken, and beef with mixed vegetables)
and shredded crispy chili beef. He
rounds out this volume with such surefire
hits as sweet chili crispy chicken wings,
chicken and sweet corn soup, sweet and
sour chicken balls, and mixed Chinese
mushrooms. Wan’s debut will resonate
most with those in search of recreating
the familiar. (Jan.)Provence: The Cookbook
Caroline Rimbert Craig. Interlink, $30 (208p)
ISBN 978-1-62371-920-3
Craig (coauthor, The Little Book of
Lunch), who comes from generations of
farmers in Provence, arranges time-tested
Provençal recipes by season in this
unfussy cookbook. Nothing nouvelle
here: recipes include sandwiches of roast
chicken and mayonnaise on baguette,
green beans tossed in garlic butter, and
tapenade made with a mortar and pestle.
“Pizzas,” created by arranging tomato
sauce and mozzarella on sliced day-old
baguettes and baking them, are as out-of-
the-box as the proceedings get. The
author’s prose is often elegiac: one mini-
essay describes the thrifty practice of
eating broth followed by a second course
of the vegetables used to make it, and a
breakdown of the intense work behind a
grape harvest strongly sets the mood.
Recipes for ratatouille and chicken liver
pâté are sensible and detailed, as are those
for everyday sweets, such as the simple
yogurt cake used to teach millions of
French children to bake. This languidly
paced book culminates in menus for
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, along
with an overview of the ritual of
arranging a display of 13 sweets (repre-
senting the 12 apostles and Jesus)
including nougat, a sweet, orange
blossom–flavored bread, and quince
cheese. This is a pleasant, albeit familiar,
paean to tradition. (Nov.)★ Bread on the Table:
Recipes for Making and Enjoying
Europe’s Most Beloved Breads
David Norman. Ten Speed, $35 (256p) ISBN
978-1-60774-925-7
In this greatest hits of bread, Normanhits all the right notes. After years
baking at home and abroad, Norman
settled down in Austin, Tex., and
opened Easy Tiger, a combination beer
garden and bakery, where he describes
what it’s like “baking bread in a tortilla
town.” He offers class recipes from
Europe, such as pain au levain and
miche (a country loaf of stone-ground
flour) from France, a Danish rye bread,
the popular German country bread
landbrot (he also includes a recipe for
pretzels), and Italian ciabatta. The
breads call for different ingredients and
techniques, but Norman, a patient and
thorough teacher, describes key stages
in the development of each: he explains
the key steps in building a sourdough
starter, the crucial role of water in devel-
oping a crunchy crust, and how to use a
stand mixer to simplify the bread-making
process. He also shares plenty of ideas
for carb accompaniments: a classic
croque monsieur is spot-on; a DIY
gravlax is perfect for Scandinavian rye
bread; and a beer cheese spread from
Munich is not to be missed. This terrific
work is sure to appeal to veterans and
novices alike. (Oct.)Curry & Kimchi:
Flavor Secrets for Creating 70
Asian-Inspired Recipes at Home
Unmi Abkin and Roger Taylor. Storey, $22.95
(176p) ISBN 978-1-63586-158-7
Abkin and Taylor, chefs of Coco and
the Cellar Bar in Easthampton, Mass.,
coax readers toward Asian “flavor secrets”
in recipes best suited for those new to the
wok. A Korean bolognese—a pork sauce
seasoned with ginger and gochujang,
which may be “unmistakably Korean”—
will feel familiar “when you pour it over
Korean Spaghetti or stuff it in Korean
Sloppy Joes.” Korean-inflected dishes,
drawing from Abkin’s early childhood in
South Korea, are a relative strength here.
Other Asian cuisines are less expertly
evoked: coriander and shrimp chow fun
tries without success to “avoid the mud-
diness” of a stir-fry by arranging boiled
noodles next to corn starch–thickened
sauce, topped with shrimp and raw pea
shoots. Readers may be thwarted in their
quest for Asian-inspired cuisine by the
fact that ingredients are scattered
throughout each recipe. Cooking aAdvertisement◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆http://www.tyndale.com★
What Is a
Girl Worth?
My Story of Breaking the
Silence and Exposing the
Truth about Larry Nassar
and USA Gymnastics
Rachael Denhollander.
Tyndale Momentum,
$26.99 (352p)
ISBN 978-1-4964-4133-1In this powerful debut, attorney
and former gymnast Denhollander
tells of her life leading to the 2018
conviction of sexual predator Larry
Nassar, a sports physician associated
with Michigan State University and the
USA Gymnastics team who molested
the author and more than 200 other
girls. Raised in Kalamazoo, Mich.,
Denhollander was homeschooled,
deeply religious, and aspired to become
a lawyer. “Gangly” and 5’6,” she didn’t
t the pro le of a gymnast but was
placed on her gym’s competitive team;
after sustaining a lower-back injury at
age 15, she was sent to Nassar, who
would—under the guise of treatment,
without gloves, and without consent—
vaginally penetrate her with his
ngers. She reported the abuse to her
coaches, but, she writes, they didn’t
believe her; nearly 16 years later when
another gymnast’s story of abuse by a
coach broke, Denhollander decided to
speak out again, eventually leading to
Nassar’s indictment and conviction.
Denhollander reveals her anguish
and emotional pain, her feelings of
helplessness (“How do I even try to
heal from something, when I don’t
even know what that ‘something’ is?”).
Denhollander’s brave and detailed
memoir serves as a clear-eyed look into
a disturbing case of sexual abuse that
gained national attention. (Sept.)
—Publishers Weekly
July 12, 2019