Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad

Rating:
Summary: Transport yourself to Norway with Kitchen of Light
Review: Don't be mistaken, Kitchen of Light is much more than a cookbook. It is a collection of personal essays, beautiful photos and simple recipes. I indulged in the book cover to cover without stepping foot in the kitchen or having one bite to eat, though it certainly whetted my appetite.

Viestad's humorous and touching essays are about nature and simple pleasures in Norway, not cooking. They are humbly poetic and delightfully educational. He describes harvesting mussels with a rake, kissing a halibut, learning to walk in order to pick berries, sampling the roe from a live lobster, herding sheep and toasting with aquavit (skal!) while incorporating bits about Norwegian culture, history and Norse mythology.

You can't help but fall in love with Norway after reading Kitchen of Light.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book for anyone. Nowegian Heritage not required.
Review: Go No Further, just Furthur. This is a wonderful book. The author has cooked up a book of food and recipes from Norway that is very personal and beautiful. The recipes are a superb selection that vary from traditional fish recipes that are as old as Odin and the Norwegian Sea to recent introductions of culinary delights and the twists that trade has conjured in modern Norwegian kitchens. The book is not just a list of recipes, and this is what sets this book apart. The author has given background information about the recipes and includes quite a bit of history and personal stories that bring the reader right into Andreas Viestad's kitchen. The photography by Mette Randem is amazingly beautiful, giving the book an added experience to the reader/cook. To be short, this is the book you are looking for if you are reading this sentence.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!!!
Review: Highly recommended: "Kitchen of Light, New Scandinavian Cooking" by Andreas Viestad
I bought this book on a hunch and unseen from Amazon.com to use it as "housewarming gifts" while staying with friends in New England this August, mostly because I always enjoy his weekly column in a major Norwegian newspaper.

Two of my friends received the book prior to our arrival, and below is what they wrote me:

"Your wonderful book arrived and it is stunning. The only thing that could be better would be to be in those photographs enjoying all that food with you! I am going to show it to a friend as she loves fish too, and we will try some of the recipes together. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you!

I will let you know of my culinary adventures!
Thanks again for the spectacular book."
**************

"Good morning, your gift arrived! You won't believe it, but I read an article about Andreas Viestad in the paper a couple of weeks ago, and told my husband I was going to order his book, so imagine my surprise when your gift arrived! I can't wait to try out some of the recipes. Thank you so much and we're looking forward to your visit."
**********

Of course, I was more than a little curious as to what I had gotten myself into, so upon arrival in the US I checked out a major bookstore, found a copy there and bought it to see for myself. And I was really, really pleased about what he accomplished.

A couple of other friends received a copy also, and they enthusiastically called it "a book within a cookbook since it also offers a lot of information about the country of Norway and the landscape photos are great as well", and that describes it pretty accurately I think.

So, why don't you go ahead and see for yourselves!!!

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I bought this book on a hunch and unseen from Amazon.com to use as "housewarming gifts" while staying with friends in New England this August, mostly because I always enjoy his weekly column in a major Norwegian newspaper.

Two of my friends received the book prior to our arrival, and below is what they wrote:

"Your wonderful book arrived and it is stunning. The only thing that could be better would be to be in those photographs enjoying all that food with you! I am going to show it to a friend as she loves fish too, and we will try some of the recipes together. Thank you, Thank you. Thank you!

I will let you know of my culinary adventures!
Thanks again for the spectacular book."
**************

"Good morning, your gift arrived! You won't believe it, but I read an article about Andreas Viestad in the paper a couple of weeks ago, and told my husband I was going to order his book, so imagine my surprise when your gift arrived! I can't wait to try out some of the recipes. Thank you so much and we're looking forward to your visit."
**********

Of course, I was more than a little curious as to what I had gotten myself into, so upon arrival in the US I checked out a major bookstore, found a copy there and bought it to see for myself. And I was really, really pleased about what he accomplished.

A couple of other friends received a copy also, and they enthusiastically called it "a book within a cookbook since it offers a lot of information about the country of Norway and the landscape photos are great as well", and that describes it pretty accurately I think.

So, why don't you go ahead and see for yourselves!!!

Rating:
Summary: Scandinavian Curry?!
Review: I guess I didn't know what to expect with this one, but I was still surprised at some of the recipes. A surprising number of them include curry! I guess in an effort to turn away from pickled herring and aquavit all the time, Veistad has highlighted norwegian foodstuff with a touch of the exotic orient. Probably not a good introduction to the tradional foods of scandanavia, its still capable of inspiring interest in that part of the world.

Also, this is a beautiful cookbook, even if many of the recipes are surprising, with many gorgeous photos, capable of holding its place on the coffee table with any other art book.

Rating:
Summary: Especially commended and recommended for aspiring chefs
Review: Kitchen Of Light is the official companion book to the public television series "New Scandinavian Cooking with Andreas Viestad". Excellent color photographs, mouth-watering recipes, and vignettes of the lives and culture that embrace these taste-tested dishes abound. From Salt-Baked Salmon; to Mussels with Aquavit; Wild Blueberry Parfait; and Juniper-Spiced Venison, each individual, mouth-watering dish is wonderfully presented with painstaking attention to detail combined with easy-to-follow instructions. Especially commended and recommended for aspiring chefs and kitchen cooks interested in delving into Scandinavian cuisine (particularly the seafood dishes), Kitchen Of Light is an invaluable addition to any personal or professional cookbook collection!

Rating:
Summary: CLIMATE IS COLD BUT COOKING IS HOT!
Review: Temperatures may plummet but the cooking is hot and delicious in this intriguing cookbook, a companion to Viestad's upcoming PBS series. He's young, adventurous, and has an appealing approach to food.

In his own words "Kitchen Of Light" "is a book that features food and recipes from Scandinavia, the northernmost part of Europe. Our culinary traditions are all about proximity to nature - an important part of our lives."

Those words take luscious life as we find Viestad on a beach in a mobile kitchen presiding over cod carpaccio, baked halibut, and arctic cloudberry cream. Honey coated leg of lamb with winter vegetables is served in an ancient Viking city, and the dauntless young chef even takes to the water on a fisherman's boat to prepare cod roe and cod with truffles.

Good food brings the holidays to mind and we find a fitting yuletide celebration with Christmas pork rib and rice pudding.

There is more, much, more, and all of it mouth watering. Where else will you find the best cheeseburger in the world made of grouse, venison, pork and fois gras topped with Norwegian cheese?

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: CLIMATE IS COLD BUT COOKING IS HOT!
Review: Temperatures may plummet but the cooking is hot and delicious in this intriguing cookbook, a companion to Viestad's upcoming PBS series. He's young, adventurous, and has an appealing approach to food.

In his own words "Kitchen Of Light" "is a book that features food and recipes from Scandinavia, the northernmost part of Europe. Our culinary traditions are all about proximity to nature - an important part of our lives."

Those words take luscious life as we find Viestad on a beach in a mobile kitchen presiding over cod carpaccio, baked halibut, and arctic cloudberry cream. Honey coated leg of lamb with winter vegetables is served in an ancient Viking city, and the dauntless young chef even takes to the water on a fisherman's boat to prepare cod roe and cod with truffles.

Good food brings the holidays to mind and we find a fitting yuletide celebration with Christmas pork rib and rice pudding.

There is more, much, more, and all of it mouth watering. Where else will you find the best cheeseburger in the world made of grouse, venison, pork and fois gras topped with Norwegian cheese?

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book for anyone. Nowegian Heritage not required.
Review: This is a wonderful book. The author has cooked up a book of food and recipes from Norway that is very personal and beautiful. The recipes are a superb selection that vary from traditional fish recipes that are as old as Odin and the Norwegian Sea to recent introductions of culinary delights and the twists that trade has conjured in modern Norwegian kitchens. The book is not just a list of recipes, and this is what sets this book apart. The author has given background information about the recipes and includes quite a bit of history and personal stories that bring the reader right into Andreas Viestad's kitchen. The photography by Mette Randem is amazingly beautiful, giving the book an added experience to the reader/cook. To be short, this is the book you are looking for if you are reading this sentence.