NT- which recipes are good, which are bad?

[bright_eyes]

I don't yet own Nourishing Traditions and would like to buy it. But I am hesitant because I keep reading that many of the recipes are really bad. But then I have also read that a few are really good. So I was wondering if we could compile a list of the good recipes and the bad ones. I would like to know which ones to avoid and which ones are keepers. Is there enough good ones in it to justify owning the book?

[spartz]

IMO all the extra info that comes with the book justifies having it. My favourite recipes are the ginger carrots, the yoghurt bread and the tomato ketchup. I also love having the book as a handy reference for making broths and fermenting/culturing.

[mbravebird]

I agree with spartz. It's a really good reference; you won't regret having it, even if you eventually grow out of the recipes themselves. It's really useful to have basic instructions about all those different things in one book, even if you end up not preferring her particular recipes.

[nurturebaby]

I agree with pp's. I actually don't really even think of it as a cookbook! It's worth having more for the information and the fact that you can reference it. I probably should try more of the recipes, though! One that I LOVE is the sweet potato silver dollars - so good. The basic brown rice (unsoaked version) for some reason makes the rice taste sooooo good - I can't cook rice any other way now!

Unfortunately, I don't really enjoy soaked grains though - I can taste the acid and it annoys me!

[MyLilPwny]

I've also heard that the fermented ginger carrots are delicious. I have the book, just got it about a month ago, so I haven't tried any of the recipes yet.

[vegmom]

With the information you get from NT you can adapt them to many other recipes.

In the beginning I used some of NT recipes but have not used it as a cookbook for a few years. I prefer my own collection.

[tanyalynn]

For the fermented veggies, if you don't use whey, the book calls for extra salt that usually makes the ferments too salty. IME the amount of salt is pretty flexible, I just do the basic recipe without the whey and without extra salt and they turn out.

I like how it teaches the general approach to many things (things like how to dehydrate nuts, and then make nut butters, how to ferment veggies even if I change the spices, stuff like that) and I like the sidebars and the beginnings of chapters with general information.

There's also a great fermented veggies thread around...
http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...ight=fermented

Not as a substitute to NT, but it helps with making ferments turn out.

[kangaroomum25]

I like the cornbread, the pineapple chutney, yum, pancakes, mmm, carrot cake *drool*

[bonbon mama]

I like the book for the techniques but the recipes are hit or miss.

I enjoyed
1. Dosas p 510
2. Crispy and Holiday Nuts pp 514-515
3. Mayonnaise (with optonal whey) p 137
4. Rice p 466
5. Buckwheat pancakes p 478

I would not make these again:
1. Banana bread
2. whole grain crackers p 518

[dogmom327]

The Korean Beef recipe is great if you make it in the crock pot (I just use round steak since that's what I usually have lots of). I also like the green bean w/cashews recipe although I add chicken and sometimes water chesnuts. I use the crispy nuts directions which work fine. ITA though that having the book just for the extra info is well worth the price.

[mbravebird]

I LOVE the asian salad dressing recipe in NT. I use acv instead of rice vinegar. It has the perfect balance of ginger and sesame, sweet and piquant. Mmm.

[425lisamarie]

Alot of the recipes for sauces and things like that are good. Or at least a decent start and you can adapt. The chicken curry sauce is really good as is

[tinuviel_k]

I got Nourishing Traditions over six years ago. I tried so many of the recipes the first year and finally figured out that so many of them needed some sort of improvement. Honestly, I don't even bother with it as a cookbook anymore: I got sick and tired of being disappointed with the results. It was like Russian Roulette with the recipes: "Hmmm...this one looks interesting. But how will it turn out?" 1/3 of the time it would be good, 2/3 of the time I wasn't happy with the results at all. In the end I got tired and just gave up.

I apply some of her techniques to other recipes to make them more TF friendly, and some of her techniques are so poor that I don't bother. For instance, I ferment nothing according to her recipes: 3 day ferment in a sealed mason jar for every single thing. (See previous posts of mine for the erupting mason jar full of ruby red sauerkraut and juice experience). I feel like Wild Fermentation does a 100% better job with anything that ferments.

I still recommend getting it, though, because It is a wealth of information about food, culture, and current dietary limitations. Instead of a cookbook I use it as a reference and a tool for education. I've learned a lot from NT, despite my dislike for the cookbook portion.

[kangaroomum25]

She leaves a few things out sometimes, just isn't descriptive enough, but I still love the book.

[pampered_mom]

I've actually had very few *bad* recipes from NT - the exception being the ferment recipes...I pretty much stay away from those. I know that everyone here complains about it, but honestly I don't think it's that bad. If you're uncertain about it, why not try to check it out from your local library. That way you an give some of the recipes a try for yourself to see if you think it's worthwhile.

[cathochick]

I made the Pot Roast with Chiles (pg. 341) and the Mexican Rice (pg. 470) tonight and both were delicious. I haven't had much success with the Basic Muffins (pg. 482), the Yogurt Dough (pg. 485), or the Almond Cookies (pg. 528), but the Banana Bread (pg. 483) turned out great with an additional banana and being cooked in two loaves instead of one. The Dutch Baby Pancake is great if you leave out the water in the recipe (pg. 479). The Red Enchilada Sauce (pg. 156) is tasty and spicy. The fermented Salsa (pg. 103) was good. The Ginger Carrots were too gingery for me but the Kimchi (pg. 94) was decent. I also like the Beet Kvass (pg. 610--use less salt) and Kombucha (pg. 596).

I make the Basic Beans (pg. 496) and Refried Beans (pg. 496) often, both very good. The Beans and Rice, Jamaican Style was a big hit (pg. 501). The Lentil-Pecan Patties (pg. 508) were amazing! I love the Crispy Pecans (pg. 513), Popcorn (pg. 521), Tapioca Pudding (pg. 544), Chicken Stock (pg. 124), Basic, Herb, Garlic, and Balsamic Dressings (pg. 129-130), Coconut Chicken Soup (pg. 198), Chicken Rice Soup (pg. 199), Roman Lentil Soup (pg. 215) and the Curried Lentil Soup variation. The Carrots Vichy were great (pg. 378). The Stuffed Zucchini was pretty good (pg. 411).

The Whey and Cream Cheese are really easy to make (pg. 87). DH really likes the Sauerkraut (pg. 92) and Kvass (pg. 595). The Mayonnaise needs a different oil (pg. 137). There's a recipe I've heard is good on the Eat Fat, Lose Fat Web site.

The Chicken Liver Pate (pg. 171) tastes good but I still have a hard time eating it because I'm not used to eating organ meats. We do a lot of Fried Eggs (pg. 437), Breakfast Porridges (pg. 455), Irish Oatmeal (pg. 456, I use steel cut oats, soak in two cups water, 4 tbsp. yogurt, and 1 tbsp. wheat berries--ground--then cook in an additional two cups water with sea salt in the morning), Fried Mush (pg. 457), Millet Casserole (pg. 461) and Basic Brown Rice (pg. 466). I've also had success with the Sourdough Starter (pg. 489) and Sourdough Bread (491).

The things I haven't cared for much were the Roman Egg Soup (pg. 206) and the Miso Soup (pg. 201, too salty). The Tofu in Broth (pg. 201) is good for a very light meal or start to a more hearty meal.

There are a lot of great recipes in this book. It's an excellent reference. Some of the recipes need a little tweaking, but overall it's definitely worth owning.

[Rawa]

As every-one else said the book is fantastic even without the recipes. It has so much information. Once you have studied it you can pretty much take any cook book, (I love jaime oliver) and adapt it. The NT book is about ideas and giving you the basics.

[crunchy_mama]

I wouldn't bother getting it personally. I borrowed one from a friend and checked it out from the library and while an interesting read, definitely not worth it for me to buy. I don't remember liking any recipe out of there. I had Garden of Eating as well and loved the info there, but no luck w/ their recipes either. What has worked the best by far is just tweaking recipes I find, really it isn't very hard at all. I would go straight to the source for the dietary info and read Weston Price's work- I prefer to hear the word straight from the horse's mouth rather than someone else intepretation of it- that is available online. I would then get Wild Fermentation for it's fermenting info and check out some other TF books to have a well rounded look at it all.

[~Shanna~]

I"ve had pretty good luck with the recipes. Only bad ones have been buttermilk buscuits (I've never managed to make a good one from anywhere) and I have trouble getting the ginger carrots to not mold, but that's my issue. The fruit chutney with apples was also nasty.

But the carrot cake, Korean soup, yogurt, dressings.....I feel like I've tried a lot of them and they've been great. Ginger ale, kombucha, beet kvass....I know I'm forgetting several...

[kangaroomum25]

Oh I forgot about the ginger ale, I love that stuff, especially mixed about half and half with kombucha, anybody else tried that? I also made the sweet potato soda, it was ok, but the goats liked it better then I did The orangina (sp?), and the punch were both good too. The rasberry had mold on it, but other then that I think it was ok too.