Acorns & Cattails: A Modern Foraging Cookbook of Forest, Farm & Field Hardcover – September 20, 2016

Let's get this out of the way: yes, that's my name on the cover as "Contributions by". Why is my name there? Because I love to write and Rob Connoley is the best Chef I have ever encountered in more than a decade as a foodie and restaurant critic. That includes Thomas Keller. That includes David Chang. I could go on.What makes Rob and his cooking interesting, recommendable, and delicious? Integrity; his foundation is integrity. Integrity underlies every single thing he does. On that foundation is laid his curiosity, his talent as a cook, and his love of outdoor places. This means he will go out at 6am to snip some wild herbs for the evening's dinner service: just enough for the dishes, not nearly so much as to disrupt the growth of that patch of foliage. He wants there to be enough, always.His integrity means that taking a short-cut is not only unappealing, but it is boring. Pop-tarts from scratch? Check. Your own cured ham that takes nothing more than time? Check. The best chocolate chip cookies you've ever tasted, made with sustainable mesquite flour? Check. Rob's sweet tooth is legendary and it leads to some outstanding recipes in this book, from cookies to tea cakes to chocolates. The Ginger Horehound cookies are my favorite.Worried about difficulty? Don't be. These recipes are what you would find in any mainstream cooking magazine like Bon appetit. Some recipes are stupendously simple; others have several components that make for an impressive final dish, but could also stand alone or pared down as your time and pantry allow. For example, the Acorn Pasta dish is comprised of Acorn Pasta, Spicy Crawfish Sauce, and Preserved Kumquats. Leaving off the preserved kumquats saves some time. Serving the crawfish sauce on its own as a stew would be delicious, too. Of course, assembling each part into the whole most closely replicates what you'd receive at the restaurant, but working with what you have the bandwidth for is a huge part of Rob's strategy, too.The back of the book includes a resources list and information on where and how to obtain the foraged ingredients. The essays within the book explore the big picture: how Rob got interested in this life as well as the people who supply and inspire him, from a local "plant whisperer" to his rabbit grower. The community around this kind of cooking is both essential and growing, and with books like these it will keep doing so for years.Do I gush? Sure. But there are very few cooks—or humans—out there like Rob and this book lets you enjoy a little of his handiwork in your own home, even if you can't visit him in his new adventures in St. Louis.

This is more than food porn (although it is that too, with gorgeous photography provided by Jay Hemphill), it's an insight into the mind and ethos of a committed professional with a commitment to sustainability and responsible food production. The recipes are exotic, clear and concise - and manageable. I really enjoyed the thoughtful essays on Chef Rob's background, and food team, including foraging experts, a naturalist and his dog, Lexi. I may not cook from this cookbook everyday, but the principles it explores make me think daily about the food I purchase, prepare and consume and its impact on the local, regional and global environment.

Absolutely gorgeous book! I bought it because I had dinner at the restaurant every time an epicure friend came to our little town and had lunch every Thursday there too. The friends were blown away by the presentation, imagination and flavors.. I wanted a lasting memory of those times. Not only are the phorotgraphs outstanding but the recipes work for me and I get compliments on "my" cuisine (Rob's recipes). His reputation is known through me alone from California to Colorado and beyond. I have friends in St. Louis panting for the new restaurant to open.

A gorgeous cookbook full of easy-to-follow recipes. The chef's attention to detail shows through. Not only does he put together delicious recipes, he offers substitutions for ingredients that aren't local (no more googling substitution options in a recipe) as well as online sources for ingredients that may seem rare to some. This book is not only focused on the food, but also in the joy of foraging and the accomplishment of the home cook to make the most unusual dishes in an easy-to-follow format.

Great book, fun to read. Nice ideas

Great writing and photos. This is a excellent cookbook for technical cooks who love nature. Recipes are all about unique taste combinations with sorta hard to source/gather ingredients. The dessert recipes are plentiful and mind blowing especially the chocolates. This cookbook takes farm to table to a whole new level, forest/4H to table. This is not a use regularly cookbook but a mind expanding inspirational cookbook.

The author and chef put a lot of time into this book and it is very well detailed. I was hoping for more forest/ wild plant foraging recipes, not so much meat oriented.

I was expecting more recipes with acorns and cattails (title of book). There are many very interesting recipes, but few that are practical.Both my husband and I were disappointed.

Lo chef Rob Connoley è in attività a Silver City (Nuovo Messico) in un zona piuttosto periferica rispetto al circuito conosciuto della ristorazione statunitense; il suo libro Acorns and Cattails si presenta con tutti i crismi dello stile “locavore”, a partire dalla sua particolare estetica, le foto e la grafica. Il titolo fa riferimento a prodotti naturali assai di nicchia come la ghianda e la mazzasorda (o lisca maggiore), quest'ultima una pianta da paludi e acquitrini con i cui rizomi qualche milione di anni fa si preparava una farina molto proteica.Nella parte introduttiva sono ben descritte le indicazioni etiche necessarie per un buon forager, tuttavia procedendo via via nella lettura ci si accorge di alcune incoerenze; in particolare il consiglio di raccogliere dove le piante sono abbondanti, ben distribuite e accessibili e di concentrarsi su quelle di facile utilizzo sembra contraddire l'afflato elitario dell'intero libro.Proprio nel ricettario, minimo è l'uso di erbe “accessibili e facili”, non appare quasi nessun fungo (e perché mai?), inoltre qualche combinazione risulta un po' forzata (parere assai personale, certamente).Poche ma buone però sono le ricette di carne (lepre, pecari, piccione, anatra), molto interessanti quelle dei dolci (tra cui un bon bon con cacao e cuore d'alce), infusi e liquori (tra cui anche un classico nocino).Da spulciare con attenzione.

As a professional chef & and director of wildfood workshops this book has taken me back to school, because Rob`s techniques are oustanding and delicious !