CleverRoot

2 2 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t COOKBOOK CORNER by Jesse Hom-Dawson ■cr North Wild Kitchen: Home Cooking from the Heart of Norway by Nevada Berg Prestel, $35 Because I'm an old soul in a 30-year-old body, one of my favorite things to watch is Norway's "Slow TV." It's the visual embodiment of hygge, a Norwegian word that evokes coziness and warmth. On Slow TV, you can watch a train wind through breathtaking scenery from Bergen to Oslo for seven hours or spend eight hours witnessing a group of Nor- wegian women break a knitting world record. Long story short, Slow TV is comforting and pleasant—not unlike blogger Nevada Berg's debut cookbook North Wild Kitchen. The book is divided into different aspects of Norwegian food culture—includ- ing fishing, foraging, and camping—with ingredients likely foreign to many American cooks. Beer-battered spruce tips with syrup and moose burger with crispy caramelized onions, forest-berry relish, and root-veg- etable chips make appearances, while other recipes—like the lemony baked salmon with cucumber salad or light and fluffy cheesecake— trend more toward the familiar. Whether you're bold enough to explore new dishes or prefer to stick to the simpler side of things, Berg aims to help you achieve an enviable hygge lifestyle at your dining table. The Great Grilled Cheese Book by Eric Greenspan Ten Speed Press, $17 For such a simple food item, grilled cheese sandwiches can be a contro- versial topic. Sourdough or whole wheat? Cut in half or diagonally? Cheddar, gruyere, brie, or a mélange of cheeses? Everyone has their own preference when it comes to ingre- dients and methods, but chef Eric Greenspan's new cookbook will open readers' minds to a wealth of new possibilities in the world of grilled cheese. For soul-food fans, there's the Night and Day with maple Ameri- can cheese sandwiched between buttermilk waffles and topped with fried chicken and maple syrup; Italian lovers, meanwhile, get the Mulberry Street with spicy tomato sauce, mozzarella, meatballs, and focaccia made from scratch. Another memorable entry is The Champ, a sandwich with short rib and taleggio cheese that Food Network host Alton Brown named the third-best comfort food in America. Ultimately, this book seems to prove once and for all that the perfect grilled cheese awaits even the most elitist sandwich pur- ists amongst us. Honey Salt Food and Drink: A Culinary Scrapbook by Elizabeth Blau and Kim Canteenwalla Independently published, $30 Popular New American bistro Honey Salt opened in 2013 roughly 10 miles from the raucous Las Vegas Strip, and its married founders Elizabeth Blau and Kim Canteenwalla have since released this "culinary scrapbook" full of photos, stories, and recipes. A breakdown of a classic New England fry, for example, is accompanied by photos and stories of trips to Cape Cod, while tips for the perfect steak or charcuterie board are peppered throughout. For those looking for recipes directly from the restaurant, a sec- tion features favorites like meatball pizza and Kurobuta pork chop. Whether or not you get the chance to actually visit, this cookbook will help you experience Honey Salt's amazing food in the comfort of your own home.

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