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The Essential Saffron Companion
This vibrantly illustrated volume brings the romance and beauty of our most versatile spice to life. Whether readers are looking for unusual recipes or intriguing culinary history, this luscious compendium has it all. Full color.
- GenresCookbooksNonfiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1996
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September 17, 2021
This is two books, both separate and intertwined. The first part is a guide to saffron, it’s history, and its use throughout history and throughout the world, as well as practical advice for its use in home kitchens. The second is a series of chapters of recipes on its use in the various centers of saffron production: Britain, Spain, Persia, India, Italy, France, Sweden, and the “Rest of the World”. Most of these chapters begin with a short description of saffron’s role in that area’s history and culture.
As a history book, this is a great cookbook, but its histories really ought to be true even if they aren’t. Most fascinating is that “The two words saffron and crocus, together with their derivative forms, are recognizable in nearly every language ever spoken by man.”
The first chapter of recipes converts a handful of recipes from older sources, ranging from The Roman Recipes of Apicius to the 14th, 15th, and 18th centuries. This includes a recipe for “endoring” roast meats, that is, making them a golden color using a saffron-vinegar-yolk glaze.
Of the recipes I tried, the most amazing was the Saffron Ice Cream. Many of the recipes are from other cookbooks or other chefs; this is from Adam Robinson, “chef/proprietor of the excellent Brackenbury restaurant in West London”. Sadly closed now, and I doubt I could have afforded to go there back in 1995 when I visited London had I known about it, but if this is an example of what they served there I am sorry to have missed it. Saffron seems to work best in creamy recipes. Until now my only go-to recipes for saffron were saffron risotto and saffron bread. This is the perfect saffron dish. Creamy, only one flavor, saffron, so that the sweetness enhances and mellows that one flavor.
There’s a potentially odd instruction in this recipe, which I chose to ignore.
That sounds a lot like the milk and cream should be left out on the counter overnight. This interpretation is bolstered by the next morning’s instructions to mix everything else in and put it “in a double boiler and cook over low heat for 3 minutes, or until the mixture coats the spoon.” There’s no way that refrigerated milk and eggs will reach the spoon-coating stage after only three minutes over low heat. From my experience with omelets, it might very well be the correct time for room temperature eggs and milk. I may try it his way next time I make it, but I suspect that his kitchen in England is a lot cooler than mine in Texas.
I’m also worried that if doing it his way makes the recipe even better, I’ll eat far too much of this.
The first recipe I made was Peach Murrabba from the chapter on India. It’s basically a saffron syrup over ripe peaches, with almonds and pistachios added, and served cold. It’s a wonderful flavor, but if I were to make it again I would not add the almonds and pistachios until just before eating. Adding nuts ahead of time to syrups is something I commonly see in Indian recipes, and I usually find the texture of the nuts adversely affected by the liquid.
The final recipe I tried was a wonderful Red Pepper soup from the chapter on Spain. It’s actually a recipe for a thick sauce, which can be converted into a soup by adding stock. In both forms it’s very nice. Unlike the ice cream, where the saffron is the only flavor, or the peaches, where the saffron shares with, really, only one other flavor, this is a more complex dish of roasted red pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, and thyme. The saffron ends up being a flavor enhancer, much like salt or cayenne. It’s there if you look for it, but is otherwise one of the building blocks of the overall flavor.
This is a beautiful book. Like many of the books I have from Ten-Speed Press, it is wonderfully designed, in this case with great watercolor (or watercolor-like, the credits don’t say) illustrations by Madeleine David. Also like those books it is horrendously edited. I don’t think the recipes were as badly edited as the text—other than the instruction to leave the milk/cream out overnight I don’t think I ran into any problems—but the many typos and mangled sentences in the text don’t inspire confidence.
I’m looking forward to trying one of the many saffron bread or bun recipes in this book, as well as some Saffron Parsnip Soup (Britain), Saffron Rice Pudding (Persia), almost certainly one of the many rice side dishes, the Chicken al Andalus (Spain), and the Egg Curry (India).
As a history book, this is a great cookbook, but its histories really ought to be true even if they aren’t. Most fascinating is that “The two words saffron and crocus, together with their derivative forms, are recognizable in nearly every language ever spoken by man.”
Such universal usage is unprecedented and indicates the extreme antiquity of their origin. They share a common resonance that has survived in near identical form since their inception, which echoes from the Bronze Age. This is surely a remarkable dual coincidence perhaps unparalleled in the spheres of botany and etymology.
…
The word saffron is an international epicurean definition that singularly unites mankind in a way no other cultivated substance ever has. Its nomenclature is more common than the words we use for water.
The first chapter of recipes converts a handful of recipes from older sources, ranging from The Roman Recipes of Apicius to the 14th, 15th, and 18th centuries. This includes a recipe for “endoring” roast meats, that is, making them a golden color using a saffron-vinegar-yolk glaze.
Of the recipes I tried, the most amazing was the Saffron Ice Cream. Many of the recipes are from other cookbooks or other chefs; this is from Adam Robinson, “chef/proprietor of the excellent Brackenbury restaurant in West London”. Sadly closed now, and I doubt I could have afforded to go there back in 1995 when I visited London had I known about it, but if this is an example of what they served there I am sorry to have missed it. Saffron seems to work best in creamy recipes. Until now my only go-to recipes for saffron were saffron risotto and saffron bread. This is the perfect saffron dish. Creamy, only one flavor, saffron, so that the sweetness enhances and mellows that one flavor.
There’s a potentially odd instruction in this recipe, which I chose to ignore.
Bring the milk and the cream to a boil, add the saffron filaments, remove from heat, and leave to infuse overnight.
That sounds a lot like the milk and cream should be left out on the counter overnight. This interpretation is bolstered by the next morning’s instructions to mix everything else in and put it “in a double boiler and cook over low heat for 3 minutes, or until the mixture coats the spoon.” There’s no way that refrigerated milk and eggs will reach the spoon-coating stage after only three minutes over low heat. From my experience with omelets, it might very well be the correct time for room temperature eggs and milk. I may try it his way next time I make it, but I suspect that his kitchen in England is a lot cooler than mine in Texas.
I’m also worried that if doing it his way makes the recipe even better, I’ll eat far too much of this.
The first recipe I made was Peach Murrabba from the chapter on India. It’s basically a saffron syrup over ripe peaches, with almonds and pistachios added, and served cold. It’s a wonderful flavor, but if I were to make it again I would not add the almonds and pistachios until just before eating. Adding nuts ahead of time to syrups is something I commonly see in Indian recipes, and I usually find the texture of the nuts adversely affected by the liquid.
The final recipe I tried was a wonderful Red Pepper soup from the chapter on Spain. It’s actually a recipe for a thick sauce, which can be converted into a soup by adding stock. In both forms it’s very nice. Unlike the ice cream, where the saffron is the only flavor, or the peaches, where the saffron shares with, really, only one other flavor, this is a more complex dish of roasted red pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, and thyme. The saffron ends up being a flavor enhancer, much like salt or cayenne. It’s there if you look for it, but is otherwise one of the building blocks of the overall flavor.
This is a beautiful book. Like many of the books I have from Ten-Speed Press, it is wonderfully designed, in this case with great watercolor (or watercolor-like, the credits don’t say) illustrations by Madeleine David. Also like those books it is horrendously edited. I don’t think the recipes were as badly edited as the text—other than the instruction to leave the milk/cream out overnight I don’t think I ran into any problems—but the many typos and mangled sentences in the text don’t inspire confidence.
I’m looking forward to trying one of the many saffron bread or bun recipes in this book, as well as some Saffron Parsnip Soup (Britain), Saffron Rice Pudding (Persia), almost certainly one of the many rice side dishes, the Chicken al Andalus (Spain), and the Egg Curry (India).
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