Monday, February 23, 2009

Still Going Strong or Antipasto Table

Still Going Strong: A History of Scotch Whisky Advertising

Author: John Hughes

Johnnie Walker Red Label, Black & White, Bells, J&B, Talisker, Lagavulin--all world famous brands, but what were their origins and what is their history? Whisky, perhaps Scotland's most famous export, has been produced for centuries, but in the nineteenth century, production moved away from small stills to the sorts of mass production we see today. With the growth in larger distilleries, there was a matching growth in whisky branding and advertising. Scotch, whether Malt or blended is now produced by large companies, and the brands are known the world over.

Author Biography: John Hughes was in the enviable position of being marketing director for the Famous Grouse and has been at the forefront of branding and marketing one of Scotland's most famous whiskies. This is his second book on whisky for Tempus Publishing.



Read also Professional Services for Men or Decoding Darkness

Antipasto Table

Author: Michele Scicolon

Walk into any restaurant or trattoria in Italy and you'll be greeted by antipasto tables laden with platters of colorful salads, tender seafood dishes, regional salamis and cheeses, and fresh vegetables prepared in every way imaginable. With this inspiring collection of two hundred versatile, simple-to-prepare recipes, Michele Scicolone recreates these antipasto tables at home. The Antipasto Table includes many traditional favorites passed down by the author's family as well as new interpretations based on her own travels in Italy, and even some antipasti new to this country.

Imagine a table of hot antipasti -- fresh mozzarella rolled in bread crumbs and fried until crisp outside and melted within or grilled calamari with oregano and white wine. Or sample the cold dishes -- Sicilian eggplant salad or trout marinated in olive oil, vinegar, and sage. Bread-based antipasti include taralli, fennel-laced biscuits, perfect with a glass of red wine; and bruschetta, grilled country bread topped with fresh tomatoes and herbs or Gorgonzola and pine nuts.

This marvelous cookbook also features special sections on the art of preparing vegetables and selecting the proper wines to serve with antipasti. The Antipasto Table highlights the foods that make Italian cuisine so wonderfully appealing.

Publishers Weekly

Not to be confused with the ubiquitous Italian-American ``antipasto salad,'' genuine ``antipasti'' are delightful hot or cold hors de'oeuvres--the kind of delicacies perched on the ``antipasto table'' at restaurants and trattorie all over Italy. And although, according to Scicolone ( Fish Steaks and Fillets ) in Italian ``antipasto'' means ``before the meal,'' these ``are not mere appetizers.'' In some Italian restaurants, devouring antipasti is a course-after-course indulgence similar in concept to dining on Spanish tapassic . Recipes here, though admirably detailed with substitutions and well-organized methods, are particularly impressive for their simplicity and ease of preparation. Among them are sauteed peppers with balsamic vinegar, orange, parmesan and walnut salad, and mussels with caper mayonnaise--including a method for cleaning and preparing mussels and clams. Instructions for home-drying a bumper crop of ripened plum tomatoes are here, as well as recipes for such uniquely Italian specialties as crusty, chewy Tuscan bread, crispy semolina focaccia and crunchy Sardinian flat bread. An up-front ``antipasto pantry'' section and menus for combining antipasti make this volume doubly useful. Author tour; HomeStyle Book Club alternate. (June)

Library Journal

Scicolone, a cooking teacher and consultant, offers a large collection of simple but fresh and vibrant recipes, most of which can stand on their own as antipasti or be combined with other dishes as the centerpiece of a light meal. The Bread and Focaccia chapter is especially good; Fava Beans with Prosciutto and Parmesan, Wild Mushroom Corstini, and Smoked Salmon with Fennel are among the tempting dishes in other categories. A good companion to Christopher Styler's similar Primi Piatti ( LJ 3/15/89).



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