Artisan Foods: Inspiration from Masters of the Craft

Artisan food-makers spend years studying their craft and perfecting their culinary techniques in order to give us the most delicious food possible. Our authors are sharing their knowledge with the world, whether it be brewing beer or making cheese. Pick up any one of the books this list to learn from the best!

If these books leave you feeling inspired, try out our artisanal recipe for junket, a sweet dairy dessert made with milk and sugar.

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Fasting and Feasting

Adam Federman

A New York Times Notable Book, this widely praised biography tells the remarkable life story of Patience Gray, author of the much-loved, classic cookbook Honey from a Weed. From her privileged English upbringing to her trials as a single mother during World War II to her career working as a designer, editor, translator, and author to her culinary adventures in later years (including life in a remote area of Puglia), Patience is revealed as a fascinating and spirited woman, who was very much a part of her time, and very clearly ahead of it.

Forage, Harvest, Feast

Marie Viljoen

Celebrated New York City forager, cook, kitchen gardener, and writer Marie Viljoen incorporates wild ingredients into everyday and special occasion fare to create a collection of nearly 500 wild food recipes. Perfect to motivate spring foraging, Viljoen offers deliciously compelling recipes for everything from cocktails and snacks to appetizers, main courses, and desserts, as well as breads, preserves, sauces, syrups, ferments, spices, and salts.

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking

David Asher

David Asher demonstrates a traditional way of making cheese, showcasing more than 35 step-by-step recipes (see facing page for one!) that are natural and intuitive, grounded in ecological principles and biological science. The book explores classes of cheese from kefir and paneer to washed-rind and alpine styles—a perfect manual for home and small-scale commercial cheesemakers.

Brew Beer Like a Yeti

Jereme Zimmerman

Experimentation, mystery, resourcefulness, and above all, fun—these are the hallmarks of brewing beer like a Yeti. This book showcases a range of ancient ales (before hops was king), gruits, braggots, and more, with recipes inspired by traditions around the globe, including sahti, gotlandsdricka, oak bark and mushroom ale, wassail, paw – paw wheat, chicha de muko, and even Neolithic “stone” beers. A must for any home brewer.

Make Mead Like a Viking

Jereme Zimmerman

Homesteader, fermentation enthusiast, and self-described “Appalachian Yeti Viking” Jereme Zimmerman demonstrates how homebrewing mead can be uncomplicated, fun, and delicious. Armed with wild-yeast-bearing totem sticks, readers will learn techniques for brewing sweet, semi-sweet, and dry meads, melomels (fruit meads), metheglins (spiced meads), Ethiopian t’ej, flower and herbal meads, braggots, honey beers, country wines, and even Viking grog.

 

Koji Alchemy

Rich Shih and Jeremy Umansky

Koji Alchemy chefs Jeremy Umansky and Rich Shih—collectively considered to be the most practical, experienced, generous educators on the culinary power of this unique ingredient—deliver a comprehensive look at modern koji use around the world. Using it to rapidly age charcuterie, cheese, and other ferments, they take the magic of koji to the next level, revolutionizing the creation of fermented foods and flavor profiles for both professional and home cooks.

Wildcrafted Fermentation

Pascal Baudar

One of the most influential tastemakers of our time invites you on an extraordinary culinary journey into the lacto-fermentation universe of common wild edibles. Used for thousands of years by different cultures all around the world, lacto-fermentation is the easiest, safest, and most delicious way to preserve food. And nature provides all the necessary ingredients: plants, salt, and the beneficial lactic acid bacteria found everywhere.

Junket

Ingredients

• 1 quart (1 l) good milk, raw or pasteurized but not homogenized
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) active kefir or whey (optional if using raw milk)
• Sugar or any other sweetener to taste (1⁄4–1 cup [60–240 ml], or none at all)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground nutmeg
• 1⁄2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cardamom
• Regular dose rennet (I use 1⁄16 tablet WalcoRen rennet for 1 quart milk)

Procedure

1. Warm your milk to baby-bottle-warm, about 90°F (32°C).
2. Culture your milk (optional for raw milk) by adding the kefir or whey to the warm milk.
3. Leave the pot to incubate for 1 hour, to help the bacterial cultures flourish.
4. Mix the sugar, salt, and spices into the milk well.
5. Add the rennet: Dissolve the rennet in 1⁄4 cup (60 ml) of water, then add it to the milk.
6. Mix the rennet in with a gentle stirring.
7. Pour the renneted milk into individual cups immediately after adding the rennet. This way, the curd will form a firm set in the cups.
8. Let the pudding set, covered, at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until firm.

Junket is best as soon as it has set but can also be kept refrigerated for several days.

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Recommended Reads

Koji for a Touch of Sweetness: Koji Sorbet

Foraging For Wild Strawberries