This week’s tofu press of a tome is Magnus Nilsson’s The Nordic Cookbook, which, as we’ve discovered, encapsulates Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Island, Norway, and Sweden—the whole “Nord,” as it were. Like all fabulous Phaidon cookbooks, this one is eleventy hundred pages of absolutely stunning pictures and mouth-watering recipes. Like “Black Pudding Head of Mutton and Testicles Pickled in Whey,” and “Brined and Boiled Eye of Round as Charcuterie,” and “Faroese Aged Intestinal Fat,” which is typically served as a condiment with aged fish, in case you were wondering.
Also, there’s a Swedish recipe for “Dreams,” which we’ll leave you to discover what they’re made of.
— Mark T, A Good Book, Sumner, WA
View The Nordic Cookbook on the “Set the Table” page of this year’s Best of the Independent Northwest Holiday Books guide and buy it from your favorite local indie.
Editors note: This book really is uff-da hook big—700+ recipes in actuality—so there’s a lot more than exotic head and testes (not that there’s anything wrong with that). At this October’s Pacific Northwest Booksellers Tradeshow, guests at the Sweet & Greet author autographing party were treated to an array of desserts that were prepared from one of four nuanced sweets chapters! They were the culinary highlight of the weekend. Absolutely delectable. Nor-other-way to describe them.