Basque Country

September 15, 2018

Journalist and chef Buckley has created something more than a cookbook--simply put, it's a love letter to Basque food, culture, and landscape. Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs, this volume provides not only a sense of the recipes and foodstuffs of the region but also a glimpse of its people, culture, and stunning geography. Primarily organized around categories of dishes (pintxos, or small bites; soups; fish and shellfish; veggies and meat; sweets; and drinks), the work additionally interweaves short profiles of the various provinces in France and Spain that make up Basque Country. Buckley further includes helpful sidebar articles on numerous topics, such as salt cod, Basque Santa Claus, shepherds, a history of pintxos. Some recipes call for unfamiliar ingredients, but the directions are clear and all but the most novice home cook should find them accessible. VERDICT Whether your interest is primarily in cooking or in armchair travel, you'll be hard pressed not to want to travel to Basque Country after enjoying this engaging volume.--Courtney McDonald, Univ. of Colorado Boulder Lib.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 4, 2018
Buckley, an American writer who relocated to San Sebastian, Spain, shares her affection for Basque cuisine in this delightful debut collection of rustic recipes. Her introduction provides a brief culinary history, as well as a primer on Euskara, the Basque language. Throughout, she explores the region’s cuisine, such as a pintxo, a generally more complex version of the more familiar Spanish tapas. Eleven types are offered, including a shrimp kabob with pepper vinaigrette, laced with bacon and served upon a baguette slice. The seafood section features lots of salt cod, balanced with more exotic options like scorpion fish pâté. Vegetable and meat dishes are combined in a single chapter that features dark and deep entrees like blood sausage and beef cheeks, as well as several types of peppers including the prized piquillos, which are protected by a government designation. An expansive dessert chapter is heavy on dairy options, like Basque sheep’s curd, and punctuated with a variety of pastries (anise-scented fritters, brioche buns with buttercream). Each chapter ends with an overview of one of the seven Basque provinces where readers learn, for instance, of the gourmet sea salt produced in Araba. This is a colorful, well-researched set of accessible Basque recipes.