Maple cookbook is more than recipes

Katie Webster does an excellent job of explaining the use and history of one of my favorite flavors in this small but complete guide to Maple: 100 Sweet and Savory Recipes Featuring Pure Maple Syrup. This is much more than a compendium of recipes. Webster offers wonderful information on the history of this tasty treat, instruction on purchasing and for substituting maple for regular sugar, honey, and more.

You will want to highlight the back section in the book where Webster lists many individual places you can contact to get “the real thing.” But don’t skip the pages on Knife Skills and Pantry notes—Webster deftly offers advice on two essentials for any cook—how to dice and chop and Julienne and her notes describe the delicious differences between oils and flours, not only in the taste produced but also in how they will react to heat and interact with other recipe elements. An entire little cooking seminar in two pages. Brilliant.

Put a sticky note in the substitution page as well. Furthermore, if you are serious about using maple in recipes of your own, invented or adapted be sure to read, maybe even memorize Webster’s little page on the Flavor of Maple. Webster “outs” the chemical that acts as artificial maple flavor and discusses real maple flavor in terms of the notes it hits—like a fine wine. She suggests cherries, cranberries, vinegar and citrus as acidic flavors that will balance the sweetness of maple in a recipe. In short, this page will likely act as a springboard for any chef’s creative instincts, inspiring combinations of one’s own that utilize these flavor combinations.

Webster’s recipes include appetizers, soups, sides and some are vegan some gluten free and some are even paleo. Moreover, she offers variations for them that will allow people to customize a vegan recipe into meat or dairy or a meat and dairy recipe into vegan. Her combinations show that she has paid close attention to her own research into flavor blending and offer some outstanding creative combos, especially for savory dishes with maple, offering such creative pairing choices as quinoa and turkey chili!

The color photos add to the beauty of the book and enhance the desire to take maple from its “pour on pancakes” mealtime cameo to a starring role in the drama on your family table.

Webster is a food blogger (Healthy Seasonal Recipes) with a large following and taps trees for sap to make into syrup herself. She says, “…Not only is it (maple) straight up delicious, but it is healthier, more natural and better for the environment.”

Be aware, once you try real maple syrup, you will not want to return to the artificially flavored “stuff.” This book is packed with information and may well become a favorite on your shelf.

Maple will make an excellent gift for the holidays for anyone who likes to cook, perhaps paired with a small jug of real maple syrup. Start cooking with it now, this sweet for all seasons will most assuredly take you through the winter season with an extra flair of health and excitement on the family table, for all meals.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Maple cookbook is more than recipes."