Alpine Cooking: Recipes and Stories from Europe's Grand Mountaintops [A Cookbook]

This book surprised me. With its gorgeous, sturdy cover, its focus on storytelling, its incredible photography, and its illustrated maps (yes, there are MAPS), I thought this is the type of cookbook that I'd buy for the journey and cook from it very little. I thought "Ingredients will be hard to come by" or "All the recipes will be as intricate as a Swiss clock." I purchased with plans to learn from it and enjoy the trek across the mountains, maybe with 1-2 attempts to cook from it. I was wrong. This book is both beautiful and practical. Like the countries, people, and places covered, the recipes are diverse and range from Beginner to Double-Diamond levels of challenging. Yes, there are some fiddly ingredients most Americans won't have in their pantry, but I've been surprised by how easy substitutions were. And there's a lot of variety to choose from; this book approaches apricot dumplings and raclette with the same generous spirit as it does glamorous mile-high cakes like the Torinese Bonet. After six months with the book, I've had success with the Easy and Medium recipes presented, building my confidence in my own skills and encouraging me to try recipes that I'd never attempt otherwise. If you love this area and its history, you'll find a lot here; Erickson peppers the book with insights into regional art, architecture, wine, cheese, festivals, and -- of course -- sports! If you are a cook wanting to dig deeper into the culinary heritages of these countries, this book is for you, too. Approach this like a travelogue that gives you solid options for staples (apple strudel, goulash, the perfect raclette) and some ambitious showstoppers to attempt, too (homemade gobi in beef broth). This isn't the cookbook that you pull for weeknight go-tos, but it will provide weekend inspiration and have you adding an Alpine tour to your travel wish-list.

This is a perfect book. It is inspiring, exciting, informative, beautiful, well written, and the recipes (at least as far as I have gotten through them) are spot on. I can't wait to plan our trip to Alpine Europe, but in the meantime I get to live like I was there. We are systematically going through these recipes at our cabin at 7000 ft. Our cabin is comfortable, but like so many has a small kitchen. These recipes lend themselves to cabin and mountain living and work perfectly in smaller kitchens and mountain homes. The only caveat is that the ingredients we purchase while at sea level in a larger city. US mountain towns don't have access to the bounty of the European pantry of cheeses, meats, and spices. My title is that I wish I were the only one to have this book, because it truly feels like Ms. Erickson has let you in on the best kept Euro secrets for travel and dining. More importantly, for those that can't get to Europe right away... it's like having access to a Alpine hut dining experience in your home. The goulash is superb, the speck dumplings awesome, the Tartiflette is a revelation of potato, onion, bacon, and cheese. The Schnitzel came out perfect. So far all the recipes are perfect for company. My only critique is that Ms. Erickson should have mentioned that many of these recipes are best made a day in advance and that the flavor continues to improve with a bit of time. The goulash and Speck dumplings on day two were just short of perfection and SUPER easy to do. You won't be disappointed to have this book in your collection and if you are like us... You will be planning your next vacation to the European Alpine.

Unexpectedly beautiful. This is an extremely high quality book. The colors on the cover are lovely and makes for good decor. The inside photos are gorgeous as well. I was thoroughly impressed.

This is a lovely book and more of a launching pad for Alpine living than simply a cookbook. The recipes are easy to follow and while there aren't that many of them considering the size of this book, the selection and range is excellent. There are simple treats such as the pumpkin seed oil sundae or the classic rosti (a hash brown...but so much more), to a bunch of fun little salads and pickled items, to Alpine oddities such as pine schnapps and the glorious chamois pie. Oh, the step by step pictures of Kaiserschmarrn are just so inviting. While coffee table cookbooks are a bit tiresome, this is so much more than that as the saucy writing and photographs will surely excite anyone's lust for travel and exploration. The clever sidebars, the maps, the anecdotes, the suggestions for further reading, the wine suggestions, the cheeses -- everything comes together to create something that is more like an atmosphere than a cookbook.

I love this cookbook, and it's so transporting to look at, so grab a drink, preferably du vin chaud, and tuck in. Having lived in the French Alps for years, it was always my dream to write a cookbook about the food from the region, but alas I am not a writer! So thank you, Meredith Erickson for fulfilling my wildest dreams. My only qualm, being partial to la belle France, would have been more on the French Alps, but other than that I adore this book, merci. The author spent a painstaking amount of time researching and it shows. I learned a lot on alpine cookery. I don't eat meat, and which there is a fair share of recipes here, but nonetheless I had to have this. Beautiful coffee table book. Enjoyed the stories in each of the chapters. Write more on the region - if possible.

Love the stories, photos and recipes. Brought back great memories of a couple of trips I made to The Alps and the wonderful food and scenery.

Love the travelogues in this book, and the regional overviews of different cuisines. This book is decent, but don’t make it your only Alpine cookbook. I collect Swiss cookbooks, and this one skews on the fancy ski lifestyle side. Four stars, worth the purchase. For truly awesome English language Swiss cookbooks I would recommend Sue Style’s “A Taste of Switzerland,” and Andie Pilot’s “Helvetic Kitchen.”

I have SO many cookbooks, to the point where I don't really buy them anymore, but I'm glad I made an exception to get this one. The stories, recipes, and photography are just transporting - before making anything, I curled up on the couch with a glass of wine and read through the whole thing (pretending I was in an Alpine hut?). I knew so little about the Alps and its cuisine prior to this book. So far I've made a few recipes, and they've been great, but I'd love this book even if I never cooked from it. Highly recommend.

I'm happy with my purchase

I was eagerly awaiting this book, being a fan of Meredith Erickson’s previous books. I must say Alpine Cooking delivered way above my already high expectation. Meredith provides a wonderful narrative throughout this travelogue/cookbook by being informative and humorous at the same time. Photography is stunning in that it invokes a vintage feel which I like. The recipes are interesting yet uncomplicated. Friends on my Christmas list are in for a special treat this year!

What a glorious book, wonderful photographs and my goodness what knowledge and information Meredith Erickson has gathered and absorbed in her amazing7 travels throughout the Alps. Almost, the next best thing, to an Alpine sojourn, almost! Reading the Austrian recipes particularly, has been a joy, as we skied there mostly for some years. I even had to put some Austrian music on, to accompany my reading! Thank You Meredith. n

Uno dei libri di cucina più chic. Bello!

Fantastic! really recommend!