Customer Reviews
'Food from the land & sea inspired by travels across the world.....' - By: Amazon Reviewer, 25 Nov 2008 
....this super book is a COMPILATION of over 130 of his most popular dishes 'evoking the pleasure & flavour associated with the coast', coupled with his own travel stories - all writtenin the familiar, relaxed Stein way.
BBC Books/2008
'Rick Stein's passion for fresh, well-sourced food has taken him from continent to continent, across magnificent shorelines & to the very best produce the coast has to offer.'
From the acknowledgements:-
Amongst others, Rick pays tribute to his new commissioning editor, 'who saw the sense of a book of recipes as a record of all the parts of the world that have influenced mein my cooking......'
From the introduction:-
'.....I'm just someone with an enthusiasm for food & a curiosity that that's sent me sniffing around all over the place looking for lovely dishesin all corners of the globe....'
....and that is precisely what this chunky tome contains!
Colourful, simply appealing board covers open to 287 high quality pages, split over 7 chapters:-
Britain & Ireland
Western Europe
Mediterranean & Middle East
India
Far East
Australia & New Zealand
The Americas
plus
basic recipes (inc. dashi, duck confit, Thai red curry paste)
preparation techniques (inc. butterflied lamb)
specialist ingredients suppliers
sandwiched between an introduction & a full index.
Each chapter opens with a full page of typical RS banter giving the background to the recipes which follow.
Each recipe has a bold title, (with a translation, if applicable) followed by a general opening narrative, the full list of ingredients, the number of servings & a clear method.
The book has superb full colour photography throughout, but not all of the dishes are featured, which may prove slightly negative to those of us who like to see what they are aiming for on the plate!
However, I feel it is still not worth dropping a full star from five - maybe only a half!
From Pizza Margherita:-
'This isn't any old recipe for pizza - this is my recipe, & it's worth making for the following reasons.
Firstly, the dough will give you the lightest, crispiest, thinnest base.
The buffalo mozzarella will give you a very good-tasting cheese on a pizza, & the use of the best vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled & seeded, then concentratedin hot olive oil, will give you a really fresh tomato sauce.
I add a bit of oregano & garlic, too, but basically this is just a pizza Margherita , which is finished with fresh basil leaves & said to resemble the Italian flag - i.e. red tomato, white mozzarella & green basil.......'
and the finished product is duly photographed on page 115!
Other recipesin this delightful book include:-
Hugo's breakfast fishcakes
Creamy chicken & asparagus soup
Cauliflower cheese
Poached salmon with cucumber & dill salad
North Atlantic prawn pilaf
Stein's classic Cornish pasty
Roast rib of beef with Yorkshire puddings & roasties
Raspberry cranachan
Carbonnade of beef à la flammade
Sole Véronique
Beef Stroganoff with matchstick potatoes
Couers à la crème with raspberries
Crème brûlée ice cream
Moussaka
Crab linguine with parsley & chilli
Matar peneer
Keralan curry with prawns & kokum
Crisp Chinese roast pork
Sri Lankan fish curry
Cured duck breasts with melon, soy & pickled ginger
Pavlova with cream & passion-fruit
Char-grilled beef tortillas
Hangtown fry
Strawberry & vanilla shortcake
......'Really good local dishes tell me more about the thoughts, habits & enthusiasms of a foreign country than museum visits or a walk round a famous cathedral.....'
Excellent - By: Gayle Hartley, 14 Nov 2008 Beautiful book with the usual high standard of both recipes & other content. Rick Stein has excelled yet again, a great buy & fantastic addition for the kitchen or the collection.
Coast to Coast is the perfect gift this autumn/winter! - By: Susan Baines, 08 Oct 2008 I purchased this as a present for a friend's birthday - she was over the moon with the book, & spent Sunday making dinner with recipes from the book. I shall definitely be purchasing this for others come Christmas due to the feedback i've received!
Rick is looking gorgeous! - By: Melanie Tyrrell, 08 Oct 2008 This is the most beautiful of Rick's books so far- I'm a big fan of his recipes & my mouth is watering looking through the photos. The great thing is you just know you're going to get quality recipes- what's so special about this book is the personal touches, introductions to the recipes & stories of his travels round the world.
well trodden - By: Mr. Aubrey D. Dhanraj, 01 Oct 2008 
as a really big fan of rick stein, & having all of his previous books, this is just a bringing together of his favorites. not worth purchasing if you have previous books, but a nice little pressie for a newbie
