Need to find a great low-fat cookbook, pronto!

Long story short: Christmas is coming (not much gets past my eagle eye!). And though the Lovely Dining Companion will happily pig out from time to time, she really is a devoted low-fat cook. Far more so than I (one need only look at us to see the empirical evidence). In addition to her other presents, I'd like to get her a really good low-fat cookbook, but I know nothing about them--any of them. I know nothing about low-fat, period. Can anyone recommend a good cookbook that is focused on low-fat (not "no fat" since even LDC concedes that if there's no fat there's no flavor) recipes? (It also need not address other niches; thus, it need not be vegetarian--though if it is, that's fine, too.) She's a pretty accomplished cook, so there's no need for a basic, how-to-cook, book. Thanks!

This is slightly off-kilter but I do think it's an answer to the question. Sally Schneider's A New Way To Cook is basically built on the idea of using fat judiciously, mostly at the end to add flavor with as little as possible. Or in other creative ways-- for instance, scones that use buttermilk instead of cream, and thus go stale faster, but are awfully good fresh out of the oven. I'm not sure it's truly low-fat, but it's lower-fat-high-flavor.

I probably sound like a broken record when I recommend Cook's Illustrated books, but, in my opinion, there are none better for fundamental home cooking techniques.

"The Best Light Recipe" is their lower-fat cookbook. I do not own it, but I've purchased it as a gift and read through a good portion of it. The good people of CI are very flavor-conscious and cut out fat or calories in very sensible ways.

Best,
Michael

Jaques Pepin's Fast Food My Way - used to be two volumes, now consolidated to one - is my recommendation. I have used these extensively and there are all sorts of recipies either low fat by nature or modified in creative ways to increase healthiness of the food in general (more vegatables, more fiber, lower in fat) without sacraficing taste. They are also concise with very well written recipies that vary from very simple to fairly complex, so there is a nice variation depending on how much time you want to dedicate to the meal. Its really my favorite cookbook from which I've made a couple dozen of the recipies and never been disappointed.

I'm pretty sure that Pepin's Complete Techniques was the two volume condensed to one book. Fast Food My Way was always one volume.

For vegetarian recipes, The Moosewood Low-Fat Cookbook is pretty good. I've made a few soups and stews that were tasty. And Cooking Light has several cookbooks, I believe. Or have you considered a Cooking Light subscription?

The South Beach Diet cookbooks, surprisingly enough, have some pretty good recipes.

Also, check out Charlie Trotter's Spa cookbook for gourmet low-fat recipes.

rickster wrote:I'm pretty sure that Pepin's Complete Techniques was the two volume condensed to one book. Fast Food My Way was always one volume.

I have the original Fast Food My Way published as two volumes. Back when the TV series first aired, one volume was put out for each season, then combined afterwards.

I'll add my recommendation for "A New Way to Cook" - I'm a whole foods cook - nothing processed, and not necessarily low fat, but I've used a lot of the recipes in this book and been very pleased.

Plus, the book design is very nice, and as a font-obsessed graphic designer, I appreciate that, too.

You might like Paul Prudhommes "Fork in the Road". His version of low fat cajun food . My favorite book of this type. At least Chef P knows what tastes good.

rickster wrote:I'm pretty sure that Pepin's Complete Techniques was the two volume condensed to one book. Fast Food My Way was always one volume.

you're correct

I love the "Complete Cooking Light Cookbook". I believe it's out of print, but they published an updated version in 2006 called "The All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook".

While I did use the book extensively at first, it's become more of a reference manual for me now. For example, I'll look up the Fettuccine Alfredo recipe just to use the techniques in there to build a lower fat cheese sauce.

Kim

Steven Raichlen's High-Flavor, Low-Fat Cooking lives up to its name.

Raichlen is the author of a number of highly regarded cookbooks, including several on barbecuing. I'm not much interested in low fat cooking, but this book is pretty uncompromising -- it's about flavorful cooking, not substituting low-fat crap for real food.

The book spawned a series, but I haven't seen any of the later volumes, so I can't vouch for those.

Hellodali wrote:And Cooking Light has several cookbooks, I believe. Or have you considered a Cooking Light subscription?

I like Cooking Light - the recipes that we have tried were interesting and tasted great.

I haven't seen their cookbooks, so I can't say anything about them.

Thanks to all who contributed thoughts and ideas. I spent a fair amount of time reviewing each of the suggestions that I could find (online or in person) and finally ended up buying two books:

The Best Light Recipe, from Cook's Illustrated

and

The Best of Cooking Light, from Cooking Light magazine.

The very close next finisher was Steve Raichlen whose grilling books I know but whose low-fat work was a revelation. I suspect that I may grab one of his for a surprise unbirthday present soon.

I'll let you know what LDC thinks (and what I think if I can pry them out of her hands and try some recipes myself).

Thanks again for all your thoughts and comments.