The Low-Carb Gourmet is one of my favorite low-carb cookbooks. The author, Karen Barnaby is an executive chef at an award-winning restaurant in Vancouver, Canada. She herself has lost and kept off more than 5 stone through low-carb eating. She wrote this book to share her expertise of cooking low-carb food that is rich and satisfying.
However, I would not have chosen the word “Gourmet” to describe her recipes.
Although really lovely, most of them are very easy to make and not as sophisticated as implied by the word – which I think is a good thing.
Many of the recipes in the book are actually home-cooking classics, cleverly adapted for low-carb lifestyle. For example, there are low-carb recipes for shepherd’s pie, lasagne, moussaka and pizza – and they do not include a shred of potatoes or flour.
There are also some imaginative and unusual ideas in the sections for breakfast, side dishes and desserts – the areas which tend to be more difficult to adapt for low-carb dieting. My favourites include cauliflower mash and “rice”, tofu fries and courgette cake.
To me, this is what a good low-carb cookbook should focus on – I get a bit annoyed if I get a cookbook that claims to contain hundreds of low-carb recipes, to find that most of them are variations of “meat plus veg plus a sauce”. Quite frankly, this part of low-carb dieting is very easy, and most of us have it figured out. The difficult part is finding substitutes for dishes that are traditionally carb-based. Karen Barnaby certainly manages that really well, and some of her recipes have become my staple meals that I cook regularly.
The book includes a very good introduction, describing Karen’s personal experience and providing some basic guidelines to low-carb dieting. There is a very useful section on baking (clearly always a challenge for low-carbers) and an overview of common artificial sweeteners (sorry paleo followers, this part won’t be any good for you).
Karen is American but I didn’t have any trouble finding the ingredients she uses in the UK.
Overall, this is a really great book of low-carb recipes that are delicious and easy to make. If you only buy one low-carb recipe book, I would definitely strongly recommend this one.
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