Comments on: A Passion for Cookbooks

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Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:41:12 +0000

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in the "A Passion for Cookbooks" thread, cooking-recipes … — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:24:42 +0000

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By: La tartine gourmande » Blog Archive » A Passion for CookBooks (bis)

La tartine gourmande » Blog Archive » A Passion for CookBooks (bis) — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 21:53:08 +0000

[...] en.com/blog”>

December 21, 2005
A Passion for CookBooks (bis)

A Passion for CookBooks: the title of the radio show on Radio Open Source I called in yes [...]

By: Red Wylie

Red Wylie — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 14:14:52 +0000

I listened several times to compile a list of some of the cookbooks that were mentioned in the show. Here is what I have:

From Julia Child’s Kitchen – Julia Child
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One – Julia Child
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two – Julia Child
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking – Marcella Hazan (not sure if this is the exact text)
Fine Art of Italian Cooking – Giuliano Bugialli
Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book – Jane Grigson
The Zuni Cafe Cookbook – Judy Rodgers
The Tassajara Bread Book – Edward Espe Brown

By: chip

chip — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 19:19:55 +0000

I had called in to the show following up on the theme of passing down recipes from generation to generation â€“ the â€œfamilyâ€? cookbook. My mom, Marion Celenza (now 73), is the daughter of Italian immigrants and she grew up in Brooklyn. Her cooking has always been Italian-based but it is also influenced by cuisines from around the world. Growing up on Long Island, I remember that she was an â€œindex cardâ€? person and in even hand-wrote a number of recipes for me (manicotti, lasagna e.g.) before I left for grad school. Then about 20 years ago she typed out selected recipes on different color paper in order to color code the recipes organized by menus. She came up with 52 complete menus (one for each week) along with several menus for holidays. My mom then assembled these recipes into a manuscript complete with 20 or so photos of different dishes and tried to get it published as a book called â€œMenu Logâ€?. Being a neophyte at the book publishing game she ended up â€œself-publishingâ€? Menu Log a year ago ending up with 1000 copies in her garage. She initially sold the books by word of mouth and publicity from her church, but then found a book distributor who got the book into her local Barnes and Nobles, where she did a book signing this past summer. (At this point she is trying to find a publisher to do a second printing of Menu Log.) One can still buy the remaining books through a number of on-line services such as Amazon.com. – for more info go to http://home.earthlink.net/~cookiecrone/ .

People who have used the book (mostly friends and family at this point) have commented that the recipes perform well and it makes for an interesting conversation starter. For me, I enjoy reading through the book as it brings back many memories of meals that my mom would prepare for various occasions. In fact, she is currently preparing her own variations on the traditional Italia fish dinner on Christmas Eve. On a personal note, I get a kick out of preparing one of the recipes when I have guests over and then pass off the complements to my mom!

By: stoutwoman

stoutwoman — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:32:30 +0000

Wonderful show! Oh I love cookbooks. “The Splendid Table” holds the keys to the secret world of my Inner Italian … “The Belfast Cookery Book” lets me slip into the world I might have lived in had I not left Northern Ireland as a child. Funny thing, it was “Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook” of ca. 1980 that saved my culinary life …

By: La tartine gourmande

La tartine gourmande — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:42:26 +0000

A Passion for CookBooks (bis)

A Passion for CookBooks: the title of the radio show on Radio Open Source I called in yesterday. So interesting!
If you go to the link above, you will be able to hear the show.
Guests :
Julie Powell
Blogger, The Julie/Julia Project
Aut…

By: M.A.

M.A. — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:49:12 +0000

My beloved godmother, Jennie Botosan, was a first generation Romanian-American. She was a marvelous cook whose tiny kitchen always produced buttery cookies and dark breads and deep, rich stews. A few years before she died, she gave my sister and I copies of Pofta Buna, a Romanian cookbook. She annotated the books for each of us and on the back flap she hand wrote a recipe for “Never Fail Pie Crust.” And it was true, the recipe never failed me…until this past Thanksgiving. My chronic procrastination caused me to be overwhelmed by making pies. I ran through the recipe quickly and refrigerated the dough. The next morning I began to roll out the dough for my four pies. The dough was too crumbly, not cohesive at all. And I became grumbly, and began to think that Gramma B had failed me with that silly recipe. Then I went back and re-read the recipe. Realizing that I had forgotten the necessary 1/2 cup of cold water, I measured out an 1/8th of a cup of cold water for each crust and poured one directly into the crust that I had already laid into a pie pan even though it was miserably crumbly. I massaged the water into the crust, pushed the crumbles back together and poured in my filling. That crust turned out to be perhaps the best crust I ahve ever made. Gramma B was telling the truth and I will never doubt her annotations again.

By: meechigan

meechigan — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:48:10 +0000

The cook in our family was my father who passed away last April at the age of 89. He used cookbooks as inspirations, but in essence, he was an alchemist in the kitchen who liked to experiment. He had invented a unique meatloaf recipe involving corn flakes instead of bread crumbs and left me that meatloaf experiment scribbled out on an index card. After he died, I made his version of meatloaf. It brought tears to my eyes. Re-creating a dish of his evoked the most powerful memory of him. That recipe was part of his legacy.

By: fconte

fconte — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:34:06 +0000

I would like to recommend a cookbook. It’s Italian of course but moreover it’s local. If you want a real down-to-earth, genuinely wonderful cookbook try Marguerite Dimino Buonopane’s “The North End Italian Cookbook” I have the Globe Pequot edition.

I had the luck of having one of Buonopane’s meals nearly twenty years ago as a guest with the late state Senator Michael LoPresti. She was cooking and serving delightful cuisine at a social club, the North End Union. Her cooking blew me away. Get this book if you want a taste of Italian, Boston style. I’ll go further and say no kitchen is complete without Mrs. Buonopane.

By: A little yellow bird

A little yellow bird — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:28:34 +0000

Here’s a yum-aceous vegan substitute, complete with mouthfeel, for mac-’n'-cheese; and I betcha that even ol’ Garrison Keillor’d be able to stomach it, if he was stuck on Defoe’s island, or in Big Sur in a brokedown jalopy waitin’ for a tow in the rain: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000685.html . From “101 Cookbooks” @ http://www.101cookbooks.com/ .

By: dolma

dolma — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 18:43:52 +0000

I love to cook. I have my tried and true recipes passed down from generations, a couple of well-worn cookbooks, and some cookbooks that have barely been cracked open. Lately though when I want to try a new recipe I go to the internet – to gourmet.com in particular because their recipes are rated by users. Every day cooks tell you their experience of actually trying to make the recipe, how it tasted, their suggests for alterations, and whether or not they would make it again.
This way, trying a new recipe is less of a shot in the dark. I hate it when I put a bunch of time and money into cooking something new (like the five hours I spent once on a grilled potabello with mascarpone polenta something or other cookbook recipe) and it turns out not tasting very good. The interactive nature of recipes on the web is what I like. (I guess that is also why I am posting comments for an interactive radio show.)

By: tajayana

tajayana — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 18:00:10 +0000

I am embarassed by my love of cookbooks. In particular I enjoy the books from the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated. I am completely self taught and these authors have such a great attention to detail. The end result is always fabulous and they also tell you why you are doing things. As far as food porn goes, the books of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid are on the top of the list. Beautiful pictures, adventurous stories and wonderful recipes. What could be better. How about a show about food blogging. I heard the great Thanksgiving show but I want more. I’m a little biased though, I just started a food/life blog.

By: La tartine gourmande

La tartine gourmande — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:57:48 +0000

A passion for CookBooks

A few days ago, my husband and I went to the PRX Christmas party (Public Radio Exchange) held in Harvard Square, Cambridge. So much fun! Like a lot of those end-of-year social events, you end up meeting friendly people whom you realize you somehow …

By: bea

bea — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 22:07:34 +0000

I am amongst those who love cookbooks too, but I am also very selective in what makes me choose one. First, since I am visual, I need pictures!!! And they have to be nice! But…I also have all sorts of cookbooks, from the very dull plain ones, no pictures, not good fonts, and the very beautiful ones. In the end, I use the ones that are practical and the ones that work! Because let’s put it this way, there are well-tested recipes, and some for which it is obvious that the steps/ingredients lists were written quickly, with approximation, hence they do not work.
Since I am lucky to have experience with cooking, I always adapt for the cookbooks I do not trust too much.

There is a whole collection of very nice compact, easy to use, cookbooks that I simply love. My first one was given to me by a friend in New Zealand. Called “Bowl Food”, published by Murdock Books. Since then, I acquired many more. Then, there is the whole set by Donna Hay, and the traditional Lulu’s Provencal Table. I have to stop the list….

So in short, cookbooks are like a wardrobe, you need a bit of everything to feel you have completed the circle!

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 20:01:51 +0000

Another angle.
How about hearing from those who never ever ever would think of opening a cook book?
I know some great cooks who just do it so to speak.
And obviously someone has to write these things.
What makes someone a cookbook author?

By: mdhatter

mdhatter — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 04:50:41 +0000

“The Joy of Cooking” is the only one I use. I know what I want my food to be, I just use it as reference for ratios and per lb. cooking times.

Also, as a chemist I have noticed that A LOT of chemists are excellent cooks. I doubt this is a coincidence. (and I think I just strained my elbow in patting my own back)

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 14:41:18 +0000

How about the one’s we bought and never, ever used?
Like: “From Emeril’s Kitchen,” Emeril Lagasse.
At $27.50 for the hardcover version, it’s a fairly expensive consumer of bookshelf space.
But yes, I’ve read it – cover to cover.
Not exactly a page turner.
A little thin on plot.
I go to it often for ideas but I never emerge with a recipe.
The food sounds absolutely gorgeous.
Just too impractical for my household.
Here’s another: “Country Inns of America Cookbook,” Ed. Robert Reid.
Great stuff.
Fabulous fare.
Makes you want to visit your local Inn.
Been on the shelf since 1982.
But never, ever used.
Why?
And what to I do with it now?

By: David

David — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 20:58:46 +0000

Marcel: The site isn’t corrupted. Julie is simply no longer an active blogger. All of the archives are still there, though, searchable by date.

By: Marcel

Marcel — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 20:27:49 +0000

Brendan. Is the link to the Julie/Julia Project corrupted? It takes me to an August 2004 date, and I can’t seem to get to a more recent date, let alone today’s date. Thanks.

By: Marcel

Marcel — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 20:15:05 +0000

A bit late I know, but you should look into Julian Barnes, a Brit and author of a short, humorous and insightful book called The Pedant In The Kitchen, a book about vagueness and ambiguity in “cookery book” recipes, and how to deal with it gracefully.

Also, Cook’s Illustrated’s The New Best Recipe Cookbook. Perfect for the pedant in the kitchen as it’s always explaining WHY!

Lastly. After a 17 year marriage during which I felt relegated to the kitchen sidelines (yes, only felt; I should have more assertive and less passive and thin-skinned), I have blossomed into quit the adventurous cook. While the word “gourmet” should be reserved for brilliant results, not just bold attempts, I am now regularly cooking well over my head and am personally happy with the results (not good enough to be entered into a competition, but well good enough to be entered into my mouth!) I’m also wowing my friends in the process. It helps that people don’t do that much cooking these days. For me it has become cooking for sport. And as a nice sidelight, I listen to PodCasts while I cook, included yours Christopher! Thanks, it’s one of the best I get!

By: nother

nother — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:52:09 +0000

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2002-05-07/ae_feat.html

this guy has or had a great cookbook store just off the quarter.

By: bessbird

bessbird — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:59:18 +0000

I love finding recipes on the Internet! I have found some of my most favorite recipes online, on all different kinds of sites. Some of the most interesting recipes have been from places like Vegweb, or other specialty-palate sites. People have so much creativity with food!

I don’t keep many cookbooks long. I try to make all the dishes that appeal to me, and the best ones go into my own cookbook. When I started my own DIY cookbook, I kept all my recipes in a looseleaf notebook on the shelf in my kitchen. I’ve since started a database of many, since my friends ask me to email them recipes from my collection.

My cooking motto: make everything… once.

By: Erica

Erica — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:11:31 +0000

Also possibly of interest: Eat My Words: Reading Women's Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote, by Janet Theophano. A friend of mine has a quick blog entry about it here. Essential take: Food and Recipes as collective memory, as feminist history (often the only historical record a woman in past generations would leave behind were her recipes). Also If you do decide to look at DIY and zine cookbooks, I have several friends who are involved in that scene.

By: benchcoat

benchcoat — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 20:36:48 +0000

Great idea on the DIY cookbooks! there’s a long tradition of them–especially if you include community group cookbooks like those produced by the Junior League. cooking blogs should be included, too–egullet is a fantastic resource and vibrant community. and I was remiss to omit the family recipe cookbook–our family recipes have had a huge influence on how I approach cooking. they’ve taught me not to be afraid of complex traditional recipes, but also not to turn up my nose at recipes that include shortcuts like “add one package Dream Whip.”

By: tara

tara — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:28:11 +0000

Love it, love it. Another angle to explore would be the recipes developed by food companies — think of all the things you can do with, say, canned biscuit dough! I always considered it an amusing hallmark of my southern upbringing that most of my family “heirloom” recipes have at least one, maybe two, brand name products in them: Velveeta, Coca-Cola, Jello, Ritz crackers. The entire fifties movement of “convenience” cooking, sparked by the food industry’s need to market products it originally developed for wartime use, is absolutely fascinating, especially in opposition to the whole Alice Waters, use-what’s-fresh thing. Cookbooks represent our aspirations for what we want to feed ourselves and the people we love, and those 50s recipes are so linked to the ideas of modernity and efficiency, like the household could be run like an assembly-line factory. You can still find lots of these recipes in those little church-assembled fundraiser-type cookbooks.

A great book on this subject: “Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America” by Laura Shapiro.

I just noticed that my own shelf of cookbooks has “The Express Lane Cookbook” sitting right next to “The Pleasures of Slow Food.”