artisan02

I know I am coming very, very late to this thread, and didn't see it til today. I make the pumpkin pie from James Beard: I think it is in a few of his books, and is called Rich Pumpkin Pie. It has heavy cream in it, quite a few eggs, cognac, and crystallized or preserved ginger, as well as having cinnamon, cloves, and mace in it. One of the best pumpkin pies I have ever eaten!!

← I don't believe I ever got around to making this. I think I did the Christmas Estouffade instead. So this goes on my list to try! ← I haven't looked back through the posts on this thread to see if you posted about the Christmas Estouffade, but I am thinking of making that for Christmas. How was it?

I have the whole Foods of the World series: started getting it when I was in high school back in the later 60's. I learned so very, very much from those volumes and they opened up a whole new world for a southern girl (me) who had limited exposure to foods other than the southern food with which she was raised. When I went away to nursing school, I carried the little spiral bound books with me, and read them over and over. I didn't have much of a place to cook at school, but even so they nourished me. And about 10 years later, when I first became a traveling nurse, I took the little booklets to Alaska with me, and I again was nourished on them. I cooked some wonderful foods from those, and occasionally I will still go back and make something from those volumes. Ingredients I only read about, are now much more available to me, and sometimes I will go back and find a recipe and make it with the now available ingredients instead of whatever I used to substiute for them back in those early years. And when The Good Cook series started coming out, I got those also. I missed a few volumes in that series somehow, and I have been gradually picking up the remaining volumes at thrift stores, etc. I think I am missing only 1 or 2 volumes of that now, like the Preserving volume. And like you, my collection is in storage and has been for about 2 1/2 years. I miss them terribly, and I can't wait to revisit them when I get them all out of storage sometime next year.

That is one odd thing I have noticed about cookbooks and me. I have well over 1000 cookbooks, and for some reason, I know exactly which ones I have. I have never ever bought a duplicate. How I can remember this, is beyond me.

Me too! It would be like losing a limb, or giving up a beloved pet. Occasionally I will donate one to the library if I find I have a duplicate. However, with some special ones that are signed or otherwise are collectible, or were gifts from dear friends and family, I keep a duplicate to use. I love books, always have, always will. Some are old friends, all are precious. This may be a genetic thing. My grandfather loved books and so does my daughter. ← What they said.

Yes mam! By all means. That is the size and shape that I find most versatile. Way back when I started collecting the stuff that was recommended as my first piece. By golly, the recommendor was right! Can't wait to hear what you do with that hunk-o-cow. I am thinking I want to do some beef this weekend. Back to the book. ← This was on sale at the Le Creuset outlet near me. They call it a risotto pot, but it is the same thing. Got it for under $80: it was a second, but you can't tell that anything is wrong with it. I am ready to start braising now.

When I have a house and my whole collection (over 1000) out of storage, I put them all in 4 very tall (7 feet tall) bookcases. Before I packed them up to put in storage, the space was getting tight, so I know that when I get them out of storage I will more than likely have to get another tall bookcase, as I have collected over 50 cookbooks in the last 2 years since I have been traveling. I had these bookcases in the dining area, and near an easy chair, so it was comfortable reading. Currently I travel around with over 250 cookbooks. I also carry with me two folding bookcases for them, and I have filled up every inch of space on those. Might have to get another folding bookcase... Oh, and I have more that I don;t carry around with me, down in my cabin in Idyllwild, CA.

For both you and Susan: I found that the quick puff pastry recipe from Julia Child (Julia Child and Company) is great. VERY easy to make.. I don't know if either of you have acess to that recipe, but it is worth looking it up.

Okay... I know how to cook, at least pretty decently. I can wow most of my friends. I can even wow myself on occasion. And I have a library of over 1000 cookbooks, most of which are in storage right now. I carry about 250 around with me on my travels as a traveling nurse. I adore them. I adore most of the dishes that are in these books. I lust after making them, even just for myself... And I buy new cookbooks, and think about cooking from them... But..and this is a very, very big BUT... I have gotten away from cooking a lot. I love it in theory, and in practice I am sort of apathethic. I used to love to do the complicated dishes, and the showstopper things. Not any more. It has to be easy now...or if it is more complicated, it has to be able to be done in steps...so I can do a step, then leave it..then come back in a half day or day and do the next step....Then finish it off really easily. I am not sure what has happened to me. I don't know how to get out of this "funk". Now, if I cook at all..it is to cook enough stuff so that I don't have to cook for a few days. And yet I love to sit down with all my cookbooks and dream of cooking the wonderful things in there... And I love to visit markets..and I come home with gorgeous vegetables and products..and if I can't get to cooking them right away, they just rot in my fridge. Anyone ever dealt with this? And if you did..how did you get back to really cooking? Am I slated to be just an armchair cook from now on?

This reminds me of a very good casserole that is in MFK Fisher's book, With Bold Knife and Fork. She calls it St. Helena Zalaveri, I think (my book is in storage, so can't confirm). It has noodles in it, and is covered with a tomato sauce.

Another good book, is Crazy for Casseroles, by James Villas. It might be in the library too. I have seen it both discount book stores and in mainstream bookstores recently.

Me too!!! I am looking forward to this one, as I have enjoyed your cheap foods thread. This is a subject dear to my heart.

I dunno, but mebbe if you could get someone to set up an honest-to-God public market along the lines of Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, or even the Italian Market, you'd be better off. Wait. Isn't that what the Eastern Market is all about? ← Or set up one like Berkeley Bowl, in Berkeley, CA.

Do you shop at the same Whole Foods Market I do? I think that basket is called the "under $3 section" at the South Street store. The sign attached to it reads "Afraid of commitment? Try these--everything is under $3." I've sampled some pretty tasty stuff from this basket. ← They had this same basket in the Whole Foods in Albuquerque, where I spent the last 3 months. I started trying some new-to-me cheeses there... I am trying to figure out which wines go best with different cheeses now...

I grew up in Virginia, and I grew up having eggs in my potato salad. And Pickle relish.

Interesting article for anyone who has ever gone through the process of kitchen renovations or just enjoys kitchen design ... ← I have his old cookbook, Cooking From a Small Kitchen, which is from his experiences of small kitchens. At the time I got this cookbook, I had a slightly bigger kitchen than he describes, but even so, what he advised has stood me in good stead ever since. I have had bigger kitchens since then, and loved them, but I remember him saying his favorite kitchen was a galley type kitchen, if I remember correctly. And the best kitchen I ever had was an extended galley type kitchen. Good recipes in that book too. Now, I am traveling around the country as a traveling nurse, and I have to deal with the run of the mill apartment kitchen, which is not made for people who like to cook a lot. The one I have now, has almost no counter space, and I improvise all the time. I always ask the companies with whom I work, to get me an apartment that has a decent kitchen, but it seems that most folks these days don't cook much, and don't have a clue as to what constitutes a good kitchen. I have almost given up trying, and just make do with what I am furnished.

I was watching tonight, and realized that Cat Cora has a pretty illustrious sous chef, in the person of Elizabeth Falkner. Isn't she the owner of Citizen Cake in San Francisco?

Would someone be able to paraphrase the Marcella method for me? I have that Marcella cookbook packed away in storage, and it sounds like the perfect recipe to try for my chicken lurking in the fridge!

I just got that attachment also. Where is the base recipe? I would like to try that...

I think the question for me is, "Seriously, where do some of you put your partners, children, pets, and furniture?" ← I am currently working as a traveling nurse, and thusly most of my 1000+ collection is in storage. I do travel with about 200+ cookbooks, packed in about 5 heavy boxes in my van, when I am on the move. Lately, I have been collecting more (which I have to list here eventually) and now I have had to go up to 6 boxes of books. This doesn't leave much room in my van for other essential cooking equipment, and things like clothes, laptop, etc. When I go through all the books to see what I can weed out to cut down on the load, it is agonizing. I have some of my books in my cabin in Idyllwild now...and when I go back in September, I am going to have to weed out more from what I am carrying about. People look at me really strangely when I tell them I carry around this many cookbooks: they simply don't comprehend why someone would want all these cookbooks with them. I try to tell them they feed my soul, and the side benefit is that I get to cook great food out of them. At the moment I carry around with me 2 folding bookcases, which are loaded with the cookbooks, when I don't have anywhere else to put them. At the apartment where I am now, there is a tall built in bookcase (about 7 feet) which has most of the shelves filled with my books.

This is one thing I remember about the ice creams I had while growing up in Virginia. They had this "heft/chewiness".... I haven't found any ice creams in a long time that replicate that chewiness. To me, it is a really desirable quality in an ice cream. Anyone know how to achieve that?

I am not sure I would agree with the idea of a nearly saturated market. For example, the San Francisco bay area could be viewed as a nearly saturated market too...with all the bounty of California that is available there. However there is an extensive presence of Trader Joes there even with that saturated market.

I brought this up with a friend of mine who loves to cook and eat and also happens to be on disabilty for a mental illness. She showed me another perspective on this whole thing. When she has her druthers, and the money, and especially the energy and stamina, she is very glad to get ingredients that are exellent quality and to fix wonderful food with them. But she also stressed that many times she can barely make her self eat anything and it takes more energy and time than she can invest in even the simplest thing. Hence the junk food, the boxed/frozen foods, etc. She also pointed out to me, that I may not know if a person in line in front of me who has a basket full of this stuff is in such a situation, say on disability or has some medical or mental problem that precludes them from doing even a bit of cooking. I started looking at it differently after this.

I am always thinking of Corti Bros, when I get to Sacramento...did you get there? I love their store...

You can usually find them at Monterey Market in Berkeley as well, during the season. And while I haven't been to the Berkeley farmers market in a bit, I think you can find them there as well. I think I have heard that they are also available at the Ferry Plaza market.