What are your food-related reads these days?

[Owtahear]

[teonzo]

Stabiner Karen - "Generation Chef"

This book tells the story of the first year of Huertas, a restaurant in New York. It deals with the emotions by the owners and some staff members, the business side, the media side... Lots of details for the amount of pages.
One thing I did not like is that the author talks about other restaurants that opened at the same time and had really few ties with the main story. Seems like the author followed a bunch of restaurants that were opening at that time to write a book "first year of restaurant X", then at the end she decided for Huertas. That's ok, but I don't see the point of adding the other references, breaking the story continuously.
Second thing I did not like is that most of the dynamics are the usual ones in this business, so someone who worked in restaurants will find lots of things he/she experienced first hand. The parts dealing with the New York scene (finding a space, dealing with liquor licenses, the media impact on a business) were very interesting, all the rest was like a story I already heard / lived.
I would suggest this book to people entering this business (to see that things are much more different than what TVs show) or amateurs who want to get a glimpse inside a professional setting. I would not suggest this book to professionals, it borders on the boring side.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[IowaDee]

I'm about halfway through Ten Restaurants That Changed America by Paul Freedman.  I'm enjoying it a lot considering I have only been to one of the places.   The restaurants included are:

Le Pavillon

Antoine"s

Howard Johnson's

Schrafft's

Mamma Leone's

Chez Panise

Sylvia's

The Mandarin

Delmonico's

The Four Seasons

 

As you might have guessed, Howard Johnson's is the only one I have been to.  And yes, the all you can eat fried clams changed my life.

 

[suzilightning]

Just finished Chop Suey Nation by Ann Hui.  I galloped through this book in about a day and a half.  The sub-title is The Surprising History and Vibrant Present of Small-Town Chinese Restaurants from Victoria BC to Fogo Island, NL.

Good read and reminds me of Jennifer 8 Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles.

I now have some places to check out on our next trip to NB and NL!!!!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

John Lanchester's A Debt to Pleasure.   I realize that this book is meant to be a tease, but the protagonist is such an unlikable pompous putz that I have to keep slapping myself upside the head not to get infuriated with him and abandon it.    Almost half way through and I'm told that's about where it starts getting good.    In the meantime, swap, swap....

 

Furthermore...while most critiques praise his food knowledge and the breezy recipes, I have had many quibbles with descriptions of a dish, procedure and seasonings.    But it is, we have to accept, written from a British POV.  

[Kim Shook]

I read an article about that book and her journey on Eater (I think).  It was really interesting and I'd love to read the book.  I love how she started out with this idee fixe about what she was going to find in the towns and how her perspective changed when she met the people running the restaurants.  

[Anna N]

Some weeks back @FauxPassent a copy of Susan Musgrave’s book A Taste of Haida Gwaii to @Kerry Beal. Knowing how much of a child I am when it comes to opening parcels, Kerry brought the package containing the book over to my house so I could open it. I was just so amazed to see it was a book by Susan Musgrave. Susan was one of my very early mentors when I was learning to write for publication. I asked Kerry if I could borrow the book for a few days and a few days of turned into a few weeks, mea culpa.

 

 Susan was married 20+ years to one of Canada’s most notorious bank robbers.  Steven Reid was a member of the Stopwatch Gang. But if she is notorious for that, she is famous for her poetry and other writings. 

 

This book is much more than a recipe book although it does include many recipes from the bed and breakfast, Copper Beech House, which she acquired in 2010. It is part history, part travelogue, part autobiography. It always reveals Susan‘s irreverence for anything and everything. 

 

I am very much reminded of The Art of Living According to Joe Beef. 

 

The photography is phenomenal and I’m sure the recipes are worthy although most are a bit beyond my current capabilities. Some of the ingredients are foraged. 

 

Now I can return the book to Kerry. I feel bad about having held onto it so long. 

 

 

 

Sent from my iWatch.

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Some weeks back @FauxPassent a copy of Susan Musgrave’s book A Taste of Haida Gwaii to @Kerry Beal. Knowing how much of a child I am when it comes to opening parcels, Kerry brought the package containing the book over to my house so I could open it. I was just so amazed to see it was a book by Susan Musgrave. Susan was one of my very early mentors when I was learning to write for publication. I asked Kerry if I could borrow the book for a few days and a few days of turned into a few weeks, mea culpa.

 

 Susan was married 20+ years to one of Canada’s most notorious bank robbers.  Steven Reid was a member of the Stopwatch Gang. But if she is notorious for that, she is famous for her poetry and other writings. 

 

This book is much more than a recipe book although it does include many recipes from the bed and breakfast, Copper Beech House, which she acquired in 2010. It is part history, part travelogue, part autobiography. It always reveals Susan‘s irreverence for anything and everything. 

 

I am very much reminded of The Art of Living According to Joe Beef. 

 

The photography is phenomenal and I’m sure the recipes are worthy although most are a bit beyond my current capabilities. Some of the ingredients are foraged. 

 

Now I can return the book to Kerry. I feel bad about having held onto it so long. 

 

 

 

Sent from my iWatch.

Funny - was just thinking I need to fetch that home today - in exchange for the latest book I have obtained!

[Anna N]

11 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Funny - was just thinking I need to fetch that home today - in exchange for the latest book I have obtained!

OK so this latest book is already the bane of my life. It is Too Many Chiefs Only One Indian. This is not a coffee table book – – this is a dining room table book provided the dining room table is very well constructed and can take some weight.  Sheesh. It is a restaurant book and one I am most unlikely to want to cook from but I’m still interested in at least leafing through it.  It will only happen on days when I can manage a breakfast of champions to give me the strength to wrestle with it. 

[FauxPas]

12 hours ago, Anna N said:

Some weeks back @FauxPassent a copy of Susan Musgrave’s book A Taste of Haida Gwaii to @Kerry Beal. Knowing how much of a child I am when it comes to opening parcels, Kerry brought the package containing the book over to my house so I could open it. I was just so amazed to see it was a book by Susan Musgrave. Susan was one of my very early mentors when I was learning to write for publication. I asked Kerry if I could borrow the book for a few days and a few days of turned into a few weeks, mea culpa.

 

Ha, @Kerry Beal mentioned she was going to let you check it out first! I am just so pleased that someone else was able to enjoy it! I found it a fun read and thought Kerry might enjoy it, given her time on the Queen Charlottes aka Haida Gwaii. I am even more pleased that you were also interested in it! 

[teonzo]

11 hours ago, Anna N said:

OK so this latest book is already the bane of my life. It is Too Many Chiefs Only One Indian. This is not a coffee table book – – this is a dining room table book provided the dining room table is very well constructed and can take some weight.  Sheesh. It is a restaurant book and one I am most unlikely to want to cook from but I’m still interested in at least leafing through it.  It will only happen on days when I can manage a breakfast of champions to give me the strength to wrestle with it. 

 

That's probably the best looking restaurant book ever! I have similar feelings, I bought it when it came out years ago and still haven't read it, just for the fear of ruining it. I must remember to buy a pair of white silk gloves.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, teonzo said:

 

That's probably the best looking restaurant book ever! I have similar feelings, I bought it when it came out years ago and still haven't read it, just for the fear of ruining it. I must remember to buy a pair of white silk gloves.

 

 

 

Teo

 

Teo - I told her to feel free to get it dirty or let the kittens chew it if she wants. I'd like to see it looked at!

[David Ross]

For about the fourth or fifth time, "Hometown Appetites, The Story of Clementine Paddleford."  As more of the great food writers and journalists fade away, and the great food magazines of yesteryear are gone, I'm drawn more and more to these folks.  

[Kim Shook]

5 hours ago, David Ross said:

For about the fourth or fifth time, "Hometown Appetites, The Story of Clementine Paddleford."  As more of the great food writers and journalists fade away, and the great food magazines of yesteryear are gone, I'm drawn more and more to these folks.  

I love that book!  It is on my "Keeper shelf" - never to give up because I, too, re-read it every couple of years.  

[teonzo]

9 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Teo - I told her to feel free to get it dirty or let the kittens chew it if she wants. I'd like to see it looked at!

 

The voice of reason! I need to get past my obsession of keeping my books in pristine conditions. Time to pick this Sat Bains book off the shelves and finally read it. I remember liking the idea of the charts about the 5 tastes for each dish, unfortunately nobody followed this idea (at least I haven't seen any other book). Maybe I'll find the courage to tear away the page with "king" Roux, I found that photo really really sad, the book can only get better without it.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I just finished Caroline Eden's Black Sea Dispatches and Recipes Through Darkness and Light.  Was hoping for insight on the foods of Georgia; unfortunately Eden never made it quite that far.  Interesting travelogue nonetheless.  It's said Tamerlane put to death five percent of the earth's population.

 

 

[Anna N]

11 hours ago, teonzo said:

 

The voice of reason! I need to get past my obsession of keeping my books in pristine conditions.

Yup!  My late husband, bless his soul, missed so many fantastic photography opportunities because he didn’t want to get his expensive camera wet, sandy, bumped or bruised. And a beloved aunt died with so much stuff in mint condition that she had “saved for a rainy day”.  Use your stuff. Enjoy your stuff. That’s what it’s for. 

[Darienne]

I am on book five of a series about a French policeman, setting in the fictional town of St. Denis, in the Dordogne region of France.  Bruno Courrèges is the character and the author is Martin Walker.  There is so much about French food  and wines and the making, eating and drinking thereof woven into each book.   Quite wonderful. 

[teonzo]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

Yup!  My late husband, bless his soul, missed so many fantastic photography opportunities because he didn’t want to get his expensive camera wet, sandy, bumped or bruised. And a beloved aunt died with so much stuff in mint condition that she had “saved for a rainy day”.  Use your stuff. Enjoy your stuff. That’s what it’s for. 

 

You are absolutely right!

I was half joking because I really wanted to tear off that page with king Roux, I can't stand people taking themselves so seriously. I recalled how much I paid for the book and put it on the shelf. Haven't touched it from then because of my backlog combined to lack of time, for example my books of elBulli 2005-11 are still in the shrink wrap and I got it more than 5 years ago. I started reading an old confectionery book about 2 months ago and am about 1/3 of it...

 

 

 

Teo

 

[kayb]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

I am on book five of a series about a French policeman, setting in the fictional town of St. Denis, in the Dordogne region of France.  Bruno Courrèges is the character and the author is Martin Walker.  There is so much about French food  and wines and the making, eating and drinking thereof woven into each book.   Quite wonderful. 

 

I LOVE Inspector Bruno! And his basset hound!

[Anna N]

6 hours ago, teonzo said:

 

You are absolutely right!

I was half joking because I really wanted to tear off that page with king Roux, I can't stand people taking themselves so seriously. I recalled how much I paid for the book and put it on the shelf. Haven't touched it from then because of my backlog combined to lack of time, for example my books of elBulli 2005-11 are still in the shrink wrap and I got it more than 5 years ago. I started reading an old confectionery book about 2 months ago and am about 1/3 of it...

 

 

 

Teo

 

I am trying to find a compromise where I can leaf through the book but not let the kittens have their way with it. Right now I have it open on the table they haven’t yet discovered. And I have started reading it. And what do you know? The chef and I have something in common. We were both born in Derby!

Edited October 11, 2019 by Anna N
Repetition (log)

[gulfporter]

I am halfway through McIlhenny's Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire.  It's well-written and the geological facts about Avery Island (one of largest salt domes on earth), as well as how the family was able to trademark the word "tabasco" (illegally through political connections) are quite interesting.

 

When we were moving from the east to AZ in 2003, we stayed in New Iberia but didn't take the time to tour Avery Island and I always regretted that decision.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/McIlhennys-Gold-Louisiana-Family-Tabasco/dp/0060721855

Edited November 4, 2019 by gulfporter
added link to Amazon (log)

[Kim Shook]

Mr. Kim went to grad school with one of the McIlhenny girls.  She married into a local Richmond grocery store family.  The week after the wedding, Tabasco bottles appeared on all the tables in the cafe sections of the stores! 😄

 

I currently trying to read Burn the Ice: The American Culinary Revolution and Its End by Kevin Alexander.  I say trying not because of any fault of the book but because I quit smoking almost 2 months ago and reading is something that I associate very closely with smoking.  I've hardly read a word since quitting.  Anyway, I'm only about 50 pages in and have lots of thoughts.  It's a library book and I'm hoping I can finish it before it has to go back!

 

Goodreads page for the book:  Burn the Ice.

[TdeV]

@chromedome, do you know much about salt cod cooking? After spending a long time on a wait list, I've finally got my own copy of SALT COD CUISINE: THE INTERNATIONAL TABLE by Edward A. Jones printed in 2013 with assistance from many folks and financial assistance from a Newfoundland university and Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

The subject has fascinated me for some time.

[chromedome]

Truthfully, here where it's caught and processed we're creatures of habit. There are basically just three dishes here using salt cod*: Salt fish and potatoes; fish and brewis; and fishcakes.

 

For the first, the fish is soaked briefly to make it pliable and then a) cooked in the pot with the potatoes (old school), or b) simmered in one pot while the potatoes are boiled separately in another (modern style). Separately, render out diced salt pork fatback. To serve, spoon the rendered fat and crunchy brown bits (scruncheons) over the fish and potatoes. Optionally, slice an onion into a small bowl of plain white vinegar an hour ahead of time, and have the onion rings and onion-scented vinegar as a garnish/condiment for the main meal (this is also good with fresh, pan-fried mackerel).

 

Fish & brewis is similar, but replaces the potatoes with "hard bread," which is the lineal descendant of the "ship's biscuit" of the sailing days or "hardtack" that fed the armies of centuries gone by. It's basically just flour, water and a bit of salt, baked to a stony texture which (if kept in an airtight tin or bag) prevents spoilage for years or decades. You soak it to soften it, then simmer it with the fish to absorb some flavor, then serve the fish as before with the quivering cake of stodge in lieu of potatoes. Leftover brewis is sometimes eaten warm or cold with molasses, as dessert. There's also a variation called "fisherman's brewis," which is the leftover fish and hard bread turned into hash with a bit of fried onion.

 

Fishcakes are typically leftover cooked fish and potatoes, mashed up together with (ideally) an egg for binder, and some finely chopped onion. They're breaded and fried, and served as part of a larger meal. A typical Newfoundland fisherman's working-day breakfast might include eggs, two or three fishcakes, a substantial quantity of baked beans, half a loaf of bread and a pot of tea.

 

The Europeans have a much deeper and richer variety of dishes using our signature product, as - for that matter - do the Caribbean nations. I've had many fine salt cod dishes from Jamaican farmer's market vendors, and joked with some of the older ones about how my grandfather probably caught and cured some of the fish they grew up on. He was, to all accounts (and my memory as well) something of a jerk, but he was also famously a perfectionist and even those who disliked him conceded that his fish was first-rate.

 

*Note that the versions involving "brewis" are Newfoundland-only, and won't be found in Nova Scotia or the other Maritime provinces.