What food-related books are you reading? (2016 -)

[Anna N]

20 minutes ago, teonzo said:

This book tells the stories of 31 Tokyo "young" chefs, the older is around 45 if memory is right, 30 are Japanese and 1 is French.

 I have been eyeing that book also and did download a Kindle sample. Not sure though that I will actually buy it.   The sample certainly did not grab me.  

[suzilightning]

Right now Tamar Adler's newest book....if Smudge will get off of it.  I like her way of attacking food history and hope to meet up with her when I move back up to the Hudson Valley.

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, suzilightning said:

Right now Tamar Adler's newest book....if Smudge will get off of it.  I like her way of attacking food history and hope to meet up with her when I move back up to the Hudson Valley.

I am assuming Something Old....?   Added to my wish list.

Edited July 15, 2018 by Anna N
To remove link. (log)

[teonzo]

On 7/13/2018 at 12:22 AM, Anna N said:

 I have been eyeing that book also and did download a Kindle sample. Not sure though that I will actually buy it.   The sample certainly did not grab me.  

 

Let's say I'm glad I borrowed it. It's a good source of informations on who to look for, with great photos, but as far as content goes the author could have done a much better work. At least now I know that the favourite movie between Japanese chefs is The Godfather "due to the strong family bonds" (as an Italian I find it quite cringeworthy).

 

 

 

Teo

 

[teonzo]

Satomi Shinzo - "Sushi Chef: Sukiyabashi Jiro"

 

This is a perfect example on how difficult it is to find infos about Japanese restaurants if you live outside Japan. I'm ignorant on Japanese culture, but I always wonder why they are so closed about promoting themselves.

Jiro Ono came to worldwide fame after the release of the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi", before that he was an icon in Japan and totally unknown outside his country.

This book was originally released in 1997, it took the documentary boom to get it translated. I dare to say it's a masterpiece. Ono doesn't hold back on anything, he explains in great details everything he does (or better he did 20 years ago, there are different things in the documentary). The section on tuna alone is simply stunning, never seen anywhere else such passion and attention to details. Hats off to this master.

I don't think much people will use this book to mprove their sushi making, but I would put it among the best restaurant cookbooks, if not the best.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[paul o' vendange]

Re-reading Daniel Boulud's Letters to a Young Chef for the umpteenth time.  Have not cooked in consistent reality in over 10 years.  57.  Can I be a, ahem,  young chef, to be lettered? 🤔

[Anna N]

On 7/15/2018 at 6:42 AM, Anna N said:

I am assuming Something Old....?   Added to my wish list.

 

Bought the Kindle edition and I am much disappointed. Almost every line felt forced and uncomfortable as though she was reaching for stars too far away.  But it sent me back to her much more interesting and better written book, An Everlasting Meal.  

 

Even on second reading this remains enlightening and inspiring and makes me want to grab my whisk and  get cooking. The new book does nothing of the kind. 

 

Your mileage may vary of course.

 

 

[Orbit]

I just finished "A Bite Sized History of France" which is a history of France told through the lens of food. I highly recommend it.

[heidih]

I just listened to Ed Levine's 2 part interview with Rick Bragg focusing on his new book "The Best Cook in the World; Tales From My Momma's Table" and am sorely tempted. Has anyone indulged? Sounds more food related memories than cookbook which I love.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17374/the-best-cook-in-the-world-by-rick-bragg/9781400040414/

Edited July 27, 2018 by heidih (log)

[blue_dolphin]

28 minutes ago, heidih said:

I just listened to Ed Levine's 2 part interview with Rick Bragg focusing on his new book "The Best Cook in the World; Tales From My Momma's Table" and am sorely tempted. Has anyone indulged? Sounds more food related memories than cookbook which I love.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17374/the-best-cook-in-the-world-by-rick-bragg/9781400040414/

 

 

Thanks for mentioning this.  I just borrowed the ebook through my library but haven't started reading yet.

[teonzo]

Andrew Friedman - "Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll"

 

Title is a bit misleading, the book talks about chefs, very few about drugs and rock & roll.

This is a fine read, dealing with the change in the American fine dining scene, from mostly French restaurants helmed by Frenchmen to the blooming of the American chefs/owners and the celebrity chefs. Due to its nature this book is fragmentary, Friedman tried to talk about a lot of people that became iconic and the various scenes where they got success. It's based mainly on California (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley) and New York. It's an interesting read with some intriguing anecdotes. I had a good idea of most of those happenings (from reading here and there), but it's nice to find all the story covered in a single book.

My main criticism is that I would have liked to see more pages dedicated to some figures like Jean-Louis Palladin, Charlie Trotter and Rick Bayless. They get a quick naming and nothing more. I understand the practical problems of interviewing them, I understand that Palladin was French and not American (well, Puck is Austrian and got a lot of coverage), but they deserved a couple pages each at least. Probably there are more big figures I'm missing. Not a detracting criticism, when you write such a book it's impossible to include everyone, there will always be people saying "you needed to add _____ and ____" (that's what I just did hahahahha).

 

 

 

Teo

 

[heidih]

41 minutes ago, teonzo said:

Andrew Friedman - "Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll"

 

Title is a bit misleading, the book talks about chefs, very few about drugs and rock & roll.

 

 

 

This interview might give you guys a better idea. Interesting though not my cup of tea in terms of interest  https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/03/special-sauce-cookbook-collaborator-andrew-friedman-on-why-chefs-are-like-snowflakes-2.html

[Toliver]

3 hours ago, heidih said:

I just listened to Ed Levine's 2 part interview with Rick Bragg focusing on his new book "The Best Cook in the World; Tales From My Momma's Table" and am sorely tempted. Has anyone indulged? Sounds more food related memories than cookbook which I love.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17374/the-best-cook-in-the-world-by-rick-bragg/9781400040414/

 

Amazon's info page for the book states that there are 74 recipes in the book.

He's such a great writer. You can really hear his voice in his stories.

[heidih]

6 minutes ago, Toliver said:

Amazon's info page for the book states that there are 74 recipes in the book.

He's such a great writer. You can really hear his voice in his stories.

 

Yes but I posted here because in the interview he talks about the story before the recipe being the "thing". Alabama (Appalachian?) deep story telling roots. 

 

https://soundcloud.com/user-306003081/author-rick-bragg-on-his-mom

 

https://soundcloud.com/user-306003081/rick-bragg-on-why-cooks-are

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by heidih (log)

[suzilightning]

On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 2:34 PM, heidih said:

I just listened to Ed Levine's 2 part interview with Rick Bragg focusing on his new book "The Best Cook in the World; Tales From My Momma's Table" and am sorely tempted. Has anyone indulged? Sounds more food related memories than cookbook which I love.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17374/the-best-cook-in-the-world-by-rick-bragg/9781400040414/

 

Quote

Yup.....here's what I said one page back

Run...do not walk...to check out rick bragg's new book...The Best Cook in the World.

It is part cookbook but mostly family stories...some perhaps a bit exaggerated...but the history of cooking passed down from generation to generation makes a phenomenal read!

 

Edited July 29, 2018 by suzilightning (log)

[heidih]

On 7/27/2018 at 11:34 AM, heidih said:

I just listened to Ed Levine's 2 part interview with Rick Bragg focusing on his new book "The Best Cook in the World; Tales From My Momma's Table" and am sorely tempted. Has anyone indulged? Sounds more food related memories than cookbook which I love.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17374/the-best-cook-in-the-world-by-rick-bragg/9781400040414/

 

 

 

My lucky day - the book just happened to be on one of the new book shelves as I walked down the aisle at library. Two pages in I was overwhelmed and had to stop. The writing and resultant imagery are so vivid that I want to slowly savor the read and there are too many noisy distractions inside and outside right now. It is just over 480 pages and new book check-out is 2 weeks and no renewal if there is a hold request so I will be setting aside quality time.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night I finished Eating My Way Through Italy by Elizabeth Minchilli.  While there are recipes, she escorts the reader on her journeys to certain obscure and less obscure culinary corners of Italy.  Twenty destinations, all in all.  Minchilli describes herself as culturally Jewish.  She does not eat horse.  But there are pictures.  She doesn't eat raw mussels either.

 

Two of my favorite tidbits were the Milanese restaurant, the Latteria, where "Everything is cooked in silver pots and pans..."  And the town of Nuoro in central Sardinia, where only a few women still make the pasta Su Filindeu.  Su Filindeu is traditionally served in broth during the Festival of San Francesco di Lula, to pilgrims who reach the mountainous Sanctuary of San Francesco above Nuoro, outside the village of Lula.  Pilgrims are first offered coffee and cookies.  Then Su Filindeu.  Finally meat and potatoes which were used to make the broth.

 

 

Edit:  oh, I forgot Granarium, the organic seed to loaf establishment in Umbria.  They grow and thresh their wheat, mill the grain and bake the bread on premises.  Wood-fired ovens.

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[kayb]

I commend to all y'all Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry, which is as good an introduction to canning and preserving preserving fruits and veggies and brining/curing/smoking meat and fish as I have seen. There's even a chapter on elementary cheesemaking. I'm now intent on maki g my own Camenbert.

 

There are recipes, but more, there's a good, friendly intro into the how's and why's of preserving. I've been around preserving all my life, and I learned stuff.

 

I first ran across Cathy Barrow on the Food 52 site, before I discovered eGullet. Liked her. Like her more now after reading her book cover to cover.

 

I recommend it.

[Smithy]

I have a moratorium on cookbook buying for a while, at least until I've actually cooked from some that I purchased earlier this year. That said, I've now placed Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry: Recipes and Techniques for Year-Round Preserving on my wishlist. It's available in Kindle version, as well as hardcover - and I noticed quite a few listings for it in the used bookstores also. Thanks for the recommendation.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

49 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I have a moratorium on cookbook buying for a while, at least until I've actually cooked from some that I purchased earlier this year. That said, I've now placed Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry: Recipes and Techniques for Year-Round Preserving on my wishlist. It's available in Kindle version, as well as hardcover - and I noticed quite a few listings for it in the used bookstores also. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Library?

 

[rustwood]

On 7/12/2018 at 4:53 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I'm reading The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone.  The subject is food botanist David Fairchild and his search for food plants.  So far my favorite paragraph:

 

"The coast of Austria-Hungary yielded what people called capuzzo, a leafy cabbage.  It was a two-thousand-year grandparent of modern broccoli and cauliflower, that was neither charismatic nor particularly delicious.  But something about it called to Fairchild.  The people of Austria-Hungary ate it with enthusiasm, and not because it was good, but because it was there.  While the villagers called it capuzzo, the rest of the world would call it kale..."

 

 

I recently finished this as well.  I was in the process of creating a new post when I searched and found yours.  Your post may have been my inspiration.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I enjoy reading about the exploits of naturalists and explorers in that golden age (e.g. the recent The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, also: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon).  It also contains a great deal of interesting history that is unrelated to food.  I am tempted to say it is more food-adjacent than food-related.  That may be splitting hairs, but I suspect it may not be sufficiently focused on food for some, while many who are not especially interested in food would also enjoy reading it.

 

[Smithy]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Library?

 

  Thank you for the reminder! Our system has it. 

[kayb]

9 hours ago, Smithy said:

I have a moratorium on cookbook buying for a while, at least until I've actually cooked from some that I purchased earlier this year. That said, I've now placed Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry: Recipes and Techniques for Year-Round Preserving on my wishlist. It's available in Kindle version, as well as hardcover - and I noticed quite a few listings for it in the used bookstores also. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

I picked mine up used on eBay for well under 10 bucks. Glad I did. It's just one of those I want in dead-tree edition.

[kayb]

On 7/27/2018 at 1:34 PM, heidih said:

I just listened to Ed Levine's 2 part interview with Rick Bragg focusing on his new book "The Best Cook in the World; Tales From My Momma's Table" and am sorely tempted. Has anyone indulged? Sounds more food related memories than cookbook which I love.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/17374/the-best-cook-in-the-world-by-rick-bragg/9781400040414/

 

I have now. It's good -- but not my favorite of his.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I finished The Minimalist Kitchen by Melissa Coleman.  No one has accused me of Minimalism.  Ever.  I wanted to see how the other half lived.  Her kitchen has stuff mine does not.  But one really good idea is the junk drawer.  I share this belief.  Mine though is in the living room.  For some odd reason Coleman assumes it is in the kitchen.

 

I was bemused the sumptuous photographs subvert the text.  Beautiful wooden cutting boards where Coleman says she uses polyethylene, not wood.  Curiously lovely knives not in Coleman's battery.

 

In the recipe section bread and tortillas spring full blown as from the mind of Zeus, no telling where they come from.