What Are You Reading?

[bankchef]

Apprentice by Jaques Pepin.

[Maliaty]

Re China Moon + ginger

One of her comments - down the inside margin of my copy - is that she never peels ginger at home, but at her restaurant, peer pressure forces her into it! I have to say, I usually peel.

Re the soupiness of the stir fries - for me, it's usually because I panic and put too much stock / sauce in (I find it hard to restrain myself and follow the recipe exactly).

Also, re szechuan peppercorns - I live in Australia, and have no problem finding them - it's more of a problem to get the thorns out...

cheers

maliaty

[jhlurie]

Currently I'm reading one food book, "Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good" by Newman & Hotchner, which is indeed about the Salad dressing and pasta sauce king who used to act or something.

Most of my reactions are here, in this thread. One thing I'll say here... Newman really is a wacko, no matter what you think of his acting or food.

Mostly I'm reading this book for the comedy--the desire to see just how wacked Newman is. I'm not considering it a very serious read, although it does sidetrack a few times into substance almost by accident.

[bergerka]

Currently perusing some fun sci-fi while I wait impatiently for slkinsey to finish "The Art of Eating."

but I DID buy my mom the two Steingarten books for Xmas. When I left AZ, she was reading the chapter about the cheapest possible diet and giggling madly.

K

[fresco]

The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong, a novel told from the point of view of the Vietnamese cook employed by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Recommended, if memory serves, by JAZ.

[AzRaeL]

I wonder if there's a CD ROM version of Larousse Gastronomique.

it's too heavy to carry back and forth from home to office

and too damn expensive to buy one for each location.

[bankchef]

Hard to find but they used to do a paperback copy. Chef friend of mine in Portland had one but I couldn't find one.

[ruthcooks]

QUOTE (Mabelline @ Dec 29 2003, 01:50 PM)

Maybe this should be a different thread, but does anyone buy or check out older cook or cooking related books? 40's, 50's, 60's,70's,80's, what? Name your favorites!

Among the older ones (mostly 60s and 70s and some 80s) I treasure a three volume set by Elsie Masterton called "The Blueberry Hill Cookbooks". She and her husband opened an inn in Vermont (?) and served the most imaginative meals you could imagine shopping a small town grocery store in the fifties. Some of her recipes are real treasures. About two years ago I located a practically new boxed set on half.com for a friend.

I love everything done by Bert Greene. Like James Beard, he was an eater extraordinaire. Also books by Julie Dannenbaum, Roy Andries de Groot, Libby Hillman, and Helen Corbitt. Vincent Price's "Treasury of Recipes." And, of course, everything by James and Julia.

Right now, I'm reading "Brown Sugar" by Joyce White and the latest paperback out by John Grisham. I read a book of fiction about every two days.

[srhcb]

"Apprentice" by Jaques Pepin, Delightful, and "Wilder Shores of Gastronomy" (20 yrs of Petits Propos Culinaires) by Alan Davidson, Absorbing.

SB (who keeps MFKF's "Art of Eating" readily at hand for whenever he feels discouraged)

[deiger]

Waiting to be read are: Best Food Writing of 2003 (always enjoy those) and "Salt" by Mark Kurlansky.

thanks for the thread... i'll off to Amazon shortly.

diane

[pattimw]

Steingarten's "It must have been something I ate"...and I have just finished rererereading the China Moon cookbook which I love to death. For Christmas this year, we swapped one batch of homemade China Moon inspired chilli szechaun peppercorn oil for brother in law's killer bbq sauce...

cheers

Maliaty

Yes, the China Moon book is now on my list of must-haves - the library will insist I return their copy in less than three weeks!

my sister gave this cookbook some time ago and I never have really looked at it.

So...it's good?

[pattimw]

Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating

CIA Cooking at Home

The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman - who I have never read before but now have great respect for his writing ability.

Now that It Must Have Been Something.... is in paperback, I'm itching to get that, too.

[markovitch]

Daniel Boulud's 'Letters to a young Chef'

its part of this 'mentor books series' that hs produced some serious shite (Daniel DeSouza's 'Letters to a Young Conservative' in shich he indicates the best way to find a liberal is to look for juice drinkers) but it was fairly interesting... though if it had been longer than 90 pages it would have been too much

[AndrewM]

As I've been (and will be) flying a lot, I've been reading Best Food Writing 2003, featuring among its contents a few pieces by eGulleteers. It is compact and broken into bite-size morsels, so it is good for travelling.

(snip)

I'm not the greatest fan of compilations like the first-mentioned book above, but I've enjoyed this one because it has pointed me to some writers with websites of whom I would like to read more.

Jim

Got this one unexpectedly for Xmas and am in the middle of it. A very good collection, fun and informative. Some of the pieces you'll have read already if you follow the food publications. Best title is surely "Travels with Captain Bacon."

[morela]

Also, I picked up A Cooks Tour for $2.49 at a Borders Outlet store.  Gotta get back to KC.  Man this book is amazing!

Damn! I though $4 at Olson's next to Jaleo in DC was good.

Also,

I just started M.F. K. Fisher's The Art of Eating, which I picked up at a used book store for a deal. A lot of people I admire have told me to read...and so far it's amazing. This is the first of her books I've picked up ...and I really love her voice.

[Huevos del Toro]

The Indian Grocery Store Demystified

A food lover's guide to all the best ingredients in the traditional foods of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

It's really a pretty cool aid in deciphering the seemingly inexhaustible list of ingredients. The author, Linda Bladholm, also wrote:

The Asian Grocery Store Demystified

A food lover's guide to all the best ingredients

which is next on my wish list.

edited by HdT to add: The small size makes it handy to carry with you to the market so you can refer to it as you shop.

Edited January 6, 2004 by Huevos del Toro (log)

[srhcb]

I just started M.F. K. Fisher's The Art of Eating, which I picked up at a used book store for a deal. A lot of people I admire have told me to read...and so far it's amazing. This is the first of her books I've picked up ...and I really love her voice.

As it states on the back cover of my copy, "I do not know of anyone in the United States today who writes better prose".

This was said by WH Auden, who knew something about prose.

SB (and it's still true today, as far as I'm concerned)

[suzilightning]

the library is the best thing ever.

my monthly overdue fine at the library usually pays for a book. Sometimes it's just to hard to let go of the book

renew -

our library does it online, by phone or in person

trust me - a library would usually prefer to have the circulation to the fine

[BettyK]

Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, The South American Table and D'artagnan's book of Game.

Elie

Elie, what do you think of 'The South American Table'?

[laurenmilan]

Just read through (and am currently cooking through) the Union Square Cafe Cookbook. Also reading China the Beautiful.

[vox]

food-related reading:

recently finished margaret visser's "much depends on dinner" social anthropology of food...FASCINATING!

working my way through david rosengarten's "it's all american food"...i love that guy.

[joiei]

I just picked up "the Bread Baker's apprentice" on sale at W-S for $11. What a steal. So far, I am finding it good reading.

[chezlamere]

I wonder if there's a CD ROM version of Larousse Gastronomique.

it's too heavy to carry back and forth from home to office

and too damn expensive to buy one for each location.

after hearing about this book endlessly... I ordered it from the library. I gotta say - for the money, I don't see what the big deal is. It's lay out is tiresome, It's like reading an encyclopedia or a dictionary. One tends to miss the good parts from all the useless parts. I think my text books were better, and I don't use them anymore. I find search engines better and more up to date than this book, and it was the latest edition. And Waaaaaaaay tooooo heavy for my backpack. Of coarse if i found it at a used book store i would buy it.

[chezlamere]

food-related reading:

recently finished margaret visser's "much depends on dinner" social anthropology of food...FASCINATING!

working my way through david rosengarten's "it's all american food"...i love that guy.

i agree, this is one of the best books I've read on food. I wish I could write like that. I read an article in bon appetit or gourmet or some mag awhile ago on the History of food as it relates to religion, I had a copy of this mag buy my many moves - well it's gone. I would love a copy of that article again. It was probably about ten+ years ago.

[lia]

I am rereading an old favorite - More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin.  I love her description of lime pickle in this book, and I keep meaning to try it but never have!

my two favorite books ever....but be careful with the lime pickle! definitely an acquired taste...

"The best thing I ever tasted: the secret of food"

halfway through that, Fast Food Nation is up next...