Cookbooks as Literature

[TarteTatin]

Mr. Tarte Tatin LOVES to read cookbooks. He just sits down with them and reads them, cover to cover.

What really makes me jealous, is that he basically remembers recipes and from what cookbook they are from (just like remembering stories from regular novels and the facts from them).

He goes back to check on the amounts needed in the recipe, but can go straight to whatever book he remembers it's in.

(did that make sense? I didn't articulate that well)

I think his first love was Elizabeth David. He actually wrote her a thank you note while she was still living, for writing such good cookbooks. She wrote him back! Handwritten, saying that it's not often that American's knew her work, and how nice it was to be appreciated!

[KarenSherwood]

Two of my favorites for tasty recipes, insight into the how's & why's of a recipe or technique, and just fun reading are Kitchen Conversations by Joyce Goldstein, and Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread by Crescent Dragonwagon. Crescent's accounts of running a B&B are entertaining and the recipes are terrific.

[Megan Blocker]

There are very few cookbooks I feel lend themselves to being read like literature (not like it stops me when they're not), but they come along once in a while (The French Laundry Cookbook comes to mind). My latest discovery is New Arabian Cuisine, a book by a team of chefs from the J.W. Marriott in Dubai. Led by German chef Ingo Maas, they've put together a gorgeous book full of incredible photos and what look like some exciting recipes.

I came to know of the book through one of those cool eGullet opportunities; Chef Ingo was in town to check out some New York eateries, passing through on his way to a Marriott convention in San Fran, and got in touch about cool places to eat in NYC. We had dinner and got to talk about the book and I learned about his background, which is a pretty neat one.

He grew up in Germany, and when he was 19, his uncle told him that Singapore was the place to be. So young Ingo packed his bag and moved there - no job, no place to live, and, most important, no visa. He stayed for a little while and then headed to Australia, where he got a work visa and started working as a cook, then a chef. A few years later, a call came from Dubai, from a chef who was also a fellow German. Ingo headed for the Middle East 17 years ago and hasn't looked back.

The recipes in the book reflect a cuisine he's honed over many years, one that blends regional Arabian flavors with classical Western techniques. The book ends with a series of tiny bites, canapes created for the J.W.'s endless cocktail parties, which really jump-started Ingo's thinking about this kind of food.

Not for begginers, the book is full of recipes that assume you know basic methods for steaming, roasting, and so on, but this is one of the things that makes it read so well - the recipes are not pages long, but instead evoke a clear idea of the finished product. And the photos - oh my word! They were all taken on the roof of the hotel, next to the pool, in the brilliant Dubai sunshine. The food is haute and therefore stylized by definition, but the sunshine keeps it from feeling like a studio product.

I asked Ingo what his favorite recipe is, and he told me that it was the tlitli with the mushroom ragout, because it's also his daughter's favorite. It's first on my list to try, and I think you can see why...

Then again, the duck carpaccio looks pretty good, too...

Pictures shared with the permission of Marriott International.

Edited March 26, 2007 by Megan Blocker (log)

[David D'Aprix]

Anything by James Beard. I especially love some of the entries in Hors-D'Oeuvre and Canapes- "This is a real man's snack, definitely not for a female audience"! (p.22)

Agreed, and I am especially fond of James Beard's American Cookery.

[astartenyny]

i like reading cookbooks in the morning, while i drink my morning coffee. sometimes i pull down a book because i'm thinking about something specific and want to know more about it, other times i just take a random pick and delve in.

this morning i pulled down The Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy. I've had this one for a while and bought it when i had moved to NYC from Texas. i was seriously missing mexican food and wanted to recreate it myself. my fave recipe is for chile rellenos. i was vegetarian when i bought it and only really looked at the veggie recipes.

now that i'm living in scotland, and eating meat, i'm rediscovering what a wealth of information she has. there is even a bit about making your own chorizo. since i'm thinking of putting on a cinco de mayo potluck this year i thought it'd be a good idea to pick some things out of that book.

the other book i like to pick up and read is European Peasant Cookery by Elisabeth Luard. She's also really in-depth on techniques and descriptions -- there aren't any photos in this book. It seems like she's really done her research. I particularly like the section on sausages and cured meat (do i detect a thread here?).

[suzilightning]

i just finished reading Chez Jacques by Jacques Pepin and i actually read it more for his commentary and essays than for the recipes which were written old time Gourmet style.

NOT to be missed are the essays on food critics, home vs restaurant cooking and nouvelle cuisine.

i am also most of the way through A Well-Seasoned Apppetite by Molly O'Neill. haven't found many recipes i don't already have or want but the writing is lyrical in her seasons/ almost seasons and the specific ingredients within the season.

[Ted Fairhead]

My latest cookbook reading has been "Jamie's Italy", by Jamie Oliver. I have enjoyed his Tv appearances but did not credit him with the love and passion he obviously has about food.

The book is different from a lot of other cookbooks, being a sort of travelogue as well. The young man writes with a depth of feeling that rings true, and has hit on the secret of Italian cooking, its regionality. To quote from the first page-

"..the word regional, when it comes to cooking, is only the tip of the iceberg. They are far more parochial than that. There should be a word invented for it like 'villagional', because these guys, will argue that their own village makes a certain thing in the most perfect way and will look down on another village's method with utter contempt".

Altogether a fascinating book.