THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

  Peace, Love and Fibre: Over 100 Fibre-Rich Recipes for the Whole Family by Mairlyn Smith My rating: 4 of 5 stars Mairlyn Smith, who has recently gained traction for her #FartWalk initiative (yes, you read that right) making the rounds on social media, is a professional Home Economist and former member of the Second City Comedy Troupe. Her winsome personality, that shines through in her videos, is no less present in the text of this cookbook. More than just recipes, Smith offers a practical (and humorous) way to incorporate more fiber in your diet. She warns that an increase in fiber needs to be gradual, coupled with an increase (usually) in water intake. She weighs in on sugar and salt too, reminding us that table salt is not such a bad thing when you look at iodine needs. Ultimately, she offers a gameplan for the "Big Picture" by offering 10 healthy habits (that range from diet, exercise, to emotional well-being), and suggests picking one a month. After 10 months, you c...

  Cross-posted at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman My rating: 5 of 5 stars The best food histories are just histories. Sarah Lohman captures a whole lot of history in narratives about eight flavors that she feels best define American cuisine: black pepper, vanilla, chili powder, curry powder, soy sauce, garlic, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and sriracha. I could feel my resistance when I read MSG, but it is worth quoting the book here: Today there’s a double standard when it comes to the perception of MSG. If it’s in Chinese takeout, it’s called MSG, and it’s like poison. But when MSG is utilized by high-end American chefs and brands, it referred to as “Umami" and it’s celebrated as revolutionary. Although [Kikunae] Ikeda named this taste umami in 1907, the designation wasn’t accepted officially by the scientific community until 2000, when taste receptors on the tongue were specifically identified for glutamate....

  Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds by Hetty Lui McKinnon My rating: 5 of 5 stars   For those that know me, the fact that I have pledged to try at least one of the eggplant recipes in this book if I try ALL the other recipes, is probably the most astounding review I could ever give a cookbook. But this is more than just a cookbook. It is a story of the way food both nurtures and cultivates memories and helps us work through our grief to find those tangible things in life that help us hold on in healthy ways. McKinnon writes beautifully about both her parents, but particularly her memories of her father. The book opens with a quote from Francis Weller's  The Wild Edge of Sorrow : "Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close." McKinnon's father, Wai Keung Lui...

 CROSS-POSTED at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain My rating: 5 of 5 stars cw: suicide I wasn't prepared for the emotional journey I would take in listening to Anthony Bourdain read this book, originally published in 2000. Published at a time that didn't know Covid. Published at a time when sensibilities were altogether different. Published at a time, of course, when Anthony Bourdain was alive. Of course what was raw and real and shocking in 2000 is still so today--perhaps more so. But it takes on new meaning to hear Bourdain's bravado in joking about suicide, his unabashed love for the rough and tumble culinary world, and his blasé attitude toward airborne illnesses, the like of which he never lived to see. While certainly one could criticize Bourdain's own seeming acceptance of the sexism and toxicity that he says is innate to the "culinary underbelly", the fact remains there ...

 Cross-posted at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves I am working my way through two Japanese cookbooks right now, both of which are filled with insight and craft (my review of Sonoko Sakai's Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors coming soon!). Nancy Singleton Hachisu's Japanese Farm Food is, as advertised, very much about farm life in Japan and the food that grows there. For that reason, it resonates more as a narrative for me than a cookbook, as many of the ingredients are specific and connected to the life of the farm. She is not as free with the substitutions as Sonoko Sakai, but there are a few (blackstrap molasses for kuromitsu, for example). To call her a purist wouldn't seem totally correct, and that's largely because of the beautiful narrative she constructs about life on the farm and learning how to acculturate in meaningful ways. In truth it is inspiring, if somewhat a bit daunting at times. In addition to spending massive amounts of time pr...

  Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading Rants and Raves Why We Cook : Women on Food, Identity, and Connection by Lindsay Gardner My rating: 4 of 5 stars Lindsay Gardner's whimsical-yet-substantive illustrations make this a charming book that is a pleasant mish-mosh of reflections, substantive essays, and lighter fare (inspirational quotes and magazine-type survey questions). While there are a few recipe, it isn't a cookbook--although I certainly would have appreciated an index (foods, recipes, people). The table of contents suffices, however, split into "Memorable Meals", "Kitchen Portraits", "Essays", "Home Cooks in Conversation", "Recipes" (listed by contributor, rather than dish), "Profiles" and "Contributors in Conversation." I found the "in conversation" bits to be the least engaging on the whole, although the occasional nugget of wisdom or a surprising witticism made them worth reading. No...

 Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading, Rants, and Raves Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food by Colu Henry My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the cookbook I've been waiting for. Easy, Fancy, Food. YES. This lovely volume is filled with inviting and welcoming text that celebrates humanity as much as food, and in multiple contexts: when we need comfort, when we are on vacation, when we are coping (or not) with a pandemic (that's not a chapter, but it is in the narrative), when we are feeding a crowd, or enjoying the joy of re-imagined leftovers with close friends. If you don't grow your own herbs, Colu Henry will make you want to start. Her recipes abound with fresh herbs and ingredients that are simple, but fancy in the right context. The Smoky and Spicy Shrimp with Anchovy Butter and Fregola (110) is a new favorite, and I'm here to tell you frozen shrimp works just fine and you should have a bag in your freezer at all times. Recipes like Cumin, Ginger, and Citrus Roasted Salmo...

 Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading Rants and Raves Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci My rating: 5 of 5 stars I didn't know a thing about Stanley Tucci beyond "he's an actor" when my best friend recommended this book to me. Since I had a few free Audible credits, I decided to make this my first audiobook experience as well. I'm not sure it was the best choice on that front, as having recipes "read" to me is not that fulfilling (and if I'm listening to an audiobook I'm not going to be in a position to write them down). On the other hand, hearing Stanley Tucci recount his own memoir was wonderful and entrenched me in a deep nostalgia for my own Italian-American roots. Having spent considerable time in Italy, Tucci's pronunciation is more European than the particular East Coast American Italian er...dialect...that I learned from my father, but he nods to it on more than one occasion. Given his wry humor, hearing him say "fa...

 CW: enslavement/trauma Cross-posted at Reb's Reading Rants and Raves The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty My rating: 5 of 5 stars A "journey" is an apropos description for this book. I won't even attempt to quantify the percentages of history, memoir, documentary, and food writing. Twitty manages to intertwine his personal story with a history of foodways and people that inextricably connects ancestry, personhood, and food in ways that left me contemplating my own complicated feelings about food and culture. As an adoptee, with two parents who have died, I've not cared to search too much into my own genealogy--I suspect in fear that somehow the cultures and stories into which I was adopted will become "less than." If fear is in the mix, I am even more humbled because this book is at times gritty reckoning with both Twitty's own ancestral history, and this country's foundat...

 It has been a minute. Or several. I've been thinking a lot about social media this week as I watch people react to the shooting of nineteen students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. People need an outlet, and I get that...but I increasingly despair about how empty it all feels. Sometimes it is just preaching to the choir with some sort of acerbic or biting meme that finds a way to amplify our emotions. Sometimes it is directing our energy toward arguing about gun control or mental health with a few people online. I've never been a single-issue voter, but I also realized that I haven't been monitoring gun control votes very carefully, outside of when it comes time to vote for a candidate. So I looked up the information  and there were a few surprises, and some questions, but not many. I made a few donations. And I cooked. What does cooking have to do with tragedy? Not a whole lot---at least as it happens in my kitchen. I'm not World Central Kitchen . I'm ...

Cross-posted at Rebecca's Reading Rants and Raves   Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook by Toni Tipton-Martin My rating: 5 of 5 stars To categorize this solely as a cookbook would not even come close to capturing this work of art. It is an exquisitely-written history that intertwines a wealth of research, nostalgia (in the best way), and a "larger vision of African American culinary history" (311) that both embraces and expands beyond soul food and the standard narrative. Toni Tipton-Martin says: And I have tried to end dependency on the labels "Southern" and "soul," and on the assumptions that limit my ancestors' contributions to mindlessly working the fields where the food was grown, stirring the pot where the food was cooked, and passively serving food in the homes of the master class. (13) There is no clichéd history here. Instead, Tipton-Martin crafts a story of urban enclaves in Los Angeles, Lo...

Mise-en-place. Took a few hours to get here. So, during this time of global pandemic, I've been focusing my cooking efforts on shelf-stable foods that don't use special ingredients. Cabbage is definitely a great buy right now --it is versatile and will keep for awhile. It is great for soup, slaw, and....stuffed cabbage. You might know it as "cigares au chou" or "golabki/golumpki" or "halubki/holumki" or "krautrouladen" OR....cabbage rolls. I've never attempted to make these, so I texted the BFF (Katie (aka @ProfWhoCooks at Cook the Book Fridays)  and asked her if she had a go-to recipe. She texted back this recipe from Dorie Greenspan. So there's something you have to know. I'm a bit of a lazy cook. I don't tend to cook things that are overly involved, due to a lack of both time and inclination on my part. But given that options for procrastination on work-related stuff are limited these days, I read the recipe a...

First post of 2020! For Christmas, a dear friend gave me Sonoko Sakai's Japanese Home Cooking . This particular dear friend grew up in Japan, cooks Japanese food like nobody's business, and enjoys food as much as I do, so I knew this book would be a treasure. Beautifully produced, it is the kind of cookbook I love -- one that tells a story. The photographs by Rick Poon are intimate--an invitation to really value and understand the food, the culture, and the chef. I might challenge the byline a bit: "Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors."  In truth, the "simple" part really needs two things: 1) access to some of the ingredients (read: city) and 2) a basic understanding of the culture of Japanese cooking, which is NOT "on-the-go" and "short-on-time."  That said, Sonoko Sakai honors her audience and is realistic about what will be challenging, and what will be more simple. I am so enjoying her prose--she has had a rich and varied life, mak...

It is Sunday. I spent the day working at my actual workplace, getting some good work done because...Sunday. My very sweet spouse offered to pick me up, and as we drove home, I realized I hadn't really thought about what to make for dinner. A quick mental inventory of the fridge: bell peppers, chicken, mushrooms. Next, Google. The last thing I wanted to do was cook, so honestly I picked the first recipe I could find for which I had ingredients. I could have done a stir fry without a recipe, of course, but I needed some sort of inspiration. Enter " Easy Pepper Chicken Stir Fry " from Holly at Spend with Pennies .   On Pinterest it says "This Pepper Chicken Stir Fry recipe is ridiculously easy to make with ingredients that you already have in your pantry..." MOSTLY true.  But I will tell you---I do not have oyster sauce in my pantry.  Do you? (Not a rhetorical question---I'm actually curious if that is a standard ingredient that people keep on hand). ...

Swanson's narrative is one of privilege, it is true. A lot of the reviews at Goodreads have mentioned this, with varying degrees of annoyance. The book, however, does not pretend. The minute you touch the embossed hard cover and look at the photos, you know that this is a chichi cookbook, not Betty Crocker's Cookbook or The Joy of Cooking . The subtitle does not lie: "Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel." And traveled she has: India, Japan, Morocco, France, and Italy. The photos of the destinations are sometimes so artsy as to feel contrived, but they anchor each section in its own ethos. I haven't yet made any of the recipes, but I am inspired. As a committed omnivore, vegetarian recipes rarely inspire me, but I find her approach to flavors intriguing. If you are someone who likes hunting down interesting ingredients, you will likely enjoy this book. She isn't writing for someone who does not know anything about ethnic foods, so you will not find explana...

Yeah, I know, that doesn't sound very exciting does it? Well, when you combine two great recipes, it turns out even the mundane can be awesome! First, let me say that any recipe that asks me to sauté chopped  shallots  and fresh herbs in pan drippings is a good recipe. Oh, and there's of course butter in them there pan juices. The pork chops were "Pan-Roasted Berkshire Pork Chops with Vermont Ice Cider" (173) from The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook by Tracy Medeiros. For copyright reasons, I can't produce the recipe here, but suffice it to say, the secrets here are the bone-in  chops (with fat), shallots  (of course), fresh herbs , and then ice cider for the sauce. The first time I made these I used Neige  ice cider that I picked up in Québec, but this time I stayed closer to home with the very lovely "dessert cider" ("Pommeau") from Carr's Ciderhouse in Massachusetts. They are apparently sold out of it for the year, so now I'm r...

With the heat wave we've been having in Boston, our tomatoes have been busting out all over. I've read a lot about the MIRACLE of slow-roasted tomatoes but thought it was just one of those trendy things designed to make you use your oven for 90 minutes so that you feel like you've done something amazing. Well, it turns out that may be true, and they really are amazingly flavorful and it can work miracles even on tomatoes that are underripe OR a bit (A BIT) past their prime (e.g. NOT ROTTEN, just overripe). I took inspiration from Deb Perelman's Roasted Tomato Picnic Sandwich from Smitten Kitchen Every Day (p. 107), but unlike that, which is really a RECIPE and involves baking pizza dough, this is a lot more akin to one of those recipes Antoni shares on Queer Eye . Now, I mean NO SHADE here--when you are trying to get a person who can barely maintain the rudiments of personal hygiene to cook for their significant other, you don't have them try their hand at chicken...

Warning---more prose than usual. I'll try not to do that too often. ----- I've been trying to intentionally cook vegetarian meals at least twice a week. I like MOST vegetables, but the ones I don't like, I REALLY don't like (I'm looking at you, eggplant). I also have legume/bean issues.  This makes it hard to cook vegetarian as I also want to be low-carb and my hypoglycemic-self needs some protein. So understand that it is with some measure of pride that I substituted chickpeas for cannellini beans in the recipe below.  I actually LIKE cannellini beans (one of the few), but we had none in the cupboard. What we did have was a can of chickpeas, of which I'm not a fan. But it turns out I'm even less of a fan of walking to the store in 88% humidity for one can of cannellini beans. So, I opened the can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas to make sure they were still ok (that can was there for a looooooooooong time), and here's where the pride comes in: I ...

This past week I needed to make Pasta Primavera for the women's shelter. According to Wikipedia , this dish has its roots in Manhattan in the 1970s--something that surprises me. Certainly it was not part of the culinary legacy my grandmother passed down to me, but I had always assumed it was a traditional Italian dish. Had I the time to dig more deeply beyond Wikipedia, I might be able to unearth different origins. At any rate, my mother-in-law gaveme an old British cookbook from the 90s called Classic Pasta Cuisine , edited by Rosemary Moon, complete with illustrations more reminiscent of a cookbook from the 1970s. I decided that this was probably the best opportunity to use it, so I cracked it open and found a Primavera recipe that looked legit inasmuch it had pasta, spring veggies, and herbs. Per usual, so there is no copyright infringement, I will list the ingredients, but not the amounts:  pasta (I used  De Cecco  penne rigate no. 41) salt asparagus green b...

If you had told me prior to last month that I'd ever get excited about cauliflower, I would have given you that face...you know the one. And if you don't, let's just move on. Working my way through Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen Every Day  (although admittedly I have not yet used it EVERY day), I came upon her recipe for roasted cauliflower, with the ultra sexy title of CAULIFLOWER WEDGE (pages 42-43). But I like the understated title because it holds a secret... THIS IS THE BEST CAULIFLOWER YOU WILL EVER HAVE. Ok, so maybe it is *my* favorite cauliflower. It doesn't have to be yours. It is light and flavorful, and you can still taste the sweetness of the cauliflower. And it looks pretty on the plate! Part of what makes this recipe so great is these: Those are fried capers. I'm certain if you put fried capers and parmesan on just about anything you can eat it! Except eggplant. There is no helping eggplant. The recipe calls ...