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Cooking Narrative
Baja California is extreme. It is a strip of desert and cacti more than a thousand miles long, with the Pacific on one side and the Sea of Cortez on the other. Swept by strong winds, battered by giant waves, seared by the blistering summers, and surrounded by a sea rich in fish, it is nothing if not unique. This gastronomic and photographic adventure enables us to explore Baja California and its cuisine, a synthesis of traditional Mexican cooking and powerful influences coming from the American Southwest. For those who love pungent dishes, with chili packing a powerful punch, there is no place in the world better than Mexico. Burritos, huevos rancheros, guacamole, and tacos are dishes that everyone craves; and revisited in a Southern Californian key they become the cornerstones of a frontier region often neglected and, for this very reason, all the more authentic.
"Kwame Onwuachi's story shines a light on food and culture not just in American restaurants or African American communities but around the world." --Questlove By the time he was twenty-seven years old, Kwame Onwuachi had opened--and closed--one of the most talked about restaurants in America. He had sold drugs in New York and been shipped off to rural Nigeria to "learn respect." He had launched his own catering company with twenty thousand dollars made from selling candy on the subway and starred on Top Chef. Through it all, Onwuachi's love of food and cooking remained a constant, even when, as a young chef, he was forced to grapple with just how unwelcoming the food world can be for people of color. In this inspirational memoir about the intersection of race, fame, and food, he shares the remarkable story of his culinary coming-of-age; a powerful, heartfelt, and shockingly honest account of chasing your dreams--even when they don't turn out as you expected.
With the 1933 repeal of Prohibition, America was thrust into a cocktail fever. After 13 years of bootleg gin and unscrupulous speakeasies cheating their customers, people were ready for better booze and creative cocktails they could make at home with friends. But the new generation of drinkers came of age during Prohibition, and they didn't know what to make, much less how make it.
The solution was a flood of cocktail books hitting the market in the mid-1930s. The most famous-and longest lasting-is Old Mr. Boston's DeLuxe Official Bartender's Guide. This recipe book, first published in 1935, was intended to be both a useful resource and a marketing tool for the Old Mr. Boston distillery in Boston, Massachusetts. The distillery was opened the same year that Prohibition ended, in 1933. Producing budget gin, bourbon, rum, brandy, cordials, and liqueurs, the distillery used the guide to promote their brand. Gin cocktails called specifically for Old Mr. Boston Dry Gin. Any old apricot nectar wouldn't do-it had to be Old Mr. Boston's.
The book was compiled by Leo Cotton with contributions by David Lubin, John A. Fitzpatrick, Thomas J. Kane and Chris Lane-four Boston-area "bartenders of the old school." Printed in a slim volume, it was the perfect size to tuck into the bookshelf at home, or slide under the cash register at a bar. The book proved so popular with both amateur and professional mixologists that it would eventually be edited and re-released in 68 editions between 1935 and 1985, printing 11 million copies.
Why did this guide prevail over all the others at the time? It was thorough, well-researched, and each recipe was tested by Leo Cotton's squad of experienced bartenders. Plus, there was the character of Old Mr. Boston himself, present on each red cover. His cheerful face and dandy top hat told Americans good times were ahead. Prohibition had ended, the Great Depression was a thing of the past, and everything was going to be okay.
Over the years, recipes have been added or removed based on the popular drinks of the day. In this original edition, for example, you won't find any vodka cocktails. Vodka was relatively unknown in the United States until the 1950s, so it would several years before Leo Cotton would add it to the hallowed pages of Old Mr. Boston.
Recipes are listed alphabetically, and indexed by base liquor, from absinthe to whiskey, or by style, from cobbler to toddy. Although many of the ingredients will be familiar to the modern mixologist, there are some that only the best educated classic cocktail connoisseur will recognize.
Russian Kümmel, for example, is a sweet liqueur flavored with caraway seed, fennel, and cumin. And Amer Picon is a bittersweet orange-flavored French aperitif. These liqueurs are available today, so home cocktail-makers can still experiment with these classic recipes. And there are plenty of recipes with familiar ingredients as well, like grenadine, vermouth, Creme de Menthe and Curacao.
The book closes with this note: "Champagne is the only wine that may be served with any course and at all times during the meal." Hear, hear.
"Outstanding . . . a wide-ranging invitation to think through the moral ramifications of our eating habits." --The New Yorker One of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year and Winner of the James Beard Award Author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind and the #1 New York Times Bestseller In Defense of Food and Food Rules What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and, with The Omnivore's Dilemma, his brilliant and eye-opening exploration of our food choices, demonstrated that how we answer it today may determine not only our health but our survival as a species. In the years since, Pollan's revolutionary examination has changed the way Americans think about food. Bringing wide attention to the little-known but vitally important dimensions of food and agriculture in America, Pollan launched a national conversation about what we eat and the profound consequences that even the simplest everyday food choices have on both ourselves and the natural world. Ten years later, The Omnivore's Dilemma continues to transform the way Americans think about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating.
Full of lighthearted humor, sumptuous food, the wisdom of an Italian mother-in-law, and all the atmosphere of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, this warm and witty memoir follows American-born Katherine Wilson on her adventures abroad. Thanks to a surprising romance--and a spirited woman who teaches her to laugh, to seize joy, and to love--a three-month rite of passage in Naples turns into a permanent embrace of this boisterous city on the Mediterranean. When I saw the sea at Gaeta, I knew that Naples was near and I was coming home. "There is a chaotic, vibrant energy about Naples that forces you to let go and give in," writes Katherine, who arrives in the city to intern at the United States Consulate. One evening, she meets handsome, studious Salvatore and finds herself immediately enveloped by his elegant mother, Raffaella, and the rest of the Avallone family. From that moment, Katherine's education begins: Never eat the crust of a pizza first, always stand up and fight for yourself and your loved ones, and consider mealtimes sacred--food must be prepared fresh and consumed in compagnia. Immersed in Neapolitan culture, traditions, and cuisine, slowly and unexpectedly falling for Salvatore, and longing for Raffaella's company and guidance, Katherine discovers how to prepare meals that sing, from hearty, thick ragu to comforting rigatoni alla Genovese to pasta al forno, a casserole chock-full of bacon, bechamel, and no fewer than four kinds of cheeses. The secret to succulent, tender octopus? Beat it with a hammer. While Katherine is used to large American kitchens with islands and barstools, she understands the beauty of small, tight Italian ones, where it's easy to offer a taste from a wooden spoon. Through courtship, culture clashes, Sunday services, marriage, and motherhood (in Naples, a pregnancy craving must always be satisfied!), Katherine comes to appreciate carnale, the quintessentially Neapolitan sense of comfort and confidence in one's own skin. Raffaella and her famiglia are also experts at sdrammatizzare, knowing how to suck the tragedy from something and spit it out with a great big smile. Part travel tale, part love letter, Only in Naples is a sumptuous story that is a feast for the senses. Goethe said, "See Naples and die." But Katherine Wilson saw Naples and started to live. Praise for Only in Naples "In a world filled with food memoirs, this one stands out. Katherine Wilson gives us more than the fabulous food of Naples. She offers us a passport to an exotic country we would never be able to enter on our own."--Ruth Reichl, author of My Kitchen Year "Warmhearted . . . an exuberant account of love and great Italian food."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Sweet and humorous."--Publishers Weekly "Wilson has written a glorious memoir celebrating the holy trinity of Italian life: love, food, and family. Her keen eye and sense of humor take you through the winding streets of Naples at a clip, on a ride you hope will never end."--Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker's Wife
"How lucky we are to get these hilarious and wise perceptions filtered through a sincerely loving eye."--Julie Klam, author of Friendkeeping "This thoroughly enjoyable love letter to Naples is a tribute to the author's irrepressible mother-in-law."--Luisa Weiss, author of My Berlin Kitchen and founder of The Wednesday Chef
"How lucky we are to get these hilarious and wise perceptions filtered through a sincerely loving eye."--Julie Klam, author of Friendkeeping "This thoroughly enjoyable love letter to Naples is a tribute to the author's irrepressible mother-in-law."--Luisa Weiss, author of My Berlin Kitchen and founder of The Wednesday Chef
Perfect for home cooks, Julia fans, and anyone who simply loves to eat and drink--a delightful collection of the beloved chef and bestselling author's words of wisdom on love, life, and, of course, food. "If you're afraid of butter, use cream." So decrees Julia Child, the legendary culinary authority and cookbook author who taught America how to cook--and how to eat. This delightful volume of quotations compiles some of Julia's most memorable lines on eating--"The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook"--on drinking, on life--"I think every woman should have a blowtorch"--on love, travel, France, and much more.
The bestselling author of Lunch in Paris takes us on another delicious journey, this time to the heart of Provence. Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way and the world's flakiest croissant around the corner, Elizabeth is sure she's found her "forever place." But life has other plans. On a last romantic jaunt before the baby arrives, the couple take a trip to the tiny Provencal village of Céreste. A chance encounter leads them to the wartime home of a famous poet, a tale of a buried manuscript and a garden full of heirloom roses. Under the spell of the house and its unique history, in less time than it takes to flip a crepe, Elizabeth and Gwendal decide to move-lock, stock and Le Creuset-to the French countryside. When the couple and their newborn son arrive in Provence, they discover a land of blue skies, lavender fields and peaches that taste like sunshine. Seduced by the local ingredients, they begin a new adventure as culinary entrepreneurs, starting their own artisanal ice cream shop and experimenting with flavors like saffron, sheep's milk yogurt and fruity olive oil. Filled with enticing recipes for stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart and honey and thyme ice cream, Picnic in Provence is the story of everything that happens after the happily ever after: an American learning the tricks of French motherhood, a family finding a new professional passion, and a cook's initiation into classic Provencal cuisine. With wit, humor and scoop of wild strawberry sorbet, Bard reminds us that life-in and out of the kitchen-is a rendez-vous with the unexpected.
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today's tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters--some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope--complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance.
Fresh off winning 1st place in the Italian category and 2nd place in the rice category at the 2019 Gourmand International Cookbook Awards, this book is a definitive guide to the Italian rice-cookery repertoire.
From acclaimed Chicago chef and restaurateur John Coletta comes a recipe collection focusing on a relatively unexplored area of Italian cuisine--rice cookery. Rice is a staple of northern Italy, where all Italian rice is produced. A rich and varied rice-based cookery has developed in this region. These 100 authentic dishes bring the full range of Italian rice cooking into the home kitchen, from familiar dishes--arancini, crochettes, risotti, and rice puddings--to more unusual offerings such as rice salads, soups, fritters, bracioli, and gelatos. Coletta shares his expertise about Italian rice types and cooking methods, and provides foolproof instructions for making perfect rice every time. He also includes background about the rice varieties and where they can be purchased. Among the recipes are Rice Crostini with Ricotta and Oregano; Rice Soup with Shrimp and Leeks; Rice Salad with Bresaola and Parmigiano Reggiano; Risotta alla Carbonara; Artichokes Stuffed with Lemon and Thyme Risotto; Braised Turkey Rolls with Chestnut Risotto, Pancetta, and Sage; and Rice Crepes with Nutella. This volume will appeal to lovers of Italian food who are looking for a cookbook that includes many of their favorite Italian ingredients all with rice as the new star.
From acclaimed Chicago chef and restaurateur John Coletta comes a recipe collection focusing on a relatively unexplored area of Italian cuisine--rice cookery. Rice is a staple of northern Italy, where all Italian rice is produced. A rich and varied rice-based cookery has developed in this region. These 100 authentic dishes bring the full range of Italian rice cooking into the home kitchen, from familiar dishes--arancini, crochettes, risotti, and rice puddings--to more unusual offerings such as rice salads, soups, fritters, bracioli, and gelatos. Coletta shares his expertise about Italian rice types and cooking methods, and provides foolproof instructions for making perfect rice every time. He also includes background about the rice varieties and where they can be purchased. Among the recipes are Rice Crostini with Ricotta and Oregano; Rice Soup with Shrimp and Leeks; Rice Salad with Bresaola and Parmigiano Reggiano; Risotta alla Carbonara; Artichokes Stuffed with Lemon and Thyme Risotto; Braised Turkey Rolls with Chestnut Risotto, Pancetta, and Sage; and Rice Crepes with Nutella. This volume will appeal to lovers of Italian food who are looking for a cookbook that includes many of their favorite Italian ingredients all with rice as the new star.
An illustrated glovebox essential, Road Sides explores the fundamentals of a well-fed road trip through the American South, from A to Z. There are detours and destinations, accompanied by detailed histories and more than one hundred original illustrations that document how we get where we're going and what to eat and do along the way.
Learn the backstory of food-shaped buildings, including the folks behind Hills of Snow, a giant snow cone stand in Smithfield, North Carolina, that resembles the icy treats it sells. Find out how kudzu was used to support a burgeoning highway system, and get to know Edith Edwards--the self-proclaimed Kudzu Queen--who turns the obnoxious vine into delicious teas and jellies. Discover the roots of kitschy roadside attractions, and have lunch with the state-employed mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida.
Road Sides is for everyone--the driver in search of supper or superlatives (the biggest, best, and even worst), the person who cannot resist a local plaque or snack and pulls over for every historical marker and road stand, and the kid who just wants to gawk at a peach-shaped water tower.
"A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola . . . is actually a serious and measured chronology of the storied history of these human beverages, accessible to readers of all ages . . . A sober, serious, yet eminently readable examination of thorny social issues surrounding everyday beverages, A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola is highly recommended." --Midwest Book Review (Library Bookwatch)
"If you hate the War on Drugs, Ricardo Cortés should be one of your favorite illustrators." --Vice
A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola is an illustrated book disclosing new research in the coca leaf trade conducted by The Coca-Cola Company. 2011 marked the 125th anniversary of its iconic beverage, and the fiftieth anniversary of the international drug control treaty that allows Coca-Cola exclusive access to the coca plant. Most people are familiar with tales of cocaine being an early ingredient of "Coke" tonic; it's an era the company makes every effort to bury. Yet coca leaf, the source of cocaine which has been banned in the U.S. since 1914, has been part of Coca-Cola's secret formula for over one hundred years.
This is a history that spans from cocaine factories in Peru, to secret experiments at the University of Hawaii, to the personal files of U.S. Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry Anslinger (infamous for his "Reefer Madness" campaign against marijuana, lesser known as a long-time collaborator of The Coca-Cola Company).
A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola tells how one of the biggest companies in the world bypasses an international ban on coca. The book also explores histories of three of the most consumed substances on earth, revealing connections between seemingly disparate icons of modern culture: caffeine, cocaine, and Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola is the most popular soft drink on earth, and soft drinks are the number one food consumed in the American diet. Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance. Cocaine . . . well, people seem to like reading about cocaine. An illustrated chronicle that will appeal to fans of food and drink histories (e.g., Mark Kurlansky's Salt and Cod; Mark Pendergrast's For God, Country & Coca-Cola), graphic novel enthusiasts, and people interested in drug prohibition and international narcopolitics, the book follows in the footsteps of successful pop-history books such as Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation--but has a unique style that blends such histories with narrative illustration and influences from Norman Rockwell to Art Spiegelman.
An irreverent, surprising, and entirely entertaining look at the little-known history surrounding the foods we know and love
Is Italian olive oil really Italian, or are we dipping our bread in lamp oil? Why are we masochistically drawn to foods that can hurt us, like hot peppers? Far from being a classic American dish, is apple pie actually . . . English?
"As a species, we're hardwired to obsess over food," Matt Siegel explains as he sets out "to uncover the hidden side of everything we put in our mouths." Siegel also probes subjects ranging from the myths--and realities--of food as aphrodisiac, to how one of the rarest and most exotic spices in all the world (vanilla) became a synonym for uninspired sexual proclivities, to the role of food in fairy- and morality tales. He even makes a well-argued case for how ice cream helped defeat the Nazis.
The Secret History of Food is a rich and satisfying exploration of the historical, cultural, scientific, sexual, and, yes, culinary subcultures of this most essential realm. Siegel is an armchair Anthony Bourdain, armed not with a chef's knife but with knowledge derived from medieval food-related manuscripts, ancient Chinese scrolls, and obscure culinary journals. Funny and fascinating, The Secret History of Food is essential reading for all foodies.
After fifteen years spent exploring China and its food, Fuchsia Dunlop finds herself in an English kitchen, deciding whether to eat a caterpillar she has accidentally cooked in some home-grown vegetables. How can something she has eaten readily in China seem grotesque in England? The question lingers over this "autobiographical food-and-travel classic" (Publishers Weekly).
Intellectually engaging and deliciously readable, a stereotype-defying history of how one of the most recognisable symbols of Italian cuisine and national identity is the product of centuries of encounters, dialogue, and exchange.
Is it possible to identify a starting point in history from which everything else unfolds--a single moment that can explain the present and reveal the essence of our identities? According to Massimo Montanari, this is just a myth: by themselves, origins explain very little and historical phenomena can only be understood dynamically--by looking at how events and identities develop and change as a result of encounters and combinations that are often unexpected.
As Montanari shows in this lively, brilliant, and surprising essay, all you need to debunk the "origins myth" is a plate of spaghetti. By tracing the history of the one of Italy's "national dishes"--from Asia to America, from Africa to Europe; from the beginning of agriculture to the Middle Ages and up to the 20th century--he shows that in order to understand who we are (our identity) we almost always need to look beyond ourselves to other cultures, peoples, and traditions.
Part science and part personal preference, collecting and restoring cast-iron cookware is a complex art. For instance, what makes each company's cast iron unique? Do chemicals used during restoration leach into food? When it comes to surface finish, is textured or smooth better?
In Skilletheads, the highly anticipated follow-up to Modern Cast Iron, Ashley L. Jones dives deeper than ever into the world of cast iron. In these pages, which feature over 100 full-color photos, you'll find expert advice on purchasing cast iron from some of the most active collectors in the field today; side-by-side comparisons of the major manufacturers in the US and interviews with each company; and detailed how-to guides for restoring cast iron, including such methods as lye baths, electrolysis tanks, and chemical products, all compiled with input from devoted Skilletheads. And because no book on cast iron is complete without a little cooking, Jones includes 35 mouth-watering recipes contributed by foodies who know cast iron best--everything from Sunday Frittata to Braised Chicken to Skillet S'mores.
Whether you're interested in finding the perfect pan for your kitchen or starting a new hobby restoring cast iron, Skilletheads is here to help.
A haunting and beautiful memoir from a Cambodian refugee who lost her country and her family during Pol Pot's genocide in the 1970s but who finds hope by reclaiming the recipes she tasted in her mother's kitchen. RECIPE: HOW TO CHANGE CLOTH INTO DIAMOND Take a well-fed nine-year-old with a big family and a fancy education. Fold in 2 revolutions, 2 civil wars, and 1 wholesale extermination. Subtract a reliable source of food, life savings, and family members, until all are gone. Shave down childhood dreams for approximately two decades, until only subsistence remains. In Slow Noodles, Chantha Nguon recounts her life as a Cambodian refugee who loses everything and everyone--her home, her family, her country--all but the remembered tastes and aromas of her mother's kitchen. She summons the quiet rhythms of 1960s Battambang, her provincial hometown, before the dictator Pol Pot tore her country apart and killed more than a million Cambodians, many of them ethnic Vietnamese like Nguon and her family. Then, as an immigrant in Saigon, Nguon loses her mother, brothers, and sister and eventually flees to a refugee camp in Thailand. For two decades in exile, she survives by cooking in a brothel, serving drinks in a nightclub, making and selling street food, becoming a suture nurse, and weaving silk. Nguon's irrepressible spirit and determination come through in this lyrical memoir that includes more than twenty family recipes such as sour chicken-lime soup, green papaya pickles, and pâté de foie, as well as Khmer curries, stir-fries, and handmade bánh canh noodles. Through it all, re-creating the dishes from her childhood becomes an act of resistance, of reclaiming her place in the world, of upholding the values the Khmer Rouge sought to destroy, and of honoring the memory of her beloved mother, whose "slow noodles" approach to healing and cooking prioritized time and care over expediency. Slow Noodles is an inspiring testament to the power of food to keep alive a refugee's connection to her past and spark hope for a beautiful life.
"An intense, thought-provoking enquiry into the very nature of cooking." -- Nigella Lawson "One of the most original food books I've ever read, at once intelligent and sensuous, witty, provoking and truly delicious." -- Olivia Laing A bracingly original, revelatory debut that explores cooking and the kitchen as sources of pleasure, constraint and revolution, by a rising star in food writing This joyful, revelatory work of memory and meditation both complicates and electrifies life in the kitchen. Why do we cook? Is it just to feed ourselves and others? Or is there something more revolutionary going on? In Small Fires, Rebecca May Johnson reinvents cooking -- that simple act of rolling up our sleeves, wielding a knife, spattering red hot sauce on our books -- as a way of experiencing ourselves and the world. Cooking is thinking: about the liberating constraint of tying apron strings; the transformative dynamics of shared meals; the meaning of appetite and bodily pleasure; the wild subversiveness of the recipe, beyond words or control. Small Fires shows us the radical potential of the thing we do every day: the power of small fires burning everywhere.
From a passionate and talented chef who also happens to be an Episcopalian priest comes this surprising and thought-provoking treatise on everything from prayer to poetry to puff pastry. In The Supper of the Lamb, Capon talks about festal and ferial cooking, emerging as an inspirational voice extolling the benefits and wonders of old-fashioned home cooking in a world of fast food and prepackaged cuisine. This edition includes the original recipes and a new Introduction by Deborah Madison, the founder of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and author of several cookbooks.