Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 To: StBedes@list.via-caritas.org From: Brian Reid Subject: Re: weird food/curried chick sal/grapes In my opinion the Silver Palate cookbook was the best cookbook published in the 1980's. It was written by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. If I could choose only 10 cookbooks to keep out of my collection of thousands, the three cookbooks written by these two would be on the list. I think my Silver Palate is on loan to my sister, but I usually make this recipe from memory. As a result, it may differ from what's written there. I ask the Duckess, who is a vegetarian, to cover her eyes just now... SEE RECIPE: Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes ------------------------------ From: "Margaret Kleinpeter" I have a bunch of the Silver Palate cookbooks, but I'm not quite sure where they are right now. Everything is good except their so-called Cajun recipes. MargaretKleinpeter New Iberia, LA ------------------------------ From: "Gillian R. Barr" At 07:39 PM 8/3/01 -0700, Brian Reid said: >If I could choose only 10 cookbooks to keep . . . Brian, I am still trying to get my brain (which is obviously wired *very* differently than yours! :-) around this revelation--that in addition to all your other incredible talents, you are also a Serious Cook. Do you do most of the meal preparation in your household? What does one do w/ a collection of *thousands* of cookbooks? How do you have them shelved? Indexed? Are they all accessible or are lots boxed up in deep storage somewhere? How on earth do you ever have time to actually *cook,* when you've got that many books to leaf through for ideas? :-) How many of them do you actually consult over the course of, say, six months' cooking? Do you have particular types of cuisine that are your special passions, or are you omnivorous? Have you ever thought of opening a cooking school? You'd have a unique niche market--you could teach a cross-disciplinary program in graduate level computer science and cookery. You could market it to single techie males, and then start a dating service for them on the side....bright fellows w/ earning potential who can cook would be true prizes. In awe, Gillian owner of 12 cookbooks, max; user of maybe 3 Gillian R. Barr Rochester, MN ------------------------------ From: Brian Reid > Do you do most of the meal preparation in your household? More or less. We use our freezer and microwave a lot, too. > What does one do w/ a collection of *thousands* of cookbooks? One admires them. There are about 20 cookbooks that I actually use; the rest I've read once, like a novel, and I know what they contain should I ever need them. Very few cookbooks are worth a second reading. Once I've read a cookbook, I get the point that the writer is trying to make, and I seldom have to refer to it again. Most cookbooks could be condensed to a confession of where they got their recipes from and a few pages explainining the reasoning behind the changes they made to the recipes they borrowed. > How do you have them shelved? Indexed? Are they all accessible > or are lots boxed up in deep storage somewhere? I have a bookcase in my kitchen that has room for about 1500 cookbooks in it. The others are in other bookcases. Some are relegated to garage bookcases. They are shelved by Primary/Secondary/Archival and within that by an odd mixture of author and type of cuisine. > How on earth do you ever have time to actually *cook,* > when you've got that many books to leaf through for ideas? :-) The same way I have time to write when I have 25 dictionaries: I don't use them that way. I cook by looking at what's fresh and on sale at the market and then figuring out what I can do with it. I also order pizza and make spaghetti as much as anybody else. Cooking does not dominate my life, but I do like to cook. > How many of them do you actually consult over the course of, say, six months' cooking? The eye-level shelf in my kitchen contains the cookbooks that I actually use day-to-day. In the past 5-6 years I haven't done as much cooking as I once did. My staples are these; those marked with * are the ones I use the most. *New York Times Cookbook, Craig Claiborne The Art of French Cooking, Child/Bertholle/Beck The 3 Silver Palate cookbooks, Rosso and Lukins The American Table, Ron Johnson. This is my favorite cookbook of all time. Southwestern Cooking, Ron Johnson. The man is a genius. Larousse Gastronomique (French edition, unabridged) Mrs Beeton's Family Cookbook Betty Crocker (1991 edition) *Microwave Gourmet, Barbara Kafka Classic Indian Cooking, Julie Sahni The Cuisines of Mexico, Diana Kennedy Several reference books about ingredients. > Do you have particular types of cuisine that are your special > passions, or are you omnivorous? I'm omnivorous, but I'm partial to "California cuisine" (a ripoff of the French "Nouvelle Cuisine"), to Albuquerque-style and Rancho Chimayo New Mexican cooking, and to Tamil food (south India) and Punjabi food (north India). I also like "American Food", whatever that means. If you read, understand, an assimilate the introductions to Craig Claiborne, Betty Crocker, Julie Sahni, Diana Kennedy, and Julia Child you will know all you need to know about home cooking. ------------------------------ From: "Gillian R. Barr" At 12:34 PM 8/4/01, Brian Reid said: >One admires them. Which is exactly how I treat the hundreds (maybe over 1000?) of books of theology and church history and educational ministry that I've got shoved in every corner of my apt and office, so I guess we differ more in the subject of our passions than in our basic approach. I'm *very* envious of your huge bookcases, I must say! I'm about to go in to the office to consult a few of my "top 20" educational "cookbooks" for hints on tomorrow's inter-generational Sunday School activities and finish my lesson plan. The difference between us being that you could do a fine SS lesson off the top of your head if you had to, while I'd be at an utter loss in your kitchen, not to mention on your computer! I could read the intros of the cookbooks you mentioned--I even own one of them (Betty Crocker '91)--it's that *assimilating* bit that would get me. :-) Gillian ------------------------------ From: "Jon A. Egger" Our brother Brian notes: > If you read, understand, an assimilate the introductions to Craig > Claiborne, Betty Crocker, Julie Sahni, Diana Kennedy, and Julia > Child you will know all you need to know about home cooking. ...and if you want to read one heck of an interesting book, I'd suggest _A History of Food_ by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat. Though slanted toward French cuisine, it's an amazing, entertaining book. brudder jon WestMo