Chernila's pleasure principles at Cooks
Too often, we don't take enough honest pleasure in cooking, according to Alana Chernila, whose new cookbook aims to turn a daily chore into a daily delight — or close enough. "The Homemade Kitchen: Recipes for Cooking With Pleasure" (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, $24.99) features 150 recipes for any occasion, grounded in phrases she has taped to her fridge: "Start where you are." "Feed yourself." "Do your best and then let go." "Do the work." "Slow down." "Invite people over." "Don't be afraid of food." Chernila, a popular blogger who lives in Massachusetts, is teaching Nov. 3 at Cooks of Crocus Hill in St. Paul, and plans to demo preserved lemon hummus, blue cheese wedge, fettuccine with preserved lemon and roasted garlic, and one-dish chocolate cake. Her first book, "The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making," was full of tips for making staple ingredients, from hot sauce to graham crackers, all with the motive of finding satisfaction in such skills. Her move to complete menus furthers the joy of scratch cooking. To register for the class, visit cooksofcrocushill.com.
Cooking poll is, well, offal
So what's the best cookbook in the world? According to a survey of 400 food professionals in the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, it's "Nose to Tail Eating" by Fergus Henderson, the English chef famed for his use of offal and who founded St John restaurant on St John Street in London. There's a bit of a tilt toward English tastes, given that the book didn't even make the top 10 among U.S. voters, who favored Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." In any case, the poll, published on the website 1,000 Cookbooks (1000cookbooks.com), is intriguing. The rest of the U.S. list: Irma S. Rombauer's "The Joy of Cooking," Judy Rodgers' "The Zuni Cafe Cookbook," Thomas Keller's "The French Laundry Cookbook" and Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Italian Cooking." The site breaks down lists by chef, cookbook authors, gender of voter and geography. Note that you need to register your e-mail address to enter the site.
How Ruth Reichl coped
After 40 years, Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine and New York Times food critic, has a new cookbook, "My Kitchen Years: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life" (Random House, $35), about how she cooked through her grief after Gourmet stopped publishing. So there is comfort food (cheesecake, chicken-liver pâté, and, this being Ruth Reichl, creamed lobster claws on toasted brioche for breakfast). The prose tracks her thoughts upon losing her dream job and, this being Ruth Reichl, it has been described by the New Yorker as "histrionic" at times. Yet if her sense of loss led to our gain of recipes, we're good.
Vincent Price, republished
In 1965, a cookbook called "A Treasury of Great Recipes: Famous Specialties of the World's Foremost Restaurants Adapted for the American Kitchen" was published. It was written by Mary and Vincent Price — yes, the scary Vincent Price, who was as well-known among friends for being a gourmand as he was to horror movie audiences for his spine-tingling laugh. (Generational leg-up: He's the laugh in Michael Jackson's "Thriller.") At any rate, some consider it perhaps the first celebrity cookbook, and it's now being republished by Dover Publications in a special 50th anniversary edition. At 512 pages and $50, it's a coffee-table book with recipes that hark back to a particular time.
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