Happy 100th Birthday, Julia Child.

One hundred years ago today, Julia Child was born.  If you are interested in reading about Julia, check out My Life in France in which she writes about the development of her love for French food and cooking.  It's a terrific book.

In addition to My Life in France, I use a number of Julia's cookbooks.  But if someone said to me that I could have only one cookbook to use for the rest of my life, I would probably select a book by Marge Poore called 1,000 Mexican Recipes.  With terrific recipes and clear descriptions of techniques, this is my go-to book for both everyday cooking and fancy dinners.  I love French food, but I love Mexican cuisine more.  Poore's book has a ton of flavorful dishes that use ingredients that are easy to find.  If you like to cook, check it out.

Cooking something today with Marge Poore's book, or your favorite cookbook, would be a great tribute to Julia.  Julia Child reminded us that food should be delicious and we should seek out and relish quality meals; Julia's genius was in telling and showing us that we could prepare wonderful food at home.  On her birthday, let's commit to cooking and eating well.

The Best Cookbooks for Holiday Giving 2009

Going holiday shopping this weekend?  If you are shopping for a cook, cookbooks are always a good idea.  Previously, I posted about NPR's selection of top cookbooks for 2009.  For some additional ideas on what books to look for this holiday season, check out Caroline Russock's post over at Serious Eats where she sets forth her top cookbooks of the year.  Below I've listed a few alternatives and additions to those identified by Russock.

First, Russock lists 660 Curriesby Raghavan Iyer.  This is a large cookbook with, as the title states, recipes for hundreds of curries.  Although it is an interesting book, 660 Curries is probably overkill for the occasional Indian cook.  My suggested alternative:  Quick and Easy Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey.  This is a slim volume - important with limited shelf space in the kitchen - with a nice variety of dishes that are delicious and easy to prepare.



Second, Russock suggests Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods.  As a newbie into the world  of canning this year, Well-Preserved is a book I will check into.  If there is a cook on your list who wants to try canning, consider purchasing the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  In addition to recipes, this book is loaded with the basic information that the newbie needs to know.  It is the definitive book to read before beginning home preserving, in my opinion. 



Third, Russock lists three specialty books,How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking, Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals, and Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link's Louisiana.  Specialty books do make interesting gifts.  I'd add to the list two books that are special, but offer a lot of variety.  The first is The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger.  Krieger's recipes for healthy food are amazingly delicious - I highly recommend her book.  The second is Craig Claiborne's Southern Cooking, which has hundreds of wonderful, traditional Southern recipes - literally from soup (gumbo) to nuts (sugared pecans).  It's a cool book to give someone who loves cooking and good food.

If you do give a cookbook this year, add a small kitchen tool or gizmo to the present to spice up the package a bit.  Or consider giving a small cooking tool along with an Amazon Gift Card so that the chef can select his or her own book.

Happy Shopping!   
 





   

A Year in . . . Cookbooks

For months I've been reading that publishers expect to do big business selling cookbooks this holiday season. On the one hand, this seems difficult to believe. Who needs another cookbook when the internet provides a treasure trove of recipes and cooking information?

On the other hand, folks who enjoy cooking also enjoy reading and collecting books about it. A good book or two is always welcome, especially when venturing into new areas of cooking. This year I started experimenting with Indian cooking and bought two excellent books by Madhur Jaffrey: Quick and Easy Indian Cooking and From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail.

If cookbooks are on your reading list, or holiday shopping list, check out the Washington Post which recently published a collection of some of the best cookbooks from 2008. Two of the books on its list are also in my own 'to read' file.

The first is BakeWise by biochemist Shirley O. Corriher. Ms. Corriher's previous book, CookWise, won a James Beard Foundation award. She has appeared on Alton Brown's Food Network program, Good Eats, and also with Lynn Rossetto Kasper on NPR's Splendid Table. When listening to Ms. Corriher I've always learned something interesting about the science behind food preparation, which makes BakeWise very intriguing.



A second book that looks interesting is Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson. This book was mentioned in a previous post about book cover designs. It was recommended by Lynn Rosetto Kasper on The Splendid Table. For me, thinking about the history of milk brings to mind old news reel footage of dairy farmers spilling milk on the road because of concerns over the price. Also, my parents both grew-up on dairy farms. As a kid visiting grandma's farm, I developed a fondness for cows. (Chickens? Not so much.) In any event, Milk also sounds like an interesting read.



A third cookbook, which is not on the Washington Post's list but one I want to get a look at, is Cooking Up a Storm by Judy Walker, Food editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayune. When folks in New Orleans lost their possessions in Hurricane Katrina, they also lost their recipe collections. After the storm, the Times-Picayune began getting contacted by people looking to find copies of old recipes, many of which had been published by the paper as far back as the 1940s and 1950s. This book is the result of a project to help people recover their food and their culture.




It's the weekend. It's the holidays. Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler and T.G.I.F.