The great cook was born 100 years ago today and lived to the great age of 92. In her honor, the NY Times has dedicated today's Dining & Wine section to her.
I picked up used first editions of Mastering the Art of French Cooking some years ago. They're solid, practical cookbooks, and beautifully printed. You can learn a lot about cooking from them, and the recipes are great.
So tonight, drink a glass or two of wine in her honor, and then have coq au vin or steak au poivre or a humble omelet for dinner.
P. S. If you're at all interested in the history of good food - and good food writing - in the US, I highly recommended David Kamp's amusing and delightful United States of Arugula. This is especially important if you buy the line that Julia Child was the first significant American food writer. She was hugely important, but not the first.
2 comments:
As far as I'm concerned, the first great American writer who happened to write about food was Charles H. Baker, Jr.. The two volumes of his The Gentleman's Companion (1939, the first on exotic cooking the second on exotic mixology) have never quite been matched for style. The chapter on Fowl and how to hang them was an inspiration in the kitchen and for writing while the passage on the Saigon Absynthe Cocktail...
Ooo, those sound like fun. I can't remember whether Baker is covered in United States of Arugula...
Post a Comment