Tag: Cookbook

January 15, 2026 – Good Things

January 15, 2026 /

Good Things by Samin Nosrat is the January selection of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. I have to admit that I groaned slightly on the inside when it was decided that this was the book that we were going to pursue. I guess for me I much more enjoy culinary fiction more so than another cookbook. I also kind of get a little of worn out of celebrity cooking personalities that put out cookbooks frequently

Several years ago, we covered Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. In fact, we did a month on each subject. I have to say that if there was one thing I took away from that was to salt beef early. But, I really did not put too much stock in the book. We also watched the Netflix series. But, after reading this book, I wonder if I got it all wrong.

Yes, I would call Nosrat a celebrity chef. I have seen her on Anthony Bordain’s No Reservations as well as well as other places. That being said, I do not see her putting out content like The Pioneer Woman, Bobby Flay or Emeril. This is her first book that she has published since Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. When starting this book, she admits that this is a very different book in that her first one was all about how to create something using what she calls the key elements with no recipes. Now that you have all of the tools you should need to be successful, this seems counterintuitive.

This one starts off with building some fundamental sauces or condiments or what have you. It then moves into techniques for cooking ingredients and then you would layer those sauces into the recipes. This book builds on dishes using a matrix. So, you can pick one or two or three vegetables that you have and then the sauce and a few sprinkles or spritzes and you have a finished product.

It is kind of a ground up approach or a reverse recipe. While most recipes show a picture and then a list of ingredients to make it, this book starts with an ingredient and then it provides three to ten recipes that can be made with that ingredient. Typically, you kind of look a category and then try to pick something that is appealing or read to see if you have everything. Whereas this book, you pick a vegetable and see what options you have to make something appealing.

This is the way that I cook and I suspect that this is the way many of us approach meals, especially for people with gardens or deep pantries. “I have a lot of such and such, what can I do with it”? It is so revolutionary, that it made me consider going back to Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat because I suspect that I missed the significance of it.

If there is one knock on the book to me, it is that I feel like the book uses a lot of semi-exotic ingredients. Nosrat is middle eastern born and it highly influenced her cooking. As an example I don’t know where I would find a Persian cucumber or labna. I would say that if you are going to use this book then it behooves you to do some research on sourcing middle eastern ingredients. The beauty of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat would be using whatever cucumber you can find.

I will also admit that I haven’t done much cooking from the book either. Part of it is because I have not finished reading it as of the time of writing. I have gotten through 75% which I feel qualifies me to be able to comment at this point. I am also somewhat dubious of grocery store produce and so things like eggplant need to wait until a better time of the year. I did broil some cauliflower the other night because I was feeling the pull of Nosrat.

In my opinion, this isn’t the first cookbook you should buy. I feel like this cookbook is for someone that already has some skills and desires to learn more. From there, you can really elevate things with the knowledge that Nosrat can impart. But, it is not too bad either. I suspect that if you knew nothing, you might come away wondering why they all are not organized this way.

End Your Programming Routine: Before Christmas, my son sent me a picture from Barnes and Noble. Good Things was the 2025 gift book of the year. He knew that it was on my bookshelf to read. It very well could be, it is that good.

September 24, 2025 – A Booze Hound’s Guide to Gourmet

September 24, 2025 /

A Booze Hound’s Guide to Gourmet is the September selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. As the president, one of my practices is to let the host select the book/theme for the meal. This one came up in July but we had already set our plans in motion for the month and I try to get things solidified as early as possible so that people have time to find it at the library or order it or whatever the preference for obtaining the book.

I heard that the host selected the book because he was a local author. While trying to substantiate that, I found it rather difficult. I found an Australian, children’s author. I also found drug kingpin as well as the lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Who knows.

I suspect that based on the book, this is the author’s seminal work. The website that is attached is still operational albeit very simple and dated. The typeset and formatting of the book looks like it was written in Microsoft Publisher and amateurish. Many of the photos that accompany the recipes have a low resolution and even sometimes un-appetizing look to them.

But let’s not pick at the man, at least he has published a book. To tell you the truth, I look at some of the photos that I take and sort of hold my mouth. Then I rationalize my poor work by saying, ‘hey, it’s free. I am not making a cent on any of this.’ The real truth is that that I get in the heat of the moment and snap a picture. Later when I get ready to write, I look at past history (my pictures) and say to myself that I wish I had done more when I had the chance.

Any man that has fought through formatting hell to get to a publishable book state has my respect. There have been many a document that I have spent thirty minutes to an hour trying to get a page break or text wrap to look correct. I do have to say that technology has come a long way in my career and lifetime since I have been working with it.

The most fascinating part of the book is the backstory. According to McGuiness, he spent twenty years as a charter captain in the Caribbean. While the book doesn’t go into this aspect extensively, I imagine that he is sailing a small group of wealthy people around for a week or more. Part of his duties is to produce the meals and this book is a reflection of what was on the menu as well as meeting expectations by this group of clients.

Informally, I would say that about fifty percent of the recipes contain alcohol. It is not as forward as the title would lead. Alcohol is largely relegated to marinades, sauces and deserts. They are certainly not the featured components of the recipes. The foreword even suggests that they can be omitted if desired.

One interesting thing that McGuiness did was that there was a section of entire meals. In that, he put a Gantt chart for all of the events to plan the meal. If you don’t know what that means it would be like saying twenty minutes in you should be doing x, y and z. That looks like browning the meal, chopping the vegetables and warming the oven. Instead of single recipes that you have to figure out, he has mapped it all out. I like that and I think that restaurants would do better by just telling you how it is going to go rather than the other way around.

I will be honest, I haven’t made anything out of the book. Even for the LCCBC dinner I hadn’t had a chance to finish it or look close enough to make a proper decision on what to make. Now that I have finished the book, I probably will not make anything from it. I just didn’t have a compelling dish that I felt inspired to make. There were a few recipes that peaked my interest, but honestly when would I make a Turducken? Thanksgiving is the only time for the three of us. I asked my wife about risotto and lobster stuffed Cornish game hens, she said too many competing flavors and I have to agree.

End Your Programming Routine: The final verdict on this one is a no. The title is misleading from a novelty standpoint. I am positive that the recipes are fine but I already have a plethora of cookbooks that I could pick out any number of dishes to make a fine meal. It might be worth considering if you timing is terrible and you just want a whole meal already laid out that might be semi-fancy. But that is as far as I can go with this one.

July 17, 2025 – Eat Like You Give a Fork: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive

July 17, 2025 /

Here we go again. This book by Mareya Ibrahim is the Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection for July. It is part cookbook and part guide book for clean eating. I don’t know all of the specifics but we now have a member that has dietary allergies. This is kind of unfortunate for the club but we are working our way around it by now labelling all of our dishes with an ingredient list.

When it comes to cookbooks, I don’t really read them word for word. I do scan every recipes and I will read any sort of ancillary comments or recipe introduction. This book is really half text and half cookbook. A lot of it is a justification or overview of the section. More on that in a minute.

This book is a conundrum for me. Part of it I absolutely agree with and part of it I absolutely disagree with. But, let’s save the overall judgement to the end. Ibrahim’s reasoning for clean eating I absolutely agree with. The basic premise is our American’s diet is garbage. Like any other detox, you have to break your association of activity to result. She suggests a two week training course to re-adjust your taste buds. She talks about how kids need to try new things a number of times to get accustomed to the food. This is the first section.

I have no issue with that. I do feel strongly that our diet is a choice. Many of us are lazy more than we should be. Lazy becomes habit forming and pretty soon we have health problems. Ibrahim’s suggestion is that every plate should be 50% non-starchy carbohydrates. I have no issue with that either, it seems pretty smart.

When you start to re-introduce starches, she goes into a lot about good and bad grains. I certainly understand that people with gluten sensitivity absolutely need to stay away from gluten. The research that I have done into paleo says to me that it is not the grain per se that is the problem, but the glycemic conversion of sugar to energy that is actually the problem. It is that conversion reaction that causes inflammation and inflammation is the root to many of our modern health problem.

The next subject that the book talks about is protein. Guess which way it went? You guessed it, fish and white meat chicken. Red meat is highly recommended to eat very sparingly. I can certainly say that I disagree with this recommendation. Fish, chicken and red meat are all good sources of protein. This is especially true when you are not combining fat and inflammation at the same time.

Since I brought up fat, I certainly side with Ibrahim on eliminating trans fats. In my book there are two types of fats that are good. One is pressed from something like olive oil and the other is from animals. I can in no way endorse grape seed oil or any oil that is the result of distillation.

What I will say as a positive for the book is that if you followed it, I am confident that it is an infinitesimal improvement over the typical American diet. I think my concerns over the book is I cannot fully endorse the science or lack thereof. This is a huge problem in the health and nutritional field. It is so convoluted with industrial food, pharmaceuticals, politics and money that it is almost impossible to find truth.

My real worry is that people already ignorant of how to use logic to assess truth from fiction come out of this reading half baked. One other thing that bothered me about this book was that the language was pretty chippy, it is even in the subtitle. Just like all the crap on YouTube/Facebook/Tick-tok that is entertaining more than educational. There is an old saying that ignorance is dangerous.

End Your Programming Routine: Maybe I was a little harsh on the book? It’s not bad, it’s just not great. I wouldn’t give it as a gift to someone else but if you wanted to start somewhere why not here? This is why I started where I did today because I could strongly agree and disagree with parts of the book. The first place to start is actually starting and this book can help with that.

April 16, 2025 – Local Dirt

April 16, 2025 /

Local Dirt by Andrea Bemis is one of several books for the April Left Coast Culinary Book Club meeting. When I say one of several, what I mean is that sometimes we pick an author and it is Sophie’s Choice for what you want to read. Local Dirt is the second of a two book series. The first one is titled Dishing Up the Dirt.

She has a third book called Let Them Eat Dirt which seems to be recipes oriented towards children. I elected to purchase just one because I can always buy the others if it turns out that I like the author. I will say that I do like the author but it is unlikely that I will purchase any more books. There is only so many cookbooks I will use and reference and my shelves are quite full.

Why Bemis resonated with me is that she is from Oregon. If you are going to have a reference for eating locally and seasonally, it is nice to have guidance where there is a shared experience. I talked about this in my podcast last week but it is pretty hard to follow someone eating seasonally that lives in a climate that produces all year long.

That being said, my earliest growing season would be for me early May and would run until late October. So we are realistically talking six months for the most enthusiastic gardener. Our farmers market is just getting started for the year and it will be plant starts and Beanie Babies until about July. I jokingly told my wife that I will be making a dish with Beanie Babies since that is what seems to be abundant in this season.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Portland Saturday Market has vendors that have some year round produce using artificial methods. The rub there is that no longer becomes local to me. Bemis does reference preserving and using preserved foods. For me, that is going to be the only way to make it from a strict local standpoint.

The book is presented in a way that you would expect for seasonal eating. Hearty meals in the winter give way to heartier greens in the spring to fruity bounty in the summer and moving back into the richer foods of the fall. Because Bemis owns a vegetable farm (for retail sales) there are some interesting ingredient choices. For instance I would wager that 20% of the recipes have kohlrabi in it. I’ve never even seen that.

Despite my aforementioned grievances, I do find it inspirational to consider local and seasonal. I used to spend more effort in steering out diet that way but it has been difficult as the family grows. That comes with strong preferences and busy schedules. It also made me want to keep up with my gardening this year. I had moments where I was disappointed with what germinated. It made me want to give up and just get starts for everything.

The other thing that I appreciate about Bemis is that she recognizes that what is local to me may be exotic to you. Each recipe has some suggested substitutions. For example, this is Hazelnut (filbert) country. They are abundant here but if you live in almond country, use those instead. Think texture and purpose rather than specific ingredient.

Do I recommend this book? The short answer is no. But, if you are part of a Community Supported Agriculture share and don’t know how to use all of the ingredients then this might be the book for you. I think it would be a good reference for trying to keep up with all those weirdos like kohlrabi. I do also wonder what the difference is in book one versus the one that I purchased.

End Your Programming Routine: It is the mark of experience to have an opinion. When I was a kid and saw very few movies, the ones I did see I loved. This is no different. Our group is very eclectic and I appreciate others interest and ideas to get me to try new things and get out of my shell. This is a good book and I respect the author’s attempt, it just doesn’t hit my mark.

March 5, 2025 – The Tucci Table

March 5, 2025 /

The Tucci Table by Stanley Tucci is the March Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection. Normally, I would present this much later in the month but it is a short cookbook. With those, I don’t really read. I read the opening caption and scan through the list of ingredients. In a couple of evenings, I was done.

This book is supposed to be about the repertoire of recipes that the Tucci’s eat in their home. It is pretty Italian forward with some British, American and French influence. I haven’t cooked anything but the ingredient lists are pretty simple and doesn’t require many exotic ingredients that are hard to source. I would say that it is pretty approachable from that standpoint.

The one thing that I will say about Tucci is that he is pretty sincere about his food. I do believe that he takes an interest in it. In fact, we just bought two pans that had his endorsement on it from Williams and Sonoma. They are very nice pans and they were on clearance so we paid significantly less than retail value. They replaced some worn out, non-stick pans that we had. As a result, it is my opinion that he is a credible resource when it comes to cooking.

I respect the man from the culinary standpoint. As for the rest of him, my impression is that he is an ultra-egalitarian, liberal elitist. For that reason, I cringe at the selection of the book title. In addition to that, I am not a fan of pasta. I find it boring. Yes, I eat it now and then but I just don’t crave it ever. You can guess that my opinion of the book is negative.

I would say that if you had no cookbooks, this would be one that you could use for everyday cooking. It is simple and varied enough that you could make quality meals from it. But, for a person like myself there is nothing really new here. As a result, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.

I know that you didn’t ask but I will say it anyways. What makes a good cookbook? To me it is one that strikes at all levels. Simple cooks as well as advanced cooks can get inspiration. The last one that I remember fitting the bill was the one skillet cookbook from April 2023. It was Indian, African, Asian as well as western all cooking in one dish. That was novel and interesting.

There are some celebrity chefs that I am a fan of. I like Paula Dean for authentic southern food, Rick Bayless for Mexican food and Steven Reichl for barbeque. To me, it is not the notoriety of the chef but the subject mastery that makes me respect the chef. I am not saying that Tucci has not mastered food, but lets face it he is an actor. As such, there is a credibility gap.

It reminds me of when Emeril Lagasse became famous in the mid-1990s. I don’t know for sure but my impression is that he is a competent and surely charismatic Cajun chef. But, does that mean that he is now an authority in counter top ovens or inexpensive cookware? They may be fine products but just as likely it is a money grab. Anytime someone is using their name to hawk wares, we need to consider the source and motivation.

End Your Programming Routine: Is it really bad? No, it is meh. Tucci has good branding sense and just like there are Food Channel groupies there are Tucci groupies. They are going to latch onto whatever he puts out. I don’t select all the books, I help facilitate the operation. It is just my two cents on this selection.

November 6, 2024 – My Greek Table: Authentic Flavors and Modern Home Cooking From My Kitchen To Yours

November 6, 2024 /

Welcome to the November selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. This is once again a cookbook with the focus on Greek food. Of course I have heard of Greek food, but I never realized that there was a show on PBS focused on it.

When a cookbook is a monthly selection, I usually read the text but not all of the instructions. I read the recipe header and scan through the ingredients list. This one is no different. I try to pick a few recipes that I might want to try as well as keep an eye on what I might want to make to share at the monthly meeting.

Truthfully, I haven’t quite finished reading all of it, I will but I have read enough to get the gist of what is going on. This cookbook is self described as not specifically authentic but ‘in the spirit of’ Greek food. It is meant as more of a framework to get started. This isn’t an exhaustive list but I have determined that the common thread is tomato, artichoke, cucumber, olive oil, oregano as the primary flavors. It does appear that most recipes have one or more of these ingredients.

I suppose I can blame my heritage and upbringing that is northern European. As a result, I definitely don’t groove on Mediterranean food. I don’t find my tastes to be universally one deminsional however. Mexican, Indian and Korean are cuisines that I find myself drawn to. I suspect that Mediterranean is close enough but not quite what I expect or want.

That being said, I can always find a few things to try. I haven’t totally decided but I think that I am going to make either meatballs or a Greek sloppy joe. Reading the book, I learned that there is a concept called Meze which is like sharing small plates. This is like the more familiar Spanish tapas with a group. It is small bites with a lot of variety. Sounds perfect for a group setting.

We have some frozen pastry that I would desperately like to get rid of but I haven’t found the right recipe yet. Maybe by the time I get to the end of the book, I will find something. By the way, this technique ends up driving a lot of my cooking decisions. ‘What do we have that I would like to get rid of before it goes bad or I am tired of it in my way.’

What do I think of the book? Given that it is not my first choice of cuisine, I have to say that it is not my favorite. There are a lot of recipes that are all variations of the same kind of ingredients. I guess to me, it doesn’t seem given so many recipes (400+ pages), the variation is not very different or novel.

It’s nice to have choices. It sure beats not having any. Like most cultural cookbooks, there is an emphasis on good ingredients. Using tomatoes in mid winter kind of degrades the overall quality of the recipe. In my climate, there is probably only a couple of months where ‘good’ tomatoes are possible. That kind of narrows down the window to make a lot of these recipes as they are intended and likely best.

I’m sorry, the book just wasn’t for me. The truth is, a helpful review would have something to compare and contrast. If I didn’t like this one then what would I recommend? This is my problem with a lot of Amazon style reviews. The evaluation is only made on limited experience with one product. Powder puff reviews just talk about what you would find in the book and real vague language. I will let you do that.

End Your Programming Routine: This review is only my opinion, so don’t get hurt. If you like Greek food or if you are a fan of Diane Kochilas then by all means check this book out. We make gyros from time to time (I have no idea if these are officially Greek) and I like them. I have said this before, I usually find two or three recipes out of a particular cookbook. That shouldn’t be offensive, but a fact. I have stacks of cookbooks now. Some of them, I barely open.

October 17, 2024 – The Escoffier: Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery

October 17, 2024 /

October is a different month. The Escoffier by Auguste Escoffier is a suggested book of the month for for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. I say suggested because technically there is no selected book but the theme is Escoffier himself. This is also a different kind of month because this is going to be the first time ever that I will not read the book.

According to what I have heard so far, Escoffier was the first celebrity chef. Born in 1846, he was a restaurant rock star by the turn of the century. Unfortunately, that came to a crashing end when he was fired for skimming at his flagship London restaurant. While formally accepting the charges and partially paying the losses, he never publicly admitted to guilt. This was the pinnacle of his career which continued on but in a much subdued fashion.

This book (pictured), is sort of the codification of French cooking. He took what people knew and did and put it into a formal reference. This was the revolution that he brought to the food scene, particularly in areas of Europe outside of France.

Let me speak to the elephant in the room. For someone that reads almost everything that I run across, why am I not reading this? I have skimmed through the book and it is a cookbook. It is a cookbook that is in the style of “The Joy of Cooking” meaning that that it is almost 1000 pages of words. It is more important to contain the information than actually making it useable.

I will use an example. I was looking up fish recipes and I go to the one that I want. It then refers to another section of the book for the foundation technique/sauce. This is also something that is done in the “Joy of Cooking”. While this is a good way to re-enforce consistency, it is very hard on the user.

The book is also written in a dialect of English that is not familiar. I believe that it is a direct printing from the original. As a result, I believe that it is dated with colloquial phrases and words that are just difficult to read. You add to that French words and page flipping to get the whole picture and you can see that reading is going to be difficult.

I bought the book even though I was not planning on reading it, it seems like the authority of cooking seemed appropriate. To be honest, there are very few books that I buy with the intent of never reading. I probably should have purchased a biography or something that would have been more interesting than another cookbook but the decision was made.

Can I recommend the book aside from my hesitations? Generally speaking I would say no. There is always someone outside with the perfect puzzle piece fit. I cant think of any in this canned, mushroom soup era. You would have to be a dedicated fan or historian or something of that nature to really get energized about this book. I know, it is a little disingenuous to poo poo something that I have not fully given it a shot. I didn’t really know anything until I ordered it.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t really mean to be negative, I just don’t see myself using this book. I barely open the “Joy of Cooking” for the same reasons. I don’t like turning the page to continue the recipe or to refer back to previous recipes. It doesn’t mean that it is a bad reference, it is about the spatial relationship and organization of information which we have much better mechanisms through technology today. By all means, feel free to disagree.

May 1, 2024 – Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

May 1, 2024 /

Ratio by Michael Ruhlman is the Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection for May. How about that, it is the first of the month and I am already done? Well, you can guess that I have had a lot of reading time lately. It is waiting in the waiting room for doctor’s appointments or sitting by while my wife watches TV or is sleeping. Consequently I finished this month’s book and I am way ahead on Dante’s Divine Comedy.

I didn’t know it at the time, but growing up I was spoiled. My Grandmother was the best pie maker that I knew. The truth is, everybody on that side of my family made good pies. It was only when I got exposed to store made pies that I realized not all pies were equal.

One day I asked my Grandmother what the secret was and she said that my Great Grandmother was a pie maker for a diner and she said that the ratio of the crust was not only easy but also the secret. It was 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup shorting and 1/4 cup water. That turns out to be 4:2;1 in terms of ratios.

Not long after that, I assumed the role of process chemist. I spent a lot of my time scaling batches between the lab, the pilot reactor and full scale batches. I soon learned that it wasn’t the units of things that made a difference but the ratios of ingredients. Once I had the ratios figured out, I could convert to the exact units of measure to my hearts content.

I was excited to read this book. I intuitively knew that ratios were the secret but I had never given much thought to it other than the pie crust. After reading it, I have more mixed feelings about it. Here are some of my thoughts.

First, I would say that probably half of the book was about baking. While I don’t want to split hairs, typically baking and cooking are different disciplines. Certainly at home, it is often the cook is also baking but it set some different expectations from the title and the content. To cement matters, I am not much of a baker nor do I have a ton of interest in it. That is not to say I don’t enjoy a good desert, but I just don’t crave them much along with the clean-up that goes with it.

Of some of the items in the cooking one example was stock making. I find it a stretch that there is a proper proportion of bones to water. This is especially true when Ruhlman agrees with Samin Nosrat that if you cannot use homemade stock, you are better off using water than store purchased stock. I use what I have on hand and that is just fine with me.

Many of the final items were pretty highbrow. There were more French dishes in this book than I have ever read. Many of them I had never heard of either. The final chapter was about custards and he goes on to describe a smoked salmon custard with shrimp halves. Additionally, he talks about making crème brulee. I am not saying home cooks shouldn’t attempt this but it after you make your shrimp custard to top steak, who is making crème brulee?

Finally, I disagreed with some of the ratios. I tend to think that ratios are a starting point in cooking. If you don’t have 2:1:1 ratio of onion, carrots and celery, is it still mirepoix? I think so. Sometimes I use the half of onion that is already cut rather than a whole one. Sometimes I want to finish off the old bag of carrots or celery that is long in the tooth.

Lest you think that I am totally down on this book, I would suggest that for people that are clueless in the kitchen this is a good resource. He does freely state that ratios can be modified in most cases. But, if people do not know how to start, this is a gateway to the science of cooking. There is freedom in not being a slave to a recipe. You can’t get the freedom until you understand each ingredient’s place in the dish.

End Your Programming Routine: As a former chemist doing chemical engineering work, I see ratios in recipes. I find myself scaling for the ingredients on hand or eaters. So, maybe this book isn’t for me necessarily but it might be for you. Especially if you are struggling in the baking department or fine French food. It may change your perspective from a mystery to an art.

September 26, 2023 – Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life

September 26, 2023 /

Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook by Diane Mott Davidson was the August co-selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. The reason is that it was the co-selection is that our group is going through some trials and tribulations and is a little listless at this time. Unfortunately, two members died last month and we really haven’t been in an organized fashion this year. As a result, two books were ‘suggested’. I will talk about the other one after I read it.

Part of the reason that I like being part of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club is that other people do the work. That is, they are the ones to suggest ‘I think we should read this’. Most of the selections I would never pick in a million years but I like the fact that it provides a diverse view to what I would normally read or gravitate to.

This choice is an interesting one. Diane Mott Davidson is a long time author, publishing a series of mystery books dating all the way back to the early 1990s. Her primary character is a caterer and nearly every recipe in this cookbook has been published in each of Diane’s numerous books. This is a compilation of all the recipes throughout Diane’s writing career.

In all transparency, I have never heard of Diane Mott Davidson nor any of her books. I say that because the idea of this cookbook seems pretty novel to me. Another reason that I mention it is because I came into this with no bias whatsoever.

Another admission, I did not read every word. I read the anecdote that goes along with the recipe and scan the ingredient list. I want to understand the pulse of a cookbook. How much diversity is there within the book? Can I possibly make what is in the book with the ingredients listed? Do I even care about what is offered?

Usually, I pick out a couple of things that I would like to try. And typically those are recipes that are unique. I say this because after reading this cookbook, I don’t plan on making anything immediately. Nearly 1/3 of the recipes are desserts, nothing wrong with that but it is just not a cornerstone in my kitchen.

What is the pulse of this cookbook? Clearly, I would say desserts but I already said that. There is an entire chapter on egg and cheese, think quiche, omelets, frittata etc. This was apparently driven by the author’s editor being vegetarian and asking for more recipes that fit that definition. That was a novel stance as well but I noticed that many of the recipes were different assemblies of the same ingredients.

The author had spent most of her life in Colorado and the cookbook has strong leaning toward TexMex flavors. I don’t have anything specific against TexMex but I have a true affinity toward Mexican food and to me TexMex is like saying McDonalds represents hamburgers. No, it is a derivation and interpretation made for a specific purpose.

Before I am too hard on Diane, she makes a statement early on that says her character is a caterer and that is a business. If a shortcut can be made to get to the end, then it should be considered. I giver her credit that she has done her homework on learning and understanding the business. I think the disconnect is between catering as a business and cooking as a craft.

Just one quick example in the chicken broth recipe. This is the only recipe I have ever seen that uses prepared chicken broth as the liquid to make chicken broth. I subscribe to Samine Nosrat – If you cant use broth you have made, use water. So, I see the broth recipe as more of a hack than an actual technique. I could certainly see this work for catering, like I said it is a business.

End Your Programming Routine: Who would like this or be interested in this cookbook? I think fans of Diane Mott Davidson certainly. But, if you have a sweet tooth or lack a cookbook to make a lot of cookies with dried fruit or chocolate in them, this may be your thing. This will probably be one that I never open again but that is OK. I didn’t know there was a mystery series with hundreds of recipes contained.

April 18, 2023 – Milk Street: The World In a Skillet

April 18, 2023 /

The World In a Skillet by Christopher Kimball is the April 2023 is the Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection for April. We find ourselves back from fiction last month to a cookbook. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I find a it difficult to evaluate a book without using it. That certainly is the case here. That being said, there are some unique elements to this particular cookbook.

You may be familiar with Christopher Kimball as he was a host of America’s Test Kitchen for many years. I did notice that he was gone from the show about eight years ago. In fact, his fixture was so long and his transition abrupt that I thought that maybe there was a health problem or something. This is actually the first time I had seen anything publicly and learning that he changed directions.

My supposition about his whereabouts were not without merit. I ran across some allegations and apparently there was a lawsuit between America’s Test Kitchen and Kimball accusing theft of intellectual property and damages in his new endeavor Milk Street. If you ever watched any of his previous work then you will know it was highly technical. Fortunately, it appears this new direction is simpler and more approachable.

It is interesting to see different approaches, dare I say novel approaches to cookbook and I would say this is one of them. Let’s talk about the title first. Kimball’s premise is that there are a lot of specific apparatus involved in ethnic cooking. Or said another way, each culture uses a proprietary piece of cookware and he surmises that this could all be substituted with a skillet.

That was the approach, but it wasn’t the only innovation. The cookbook is organized by time to cook. So, the user can go to the section and look at the 20 recipes that require less than 45 minutes to make. I think that this is a brilliant because skillet meals are often one dish meals. One dish meals are often those made in time constrained periods (weeknights, after work).

I do have a varied palate and I like the idea of Asian one night, Mexican another, soul food on another and comfort food on Friday. I think that it is pretty interesting that the recipes go from Vietnamese, to Italian to African to Chinese on page by page basis. So, it does seem to me that this approach fits my cooking instincts and preferences.

But wait… there’s more. It is not just single dish recipes but also sides and deserts and all things skillet. Now, maybe that is a step too far from what we need in a cookbook. But, if it is anything it is all in on skillets. So, I will give props for wringing the most out of the one-trick pony.

Out of 300 or so pages, nearly half of them are pictures. It does make you stimulated to page through the book. So, barring the fact that I haven’t cooked anything yet, it is a beautiful book. However in my kitchen, books are starting to clog up spaces so I am moving to the point that they need to earn their place. I do plan on trying a few things in the next month to see if it is worthy.

End Your Programming Routine: The book club is emerging out of our Covid hangover. Starting in 2020, we cut our interactions from about 10 a year to 4 (including March that was already scheduled) with outside summer gatherings. We have more books and meetings in the pipeline again as the composition of the group has changed to the new reality. I love reading and cooking but I warm up to people over time. I also love that being part of this group is a leap of faith for the interests of others. More books to come.