What cookbook would you grab if you had time, in fleeing The Flood, The Quake, The Fire?
Tricky.
One of mine, stuffed into the cat's carrier with passports - if we're lucky - would be Patricia Wells' French Bistro Cooking. It is not glamorous. It has a soft cover. There are no photos. But it has fine stories and recipes that make me turn its pages just for pleasure. I have owned it forever.
The Frenchman tells me this: If it's a quake, you go under the table. Nowhere else.
If it's a fire, you take nothing. You just go.
He hasn't said anything about floods. Yet.
Marie - most of my recipes these days come via the net but I retain and cherish my battered "New Basics" by the late Sheila Lukins, author and co-founder of the Silver Palate. I would keep that book, no matter what disaster was impending.
ReplyDeleteLaurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" is my pick! I was thinking of her today as I made a curried chicken salad with a left-over breast and thigh, cucumber and tiny tomatoes warm from the sun (sweet 100's). Her stories are delightful. She writes about the structure of a recipe, and then encourages improvisation !
ReplyDeleteMy most loved cookbook is Going Solo in the Kitchen by Jane Doerfer. I bought it when I was single, but the recipes are so good that I make many of them now that I am a wife and mother.
ReplyDeleteI have this book. I love the fact there's a whole chapter on potatoes. However, my choice would be 'Moro, the Cookbook', which has some great ways with rice including a superb recipe for saffron rice 'jewelled' with barberries.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, anything from Paula Wolfert, such as 'Good Food from Morocco' or 'The Cooking of SouthWest France'.
"if there's a fire, you take nothing"
ReplyDelete?????????
Did I hear eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep ?????
In the olden days it was Marcella Hazan whose cooking philosophy dominated our kitchen. Today I rely on Judith Jones' Cooking for One, which is falling apart from happy use. It includes lots of tips from Julia, which never fail. (I just learned how to hard boil an egg perfectly!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great topic. "How To Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman for me.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I would also grab my computer so all other recipe needs would be close to hand.
xo jane
Italian Food by Elizabeth David. For reasons of nostalgia, and for the food and for the pleasure of reading. Also it appeals to my dual heritage which is English/Italian.
ReplyDeleteWow. Tough choice. Really only one?? Probably either "The Art of Simple Food" - Alice Waters (big surprise from a Northern Californian). It's portable, with great stories. Or The Bon Appetit cookbook. It's thorough, but a doorstop...problematic in a quick get away.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the flood: Aren't you up on the 3rd or 4th floor? If you're escaping a flood the rest of us are doomed.
I agree with the Frenchman. Quakes to table. Fire=run.
ReplyDeleteLots of books I don't know...which is nice...And some old favorites.
ReplyDeleteRob - barberies! Thank you for reminding me. Hm. Goji berries, barberries. They look similar, don't they?
Cat's Granny - yes, we had a bit of a discussion about that.
I've thought about this long and hard. Nigel Slater's Appetite. Amazing book to read and cook with. Beautiful photos too.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum's recipe book - such evocative delights therein!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Yvette van Boven's 'Home Made', beeeeautiful. It's nice and thick, could probably hide under it when a quake strikes too. Don't know about the fire though.
ReplyDeleteI think I would grab Silver Palate's book, which I rarely use, but like Ms. Wells' book, it is paperback and everytime I make something in it, I wonder why I don't go to it more often.....if I could grab another, it would be my favorite book: Living and Eating by John Pawson.
ReplyDelete