Recipe/Fiction
Have any of you been drawn to works of fiction that include recipes (e.g. Laura Esquivel's 'Like Water for Chocolate', John Lanchester's 'A Debt to Pleasure'), and if so, have you tried them, and with what results? Any overall feelings about such works? If their recipes were/are any good, would/do you include such works in your 'kitchen library'?
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18 Comments:
Haven't tried this one ... I don't believe I will, either! From Jeff Daniels' stageplay Escanaba in da Moonlight, with Daniels also playing Reuben in the film version:
ALBERT, REMNAR and JIMMER: Aho! (everyone drinks)
JIMMER: Tashty.
ALBERT: Dis ain't bad, eh.
REMNAR: It's gotta kick to it, I'll say dat. What proof is dis, Reuben?
REUBEN: Sorry to say dere ain't a drop o' alcohol in it.
REMNAR: Ain't no pasty pie, but I'll tell ya what, I could drink me a few o' dese wit'out lookin' up an' sayin' hello eh. Jus' what da heck's dat squaw o' yers got in here, eh?
REUBEN: Well, like I said it's a magic potion dat goes back generations.
REMNAR: Yah, but what's in it? I might wanna steal da recipe.
JIMMER: You an' me bosh!
REUBEN: (pulling out another piece of paper) Well, okay. (reading) Fill a large bucket wit' fresh cow's milk.
JIMMER: Dere'sh yer milk shakesh tashte right deresh.
REMNAR: Yup.
REUBEN (reading) Blend one ounce each o' parsley, ginger an' carraway seeds wit' eight ounces o' sap from a mature maple ...
ALBERT: I t'ought I tasted da Sweet Sap.
REUBEN: (reading) Add barley an' yeast ...
REMNAR: Yeast.
JIMMER: Gotta have yeasht.
REUBEN: (reading) Six ounces o' blackberry juice an' honey ...
JIMMER: I lovesh da blackberriesh.
REUBEN: (reading) Next, take twelve large eart'worms baked on a shovel, da gizzard of a red squirrel, four ounces o' strained mule tail sweat, a hun'erd finely crushed black flies, a pinch o' dirt found surroundin' a buck rub an' da dried an' powdered left testicle of a fully grown moose. (Looks up at the Albert, Remnar and Jimmer) Chill an' serve.
JIMMER: (Pause ... then hoists his jar.) Aho! (Jimmer downs his jar in sveral swallows. When he's finished, Remnar offers his jar to Jimmer, who begins to drink that one, too.)
LunaPierCook at 3:55PM on 02/16/08
From a review on Amazon of Heartburn by Nora Ephron (one of my favorite books and yes, I tried several of the recipes): I believe it is still in my cookbook cabinet all these years later. i can't remember how many times I read it. She was going through hell, pregnant, divorcing, and was absolutely hilarious.
The review:
If I had it to do over again, I would have made a different kind of pie. The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been even better, since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer.......so Rachel Samstat muses on her marriage to Mark Feldman.
Nora Ephron's thinly disguised account of her marriage to famed Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein is laugh-out-loud funny in parts, though if you're looking for advice on how to save your marriage, the aforementioned tidbit is typical of the advice you'll get.
Short and savvy, this contemporary 80's novel is peppered with recipes since Rachel is a cookbook editor and host of her own cooking show. A collapsing marriage doesn't seem suitable for high-level comedy, but Nora Ephron makes it work and will have you laughing all the way to the bitter end.
PerkyMac at 4:11PM on 02/16/08
Cooking For Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser immediately comes to mind. Although it is not, I believe, entirely fictional, it comically tells the tale of her first encounter and romance with her now husband. I keep moving the book to the kitchen library and my husband keeps moving it back to the food writing library. There are some brilliantly inspired recipes that I really intended to make, yet haven't gotten around to. When I've finally tried the recipes I have marked, perhaps the book will find it's final resting place.
frederika at 4:15PM on 02/16/08
REUBEN: (reading) Next, take twelve large eart'worms baked on a shovel, da gizzard of a red squirrel, four ounces o' strained mule tail sweat, a hun'erd finely crushed black flies, a pinch o' dirt found surroundin' a buck rub an' da dried an' powdered left testicle of a fully grown moose. (Looks up at the Albert, Remnar and Jimmer) Chill an' serve.
LunaPierCook at 3:55PM on 02/16/08
LOL! I think it cries out for the addition of a couple bottles of 1990 Cristal champagne?
PerkyMac at 6:09PM on 02/16/08
I do recall reading a book called, "Liver Cookies" where these kids put liver pate in their cookie batter and they became a big hit..but I've never actually made them even though they included recipes for them.
FoodieCutie at 6:11PM on 02/16/08
James Villas' Between Bites--Memoirs of a Hungry Hedonist
There are only a handful of recipes and only one or two interest me, but the one dish that I was interested in cooking, he left out the recipe.
La Poularde Frite en Marinade, yes, it's fried chicken, but the way Chef Dumaine prepared it or the way Villas described it, makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Apparently the recipe is in some French cookbook from the last century, er, considering when that reference was made, it's probably more like the 1800's, not the 1900's. One day, I'll have to track it down...*sigh* I love fried chicken.
Mongoose, thanks for reminding me...I read this book years ago and forgot how much the description of that dish spoke to me...Now if I can just get my hands on a chicken from Bresse...
wookie at 6:29PM on 02/16/08
@PerkyMac - I've always liked Nora Ephron's work, but I have not read
Amazon of Heartburn. I am going to get a copy. Thanks for the review.
wookie at 6:33PM on 02/16/08
@wookie............the book is called Heartburn. It is available on Amazon.com and that's where I copied part of a review.
Hope you enjoy it!
PerkyMac at 6:36PM on 02/16/08
@Perky Mac - LOL, I see how I misread that! Thanks!
wookie at 6:38PM on 02/16/08
@wookie.........I thought about using quotes and should have! I don't know how to italicize, underline or make words bold in this little comment window. Others do it, so there must be a way. If you misread it, others did too. Made me chuckle, but glad to have a chance to fix it. Thanks!
Amazon of Heartburn sounds like a great title - maybe I'll start a novel about a big, strong woman who eats too much greasy food. Yeah, that's the ticket.
PerkyMac at 6:46PM on 02/16/08
i've made a few recipes from cooking for mr. latte. the peach tart is a real knockout -- i've made it about a hundred times, with apples, peaches, apricots, rhubarb, and blackberries, depending on the season. so is the almond cake, especially after it sits for a few days. i'm hoping to try the ginger duck sometime.
cybercita at 12:21AM on 02/17/08
Diana Abu-Jaber's novel "Crescent" is a gorgeous love story between a chef and a Middle-Eastern classics scholar. It's set in the little Tehran of Los Angeles, sometimes called Tehrangeles. There are many beautiful descriptive passages, some of which lyrically describe the food that Sirine, the chef, creates for the cafe where she works, for her uncle with whom she lives, for her love the scholar, and for the extended family of newcomers to the U.S. who become part of her life. There are also several lovely recipes in a special section in the back of the book that I'm longing to try.
I have made several recipes from Abu-Jaber's memoir, "The Language of Baklava," which has a LOT of recipes. The lamb kofta in particular was delicious.
Julie at 12:41AM on 02/17/08
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I've always wanted to try some of the recipes from Diane Mott Davidson's mystery series featuring caterer Goldy Schultz.
overw8 at 8:19AM on 02/17/08
I've tried one or two of Diane Mott Davidson's - I remember that the potato/itatlian sausage casserole is really good!
ansate at 3:06PM on 02/17/08
Mystery + food? This I have to look into...
mongoose at 7:31PM on 02/17/08
The Mexican Torte in one of Diane Mott Davidson's books is delicious! I have tried a few of her recipes. Laura Child has some good recipes in her books, as does Joanne Fluke. Basically - if you put a recipe is a book (especially a mystery) I will read it and probably try it.
SayWhat at 8:39PM on 02/17/08
Mongoose, If you like mysteries involving food, you might enjoy . Robert Parker's books particularly his Spenser mysteries. Although these books don't have recipes, Spenser loves good food and ocassionaly will whip up something or have an amazing dining experience which is described in loving detail. Spenser definitely loves great food and seems to know a lot about it. These are great books that are also quite amusing.
lakeloverhh at 2:29PM on 02/18/08
I read the autobiography "Taco Testimony" that had a whole bunch of recipes. It was interesting but I never wound up making any of them.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 4:39PM on 02/22/08