Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Awesome. Thanks Karen.

Gourmet has one of my favorite sites along with its sister site, epicurious.com. For all the Julia Child fans (and I know there are legions of you out there), there's a Classic Cookbook piece about "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Great stuff.

I've been looking at those archives for several months now. I stumbled on them by mistake and they just blew my mind. I'm just in love with them and can literally idle away hours reading the articles. It's like a time capsule or a window onto the early childhood of the current American culinary scene.

Thanks for bringing it to the forefront, Karen!

I just ran across a story on the Gourmet site called "The Way We Cooked: Varmints." The editors pulled archived recipes from the 40's, 50's, and 60's that reflect how people may have creatively utilized some, um, wild furry creatures. Try some Creamed Woodchuck (1942), Squirrel in Cider (1954) or Roast Raccoon(1950) for dinner, but with the following disclaimer from the folks at Gourmet: "These exclusive recipes are pulled directly from Gourmet's archive. They have not been re-tested by our food editors since they were published in the magazine, but they're a pretty good indication of the kinds of things we once cooked—and ate—with great pleasure."

From a cooking history standpoint, this is interesting material, although I have to admit that the thought of eating one of the cute raccoons that I see sneaking around the neighborhood very early in the morning makes my stomach churn a bit.

Admittedly, it was difficult to share this, Susquehanna. Even though it is online and zillions of people are looking at it. Ha, ha! I did so want to wrap my arms around it and keep it all for myself.

There's a bonus in sharing it, however. Look at the posts above. Now instead of arbitrarily hitting page after page of treasures while bemoaning the fact of lack of time to read all of them, I've got some fantastic advised collections to start reading! :)

I do love it when someone creates a sense of structure for me. Thanks, guys. :)

Yes, under Earl McAusland as founder/editor the flavor was rather swashbuckling back then, even if that swash and buckle was wrapped up in an old silk smoking jacket to hide or muffle the sense of high seas and adventure based on how many ingredients might fit in the pot.

Here is the favorite treasure I've unearthed so far from these archives. The introduction states:

"The Garlic War" arrived "over the transom" in the time-honored manner of unsolicited manuscripts. The editors recognized Annie Proulx's comic sensibility and storytelling gifts and published the piece. Years later, after winning the 1994 Pulitzer for The Shipping News, Proulx revealed that this was her first published short story.

First published apparently in 1961 with this reprint with intro in 2001.

I always think of Madonna dancing on a table when I hear that line, sheeats! In one brief moment I am her.
Well - down from that fantasy. :)

It's really these archives that rock.
Found two more things that I adore:
In the Mix by Laura Shapiro

What's inside that little box is not just a mix, says Laura Shapiro, but a cultural phenomenon that has changed the way American home cooks think about baking—and themselves.

And a piece about Laurie Colwin by Anna Quindlen .

My god, some great lines in this piece:

The readers to whom this spoke adored her—and her vision of a harmonious life. But when reporters came to call, she was a little touchy about the assumption that the pretty and privileged existence of some of her characters was in fact her own; "I speak fluent fuckinese," she said in one interview.

Fluent fuckinese!
I must learn it.