Laurie Colwin is my kind of cook. In More Home Cooking she chats about a variety of food topics in such a way that I continue to have mental, and sometimes oral, conversations with her as I’m reading. Here are some samples:

• In More About Gingerbread Laurie talks about how children seem to love this treat. She shared how she sometimes gave it to her daughter frosted with a chocolate or lemon frosting or sometimes split in two with raspberry jam on top. I told Laurie about how every Fall my mom would make gingerbread and put her homemade applesauce on top. Mmm – nothing better, unless you also add whipped cream.
• In her essay on Condiments I laughed with Laurie as she talked about how her life would be “impoverished” without lime pickles and how capers and fermented black beans make so many things taste better. And I say, “Laurie, you should talk to my family. They make jokes and call me the Condiment Queen. Let me tell you what I have on hand.”
• In Real Food For Tots Laurie reveals herself as a food crank. She talks about how parents should be obsessive about the source of the food their children eat. She prefers organic but she is also aware of what her statement does to harried working mothers. She also feels strongly that mothers should be teaching their sons how to cook so when they are married there is a more equitable partnership in the kitchen. This essay was written nearly twenty years ago. “Oh Laure, I wish you could have live long enough to see the current craze for organic. Would you believe it’s  now sexy for men to be in the kitchen?”

This group of essays was first published in Gourmet Magazine and then gathered into this book (1993). For me the essays are best read one or two at a time. As I said earlier, they are so much like visiting with a good friend. I can’t recommend either of these books enough for people who love good food.

There aren’t a load of recipes in this book but let me share a simple, yummy one with you. It’s called Peach Pizza.

1. The first part calls for a dough mixture, the crust. I skipped that part. I used one Pillsbury pie crust – flat on a baking sheet with the edges turned up about a half an inch.
2. Chop 1/2 cup of almonds fine and add 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Sprinkle the mixture over the pie crust.
3. Cut enough peeled peaches into thin slices to cover the dough in one layer in some attractive overlapping pattern and arrange them on the dough.
4. Bake the pizza at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden.

It’s so quick and easy and just right for now when the fresh peaches are coming in at the Farmers Market. I hope you’ll give this one a try.

Talking about food is a regular feature on my blog and others as well. Visit Beth Fish Reads for other bloggers who are participating in Weekend Cooking.

HOME COOKING: A WRITER IN THE KITCHEN

Laurie Colwin

Perennial/Harper Collins, 1988

My Rating: A+

“One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is TALKING about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating WHILE you are eating with friends. People who like to cook like to talk about food. Plain old cooks (as opposed to the geniuses in fancy restaurants) tend to be friendly. After all, without one cook giving another cook a tip or two, human life might have died out a long time ago.”

Don’t you love the way Laurie Colwin said that? She and I are of the same mind. That quote above came from the first page in this charming book and it goes on from there. It actually gets even better. While reading the book I found myself talking back to her. Here’s an example:

“As everyone knows, there is only one way to fry chicken correctly. Unfortunately, most people think their method is best, but most people are wrong. Mine is the only right way, and on this subject I feel almost evangelical.”

Well, Laurie, you are correct – there is only one right way to fry chicken. Unfortunately, you are wrong about your way of doing it. My method of frying chicken is the one true method. Here’s a hint: use a cast iron skillet and really fresh chicken.

When it comes to making potato salad I will admit (modestly) that mine is superior to her’s. But on this subject Laurie and I agree: a good potato salad allows for lots of experimentation and we agree it’s good to make it all year round.

“When I was young, potato salad was considered summer food. My mother made her mother’s version, which included chopped celery and catsup in the dressing. It was known as pink potato salad and was served at picnics and barbeques as an accompaniment to fried or grilled chicken.”

The book is organized into thirty-three “chats” about a variety of food subjects. In addition to frying chicken and potato salad, she tackles these subjects (this is a sample):

• Bread Baking Without Agony
• How to Disguise Vegetables
• Feeding the Multitudes
• Kitchen Horrors
• How to Give a Party

This is not a cookbook with traditional recipes. Laurie tells you how to make a dish and gives examples of things she has done. The most hilarious are the things she’s done wrong. Her tone is strictly conversational – just as if you are sitting in her kitchen talking about food.

I’d like to thank Belle (Ms. Bookish) for recommending this book to me. It completes my Spice of Life Challenge. As you can tell from my rating above, I really liked this book. I borrowed a copy from the library but I plan to buy a copy for my own food book collection. I liked it that much. Laurie Colwin also wrote More Home Cooking and numerous novels, short stories and featured articles in major magazines before her untimely death. I’ve challenged myself to read more of her works in 2010.

This food-related post is a part of Beth Fish Read’ Weekend Cooking.

]]> http://joyfullyretired.com/2009/11/21/a-food-book-home-cooking/feed/ 16