home baked

Here’s where I am with baking: it started as therapy, then it was a creative outlet, then it became part of “who Cecelia is (especially at parties).” Now I my goal is to find new, exciting, unfamiliar things to make – basically, to challenge myself. And as much as I love getting recommendations from friends or seeing what the New York Times cooking section has on offer, the recipes rarely surprise me. So it’s a good thing that I won an Abrams Instagram contest and a handful of new-to-me cookbooks.  Yvette van Boven’s Home Baked has been surprising me since January, and it has been the jump-start I needed to get out of my baking comfort zone.

Food stylist and cook Yvette van Boven has offered delicious seasonal recipes in Home Made, Home Made Summer, and HomeMade Winter that highlight the fresh produce available throughout the year. In her much-anticipated follow-up, Home Baked, she celebrates the art of baking.

Complete with her signature illustrations and scenic photographs of Ireland and Paris, Home Baked is a beautiful collection of van Boven’s favorite baked goods—warm bread from the oven, sweet banana bread, a gooey cinnamon and caramel pull-apart loaf, rich chocolate cake, shortbread cookies, and more. And alongside these beautiful images of delicious treats, van Boven provides step- by-step instructions for how to make them in your own home. And she leaves no one out—working with different types of flours (including gluten-free) so there is something for everyone to bake. Her inviting voice, easy-to-follow recipes, and beautiful photographs make Home Baked a staple for every kitchen and lovely enough to show off in other rooms as well.

Talented cook, artist, and food stylist Yvette van Boven tackles home baking in a gorgeously–conceived and –executed cookbook.  Van Boven introduces a range of Irish, Dutch and French recipes (and some that are a mix or none of those three!) under the headings of Viennoiserie (breakfast pastries), Bread, Pound Cake, Bars and Slices, Cookies, Pie, Birthday Cakes, Pâtisserie and “Do Not Forget the Dog,” aka recipes for canine companions.

Home Baked provides a fresh take on baking inspired by van Boven’s personal preferences, changes to diet, and special occasions, all with a homey feel (and most importantly, reproducible by the home baker!). Some of the European-influenced recipes may be familiar to North American bakers, but van Boven includes detail about why certain ingredients are included that was new to this reader.  In addition, all of the recipes are labeled if they are wheat-free, gluten-free, lactose-free, sugar-free or refined sugars-free, which is very useful for anyone dealing with dietary restrictions.

The overall presentation of this cookbook is one of its best features (what, you thought it was just a book of recipes?!).  Along with gorgeous photos of the food, its pages are filled with watercolor-washed backgrounds, lovely full-page spreads of photographs of Irish and French landscapes, and hand-inked recipe illustrations.  It’s a cookbook that can double as a coffee table art book (and I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of a cookbook that way before!).

Now that I’ve done the official “review” things, I can give you my honest feedback on the book, right?  Well, it’s great.  I found it both an inspiration and a bit of a learning experience.  Van Boven makes all of her recipes in a convection oven, and the majority of the goodies don’t call for expensive kitchenware. I used more eggs and lemon zest in baking than ever before, experimented with oven times, substituted ingredients, and liked the results. Who knew? I thoroughly tested (read: enjoyed) the cookbook by baking that gorgeous cake on the cover (Super-Light Lemon Poppy Seed Cake), the Cherry Cream Pie with Raspberry-Campari Sauce, the Far Breton Aux Pruneaux, and two kinds of cookies.  All of the recipes turned out well and won major kudos from friends.

One minor nit: I found a couple of recipes that either had ingredients or amounts transposed or misspelled, or that were missing bit of the recipe.  For a book so beautiful, it’s a shame that they didn’t do just one more copyedit.

In the preface, Yvette van Boven writes that “Baking will not only make you very happy; it will make you beloved.” Home Baked is a homey, accessible homage to baking, a breath of fresh air, and its recipes prove the author right.

Recommended for: home bakers who want to round out their baking game with European-inspired delicacies, and anyone who can appreciate a beautifully constructed book.

Interested in other food-related posts? Check out Beth FishReads’ Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received this book from the publisher as a prize in an Instagram contest.  I did not receive any compensation for this post.

top ten favorite cookbooks

There are days (increasingly rare days!) when I’m brimming over with ideas for blog posts. I made the lovely Emma of Miss Print help me come up with a theme for this week’s top ten post because I was just… out.  Once I had the idea in hand it was easy to execute though, because...  dear hearts, I LOVE COOKBOOKS.  I started this site as a book blog (and of course cookbooks are books!), but my posts about food are always more popular than the ones about books.  Cookbook reviews = happy medium.  And I do love reading through a good cookbook.  Here are some of my absolute favorites.

Top Ten Favorite Cookbooks

1.  The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker – Starting with the absolute basics – this is the very first cookbook I ever cooked out of.  That’s because it was my mother’s kitchen staple (and it’s now mine). I was so proud when I found a used hardback copy at the thrift shop for my own shelf!

2. The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen – I became the de facto Thanksgiving pie baker sometime in the past decade, but I really upped my game after reading and becoming a disciple of this cookbook.  +10 pie game.

3. Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes  – Marian Keyes is an Irish novelist who deals with life-threatening depression through baking.  Her cookbook shares both wonderful recipes and hilarious stories.

4. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table by Maya Angelou – I’d never read Angelou before, so I started with her cookbook (it seemed natural to me!).  The recipes weren’t necessarily my thing, but the stories!  Good lord, this is literature.  I’d be happy to have this out on my coffee table any day/any time.

5. From Our Kitchen to Yours: Trinity Baptist Church edited by my dad – One of my dad’s first retirement projects was compiling and editing a church cookbook.  Naturally, a bunch of our family recipes made their way into the volume.  Sometimes instead of calling my mother for this or that recipe, I can just open up this volume (super convenient!).

6. The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas – My youngest brother got Type 1 diabetes at two years old.  My mother spent 10 years trying every healthy cleanse/diet/recipe known to man in order to help manage his disease (she eventually gave up a bit on the diet front because nothing except insulin helped long-term).  This is one of the “diet” cookbooks (it’s not a diet cookbook at all! Just vegetarian.) that actually had recipes the whole family liked – so my mom kept cooking out of it even after the crusade ended.  I did another thrift store hunt and found this at a used book sale.

7. Home Baked by Yvette van Boven, photos by Oof Verschuren – I won an Abrams Instagram contest earlier this year, and they sent me this lovely cookbook (+ 2 other cookbooks, a baking bowl & a spatula)!  It’s got gorgeous pictures and delicious baked goods – I can’t wait to test a few more recipes and share my review with you all!

8. Fika by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall – Ahhhh this cookbook is great.  Hand-drawn illustrations, delicious Swedish baked goods, cultural history… definitely my type of thing.  I even made the cardamom buns on Christmas morning!

9. Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen – Maybe the first cookbook I ever purchased as a result of following a food/lifestyle blog.  One of my favorite early bloggers (this was back in… 2009?) bought this giant book and talked at length about seasonal cooking and preserving, and I just fell in love with the idea of it.  At the time I had a shoebox of a kitchen and none of it was practical, but I still adore this doorstopper.  It really lives up to its title, and Allen is like the godmother of modern Irish cooking.

10. The Broad Fork by Hugh Acheson, photos by Rinne Allen – This one was a Christmas gift from a dear friend, and it embodies that seasonal, vegetable-crazed cooking life we all live now. I don’t get to the farmer’s market as often as I should, but when I do I turn to this cookbook for guidance.

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

Interested in other food-related posts? Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

fika: the art of the swedish coffee break

Judge this book by its cover (go ahead, it’s safe!).  The cover illustration tells you everything to know: Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall’s Fika: The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break, with Recipes for Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats is a book about coffee breaks done right (in the Swedish tradition). It's 25% lifestyle and history, 75% a cookbook, and 100% interesting.  Of course, I would say that – baking is my jam.

An illustrated lifestyle cookbook on the Swedish tradition of fika--a twice-daily coffee break--including recipes for traditional baked goods, information and anecdotes about Swedish coffee culture, and the roots and modern incarnations of this cherished custom.

Sweden is one of the world’s top coffee consuming nations, and the twice-daily social coffee break known as fika is a cherished custom. Fika can be had alone or in groups, indoors or outdoors, while traveling or at home. A time to take a rest from work and chat with friends or colleagues over a cup and a sweet treat, fika reflects the Swedish ideal of slowing down to appreciate life’s small joys. In this adorable illustrated cookbook, Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall share nearly fifty classic recipes from their motherland—from cinnamon buns and ginger snaps to rhubarb cordial and rye bread—allowing all of us to enjoy this charming tradition regardless of where we live.

My dad’s family is Danish-American, but his mother died young, so no recipes traveled down that side of the family tree to me.  I’ve always been curious about Scandinavia and its food, though.  With the last name Larsen and as the shortest (at 5’10”) of a bunch of giants, it makes sense.  When a Swedish cookbook popped up on my radar, I took note.  I asked my library to order a copy.  I then read it cover-to-cover and baked out of it and racked up $7.50 in library fines and put it on my wishlist so that one of my freakishly tall brothers can give it to me as a gift. 

Fika is arranged seasonally and traditionally (by traditionally I mean there are sections of the homemade favorites, the items you’d find mostly in a bakery, and then heartier items like breads at the end).  While the focus is on baked goods that go with coffee, there’s also a fair bit about the slow, handmade, homemade traditions of day-to-day life in Sweden.  I enjoyed the bits about history – where and how certain dishes originated, the proper way to enjoy them, suggested flavor combinations, and so on.  But the star, of course, is the food.

The authors included recipes that run the gamut from easy (a spiced shortbread cookie) to complex (holiday fare), with easy-to-follow instructions. Johanna Kindvall’s art brings each recipe to life.  That’s a distinctive thing about this cookbook – there aren’t any photographs.  Instead, Kindvall’s illustrations of the steps and finished product are the guide.  And her art is both charming and informative.

To “test” the cookbook I made 4 recipes: Nutmeg slice cookies, almond potato cake, toasted rye buns and soft ginger cookies.  Since the focus is on “homemade” and slow living, the instructions don’t call for any intensive appliances (though there were some tools I didn’t have, but I got by with substitutes), but I used my mixer with no ill effects.  Reading the recipes all the way through is a must – some of them take a day or two to complete! 

The nutmeg cookies turned out well and my book club devoured them: A-.  The almond potato cake was a solid B – good when it came out of the oven, but not something I’d make again unless I have gluten-intolerant guests.  The rye buns (I’ve never baked with rye flour before!) were fantastic: A.  And the soft ginger cookies were GREAT, A+.  Note: These recipes called for less sugar than American favorites across the board. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but it’s something to be aware of.  The stars of Swedish baking seem to be nuts, cardamom and other “Christmas-y” spices – I don’t know if I’ve ever baked out of a cookbook with fewer chocolate recipes!  It was kind of liberating. I look forward to making even more of these recipes in the future.

Is it clear that I like this cookbook?  I hope so.  If there’s one thing I can point to as a “con” I’d say that the authors didn’t need to devote quite so many words to urging readers to slow down and savor their coffee breaks.  That’s preaching to the choir.  In the end I didn’t mind it, though, and I don’t think many will.

In all, Fika is a beautifully illustrated homage to Swedish baking, with tasty recipes and tidbits about history and culture sprinkled throughout.  I can’t wait to have a copy for my own bookshelf.

Recommended for: anyone who likes to experiment with baking, those interested in international food traditions, and for the perfect treats to go along with a cozy cup of coffee.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking!

the four and twenty blackbirds pie book

For years, pie was one of those things I was intimidated by.  Why?  It’s a marquee holiday dessert, easy to get wrong (the crust!), and the whole process is fairly long and labor-intensive.  I got over that fear thanks to my best friend’s aunt – she took a day and demystified pie for us two aspiring bakers in her large, sunny kitchen.  These days, Thanksgiving isn’t complete if I haven’t made three pies. 

That said, I wasn’t in a hurry to branch out from the exact technique Aunt Laura taught us.  UNTIL.  I asked my local library to order a copy of The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book: Uncommon Recipes from the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop.  I borrowed it, but only peeked inside once before returning it.  When I found out that authors Emily and Melissa Elsen would be at the Baltimore Book Fest this past fall, I made it my mission to go to their presentation.  Which was awesome.  I was an instant convert (the Bourbon Pear Crumble pie slices they passed around didn’t hurt).  Armed with this cookbook and my newly-acquired tools of the trade (thanks to the holidays!), I feel like an adventurous baker.  Long live pie!

From the proprietors of the renowned Brooklyn shop and cafe comes the ultimate pie-baking book for a new generation of bakers.

Melissa and Emily Elsen, the twenty-something sisters who are proprietors of the wildly popular Brooklyn pie shop and cafe Four & Twenty Blackbirds, have put together a pie-baking book that's anything but humble. This stunning collection features more than 60 delectable pie recipes organized by season, with unique and mouthwatering creations such as Salted Caramel Apple, Green Chili Chocolate, Black Currant Lemon Chiffon, and Salty Honey. There is also a detailed and informative techniques section. Lavishly designed, The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book contains 90 full-color photographs by Gentl & Hyers, two of the most sought-after food photographers working today.

With its new and creative recipes, this may not be you mother's cookbook, but it's sure to be one that every baker from novice to pro will turn to again and again.

This cookbook is as advertised: it’s a collection of pie recipes from the pie shop that South Dakota-raised sisters Emily and Melissa Elsen own and run in Brooklyn, New York.  If you’re like me, the mention of Brooklyn + _____ [insert some trendy thing here] makes you a little wary.  I always wonder, “Will this be for real?  Or did it just get this far because NYC is the center of the world (at least according to New Yorkers and half of the East Coast).”  Luckily, this pie book has solid roots – decades of baking and food service run along the Elsen girls’ maternal line.  Though they’re self-taught, Emily and Melissa’s recipes and methods are reliable (and delicious).  

The cookbook is arranged seasonally, by what ingredients are available when.  The pie crust recipes are at the back, and notes on sourcing ingredients and techniques (including step-by-step photos) for crust construction are at the front.  I skipped over a lot of those notes at first in favor of staring at the stunning photos of individual pies (really, it’s enough to make you want to lick the pages!).  One of the best bits about seeing Emily and Melissa in person was their reiteration of suggestions in the book – the little things that make the baking process easier.  Most helpful to me were mentions of which tools are hardiest (they’re fans of OXO) and necessary (I HAD to have a pastry scraper!), versus others that they could take or leave.  It’s also confidence boosting to just see someone else make a crust in front of you.  You end up thinking, “If they can do that in front of a crowd, on a time schedule, in warm-to-hot weather under a pavilion, I can definitely do it in my kitchen!”

And I have.  So far I’ve made their Bourbon Pear Crumble (photo above!), Lemon Chess, Salted Caramel Apple, and Browned Butter Pumpkin pies.  All of them ‘turned out’ beautifully, but the most popular were the lemon chess and pumpkin.  The pumpkin survived a flight to Syracuse at Thanksgiving!  I’ve never before felt so many envious eyes on me as when I carried it through the security line at Reagan National Airport. *grin*

Best part of the cookbook: uhhh… everything? I adore it.  I take it off the shelf often, and I think I will continue to do so.  It’s dead useful for anyone interested in pie, and it’s ridiculously pretty.  It also hasn’t steered me wrong yet – the recipes, if you follow them to the letter, are kind of ridiculously reliable.  My OCD-prone baking soul is content.  Worst part: again, I don’t have anything to say here.  You can skip over the intro if you want, but the rest is readable and useful.

In conclusion: if pie matters to you, get this book.  Buy/borrow/whatever-you-have-to-do. It’s worth a perusal for the photos alone, but I’ve found it extremely practical and inspiring, as well. A+.

Recommended for: pie bakers (from aspiring to experienced), those interested in local/seasonal food preparation, and anyone with an eye for attractive cookbook design.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

my paris kitchen

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get all excited about a book, and then it arrives and I won’t touch it.  Am I intimidated?  Procrastinating?  Saving it for the perfect day and mood?  I haven’t figured out that part of my psyche yet.  The latest victim of this “waiting game” was David Lebovitz’s cookbook My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories.  Visually, it’s a gorgeous volume, and Lebovitz has a way with words.  So why did it sit on the side table untouched for almost 5 months?  That’s a mystery for another day.  I’d better get back to telling you how great it is!

A collection of stories and 100 sweet and savory French-inspired recipes from popular food blogger David Lebovitz, reflecting the way Parisians eat today and featuring lush photography taken around Paris and in David's Parisian kitchen.

It’s been ten years since David Lebovitz packed up his most treasured cookbooks, a well-worn cast-iron skillet, and his laptop and moved to Paris. In that time, the culinary culture of France has shifted as a new generation of chefs and home cooks—most notably in Paris—incorporates ingredients and techniques from around the world into traditional French dishes.

 In My Paris Kitchen, David remasters the classics, introduces lesser-known fare, and presents 100 sweet and savory recipes that reflect the way modern Parisians eat today. You’ll find Soupe à l’oignon, Cassoulet, Coq au vin, and Croque-monsieur, as well as Smoky barbecue-style pork, Lamb shank tagine, Dukkah-roasted cauliflower, Salt cod fritters with tartar sauce, and Wheat berry salad with radicchio, root vegetables, and pomegranate. And of course, there’s dessert: Warm chocolate cake with salted butter caramel sauce, Duck fat cookies, Bay leaf poundcake with orange glaze, French cheesecake...and the list goes on. David also shares stories told with his trademark wit and humor, and lush photography taken on location around Paris and in David’s kitchen reveals the quirks, trials, beauty, and joys of life in the culinary capital of the world.

In My Paris Kitchen, blogger/chef/celebrated food writer David Lebovitz invites the reader into his own kitchen.  As is evident from the cookbook’s title, Lebovitz makes his home in Paris, France, and has adapted his cooking (and baking!) to his surroundings.  He visits local markets and shops and is dedicated to making regional dishes with the best ingredients, and then to telling the world about it.  His particular fusion of American and French food sensibility (and the stories that go with them) is fascinating, mouth-watering, and inspiring by turns.  This book may well spark a desire within the reader to pack up and make an Atlantic crossing.  That French market rotisserie chicken sounds divine.

With most cookbooks I can tell pretty quickly that either the food or the writing is the chef’s sweet spot.  I mean, if they’ve gotten to the point of writing a cookbook, I assume that they’re freakishly talented in both areas, but usually I can tell if they’re a writer who happens to be a great cook/photographer, or a professional cook with a good story or restaurant to rep. David Lebovitz is an equally brilliant writer and chef.  His writing put me right in the midst of the modern Paris cooking scene, and his recipes sent me to foodie heaven.  Color me impressed!

I firmly believe that no cookbook review is complete without a recipe test.  I had the ingredients on hand to make the individual chocolate cakes with salted dulce de leche, so I made those first.  Verdict?  Very rich, and a tad too salty.  The salt was toned down when they were served with vanilla ice cream, as the recipe suggested.  But I had 6 little pots of extremely rich chocolate dessert, and I was NOT going to go into a sugar coma for a cookbook review, so I pawned them off on the roommates and scrapped the rest. 

I decided to host a dinner party for my next taste test, and prepared chicken with mustard (the photo on the cookbook cover!), celery root puree, and winter salad.  HOLY GOODNESS, Batman!  Like, 5 stars across the board.  All of it was amazing, and I impressed both my guests and myself.  Just… so good.  I’m going all gooey and happy just remembering it.  David Lebovitz, you and your Paris kitchen win all the things.

So, I hosted a successful dinner party, loved the food, and was all-around awed by the writing.  BUT… (+10 points if you knew there was a qualifier coming)  I am not a fussy cook.  Baking is more my thing, and while I’m happy to follow arcane instructions for a pastry payoff, I’m less likely to put in hours of prep work (and $$) while cooking.  It comes down to the fact that I can’t see myself pulling this book down off the shelf more than once a year.  And a cookbook should be loved and used more often than that. 

What does that mean in real terms?  I can recommend it whole-heartedly to intermediate cooks, especially those with a yen for international cuisine.  And I can appreciate its brilliance.  That said, My Paris Kitchen won’t live on my shelf.  I’m not ready for it yet.  Maybe in 10 more years.  In the meantime, I can honestly recommend it for really marvelous food, great writing, and an authentic French experience.  I can see why it was on so many best cookbook of the year lists.  It’s excellent.

Recommended for: intermediate-level cooks (and above), anyone interested in the modern Parisian food scene, and those who appreciate superb writing.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books for review consideration.

monday memories - the four and twenty blackbirds pie book

Emma of Miss Print and Nicole at The Book Bandit have started a new weekly feature called Monday Memories.  To participate, all you have to do is take a photo of one of your books (or a library book that means a lot to you) and talk a bit about why it made an impression.  Today I'm going to talk about The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book: Uncommon Recipes from the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen.

On Saturday I went to the Baltimore Book Festival for the first time.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day on the Inner Harbor, with dozens of tents set up all around the waterfront to host author talks, panel discussions, signings and book sales.  I took the train up with Sajda and Ashley from my DC Forever Young Adult book club, and we went to several panels together.  I was most excited for the 4pm feature at the 'Food for Thought' stage.

The Elsen sisters founded a pie shop in Brooklyn (I've never been there, but I follow on Instagram), and a cookbook soon followed.  I first heard about their cookbook through... blogging!  In the past few years I've become the pie master (not an official title) at Thanksgiving, and I tend to perk up whenever I see a pie recipe or crust variation.  Every year I live in genuine fear that my crust will turn out wrong, so anything that could help the cause is always of interest.

So, I was excited to see the Elsens in person.  AND IT WAS AWESOME!  They held a pie crust clinic right in front of us, took questions from the audience, and had a lovely volunteer named Laura (she's on the left side in that photo above) join them on the stage.  I drank in the whole experience.  During the presentation they served samples of their Bourbon Pear Crumble, and it was kind of unbelievably delicious.

Afterwards I had to have my newly-purchased copy of their cookbook signed (obviously!).  Emily and Melissa are/were super sweet, and talked a bit with me about pie (again, obviously).  I'm really looking forward to reading this cookbook cover-to-cover and trying out the recipes for myself.  The day was a huge success, and this book signing and cooking demo were a huge part of it.

If you'd like to see more Monday Memories posts, head over to this week's link list.

hallelujah! the welcome table

I read a lot as a child and young adult (I brought stacks of books on weekend camping trips… #justsaying), but I mostly read from lists of “classics” until I went to college.  Then, some modern (and by modern, I mean contemporary) American writers and poets crept into my consciousness via syllabi, regular newspaper reading, and the internet.  Still, I’d never read one of Maya Angelou’s books until a couple of weeks ago.  This despite having my interest in her history (and stories) rekindled when she passed away this past spring.  Given my focus here on the blog, it makes sense that the first Angelou title I would pick up would be her first cookbook, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes.

Throughout Maya Angelou’s life, from her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, to her world travels as a bestselling writer, good food has played a central role. Preparing and enjoying homemade meals provides a sense of purpose and calm, accomplishment and connection. Now in Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, Angelou shares memories pithy and poignant–and the recipes that helped to make them both indelible and irreplaceable.

Angelou tells us about the time she was expelled from school for being afraid to speak–and her mother baked a delicious maple cake to brighten her spirits. She gives us her recipe for short ribs along with a story about a job she had as a cook at a Creole restaurant (never mind that she didn’t know how to cook and had no idea what Creole food might entail). There was the time in London when she attended a wretched dinner party full of wretched people; but all wasn’t lost–she did experience her initial taste of a savory onion tart. She recounts her very first night in her new home in Sonoma, California, when she invited M. F. K. Fisher over for cassoulet, and the evening Deca Mitford roasted a chicken when she was beyond tipsy–and created Chicken Drunkard Style. And then there was the hearty brunch Angelou made for a homesick Southerner, a meal that earned her both a job offer and a prophetic compliment: “If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous.”

Maya Angelou is renowned in her wide and generous circle of friends as a marvelous chef. Her kitchen is a social center. From fried meat pies, chicken livers, and beef Wellington to caramel cake, bread pudding, and chocolate éclairs, the one hundred-plus recipes included here are all tried and true, and come from Angelou’s heart and her home. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table is a stunning collaboration between the two things Angelou loves best: writing and cooking.

This cookbook combines 28 vignettes (they could be called short stories or flashes of memory, too) centered around a particular recipe or meal menu, often connected to a friend or family member that made an impression on Angelou at some point in her life.  The cookbook progresses from her younger years growing up in her grandmother’s store to learning to cook Creole cuisine out of absolute necessity to recollections from later years and mentoring relationships.  It’s a story of a life, food and how it helps people to interact and connect with each other, and how cooking and hospitality can be used to understand the human condition.

The prose sections are easily the best part of this cookbook.  Angelou offers a variety of experiences and stories: some poignant, some funny, others tragic, courageous, homey and inspiring.  The selection is superb and ranges the entire emotional spectrum, much of the twentieth century, and geography that varies from the American South to Europe to California and back.  It's a window into Angelou's extraordinary life and experience as an African-American woman, artist and academic.  She lived, and wrote beautifully about it.

The food doesn’t sound half-bad, either (see: understatement, definition of).  There’s a mix here of southern comfort food, Cajun, traditional American classics and French fare.  It’s a combination born of a lifetime of moving, settling in somewhere new, and adapting to a changing world and new friends.   The recipes themselves are focused on main courses and sides suitable for lunch or dinner, and a few desserts.  It’s not very vegetarian-friendly or health-conscious, though there is one section at the end dedicated to vegetarian recipes. 

I tried two recipes: Crackling Corn Bread (Maya’s grandmother’s recipe, which she claimed was better than other peoples’ Sunday cake), and Pickled Peaches.  The peaches were a success!  Different than anything I’ve ever made before, in a good way.  They’d be perfect served with (regular) cornbread, chicken, and green beans.  The Crackling Corn Bread… was a flop.  I think this may have been due to my source of cracklings (chicharrones) more than the recipe itself.  It did smell amazing while it was baking!  But here, have the recipe that worked:

Pickled Peaches

INGREDIENTS

6 medium nearly ripe peaches, peeled and pitted

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 cup orange juice

1 tablespooon whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

DIRECTIONS

Put peaches in large post, add sugar, salt, vinegar, juice, cloves, and cinnamon sticks, and cover with water.  Boil for 30 minutes. Take off stove, and let cool.  Put in refrigerator in its own liquid.  Discard cinnamon and cloves.  Serve cold.

One downside (if you want to call it that) of the cookbook is that the recipes have few “fine” directions. For example: Water necessary for the recipe isn’t listed in the ingredients section.  There aren’t any warnings like “do not overstir,” no mention of how many minutes to mix, or how fine to chop the ingredients.  The recipes are clearly meant to be more of a guide than precise chemistry.  If you’re the kind of cook who interprets things loosely and puts their own spin on recipes, this method will suit you down to the ground.

Hallelujah! is a treasure of a book, whether you try the recipes or not.  It’s worth owning for Angelou’s stories alone, though the food sounds mouth-watering as well. 

Recommended for: anyone who likes good food and a story well-told, and especially anyone interested in food culture and the American South.

I read and reviewed this book as part of the #diversiverse challenge.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

cookbooks for days

Last weekend I visited the family lake house (and family with it, of course) in upstate New York.  To spare everyone (my uncles) the hassle of kitchen drudgery, we ate out for lunch and dinner, and the meals were lovely.  Add in a LAKE, boat rides and swimming, and it was a slice of heaven.  I would stay all summer if I could get away with it.  *grin*

Weekend Cooking posts spring from unlikely places.  Even though we didn’t cook (with one exception), I decided to photograph my Uncle Michael’s cookbook collection.  He’s a gourmet at heart, and his meals are truly better-than-restaurant-quality.  I learned how to make roux at his stove one Thanksgiving, and I felt like I’d ‘made it’ when he told me my piecrust was perfect.  Suffice it to say, his influence is one of the reasons I care about food.  As you can imagine, his cookbook collection is extensive.  I didn’t get all of the titles – that’s a job for another day… but the photos give you an idea of the quantity if nothing else.

Do you see any titles you recognize?  Let me know in the comments!

Interested in other food-related post?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking!

top ten cookbooks i want to read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

Today's 'official' prompt for Top Ten Tuesday called for favorite television shows or films.  While I can think of several favorite films off the top of my head, I didn't feel inspired to write about them.  And I'm not much of a television viewer.  If you listened in at my monthly book club accounting of what I'm reading and watching, I always say, "I'm reading [insert YA fairy tale retelling], and I'm watching [insert sporting event]."  So.  I had no interest in this week's topic, but I still wanted to participate.  What did I do?  The reasonable thing: I cheated and texted a friend for suggestions.  And cookbooks I want to read is actually a genius idea, because I've been saying I want to review more cookbooks!  So now I have a starting list, and life is good.

Top Ten Cookbooks I Want to Read

1. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya Angelou – Angelou's recent passing reminded me that I've (still!) never read one of her books. One of the many eulogies that appeared in bookish publications noted that Angelou was a celebrated cook.  I wondered to myself if she could have possibly written a cookbook.  My library's website returned an answer: she had.  There were actually two different cookbooks to choose from!  I picked this one for the title.

2. The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book: Uncommon Recipes from the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop by Emily and Melissa Elsen – PIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  I am the de facto pie baker at family Thanksgiving (and I always remind myself that I can indeed manage crust in the weeks beforehand), but I don't stray much from the typical apple.  I can't wait to look at all of the flavor combinations and mouth-watering photos in this cookbook.  Dang.

3. The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation by Mollie Katzen – I'm not a vegetarian, but during the summer it feels like a waste not to eat as much fresh produce as humanly possible.  I heard about this cookbook from some of my fellow Weekend Cooking friends, and I am excited to learn about new ways to prepare fruits and veggies.

4. My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz – I've never read a Lebovitz cookbook, and I feel the lack.  I see his recipes and his writing touted all over the place.  I just need to dive in, and this latest release seems like the perfect opportunity.  I've already requested it from Blogging for Books, so it's happening, folks.

5. Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes by Tessa Kiros – I spend my Thanksgivings as a pie baker and minor kitchen minion.  It's delightful (first off, you're right in the thick of the action. second, everyone loves you/does the dishes to show their appreciation).  One Thanksgiving my Uncle Michael got out this cookbook and decided we were going to try a fish soup.  I was sent to the store to fetch some salmon, and we proceeded to make the entire thing (including fish broth!) from scratch.  Ever since then I've wanted to read a copy for myself, to see what other interesting recipes may be inside...

6. How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman – I particularly want to read this one because my Uncle Fouad gasped with (mock) horror when I said I hadn't read it.  Another one to add to the growing list!

7. The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook by Michael Anthony, introduction by Danny Meyer – My sister and I had a marvelous time together in New York City for Book Expo America this year, and one of the best parts was a Saturday evening dinner at The Gramercy Tavern.  I'd heard so many good things about it that I wondered how it could live up to its billing.  Well, it just did.  And now I must know how to make things like they do (I doubt that I can replicate them, but trying counts!).

8. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle – Another classic that I've never touched.  Also one of the most intimidating books out there.  I shall get to it, one day...

9. The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook by Niki Segnit – A couple of friends invited me over for dinner the other night, and pressed this on me as I left.  I mean, I'm always happy to take a cookbook home.  I have been reliably informed that it will expand my knowledge of complementary flavors (and that there are little stories tucked away in various entries - so it won't be dry-as-dust!).

10. A History of Food in 100 Recipes by William Sitwell – Another book I am aware of because of the lovely Weekend Cooking crowd.  This one appeals me not so much as a cookbook, but as a history. Quite simply: I love food histories. I love them even more when they have a recipe or two inside.  Like this one.  #winning

Are there any cookbooks on your to-read list?  Which ones?

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

the b.t.c. old-fashioned grocery cookbook: recipes and stories from a southern revival

The other night my friend Leigh (displaced Texan and a total sweetheart) texted to see what I was up to.  She had just flown back to DC from visiting her sister and nephews in Alabama, and she wanted to hang out.  I told her I wasn’t doing anything but reading a cookbook.  When she arrived at my house, she wanted to know all about this cookbook.  She’d never ‘read’ one as a book herself.  I handed over Alexe van Beuren and Dixie Grimes' The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival, and Leigh just about crowed with delight.  She gasped over the Tex-Mex Pimento Cheese, and she laughed over the recipe introductions, just as I had.  I promised to lend it to her as soon as I was finished with it myself.  I’m glad we’re friends, and now I’m glad we’ve bonded over Southern cooking, too.

In a small town twenty-five minutes outside of beautiful Oxford, Mississippi, there’s been a revival of food and community. Bucolic small-town Water Valley wasn’t the most logical place to start a grocery and cafe, but that’s just what Alexe van Beuren did, in a historic building that her husband had saved from demolition. The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery opened in 2010 amidst a cloud of hope and dreams, full of glass-bottled milk, local produce, and Cora’s fried pies. Trouble loomed when hope and dreams proved insufficient for the daily realities of running a small business when lo and behold, Dixie Grimes, a five-star chef, walked through the door in need of a job. Within a few months, Dixie’s food had folks lining up at the window, and the two women discovered that after all, this small town in rural Mississippi was exactly where they needed to be.

The B.T.C. quickly cemented its place as the center of town life, serving hearty breakfasts and comforting lunchtime meals, as well as selling prepared foods like casseroles, salads, and spreads to take home. With vibrant storytelling, 120 recipes, and 60 evocative full-color photographs, The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook shares the inspiring story of how dreams can pay off in a small-town tale of food, friendship, and tradition.

Alexe van Beuren is one of a group of women who are making over the town of Water Valley, Mississippi.  Alexe started a gourmet grocery store there in 2010, and in 2011 celebrated chef Dixie Grimes joined the B.T.C. family, whipping up breakfast, lunch and deli fare for the local crowd.  Though the first years were tough, and Alexe admits that it’s much harder work than she ever imagined, the grocery has brought her community new life.  The story is chronicled in this cookbook, and it’s obvious it’s not just wishful thinking – the grocery and the people running it have become part of the heart of the town.

This cookbook is full of Southern basics (from spreads to the broccoli salad I recognize from potlucks), and that’s kind of great since I did NOT grow up with them.  Now I know how to make Southern staples I’ve heard of (and even some I haven’t).  Soups seem to be the B.T.C.’s ‘specialty,’ though recipes cover all types of food served in a deli (breakfast, spreads, sides, salads, casseroles and mains get top billing).  Overall, it’s simple, unfussy fare presented with a story and a history.

Aside from the food itself, the introductions prior to each recipe add personality and a sense of what the B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery (and the town of Water Valley) is really like.  I found this cookbook to be an entertaining, useful, and well-written story of food, family, and community rejuvenation.  And what food!  Dixie Grimes’ recipes have appeared in famous magazines and newspapers.  It’s evident why: they all sound amazing.  Personally, I can’t wait to try the Roasted Pear and Zucchini Soup (page 48), Green Apple Casserole (page 137), and Peach Ice Box Pie (page 210).

Of course, no cookbook has been properly ‘reviewed’ until you try a recipe or two for yourself.  I picked this recipe from the Salads section on page 103…because strawberries and asparagus are both on sale at the moment (aka in season):

Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds fresh asparagus, cut on the bias (4 cups)

4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In an 8-quart stockpot, bring 1 cup of water to boil.  Set a steaming basket on top and add the asparagus.  Steam the asparagus until it is bright green and al dente, 4 to 6 minutes.  Immediately transfer it to a bowl of ice water and let cool.  Remove the asparagus from the bowl and pat dry with paper towels.

Put the asparagus in a bowl and add the strawberries.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.  Pour the dressing over the asparagus strawberry mixture.  Transfer to the refrigerator and chill 1 hour before serving.  Yields 4-6 servings. 

Note: This salad is at its best (and brightest) if you eat it the day you make it.  Also, I’m not going to lie, I watched a YouTube video on how to cut asparagus on the bias.  Yep, that basic.  p.s. The salad? Turned out beautiful & DELICIOUS.  Spot on flavor and easy-as-pie.  Making it again soon.

All in all, this cookbook is mouth-watering, funny, sweet, quirky as only small-town life can be, and a treat for both the belly and the soul.  If you don’t believe me yet, by all means check out a selection of pages here (including the recipes for Pimento Cheese and Chicken, Asparagus, and Mushroom Casserole, along with that scrumptious-looking Peach Ice Box Pie).  

Recommended for: anyone interested in small-town revivals, Southern cooking and incorporating fresh local produce into scrumptious recipes (healthiness not guaranteed).

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

the model bakery cookbook

I won a Facebook contest for a dozen English Muffins.  I know this sounds completely batty, and in a way, it is.  Chronicle Books is a savvy company, and they know that if they put a photo of delicious food in their feed and tell you that you can win it by entering the contest… someone will enter.  I am that someone, and also lucky.  One dozen English Muffins from the Model Bakery showed up on my doorstep this Monday, and a copy of The Model Bakery Cookbook by Karen Mitchell, Sarah Mitchell Hansen and Rick Rodgers followed yesterday.  I didn’t realize the cookbook was coming too, but I’m glad it did.  I am not the sort of person who turns down cookbooks.  Especially ones that focus on baking.

This definitive baking guide is the much-anticipated cookbook from the Model Bakery, a mother-daughter-run baking destination with a huge local following that's been wowing the Wine Country for years. And this book of sensational artisan baked goods makes clear why there are lines out the door! Featuring 75 recipes and 60 photos, it's as luscious to look at as their most-requested breads, classic desserts, and fresh pastries--all arrayed here--are to eat. Pain au Levain, Sticky Buns, Peach Streusel Pie, Ginger Molasses Cookies, and many more glorious recipes make this a mouthwatering read and a reference gem for lovers of bread and pastry, cakes and cookies, and, of course, the Model Bakery!

The Model Bakery Cookbook begins with the story of how Karen Mitchell took over the bakery in St. Helena in the middle of California Wine Country, and with her daughter transformed it into what it is today – a two-location baking supplier for the local area, including businesses and restaurants in addition to their retail locations.  The photos by Frankie Frankeny are mouth-wateringly beautiful, and the mix of history and baking guide make this cookbook a must-see for the serious home baker.

The book is divided into several sections, according to what the bakery produces (recipes reduced to home baking proportions, of course).  There are several recipes listed under each section: breads, yeasted sweets, breakfast favorites, cakes, pies and tarts, and cookies.  The recipes are a mix of traditional American favorites and European-influenced imports, but all should be familiar to an American audience – they’re the kind of thing you find in your local bakery.  I, for instance, made the Irish Soda Bread to test the recipe, and I can report that it’s a solid, no frills approach to the seasonal favorite.

The best things about the cookbook are the great ingredient & equipment advice (I’ll be taking notes when pie-season arrives… basically, in a week or two!), an array of delicious recipes ranging from simple to difficult-to-replicate-at-home, lovely photos – some offering step-by-step visuals for the items requiring assembly, local and historical anecdotes of both the Hansens’ story and the location in St. Helena, and classic recipes done to perfection.

I had few quibbles with the cookbook, and they are minor.  The first is the small type used for instructions portion of each page.  I have good eyes, but if I didn’t it would require bending very close to the page, which is not necessarily something you want to be doing with floured hands.  The tips on the ingredients and tools also make it clear that this is not a cookbook for the frugal baker.  While I agree with the writers that the best food comes from the best ingredients, it isn’t an inexpensive proposition, especially if you count some of the specialty flour and chocolate mentioned.  Finally, you won’t find any truly unique items (so don’t go in expecting them!).  This baking book is about the classics, and they done very well.

In all, I’m glad to have this cookbook – it’ll work perfectly as a reference guide alongside my Joy of Cooking, and I intend to dip into it for holiday baking ideas as well.  And if I scrape up the cash to get a stand mixer in the near future, I know I’ll be consulting these recipes again and again.

Recommended for: the intermediate home baker, anyone who enjoys playing in the kitchen and is planning a trip to Napa in the future, and as a primer for favorite/standard American baked goods.

Interested in other food-related recipes?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received a finished copy of The Model Bakery Cookbook from Chronicle Books as a contest prize.  I didn’t get paid for this post, and I chose to write the review of my own volition (it was not required or suggested).