Gotta Love 'Em: Two Practical Theoreticians on Home Cooking and More

Well, y'know, is this my favorite thing, or what? I have been enjoying two books by very smart women who have written, edited and thought about food and cooking for many years. Both have cooked beautiful food, for family and friends, and sometimes customers, all to excellent effect and exerting great influence. In their newest books they have explained, interpreted, expounded and provided recipes.

You cannot help but know something of Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, author-with-others of influential cookbooks, organizer of school food and gardening programs, patroness of eating local movements, and general world symbol of the "New American Cuisine".

But unless you explore the publishing history of the cookbooks you cherish, you may or may not have heard of Judith Jones. Jones, with Knopf since 1957, has edited many of the food classics-and known their writers- from Edna Lewis, to Mastering the Art of French Cooking with Julia Child, to Lidia Bastianich, Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan, Marion Cunningham, Irene Kao, et al, along with her impressive purely literary editing work. She been author, and co-author too- of the LL. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, among others. Her fascination with good food developed during her post war stint, as a young woman in Paris, a time and place to which every reading food lover wishes to teleport.

Jones has a unique voice and has had an interesting life. Eager to try new things and cook real food, she is a believer in mastering the fundamental techniques of a cuisine, and adapting them to the best and freshest and most interesting local food available. She takes trouble with her food, but does not confuse care and effort with the sort of chef-y cooking which demands exotic ingredients and special, costly purchases for one-time use. And though she is widowed and lives alone, sets her table most every night, and cooks real food for herself. Among the recipes at the end of her excellent The Tenth Muse is a group of recipes for one.

One recipe I especially love is her Sauce Gribiche, for lamb or other cold meats. You see my own here, not beautiful, but delicious. This sauce validates my long held view that vinegar and/or capers are just the thing to brighten up such leftovers, and make a treat out of necessity. It seems a nearly perfect application of that idea, and I can tell you that, as a bonus, it is also very good on cauliflower, and asparagus. You just mix the ingredients together: 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp dijon mustard,1 Tbsp wine vinegar, 3 Tbsps olive oil, 2 cornichons, 1 tbsp parsley and 1 hardboiled egg- all chopped small, and freshly ground black pepper.

Ms. Waters needs no introduction. I have enjoyed all her previous cookbooks, but I admit, more in the nature of inspiration than in recipe-following. I don't live in California, so many of the specific, wonderful, fresh local ingredients in those recipes have been unavailable to me, here in Western Pennsylvania. I think she would probably have advised me to use what is good and beautiful locally, and in that way, I do think I've taken many of her ideas to heart.

Her newest book The Art of Simple Food seems to me to be her most personal , and it also deals with the basic techniques with which to make use of those good local ingredients. There are chapters for the fundamentals of various sorts of food preparation, with sample, teaching recipes, and a back section with many more recipes- all very do-able, and alluring. Like all Water's prior books, it is nicely designed, and pleasant to touch. The jacket-less cover is a lovely, silky creamy sort of cardboard- very nice to handle. I have admired the various covers for her previous books, done by David Lance Goines, and his beautiful Chez Panisse anniversary posters. This book- not his work- is also attractive, as you can see. I love the typography.

Some folks have said that Ms. Waters is not really so much about cooking, as about shopping. Shopping for the perfect organically grown, rosy plum, the incredibly fresh micro-greens, the free-range, heritage farm-bred game bird, and so on. Pretty much any one who wants to can do this sort of shopping in their own way, though it cannot be denied that the wealthy, and people who live in certain climates do have a certain advantage. There is, of course, much more to it than that. This lovely food should , she demonstrates, be cooked in a way which enhances and does not ruin it. This is a tightrope well worth walking, and requires care, experience, and attention.

Much as I admire, and generally agree with these tenets, I do think that Ms. Waters and some other folks with similar points to make, sometimes seem to neglect, a bit, an important aspect of the tradition of good home cooking. This principle has resulted in some of the greatest culinary classics, and informs the work of the everyday, inspired home cook. I mean the genius of making something out of nothing...the use of that which is available, if non-ideal... the slightly soft carrot in the bottom of the bin, the left-over cooked vegetables, or the boiled beef from the soup. With the application of imagination and experience, our mothers and grandmothers made stupendously good food this way, and we should not forget how to do it. Sure, shop for the best, the local, the perfect when you can. But "Waste not, want not" is an environmentally sound adage, too. I'm just saying.

Comments

[Lynn D.]

What wonderful reviews, Lindy. Now I want to read Judith Jones' book even more than I did before. I'm also eager to get my hands on the Edna Lewis book she edited which I've not read. I know what you mean about Alice, much as we owe her, there's a certain inflexibility and superiority which does not always go down well. I'd like to see what she'd do with my weekly CSA farm box from Salem, Oregon instead of the bounty of the Berkeley Farmer's Market, or on a budget!

[Julie]

I just saw Judith Jones speak today at the Library of Congress and I am looking forward to reading her book.

[yulinka]

Lindy,
You make a great point about using those non-ideal ingredients to make good food. Maybe that’s what why Alice Waters and the like make me bristle with their idea that good, honest food can be made only from those virtuous local, seasonal, organic, hyper-fresh, photogenic ingredients. I really hate to think of people tossing that wilted carrot—a resourceful cook would find a place for it. (Growing up in Russia, I often heard the saying “Soviet housewives can make candy out of s---.”)

[Tanna]

Both excellent books. Both fascinating different women.
And yes, you can say it again. Waste is not a good thing.

[lobstersquad]

I so agree with you. It´s pretty easy to grill a wonderful organic steak, and no trouble to slice a perfect tomato, but it´s the other stuff that tells the real cook. Cookbooks are chef-driven, which is fun, but not that useful.

[lindy]

Lynn-Thank you. You are going to love that book.
Oh, Julie- lucky you! Are you going to write about it? I'm going to check now to see if you did.
yulinka- This is totally off topic, but have you seen a "novel in stories" called, "The Last Chicken in America"? It's linked in my reading column on the left. It is about Russian-Jewish immigrants in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh-my very own neighborhood! I thought it was wonderful-funny and sad. and really , really well-written. (Also, it was really neat to read a book recognizing all the landmarks, and small references.)
Tanna-and I wish I could say I never wasted food-but I try.
lobstersquad- True. Not that I don't love slicing that perfect tomato.

[the chocolate lady (eve)]

I will have to read both of these. The reason I did not snap up the new Alice Waters book at once may seem a little silly, but I just shy away from anything with "simple" in the title. It was for this reason that I declined to become a charter subscriber to John Thorne's Simple Cooking newsletter something like twenty-five years ago, a decision I regret whenever I think about it, so clearly my instincts are flawed. I can't help it.

But have you noticed that everyone who proposes any innovation in the kitchen, table, or market does so in the name of simplicity? Even that carrot-air dude has argued that his way is the most simple presentation of a vegetable's flavor, and maybe he has a point. Escoffier said his elaborate system was a simplification, and even Carême, Mr. pièce montée himself, believed he was simplifying the baker's craft.

Could you make carrot-air out of that wilted carrot, I wonder? Maybe carrot-fog?

[saira]

Awesome point. It's really refreshing to read something that advocates such a simple, authentic, and truly grateful approach to food. Alice Waters, though she means well, doesn't seem to grasp that all of the amazing food to which she has such immediate access are just not available to those of a certain income level or in a certain region. That's not to say that she's expected to represent the absolute ideal in food appreciation and preparation, not at all. But it's nice to hear someone say that there's nothing wrong with a bit of bruised veg or gristle-y meat, as long as its given the same care and attention that some organically-grown, locally-produced, ridiculously expensive head of cabbage or avocado-fed hog could expect. Excellent post.