The Gourmet Cookbook
Edited by Ruth Reichl
Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston-New York, 2004
$40.00
Weighing in at over six pounds (almost as much as my friend Jan's new baby) and with over one-thousand recipes, the Gourmet Cookbook tries to prove that bigger is better. I have to admit that after spending a week pouring over the myriad and disparate recipes, I'm only to cakes! (Sometimes it is difficult to save the dessert section for last, but I was able to persevere and am enjoying the fruits of my patience.) There are so many delicious, tasty recipes in this well-organized book, you'll want to try every single one.
But, there are a few problems. While the golden yellow of the cover will no-doubt attain iconic proportions in the future, the same yellow for the titles of the recipes on the interior is difficult to read. Yellow print on white paper? It seems like an obvious no-no. The other question I have is the origin of the recipes. While the cover boasts that the book was over sixty years in the making, there is no reference with the recipes as to the original date of their appearance in the magazine. While I admit to being a library geek and to the love a well-written footnote, I can't be the only one missing a more careful annotation.
That aside, the book is a fount of useful general information on food and cooking in addition to the compendium of recipes that will have you in the kitchen for years. Did you know that the Jerusalem Artichoke is neither an artichoke nor from Jerusalem? I did, but its still a fun fact. The index is thorough and the instructions for each recipe very clear. To me, a recipe without a little background or story just isn't appealing, so the chatty bits before each entry make it a delight to read. The winter holidays are coming up and I know that there are lots of cooks out there who would be thrilled to find this incredibly large tome wrapped and ready to go!
Recipe to try:
Katherine Hepburn's Brownies (p. 688)
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flower
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) chopped walnuts (optional)
Put a rack in the middle of over and preheat to 325 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan, knocking off excel flour.
Melt butter with chocolate in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla, then beat until well combined. Stir in flour and salt until just combined, then stir in walnuts, if using.
Pour batter into pa. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
Cool completely in pan on a rack, then cut into 16 bars. Keep in airtight container for up to 5 days. (Yeah, right!)
Mangez!
Edited by Ruth Reichl
Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston-New York, 2004
$40.00
Weighing in at over six pounds (almost as much as my friend Jan's new baby) and with over one-thousand recipes, the Gourmet Cookbook tries to prove that bigger is better. I have to admit that after spending a week pouring over the myriad and disparate recipes, I'm only to cakes! (Sometimes it is difficult to save the dessert section for last, but I was able to persevere and am enjoying the fruits of my patience.) There are so many delicious, tasty recipes in this well-organized book, you'll want to try every single one.
But, there are a few problems. While the golden yellow of the cover will no-doubt attain iconic proportions in the future, the same yellow for the titles of the recipes on the interior is difficult to read. Yellow print on white paper? It seems like an obvious no-no. The other question I have is the origin of the recipes. While the cover boasts that the book was over sixty years in the making, there is no reference with the recipes as to the original date of their appearance in the magazine. While I admit to being a library geek and to the love a well-written footnote, I can't be the only one missing a more careful annotation.
That aside, the book is a fount of useful general information on food and cooking in addition to the compendium of recipes that will have you in the kitchen for years. Did you know that the Jerusalem Artichoke is neither an artichoke nor from Jerusalem? I did, but its still a fun fact. The index is thorough and the instructions for each recipe very clear. To me, a recipe without a little background or story just isn't appealing, so the chatty bits before each entry make it a delight to read. The winter holidays are coming up and I know that there are lots of cooks out there who would be thrilled to find this incredibly large tome wrapped and ready to go!
Recipe to try:
Katherine Hepburn's Brownies (p. 688)
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flower
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) chopped walnuts (optional)
Put a rack in the middle of over and preheat to 325 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan, knocking off excel flour.
Melt butter with chocolate in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla, then beat until well combined. Stir in flour and salt until just combined, then stir in walnuts, if using.
Pour batter into pa. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
Cool completely in pan on a rack, then cut into 16 bars. Keep in airtight container for up to 5 days. (Yeah, right!)
Mangez!