My favorite cookbooks

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time so this time is as good as any, isn’t it? I suppose everyone has some favorite cookbooks and I thought I’d introduce you to some of mine.

If you could only have one cookbook, I suppose the obvious choice would be The Joy of Cooking. As I’ve written before, it’s a hometown cookbook for me and I’ve got a lot of sentimental attachment to it. I also have a favorite edition: I like the 1943 World War II edition. It’s got lots of old-timey recipes for cakes and cookies and other things that the newer editions left out. It’s the edition my mom received as a wedding present and it’s the one I grew up with. I’ve already worn out one copy of it to the extent that it simply fell apart.

I must own hundreds of cookbooks. Ethnic cookbooks, vegetarian cookbooks, chocolate cookbooks, the Junior League of Honolulu Taste of Aloha (a really cool book), and lots of others. Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. George Lang’s superb The Cuisine of Hungary. But of all of them I think my favorite (other than Joy) is Louis Saulnier’s Le Repertoire de La Cuisine.

Most cookbooks (including Joy) try to do two incompatible things: they try teach you how to cook and they give you some recipes. Saulnier doesn’t bother with the former at all. Not only does he assume that you already know how to cook, he assumes you have cooking sense. Here’s Saulnier’s recipe for Mulligatawny:

“Chopped onions and apples fried in butter with curry flour and tomato puree, moistened with chicken consomme, cream, garnished with dice of chicken and rice.”

That’s it. No preparation method. Not even any proportions. I’ve already shown you my version of this recipe here. Here’s another great soup recipe from Saulnier, this time for Potage Washington:

“Cream of maize, with whisky and port when serving, garnished with grains of maize.”

And here’s my interpretation:

Potage Washington

4 servings

2 cups of fresh or frozen corn kernels
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. bourbon
2 Tbsp. port wine
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan, simmer the corn over medium heat for about eight minutes or until just cooked.
2. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the kernels.
3. Puree the remaining remaining corn kernels with the stock in a blender or food processor.
4. Return the pureed corn and stock to the saucepan.
5. Add the heavy cream, bring to the boil, and boil for 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat, add the bourbon and port, and serve.

Saulnier has thousands of recipes just like that in a compact nine inch by 5 inch by one inch volume. The whole of French cuisine at your fingertips.

Another fabulous cookbook is Edouard de Pomiane’s French Cooking in Ten Minutes. This tiny volume is, in my opinion, one of the most charming cookbooks ever written. Here’s the opening of the book:

“First of all, let me tell you that this is a beautiful book. I can say that becuase this is its first page. I just sat down to write it, and I feel happy, the way I feel whenever I start a new project.

My pen is full of ink, and there’s a stack of paper in front of me. I love this book because I’m writing it for you. It’s nice to imagine that I’ll be able to let my pen go and you’ll understand everything it writes down. My ideas run on faster and faster—I’ll be able to say everything is less than ten minutes.

My book won’t even be ten pages long…It’s going to be ridiculous…Worse than that, it will be incomprehensible.

A more scientific approach will make things clearer, so I’ll start by telling you everything you should know before you start ten-minute cooking, even if all you’re going to do is boil an egg.

The first thing you must do when you get home before you take off your coat, is go to the kitchen and light the stove. It will have to be a gas stove, because otherwise you’ll never be able to cook in ten minutes [ed. this book was written in the 1930’s when electric stoves were very primitive].

Next, fill a pot large enough to hold a quart of water. Put it on the fire, cover it, and bring it to a boil. What’s the water for? I don’t know but it’s bound to be good for something, whether in preparing your meal or just making coffee. If you’re planning to deep fry anything, put a pot half filled with lard or cooking oil on another burner.”

That’s the way I wish I could write about cooking and about food. The whole book is like that: helpful, chatty, informative, practical.

Here are a couple of Pomiane’s menus:

Poached eggs with black butter
Fried veal scallops
Green salad with cream dressing
Cheese
Fruit

Smoked sausage and olives
Loin lamb chops
Sauteed potatoes
Green salad
Cheese
Chocolate eclairs

If you follow his directions not only will you eat well, but you’ll eat healthfully (he was a medical doctor and ahead of his time in the area of nutrition).