From Nika Hazelton's Kitchen

Nika Hazelton is one of a group of innovative classic cooks and food writers of an earlier era that included the likes of M.F.K. Fisher, Craig Claiborne and James Beard.  Her 20 plus books are excellent reading as well as full of great recipes and techniques that are described as "straightforward, personal and unpretentious." Any serious cookbook collector has a couple of Hazelton's book in his collection and this is one of her later books which is a collection of her favorite recipes that she says, "I have cooked over the years because the people I cook them for, and I myself, like them.  It is not a standard cookbook nor a teaching manual, but a very personal assembly of dishes that I make in my way... I like simple food, made with the best ingredients available, cooked with care and as quickly as possible to taste as fresh as possible..."  And the book lives up to her promises. 

It also showcases her forthrightness and sense of humor.  She gives helpful commentary on menu-planning, entertaining, stocking the larder and children's table manners!  But the simplicity and great taste of her recipes is what makes this a must-have book in my collection.   Take Russian Hors D'oeuvre Casserole, for instance.
  

2 Tbsp butter 

1/4 cup minced onion 

1/2 to 1 cup chopped mushrooms 

1 cup any diced leftover cooked meat 

1 cup diced cooked ham 

1 cup diced chicken 

1 cup diced boiled potatoes 

1 dill pickle, diced 

1/2 cup olives (either green or black), pitted and diced 

Salt 

Freshly ground pepper 

1 to 1-1/2 cups sour cream 

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped 

2 to 3 tomatoes, sliced 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan, cheddar, or Swiss cheese

Preheat the oven to 350.  Heat the butter and cook the onion.  Add the mushrooms and cook until just tender.  Combine with the meat, ham, chicken, potatoes, pickle and olives.  Add salt ad pepper to taste.  Mix with the sour cream.  Turn mixture into a 2-1/2 to 3-quart buttered baking dish and cover with the hard-boiled eggs.  Surround with tomato slices.  Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and bake until thoroughly heated and brown. 

This would make a very nice luncheon or supper main dish.

I love to read my cookbooks.  Every evening I have a stack at my side to peruse and this is one of those that is fun to read--apart from recipes.  Hazelton has a wry wit and a keen mind that is interesting, but she also seems to have a soft, homey side to her that makes you feel like making her homey dishes.  

In the chapter entitled, "Eggs, Cheese, and Cereals" she writes, "Besides, when you are at wit's end as to what to cook, think of the three steady faithfuls:  eggs, cheese, and cereals.  I do hope you have them always on hand. As you will see, mankind has long relied on this trio of foods."   

We have some dear friends who have always welcomed us to their lake cabin; sometimes including our children, their friends, then their spouses and now their children as well.  The time-honored breakfast is made by Royce and he has made giant amounts every year; Farmer's Breakfast, he calls it.  Hazelton's recipe, with the same title is very, very close:
 

Farmer's Breakfast (serves 2) 

6 slices bacon, cut crosswise into small strips 

1 small sweet green pepper, cored, seeded, and diced 

2 Tbsp. finely chopped onion 

3 large boiled potatoes, peeled and cubed (2 to 3 cups) 

Salt 

Freshly ground pepper 

1/2 cup of any grated cheese 

6 eggs 

Fry the bacon over low heat until slightly browned and crisp.  Drain off all but 3 tablespoons of fat.  Add the green pepper, onion, potatoes, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until potatoes are golden, stirring frequently.  Sprinkle the cheese over the vegetables and stir.  Break the eggs into pan over mixture and cook over low heat until eggs are set, stirring constantly.  Do not beat the eggs beforehand. 

This is a great book for just perusing and reading, but it has many, many wonderful recipes as well; directions are straightforward and ingredients are not unusual or expensive, in most cases.  I have tried several and they have all been delicious and turned out exactly as advertised.  That's saying a lot about a cookbook. 

 

Savoring the Seasons Of The Northern Heartland

One of the great things about having a large cookbook collection is that you “re-discover” a book that you haven't looked at for a long time and realize that you really have a gem.  Savoring The Seasons Of The Northern Heartland is such a book. It’s written by Beth Dooley and Lucia Watson, two women who have made a name for themselves in the food and cooking world.  Lucia Watson owns and operates Lucia’s Restaurant in Minneapolis—a popular spot since 1985.  Beth Dooley is a transplanted Easterner to the Midwest and has a special interest and knowledge of the history of pioneer cooking.  As always, I am drawn to the wonderful and informative narrative on Northern Heartland traditions—especially the diverse group of immigrants that settled this area and the dishes that they brought and are still visible on our tables today.

The introduction opens with a quote from Papers of George Nelson, Minnesota Trapper, 1803:

The land is of beautiful lakes all communicating with each other by equally beautiful streams full of excellent fish and ducks of twenty Species, Swans & geese with abundance of rice for you & them.  The boarders well furnished with grapes, plums, thorn apples and butternut.  The Woods Swarming with Deers & Bears & beavers…Whenever this country becomes settled how delightfully will the inhabitants pass their time.

The geographic area of the Northern Heartland encompasses Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and eastern North Dakota.  Soups and stews abound to stem the piercing cold of this region and there is an ethnic version of all of them from Scandinavia, Germany, Eastern Europe, Scotland and Wales.  The Native Americans from the Ojibway and Sioux tribes taught many of these early settlers how to live off the land and to dry fish, harvest cranberries and cook wild rice.

The chapter headings tell the story of our Northern Heartland food traditions:

            Milling and Baking—Bread, Muffins and Griddle Cakes

            Henhouse and Dairy—Chicken, Eggs, and Cheese

            Barnyard and Smokehouse—Farmhouse Meats

            Seasonal Kettle—Hot and Cold Soups

            The Communal Pot—One-Dish Meals

            North Woods and Prairies—Large and Small Game

            Deep Lakes and Swift Streams—Freshwater Fish

            Backyard Gardens and Sacred Paddies—Vegetables and Wild Rice

            Preserves and Pickles—Sweet and Savory Embellishments

            Come For Coffee—Cakes, Cookies, and Bars

            Pride of the Heartland—Pies, Puddings and Sweets

Each chapter is complete with wonderful information about the subject i.e. “Milling and Baking” chapter gives the history of the milling industry in Minnesota, especially General Mills and Pillsbury.  In addition to the history lesson, several exceptional recipes for breads are included; Café Latte’s Dakota Bread is one of them.  The cafeteria and bakery of that name is tucked into one of St. Paul’s oldest neighborhoods near Summit Avenue where F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up.  

Café Latte’s Dakota Bread

Makes 2 large or 3 small round loaves

2 cups warm water (105 to 115 F)

2 scant Tbsp. active dry yeast

¼ cup honey

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup cracked wheat

1 Tbsp. salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ cup roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds

1/3 cup hulled raw pumpkin seeds

1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

1 Tbsp. raw sesame seeds

1 egg, beaten

Vegetable spray

In large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey, oil, and cracked wheat and allow to proof about 5 to 10 minutes, or until the yeast is light and bubbly.  Add the salt, whole wheat and white flours and stir to combine.  Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and begin to knead, adding enough flour to make a nice soft dough.  Knead about 10 to 15 minutes, sprinkling with more flour as necessary, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.  You may want to use more flour depending on the dryness of the cracked wheat and the flours, as well as the general humidity.  Mix the seeds together and sprinkle them over the dough, reserving a few tablespoons to sprinkle over the loaves before baking.  Then knead the seeds into the dough.  Turn the dough into a greased bowl, cover with a dish towel, and set it in a warm place.  Allow the dough to rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour.  Punch the dough down.  Let it rest for 5 minutes.  Divide the dough and shape it into 2 large or 3 small round loaves, and place them on lightly greased baking sheets.  Let rise 25 to 30 minutes.  Brush the loaves with a beaten egg and sprinkle on any remaining seeds.  Bake the loaves in a preheated 375 deg. F oven for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until the loaves are nicely browned and sound hollow when tapped.  Remove the loaves from the oven and cool on wire racks.

Pork played a very important part in the lives of the Heartland immigrants.  The rich farmland supported livestock of all types but the frugal Germans, Swedes and Norwegians especially loved hogs.  “They took up little space and were cheap to feed with leftovers, scraps, and garbage.  The meat—fresh, smoked, salted, and in sausages—provided meals of great variety, plus lard for baking and frying, and tallow for candles.  Nothing was wasted in the immigrant kitchen, where people prided themselves on using ‘everything but the squeal.’” 

Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cherries

½ cup dried cherries

¾ cup Madeira or Port

1 whole pork tenderloin (1 ¼-1 ½ pounds)

½ tsp. dried thyme

½ tsp. crushed juniper berries

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Salt and Pepper

½ stick (4 Tbsp.) butter

¾ cup white wine

1 cup homemade Chicken Stock

¾ cup heavy cream

In small saucepan, combine the dried cherries with the Madeira and bring to just under a boil; then remove from heat and let cherries steep until they are plump.  Cut the pork into thin slices (about ½ inch thick) and lightly pound between parchment paper or plastic wrap until not quite flat.  Sprinkle the slices with thyme and juniper and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.  Season the flour with salt and pepper.  Dip each slice of pork into the flour, shaking off the excess.  Melt the butter in a large skillet and sauté the pork (about 30 seconds per side) until it is browned and cooked through.  Remove the slices from the pan, set them on a warm plate, and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm.  Pour out excess butter and immediately return the skillet to high heat.  Deglaze the pan by pouring the white wine into it and scraping with a fork or spatula to loosen any of the browned bits of meat.  Continue cooking over medium-high heat and reduce the wine to a syrupy consistency.  (It should be thick enough to just coat the back of a spoon.)  Then add the Madeira and cherries and the chicken stock, and reduce again.  Add he cream and continue cooking and stirring until the sauce thickens.

The soup kettle is probably the true melting pot of cooking.  Every ethnic group has full-bodied and distinctive soups even as they are similar.  Soups have been credited with healing powers: we all know the power of chicken soup for colds or almost any ailment.  The Indians made a thin wild rice soup for the stomach; the Germans thought cream soup could cure anything.  Scandinavians brought fruit soups to new mothers to give them strength while nursing.

Pumpkin Soup

3-4 pounds pumpkin

½ stick butter

2-4 Tbsp brown sugar,

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cloves

Salt and pepper

1 onion, peeled and finely diced

1 apple peeled, cored, and finely diced

1 cup apple cider

1-2 cups milk

Freshly ground nutmeg to taste

Chopped toasted chopped pecans for garnish or toasted pumpkin seeds

Cut the unpeeled pumpkin into large chunks and place on a baking sheet.  Dot with butter and sprinkle lightly with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper, then cover with aluminum foil.  Bake in a 350 deg. Oven for about 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until tender.  After you remove it from the oven, keep it covered with the aluminum foil so that the pumpkin will steam and become very soft.  Scoop out he flesh of the pumpkin—you should have about 6 cups—and put it into a large pot.  Add the onion, diced apple, apple cider and enough milk just to cover.  Bring the mixture to a low simmer and cook about 30 minutes.  Put the soup into a blender or food processor fitted with a steel blade and blend, in batches, adding milk to bring it to the consistency you like.  Season with nutmeg and more salt and pepper to taste.  Serve garnished with pecans or pumpkin seeds.

The book is rich with anecdotes of pioneer immigrant descendents and their remembrances:  bringing in the sheaves at harvest time in Dane County Wisconsin in 1875; boiling potatoes for potato bread; Iowa cinnamon rolls half the size of your head; St. Lucia Day (December 13) celebrations starring sweet bread; and making lefse.

I can add my own recollection of gathering black walnuts with my father at the old Methodist camp at Frontenac.  We had to take off the thick yellow/green outer covering and then attempt to shell them.  The shells were so thick that a hammer was the only way to open them.  Once open, the nutmeats were stubborn and had to be picked out with a nutpick (unlike the easy English walnut nutmeats that literally fall out of their shells.)  The black, oily substance that gives the black walnut its distinctive odor and taste also stained everything near it—most especially your hands. Sadly, I think just because of this experience, although black walnuts are considered a delicacy by most people, I can’t stand them.

For anyone who descended from immigrants to the Northern Heartland, this book is bound to be fascinating.  It’s full of old photographs, reminiscences and, of course, wonderful recipes.  

The Breakfast Book

I hastened down to the local library book sale this morning, trying to be there when it opened at 9:00am, but arriving about 10 minutes past nine.  To my astonishment, people were streaming in and out in large numbers.  This is a relatively small town and it seemed strange on a Saturday morning that so many citizens would be shopping at the library.

I went, as is my wont, directly to the cookbook table and there were slim pickings remaining.  Nevertheless, I found three treasures which I hurriedly took to the paying table--it was now 9:15 and almost all the cookbooks were gone.   The other categories of books were similarly disappearing.  Never let it be said that the Kindle has replaced the book.

The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham was the best find in a long time.  Marion Cunningham is best known for the 1990 revision of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, but has a long list of cookbooks of her own, including this wonderful small volume with 288 recipes for breakfast delights and even more delightful philosophical nuggets about food and life.

Cunningham has appeared on 70 episodes of her television series, Cunningham and Company on the
Food Network.  Add to that the 11 years she assisted James Beard in his cooking presentations and the 1993 Grand Dame award from Les Dames d'Escoffier.  She also was a food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times as well as a frequent contributor to Bon Appetit, Food and Wine and Gourmet magazines.  Quite an impressive pedigree.

But the charm of this book on breakfasts is the simplicity and homeyness it exudes.  To quote her in the introduction:  "The honest simplicity of breakfast is so captivating.  The most delicious breakfasts usually derive from the humblest of ingredients (money alone does not buy good food)...Gathering at the table for breakfast allows us to weave our lives with others--and that should be a daily pleasure."

Her most recent endeavor has been teaching a series of classes on "Learning  to Cook with Marion" and she published a book with the same name.  This series brought groups of 6-8 people to her Walnut, California home kitchen to talk about the lost art of simple home cooking in an environment that encouraged the questions of adults who really are intimidated by the simple, but unlearned "kitchen tricks."  The students then make three dishes which are basic; after successfully completing them, the students feel confident to branch out and experiment. 

Cunningham uses the following tips to help new cooks. (These "Marion-isms" are based on a list prepared by cooking student Jamie Jobb). 

   When cooking, there is one main rule:  Taste, taste and taste again."  Problems with a recipe often can be remedied while preparing a dish.  It's much harder, if not impossible, to tweak afterward.

   "The oven is our friend.  You don't need to watch over something if it's in the oven.  Use the time to enjoy your dinner guests."

   "With each dish, try to achieve one taste. Too many ingredients result in a culinary cacophony.

   "Your hands remember things because they're closer to the ingredients.  Don't be timid about touching the food you cook."

   "Butter will smooth out sharp tastes and rough edges."

   "No matter what the recipe, things can change.  Slight differences in ingredients, room temperature, humidity, lunar gravitational pulls, solar flares or other unknown conditions can affect how a dish turns out.  So always taste as you go and make note of any changes." 

A few of her better known recipes from The Breakfast Book follow:

Bridge Creek Heavenly Hots

"These are the lightest sour cream sliver-dollar-size hotcakes I've ever had--they seem to hover over the plate.  They are heavenly and certainly should be served hot."


4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
12 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cake flour
2 cups sour cream
3 Tbsp sugar

Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and stir until well blended.  Add the salt, baking soda, flour, sour cream and sugar and mix well.  All of this can be done in a blender, if you prefer.  Heat a griddle or frying pan until it is good and hot, film with grease and drop small spoonfuls of batter onto the griddle--just enough to spread to an approximately 2 1/2-inch round.  When a few bubbles appear on top of the pancakes, turn them over and cook briefly. 

Lemon Zephyrs

"These small free-form souffles are light as clouds and sweet as the west wind.  Breath carefully or else these fluffy zephyrs may blow right off your plate.  Serve with a slice of buttered, toasted pound cake."

4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter
2 Tbsp milk
7 Tbsp confectioners' sugar
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp flour
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 cup fresh raspberries (or any fresh berries)
Sugar to taste for berries

Preheat the oven to 425.  Use a shallow (about 2 inches deep) 14-inch oval baking dish; or use a rectangular dish that is an inch shorter.  Have a 8 or 9-inch round paper plate at hand.  Combine the butter, milk and 1 Tbsp confectioners' sugar in the baking dish.  Heat the mixture until the butter has melted, stir, and set aside.
Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy, then gradually add the remaining 6 Tbsp sugar and beat until stiff but moist.  Beat the egg yolks thoroughly and add the flour and lemon rind to the yolk mixture.  Gently fold the yolk mixture into the beaten whites.  Now you are going to shape the batter into four balls. Using the paper plate as a scoop, pile in a football shape one quarter of the souffle mixture at the end of the baking dish.  Scoop up three more equal portions and drop next to each other.  There should be a row of four balls of approximately the same size in the baking dish.  Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the peaks of the souffles are slightly golden.  Sprinkle the berries with sugar if they need some.  Remove the souffles from the oven and sprinkle the berries all over the zephyrs.  Bring to the table and serve.  Or serve on four individual dessert plates, with a little of the sauce from the bottom of the baking dish spooned over each serving.

The Glamour Magazine After Five Cookbook by Beverly Pepper

The book jacket claims that "Here at last is the specialty cookbook designed to liberate the working girl, the busy housewife, and the harassed but hungry bachelor."  The Gourmet Magazine After Five Cookbook, published by Doubleday, Inc. in 1952 was the forerunner to Rachel Ray's thirty minute meals with the foundational theory of "A triumphant year of delectable eating and never the same dish twice.  Over 300 menus which can be prepared in an hour or less, containing more than 1000 different recipes with shopping lists included".

I tried finding information on Beverly Pepper and the only reference I found was to a Beverly Pepper who was a famous sculptor-artist but who lived at the same time that this book's author lived.   There was no indication anywhere that they were the same person. Even in this day of instant Google searching, some things remain obscure; nevertheless, Pepper's book is ahead of its time and has a most cosmopolitan and sophisticated bent.  I think she hit the nail on the head when she said in her introduction that ..."here is a...cookbook which is not a cookbook--not in the ordinary sense, but a declaration of independence from kitchen slavery, a declaration of love for good eating.  Taken broadly, perhaps it is also a frank admission of a change in the American way of life.

The book is organized by the months of the year and the weeks of the month.  Each week includes 7 menus prefaced with a shopping list for the week and a staple list to keep your pantry's inventory up to date. The Sunday menu is more time consuming and often includes a roast, the leftovers of which will show up later in the week.  At the back of the book she includes menus for holidays, company and large groups.

Sadly, the worst feature of this book is its liberal use of convenience foods such as canned soups and vegetables (including canned potatoes) which are not difficult to make yourself, nor particularly time consuming, albeit with a little planning.  However, there are a great many innovative and very tasty dishes that do slap together quickly but don't taste like it and it was the beginning of real meals quickly.  The shopping lists and the frugal use of leftovers is to be commended.

A sample Week (1st in December) is as follows:
Sunday:
     Roast Loin of Pork w. Spiced Fruit Sauce
     Baked Idaho Potatoes
     Peas & Cauliflower
     Tossed Green Salad
     Brandied Bing Cherries
     Coffee

Roast Loin of Pork with Spiced Fruit Sauce: 5 1/2 lbs.  Rub with salt, pepper, 1 cut garlic clove.  Roast uncovered in slow oven (325) 4 hours.  Pour off fat, leaving 3 tbs. drippings.  Pour in 2 c. boiling water, 2 tbs. orange marmalade, 2 tbs. cherry jam. grated rind and juice 1 lemon, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. powdered clove, 1/4 c. sherry.  Bring to boil, serve with pork. (Save 1 1/2 c. meat for Tuesday.)

Peas and Cauliflower:  Cut 1 head cauliflower into flowerets.  Boil in salted water to cover 8 min.  Drain.  Cook 1 box peas as directed.  Drain.  Mix with cauliflower, 2 tbs. melted butter. 

Brandied Bing Cherries:  Chill 1 can cherries.  Add 1 tbs. brandy to each serving.  Garnish with whipped cream. 

The aforementioned Tuesday menu then, is as follows:

    Tomato Soup w. Herbs
    Curried Pork, Almond & Raisin Rice
    Escarole Salad
    Chocolate Refrigerator Cake
    Coffee

Tomato Soup w. Herbs:  1 can.  Prepare as directed.  Add 1 tsp. mixed herbs.

Curried Pork:  Cut leftover pork in small sticks.  Saute 1 chopped onion, 1 bay leaf, 1 chopped garlic clove, 1/8 tsp. thyme in 3 tbs. butter.  Mix 1 1/2 tbs. flour with bouillon, stirring until smooth and thickened, 1 diced tomato, 1 chopped unpeeled apple, 1 chopped banana, 1 tbs. white wine.  Simmer 5 min.  Add pork, cook 10 min.

Almond & Raisin Rice:  Prepare 1 1/2 c precooked rice as directed, adding 1/4 c. shopped blanched almonds.

For tomorrow:  Marinate 3/4 lb. sliced round steak in 1 c. vinegar, 1 c. water, 1 sliced onion, 1 bay leaf, 3 cloves, 1 tsp. salt

For me, the strong point of this book is the pre-planned menus which can be tweaked to fit today's life style with the use of more fresh ingredients, but which provide shopping lists and ideas to streamline the cooking day.  My own preference for planning ahead would then include a "cooking weekend"  wherein I would prepare everything possible ahead from scratch ingredients and have them at the ready during the week.  But it really helps to have a menu plan from which to operate.

The book jacket is a whimsical and delightful design; the use of many variety meats which are not even commonly sold in today's market much less eaten by American families for the most part is also interesting from the historical viewpoint. 

All the menus appeared originally in the magazine as an aid for the working girl.  The series brought a torrent of enthusiastic mail from housewives, club women, mothers and even bachelors.  It is a delightful peek at the historical beginnings of modern American cuisine.

Carefree Cooking by Jacquelyn Reinach

At the last count, I owned over 3500 cookbooks (some are pamphlets). It is probably more now as I seem to acquire a few more every year. It didn’t start out that way—I had a better than average collection of cookbooks when I was a newlywed—but definitely in the normal range. Over the years as my interest in cooking grew, I started collecting cookbooks when travelling and most of my family knew that a cookbook was always a safe and appreciated gift for me.

Then I married (second marriage) a man who sold antiques. He went to auctions on a regular basis—mostly estate sales. A majority of people who attend these auctions leave when the item or items in which they are interested have been sold. Not Zig—he never left until the auctioneer was packed up and turning out the lights. He is a detail-oriented, meticulous sort who stays to watch all the credits roll at movies, too. Anyway, at the end of the auction there are usually a lot of box lots (boxes filled with like-objects sold for $1 or $2 per box). Lots of them held cookbooks and I was the lucky recipient. I began to take an avid interest in the collecting aspect of these books; some of them turned out to be quite rare and in cookbook-collecting-circles, valuable.

There are three books on collecting cookbooks that I own and the only ones of which I am aware: Price Guide to Cookbooks and Recipe Leaflets by Linda J. Dickinson (updated version, 1993), A Guide to Collecting Cookbooks by Colonel Bob Allen (updated version, 1995), and Antique Trader’s Collectible Cookbooks Price Guide by Patricia Edwards and Peter Peckham, 2008.

I have organized my cookbooks by subject and have them all housed in a humidity-controlled room. I have had to destroy a few that came to me smelling of mildew or in such rough condition they just had to go. The question I am most often asked when someone learns of my collection is, “Do you cook from these books?” The answer is a resounding, “YES”, but not from all of them, of course. I read them. I play with them. I love them.

Now, I have decided to share the wonderful stories, cultural insights, personal glimpses into bygone cooks from all over the world with readers of this blog. I am going to review as many of them as I deem interesting and for which I have time in this lifetime. Perhaps I will weary of this and perhaps you will weary of reading about them—but, for the present, it seems like a wonderful adventure. For me, this is similar to Julie’s fantasy of cooking all of Julia Child’s recipes in the movie, Julie and Julia.

These will not necessarily appear in any particular order other than what is interesting to me at the moment. However, I welcome comments and requests.

Now, to start with my first cookbook: Carefree Cooking by Jacquelyn Reinach, published by Hearthside Press Inc. in 1970.

This is one of my favorite types of cookbooks because it is full of small anecdotes and a personal way of talking to the reader. It is also a cookbook that was written in my lifetime and reflects the era when I was a young married—I recognize many of the recipes as being trendy at the time—and was entertaining a lot. It is essentially a cookbook for a vacation home, or what we call it in Minnesota, the cabin up north.

She opens her book in the Acknowledgments by saying, “Carefree Cooking was conceived out of frustration when I was first faced with the problems of surviving, coping and cooking in our own vacation house. Thinking I was not alone in my struggle, I sent a questionnaire to people in second houses all over the country. Many of the solutions, styles and recipes have come from them . . . . including the idea that a vacation house is more a state of mind than a particular place.”

Chapter One is entitled, “Survival, Vacation-House Style” and has on its Chapter frontispiece the Old French Saying, “Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Get It.” It is filled with suggestions and, more importantly, philosophy on how to cope with a vacation house and still enjoy it; including practical ideas for meal planning, marketing, eating styles, housekeeping, opening and closing, and all manner of shortcuts and sanity-savers.

Chapter Two is alike in that it also is a compendium of practical suggestions on equipment and supplies and how to improvise if necessary. She quips:

“Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie a bone
But when she got there,
The cupboard was bare. . .”
Pity she hadn’t read this chapter.

The third chapter opens the recipes section, but doesn’t stint on the verbalisms. The title of the chapter is, “If it’s morning, it must be breakfast . . . . or it might be brunch or lunch. I don’t know who Sir Harry Lauder is but he opens this chapter with “Oh, it’s nice to get up in the mornin’ But it’s nicer to lie in bed.”

I was continually surprised and delighted to find recipes in this book of the “pass around” variety—you know, you heard it from a work colleague or your neighbor or a friend and then, everywhere you went for awhile, someone was serving it. Several of them seem possibly to be the beginning of a trend that lasted a long time. Margaritas as a cocktail, posole, salad bars, submarine (or hero) sandwiches, melons injected with booze, Mexican dishes of all kinds, shish kebabs, are only a few of the now-standard foods Reinach includes.

She was also a forerunner for the natural and healthy food trend we all strive for in our cooking today. In her chapter on children’s food she says, “Whether you have your own darlings raiding the icebox, or grandchildren for a visit, or friends who never go anywhere without the children. . .feeding the kids should certainly be numbered among the facts of second house life. Which brings me to a small lecture on the number of no-good starchy and prepared products on the market we buy for kids because (a) we need snacks around to fill the gap between meals, or (b) the printing on the package looks nice. If you read the fine print on the labels, you’ll become aware of such hydrogenated muck and additives, you hopefully may want to question the wisdom of including those products in your kids’ cultural heritage. (Or your own.) End of lecture.” And that was in 1970.

This is one of my favorite quotes from this interesting and delightful cookbook,

If the cocktails had been as cool as the soup
If the soup had been as warm as the wines
If the wines had been as old as the chicken
If the chicken had been as plump as the maid
If the maid had been as available as the hostess
By Jove! It would have been a marvelous party!


Anonymous French Diplomat