January 27, 2016
My friend Robin swears by this book, which she’s had since it first came out in 1968. She says in those days she’d cook dinner for a dozen for ten bucks.
Still, I have to admit I opened The Yogi Cookbook with few expectations. The hippie books I remember from back then were boringly preachy. This one, on the other hand, is a delight to read. Here’s a beginner’s curry; be sure to read the note at the end.
I love the simplicity of this lemon rice. (The author suggests cooking rice in copious amounts of boiling water – like pasta – and tasting constantly so that it’s still a bit al dente when you finally drain it.)
And, of course, there’s dal:
There are so many wonderful recipes in this book. But since I’m on St. John, and okra is in abundantly in season, this one caught my eye:
May 27, 2015
Comfort Me With Apples
This is the book that's sold least-well of anything I've written. I've always wondered if it was because of the contents, which some people find risque, or because nobody's nailed the cover, in any language.
Original hardcover.
Current paperback
Korean version
Dutch version
Australian version
Spanish version
Portuguese version
May 26, 2015
Been thinking a lot about book jackets lately, as we tried to decide what the cover for my new cookbook, My Kitchen Year; 136 Recipes That Saved My Life should look like. (The book will be out at the end of September.)
That sent me to my bookshelf, to the place where I store some of the foreign translations of previous books. I don't have them all; the books are now in twenty-something different languages, but here are some of the more interesting jackets for Tender at the Bone.
I especially like this Taiwanese version; that little girl holding the bowl of food is embossed. But what I like best is that they've used classic food-related paintings for each of the chapter openings. What makes this particularly funny is that so many of them are religious paintings, like Veronese's The Wedding at Cana.
This is the Complex Chinese edition….
This is a different Complex Chinese edition. I kind of love that inside, where they spell out my name in arabic letters, they misspell it, turning me into Ruth Reich.
The Spanish Edition.
This is the Japanese edition.
This is Simplified Chinese.
Three Italian editions.
Tomorrow: a few different takes on Comfort Me With Apples.
December 17, 2013
Lots of people sell vintage cookbooks, and I spend too much time trolling through the sites. Favorites include Bonnie Slotnick (bonnieslotnikbooks@earthlink.net) in New York and Omnivore Books in San Francisco.
But The Cook's Bookcase was new to me, and I appreciate the quirkiness of the collection. And, I might add, the fairness of the prices. I can think of at least a dozen people who’d be thrilled to get a signed first edition of a James Beard book – but I’ve rarely found one that I could afford.
At $90, this signed first edition of Delights and Prejudices seems like a bargain.
The collection is…. odd. I’m sure I’ve got a friend who’d love this signed Shirley Bassey menu from Caesar’s Palace ($15).
Although what was the great Welsh singer (most famous for singing Goldfinger) doing on a menu?
Plenty of great stuff here. (Issac Hayes had a cookbook? Who knew?) Even if you don’t find the perfect present, you’ll have great fun noodling through the site.