In looking for books to recommend on cooking and wine this fall, I found myself attracted to several that are not in the familiar (and much loved), recipe-heavy mold. Therefore you might want to file such mostly-for-reading books as “Culture and Cuisine,” “Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating” and “The New American Chef” under “food for the mind.” I begin, however, with four exceptional books from restaurant chefs.
“Raw,” by Charlie Trotter & Roxanne Klein (Ten Speed Press, $35). This is likely to set the standard other chefs will try to reach when they set out to add raw food preparations to their menus. Trotter and Klein have perfected the recipes at his namesake restaurant in Chicago and her Roxanne near San Francisco. The titles alone are turn-ons (marinated exotic mushrooms with kohlrabi and arugula, apple-quince pave with pecan-maple ice cream are two favorites). Paired with Tim Turner’s romantic photographs, they become downright seductive. Making them may lead home cooks to add the descriptor “intricate,” or a stronger word.
“Daniel’s Dish, Entertaining at Home With a Four-Star Chef” (Filipacchi Publishing, $39.95). The “Daniel” in the title is Daniel Boulud, one of New York City’s most peripatetic and most honored chefs. He is French and tends to cook that way while employing a broad palate of seasonings. For instance, he offers seared codfish in three preparations–Lyonnaise, Dijonnaise and Bordelaise. But he also presents a “classic” hamburger with Asian, African and Indian variations. Taken from the pages of Elle Decor magazine, with additional recipes from the chef’s home kitchen, this book is remarkably convenient to use. Each recipe is on a single page or two-page spread accompanied by a photograph and, where appropriate, a wine recommendation.
“Bistro Cooking at Home,” by Gordon Hamersley with Joanne McAllister Smart (Broadway Books, $35). If there’s always room for another restaurant that calls itself a bistro, there should be room as well for another bistro cookbook. And just as Gordon Hamersley has operated a superior bistro in Boston over the last 15 years, he has produced a cookbook that outdistances the competition. “We wanted to create the same kind of comfortable, well-fed, and well-cared-for feeling we enjoyed at bistros such as La Ville de Sienne L’Ami Louis [in France],” he writes of Hamersley’s Bistro, the restaurant he and wife Fiona opened in 1987. The book stands apart through the clarity of the French-inspired recipes and tip-seasoned notes to them and to recipes that are not classic French. Angel-hair pasta with seared chicken livers, peanuts and cucumber or blue cheese-stuffed hamburger are examples.
“Cesar, Recipes from a Tapas Bar,” by Olivier Said and James Mellgren with Maggie Pond (Ten Speed Press, $29.95). You need to be a devotee of French film to understand why the bar located next door to Chez Panisse in Berkeley is named “Cesar.” On the other hand, any bar that has sold more than 47,800 martinis does not have to explain itself. Tapas in Spain, the authors point out, are most often ordered as pre-meal snacks. In this country they may become a meal. Therefore, the inclusion of recipes for Portuguese-style fish stew, poached salmon and a lush dessert called crema de chocolate. The book also pays homage to the other great attraction of a tapas bar, drink. Sherry comes first, as it should, but is followed by ample pours of cocktails and wine. The photos are truly original and intriguing.
“The South American Table,” by Maria Baez Kijac (Harvard Common Press paperback, $19.95). At long last, a curtain is lifting that for so long separated American cooks from Latin American cookery and allowed us only a vague comprehension of what is served at the South American table. Now we are seeing clearly, thanks to several recent books, but especially Maria Kijac’s well-crafted, richly flavored volume. At the family table, growing up in Ecuador, she ate dishes that “varied from continental to Creole.” Memories of those dishes and others from the 10 Latin countries colonized by Spain and Portugal serve to broaden our perspective. She sets the scene by discussing the geography and the people and their psyches. The recipes number 450 and include a rainbow of salsas and condiments, 16 ceviches and two dozen soups that will quickly become comfort foods in this country.
“Around the Table,” by Ellen Wright (Harvard Common Press, $27.95). Ellen Wright should be awarded the title “Defender of Uncertain and Intimidated Home Cooks.” Her first book, “Bridgehampton Weekends,” dealt in a helpful, unpretentious manner with the challenge of feeding family and friends in a weekend or vacation home. This time her subject is making menus for offbeat entertaining. The book is divided into “Cold Weather Menus” and “Warm Weather Menus,” most of them informal. Titles range from “Bridge Snack for the Girls” to “Private Date for Two.” For all the style she exhibits, the author is well-acquainted with prepared foods and the term “make ahead.”
“The Maccioni Family Cookbook,” by Egi Maccioni with Peter Kaminsky (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $32.50). Over the years, very few celebrity cookbooks have been worth the cost of the paper on which they were printed. Egi Maccioni’s book is different. It functions as a scrapbook, with candid photos of family and friends along with comments on the recipes and their genesis by her and various family members. Among them, of course, is Sirio Maccioni, owner of the revered New York City and Las Vegas restaurant Le Cirque. The food is Italian, though prepared in America, and intended for family meals. Few of the recipes call for more than a dozen ingredients. (Thirty-vegetable soup is an obvious exception.)
“Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating,” by Ari Weinzweig (Houghton Mifflin paperback, $19.95). Since 1982, some of the world’s best deli food and artisan food products have been available in an unimposing street corner market in Ann Arbor, Mich. It’s Zingerman’s by name, though there is no Zingerman to be found. The resident sorcerer and marketing guru is Ari Weinzweig, a one-time Russian history major. Zingerman’s offers so much information, via wildly excessive signage and professorial sales persons, that shopping there should be a credit course at the University of Michigan. Now the knowledge, taste judgments and opinions that set Zingerman’s apart are available here. Subjects addressed include olive oil, grain, cheese, seasonings, cured meat, coffee and tea. These days you also can obtain much of the food by mail order. There are a few recipes, too.
“The Joy of Mixology,” by Gary Regan (Clarkson Potter, $30). You’ve gotta give it up for a man who coins a new word, “cocktailian,” to describe a barkeeper who thoroughly understands “the theory behind mixing ingredients to achieve balance in their drinks and marry flavors successfully.” Regan, a veteran bartender and part-time historian, is a cocktailian, and his book provides a welcome antidote to the flood of vodka-based, liquid-candy cocktails that have filled America’s martini glasses to overflowing. He shows us such useful party tricks as how to layer a drink and how to extract juice from fresh fruit, and provides some delightful recipes–new and old.
“Cuisine and Culture,” by Linda Civitello (Wiley paperback, $40). The author’s biography, printed on the back cover of what appears to be her first book, reads simply “Linda Civitello has an M.A. in history from U.C.L.A. and has taught food history in California.” Based on the sweep, self-assurance and verve exhibited in this book, subtitled “A History of Food and People,” we will be reading more of and from her. She has arranged the book in 12 chronological chapters, called “courses.” You read about “The King’s Court: Table Manners,” followed by “Alcoholic Beverages: Bees and Beer,” “The Little Ice Age,” and a recipe for “Wassail” –all in three pages. “Ah,” you say, “a game of trivia.” Not really, it’s too satisfying.”
