Hello Fellow Book Lovers! I won’t need to add much here. The video is going to do that. I spoke for a moment about the Mount Rushmore of California restaurants. To correct a miss that occurred to me moments after this taping I will add another amazing California restaurant of…
Treasure Books
The books below are the books I treasure. Some are the ones that stand the ‘test of time’ in some cases or they are the books that entered my hands at the perfect time for where I was with life at that juncture. Perhaps from time to time one will be here that might be a book that would not have the same ability to impact me at this age as they did at the age I read them. I don’t think I’ll comment on them in that way for who knows how they might affect anyone who is inspired to read, (or re-read) them after glancing over my words here about them. My book club is not about the most recent books published. I trust that the New York Times or Kirkus Reviews will bring you plenty in that regard. They are, like I said, the books that I treasure. And some are relatively new to me but they have caused me to treasure already. The first here are long time treasures but as we mosey along look for recent novels, historical books, poetry books and yes … cookbooks.
Category: Treasure Books
Brazil, A Cook’s Tour by Christopher Idone
Living in Key West during the very early part of my life and cooking career the influences that were powerful were Cuban first and then Bahamian and then Southern. It created the foundation that started me off on what I have come to call, “New World Cuisine”. But when life…
Santi Santamaria, The Gentle Genius of San Celoni
It all began with a conversation in an espresso house in New Orleans with my two great friends Charlie Trotter and Emeril Lagasse. They said, “You must come and see “The Pope” with us”. I knew they didn’t mean the Holy Pontiff in Rome they meant Chef Frédy Girardet in…
The Cooking of Southwest France by Paula Wolfert; Treasure Book
Paula Wolfert (born 1938) is an American author of nine books on cooking and the winner of numerous cookbook awards including what is arguably the top honor given in the food world: The James Beard Foundation Medal For Lifetime Achievement. A specialist in Mediterranean food, she has written extensively on…
ANDREA NGUYEN on ‘DUMPLINGS’!
I have been fan of cookbook author and cooking teacher Andrea Nguyen for years. Something clicked in me long ago when it came to the cuisine of Vietnam. My first mentor on that vast and nuanced cuisine was Nicole Routhier. I remain a dedicated admirer and a friend of hers….
THE COOKING OF DANIEL BOULUD
In 1997 we published our third cookbook, “Norman’s New World Cuisine” with Random House. It came about due to the combination of my friendship with (and ‘mutual adoration society’ member) Maida Heatter and the legendary editor Jason Epstein. I was very lucky to have such a proponents of my cooking….
MADHUR JAFFREY; A TREASURE BOOK
Google this woman’s amazing life for an example of one who has and continues to have an adventure filled life. She was an international movie star while still quite young and living in India, her native country. Then in her 30’s she began to write her cookbooks. Indian cuisine naturally…
Saveur Cooks Authentic American
I believe it was in 1994 that Saveur Magazine began publication. I was in the midst of beginning to write a cookbook for Random House titled, “New World Cuisine”. While writing a book it is very hard to do almost anything else. It is simply way too time consuming doing…
THE FLORIDA COOKBOOK, Caroline Stuart and Jeanne Voltz
We recently lost a true pioneer of Florida cookbook authors, Ms. Caroline Stuart. You can watch this video for some of my recollections of that wonderful person. I learned a great deal from her and will be forever in her debt. I hope that someone does a proper documentary on…
WHITE HEAT: A COOKBOOK THAT BLEW SOME MINDS
On April 28th of 1991 I received a package in the mail. I recognized the handwriting on the brown paper covering what had to be a book. It was from Charlie. I was working in a restaurant that, though short lived was one of the biggest in my career to…
Four Hero Cookbooks
I’d started cooking after being fired from a job as a hot tar roofer. Most of my jobs during the period of life from ages 19 to 21 were grunt labor. That included glass factory worker, golf course mower and carny. I was ‘between things’ mentally as well as spiritually….
‘A TASTE OF THE FAR EAST’, MADHUR JAFFREY
Part of why I do my ‘Treasure Books” series is my deep appreciation for them and also to keep their works in the consciousness of the public who is bombarded only with the ‘hottest/hippest/latest/trending’ names and faces that are almost certainly not going to have the gifts and stamina of…
MARCELLA HAZAN
As the video will show I have a flat out crush on the cooking of Marcella Hazan. Though I’m not known at all for Italian food I believe that whomever is cooking great food is someone to learn from. She was born in 1924 in the Emilia-Romagna and earned a…
BEYOND GUMBO; MY TREASURE BOOK SERIES
A few years ago I put together a list of my ‘Treasure Cookbooks”. That list continue to grow as those of you who watch my TikTok series on them. One never stops learning if they are seriously alive. When you have the fortune to meet one of your hero authors…
LOUISIANA KITCHEN: TREASURE BOOK SERIES
When his book ‘Louisiana Kitchen’ came out it was 1984. Back then very few books by an American chef had been written and published nationally. Alice Waters, “Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook” being one of them which arrived in 1982. The first cookbook I ever bought was ‘Theory and Practice of…
THE NATURAL CUISINE OF GEORGES BLANC
As the video will explain this is from my “Treasure Book” series. Chef Georges Blanc career is amazing to learn more about and I urge all you who are in cuisine to study up on him. Though the autograph and lovely inscription is dated from October of ’03 I received…