As I have told the story before the very first cookbook I bought was, “Theory and Practice of Good Cooking” by the one and only James Beard. That was in 1978. Four years later he released, “The New James Beard”. It is of note that his editor was the superb Judith Jones. A name that should be much more familiar to those who care about books of many varieties. I was still very much at the beginning of my journey in cooking when I purchased this one. His previous book was akin to a ‘magic spell’ on my budding culinary curiosity. I hesitated not one whit and obtained it adding it to my fledgling ‘collection’ … if it can be even called that. They all fit on my second hand desk. It was March of 1982 and I was a young father and cook.
When the Miami-Dade Library asked me years later to provide a dozen of my most treasured cookbooks for an exhibit along with a few other of the most noted chefs in the city I lent them this one. But it was, while not a ‘decoy’ it was subbing for “Theory and Practice”. As the card next to the book stated, “In truth my most treasured cookbook is not in this exhibit. I was too nervous to let it out of our home. Yet still, like nearly all of his works it is highly instructional and eminently readable. He had one of the most “American” of all voices up until that time when it came to his broad adoration of American cooking. He was 76 years of age when he penned it. I can only imagine the work that went in to writing and testing it in the age of typewriters and copy paper. He did have a ‘secret weapon’. That was one of his most capable recipe testers. Her name was Caroline Stuart. I have written about her as one of her books is also in my Treasure Books series. I hope you will look her fine work up as well.