2017 | No. 100

Books: Shorts

By Edward Behr and Marc-André Cyr

In an age when media and fact are under attack, what could be more comforting than a very handsome, intelligent self-published book written on a farm about eating, especially one impeccably photographed by the author? This particular book, Farm Food, volume one, Fall & Winter (Cook House, softcover, $19.95), takes serial form, with a projected spring and summer volume to come. Kurt Timmermeister used his success as a cook and restaurateur to finance a farm on Vashon Island in Washington. Fourteen years later, the core is a small herd of Jersey cows, whose milk makes cheese and ice cream, sold in Seattle. There is also, of course, produce for the farm’s kitchen. The text has some of the qualities of a diary, and leaves a strong sense of the work it takes to keep up. Most of the orchard fruits rot where they land: “Hard to believe that I could allow excellent fruit to fall, never to be eaten, but harvesting them is simply overwhelming.” The 26 recipes, grouped by month, convey above all immediacy. Coming from the cold half of the year, they range from baking-powder Americana to gratin dauphinois, beef marrow compound butter (for steak and green beans), and rum raisin ice cream.  — Edward Behr

Acadian cuisine, from the French-speaking portions of Eastern Canada, is about few ingredients (think pork, potatoes, and chicken), one-pot meals (chowder, fricot), and big batches for sharing and for leftovers (the quintessential Rappie Pie). Several of my Acadian chef friends bought Simon Thibault’s Pantry and Palate (Nimbus, softcover, Can$34.95) and love it, citing the authenticity of the recipes. Thibault offers an impressive amount of information about each one. And he allows some flexibility, taking into account what readers may or may not have in their pantries, indicative of typical Acadian resourcefulness. Scalloped Cabbage is delicious and will definitely be a keeper in our household (I used a heritage summer savory, the very floral Ancienne d’Acadie). The Cajun Fricot is a fun twist on an Acadian classic, with smoked pork sausage bringing a deeper flavor to this humble chicken stew. Straightforward Bran Bread yields an unusually wet batter and inherently gummy bread with a satisfying molasses flavor (both this and the fricot lacked some detail about how things should taste, look, and feel as they are made). Filled with sharp, bright photos, Pantry and Palate invites readers to discover, understand, and interpret this old, lesser-known cuisine from a contemporary point of view.  — Marc-André Cyr

Reading Anne Fadiman’s The Wine Lover’s Daughter: A Memoir (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hardcover, $25) won’t make anyone a connoisseur of food or drink, but it’s a very well-written account of loving wine (and of loving a father), and it conveys to the enthusiastic wine-lover how different the experience is of a non-wine-lover (the daughter). Loving wine isn’t mainly a result of tasting enough good or great wine, it’s primarily genetic and built into your palate, not necessarily passed from parent to child.  — Edward Behr

 

From issue 100

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