| Gifts for the Amateur Cook: Part 2
Okay. So you've really left it to the last possible moment now, and you're about to go out and buy Christmas gifts which are waaaaaaay too expensive because you can't think of anything else. Well, hang on. Here's more food-related Christmas stuff to buy. So don't panic.
Stuff to Read
Magazines: Every amateur cook I know devours cooking magazines, and there are scads of mags to choose from, which range from the very basic to the arcane, and all of which should be available at kitchen stores or good news agents, like With the Times or the Daily Globe. Three of my favourite magazines are Saveur, edited by cooking renegade Colman Andrews – it is a visual delight, and the articles are serious and passionate; Fine Cooking, for the serious home cook – it includes step by step recipes from culinary luminaries like Deborah Madison and Jacques Pepin, for everything from puff pastry to pho, including closeup photos; and the grande dame of them all, Gourmet, now edited by food critic Ruth Reichl – actually, Gourmet isn't as interesting for the recipes as it is for the feature articles by the likes of John Updike and Calvin Trillin (of the New Yorker), and for Gerald Asher's seminal wine column, which for my money is the best one there is.
Cookbooks: I'm not sure why, but this year has seen a heap of restaurant cookbooks gearing their meals specifically for the home cook. I think chefs have realized that most people want food that tastes good, uses everyday ingredients, and that – with a little luck – most of us can pull off. Two English cooks, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, have been instrumental in demystifying good food, and their latest cookbooks, Oliver’s Naked Chef Takes Off and Lawson’s Nigella Bites, are user-friendly and make the reader want to rush to the kitchen. But the cookbook I've used the most this year, without question, is Staff Meals from Chanterelle, by David Waltuck. Chanterelle is a high-end French restaurant in New York, and every day at 4:30 p.m. the cooks make good, nourishing, everyday (i.e. not high-end French) food for the staff. There are tons of one-pot meals, a great recipe for fried chicken with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach (yum), and Asian-inspired stir frys. These are recipes that we use at home regularly because they're easy, we have the stuff in the fridge, and man, do these recipes work.
And Gonzo
The best thing you could buy for someone who is thinking of getting into cooking professionally is Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain is the chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York – he's also a recovering heroin addict and food writing's answer to Hunter S. Thompson. This book is a memoir of his experiences through 20 years of hard-ass line cooking, and includes a fascinating chapter detailing, minute by minute, a hellish Friday at Les Halles, where he reams out the produce supplier, prevents fights from breaking out, produces 500 meals, and generally acts like Captain Bligh.
Stocking Stuffers
The best items to stuff the stocking with are things to eat. A good choice is Fleur de Sel or Maldon Salt (available at the Cookbook Co. Cooks) – once you use traditionally harvested sea salt, either the French stuff from Brittany or the English stuff from East Anglia, you'll never go back to Sifto. I promise. Another tasty treat is Zatarain's Creole Mustard (available at most delis) – this is the mustard which the evil Emeril uses, and it's also super-vinegary and great on a sausage. |
