Culinary Bibles

Elizabeth Field reviews Darina Allen and John McKenna looks at 'A New Way To Cook' by Sally Schneider

'A New Way To Cook'

by Sally Schneider

American cook and cookery writer Sally Schneider has spent a decade on this impressive and mature book, teasing out ways in which to redefine healthy eating, and to allow people to have access to great flavour without worrying about salt and fat. That is a demanding thing to try to achieve, but Schneider pulls it off with gas in the tank. Her food isn't new: she simply looks for ways in which to redefine certain key foods, and then offers myriad ways in which to improvise with them: try that buttermilk mash, for instance, and you will be hooked, likewise her smart and clever mayonnaise made with tofu.

Indeed, the focus of her cooking reminds me of what the late Richard Olney wrote about ex-Chez Panisse cook Paul Bertolli, regarding Bertolli's food in the brilliant book, 'Chez Panisse Cooking':  'Paul Bertolli's cuisine is what “health food” should be and never is: a celebration of purity. The food is imaginative but never complicated: it is art', wrote Olney.

So it is with Schneider. She is modest, good company at your chopping arm, a mature and wise voice whose food intrigues. The sheer scale of her book – almost 750 pages packed with ideas – makes this another American culinary 'bible', and we would rank it along with Deborah Madison's superlative 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' as one of the key – and one of the cult – American texts of our time. Like the best books, it is all about (to borrow a line from Lennie Cohen's new disc) 'the simplicities of pleasure'. The sheer beauty of the book means it would make a truly spiffing present.

'A New Way to Cook', Sally Schneider , Artisan, stg£30

A New Way To Surf

illustration from www.foodsubs.com

An interesting feature of Sally Schneider’s ‘A New Way To Cook’ is that alongside a fascinating bibliography of books, it also contains a bibliography of web sites. Here are some of the sites she singles out as good food stops on the web, as well as her comments describing them.

www.recipelinks.netfirms.com
This is a well-categorized collection of useful food links.

www.theatlantic.com/food/food.htm
Atlantic senior editor Corby Kummer’s insightful columns and articles can be found here.

www.outlawcook.com
John and Matt Thorne’s electronic companion to their renowned newsletter, Simple Cooking, is wonderfully written, opinionated, and no-nonsense.

www.cooksillustrated.com
This companion website to Cook’s Illustrated magazine is a great resource of techniques, recipes, and product ratings.

www.foodsubs.com
The Cook’s Thesaurus is a cooking encyclopaedia  

'Ballymaloe Cookery Course'

by Darina Allen

Darina Allen's 640-page "Ballymaloe Cookery Course" (Gill & Macmillan, €29.90), with its 344 colour photographs by Ray Main, 1,125 recipes and 350 variations is a culinary textbook with soul. Amid its practical, down-to-earth information on everything from boning a fowl to making soft yogurt cheese, choosing wines and sourcing game, the inimitable Ballymaloe ethic jumps forth: Choose fresh, local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible and treat them with respect and simplicity.

The recipes are straightforward Irish fare with obvious influences of Alice Waters, Marcella Hazan, Nina Simonds and Madhur Jaffrey shining forth. Can anyone not think of something more wonderful-sounding than Radishes with Butter, Crusty Bread and Sea Salt? I wish the photographs were captioned and that some of the copy had been better edited for clarity and typos. Nevertheless, this book will be a great addition to any cook's library.

'Ballymaloe Cookery Course', Darina Allen, Gill & Macmillan, €29.90

Check out Artisan of the Year Award for Elizabeth Field's Food Award of 2002