An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
Reviving the inspiring message of M. F. K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf— written in 1942 during wartime shortages—An Everlasting Meal shows that cooking is the path to better eating. Through the insightful essays in An Everlasting Meal, Tamar Adler issues a rallying cry to home cooks. In chapters about boiling water, cooking eggs and beans, and summoning respectable meals from empty cupboards, Tamar weaves philosophy and instruction into approachable lessons on instinctive cooking. Tamar sh
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3 Comments to 'An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace'
January 27, 2012
the pleasure and practicality of food usage and cooking,
“An Everlasting Meal”, by Tamar Adler, is an impressive, informed, invaluable inside look at the pleasure and practicality of food usage and cooking in a sustainable manner. Making the most of the flavors found in almost every part and particle of foods both common and exotic is not a new theory, nor is it one lacking in culinary satisfaction. On the contrary, learning to incorporate natural flavors and cooking essences into savory seasonings and sauces is a true treat for the taste buds. This is a carry-it-forward food plan that takes some skill in the kitchen, an organized mind, and a commitment to not letting valuable resources go to waste. Why throw it out and then have to go buy it again? Why not accept it, embrace it, and enjoy it? My favorite chapter in the book is “How to Live Well”, and it glorifies one of the most humble, and most essential of all foods: the dried bean. Being from the South, I have an innate love for a bowl of brown beans with some boiled potatoes and a hunk of cornbread on the side. Add some sliced onions and slices of juicy home-grown tomatoes, and you have a peasant’s meal fit for royalty! There are wonderful recipes and cooking tips throughout “An Everlasting Meal”, but there is also a gentle reminder of how simple and soothing it can be to just cook and enjoy food with your family and friends.
Review Copy Gratis Simon & Schuster
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|January 27, 2012
Absolutely beautiful,
The writing in this book is striking. When I looked in the forward I noticed that Alice Waters described the author’s preternatural poise and presence. Preternatural isn’t a word most people use, and it conveys a lot.
And I’m amazed at how wonderful the writing is. There are formal recipes, but primarily the author just talks about food and cooking. She talks about how to cook and how to live at the same time. She writes eloquently and lengthily about the importance of bean broth.
I should have bought two copies, so I could feel safe in lending one out.
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|January 27, 2012
The one book which got me cooking.,
I really enjoyed Tamar Adler’s book. The tone of it, and how she is so kind to all involved – eggs, beans, or us poor helpless things lost in the kitchen. I felt like she was taking me by the hand to show me that cooking is not daunting, that it is just part of everyday life. I only need to start water boiling, or pick up where I left off, and follow the thread of continuity.
I have a collection of unread cookbooks for kitchen-challenged people. I tried to use them but I could just not get into them, as if they were trying to fix a problem I didn’t have. But this book is a beautiful read in itself, a true book, not only a collection of recipes. It shows how to look at things differently, as if she were just whispering to us, “you’ve known it all along”. I don’t need to learn from these cookbooks, I can cook already, enough to get started. And the idea of always using ends to feed beginnings, nuts roasted in the cooling oven or pasta turned into a frittata, is very appealing to me, almost poetic.
This book flows with wonderful ease and a sense of elegant clarity all along; and it finally got me cooking regularly where all the others had failed!
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