mcglothlen's Profile
Let's be honest about Parmesan cheese
Strange, strange thread, actually. Parmigiano-Regianno is the EU domain designation (DOP) for a cheese that is at least 18 months old (my shop only sells Parmigiano-Regianno that is at least 30 months old) and that is made from raw skim milk. It is the single most regulated cheese on the planet. Because of the way that the cows that provide the milk are fed, this is a very seasonal cheese. March cheese tastes very different from October cheese, for instance. And there are few choicer delights than a well-aged piece of Parmiqiano-Regianno, freshly cut from it's 80 pound wheel. Having said all that, Pecorino Romano is one of my favorite cheeses ever. Mind you, I didn't say "romano". American "romano" is a cow's milk cheese and is basically, as with American "parmesan", gratable salt with little or no discernable dairy flavor at all. No matter WHAT kind of cheese you buy, let me leave you with a couple of final thoughts: 1. pre-cutting cheese, particularly good, hard cheeses and good very soft cheeses, is the surest way to kill flavor and 2. All pre-grated and pre-shredded cheeses contain an anti-caking agent (usually cellulose). The problem is that the same thing that keeps them from caking (a good thing, I suppose) keeps them from MELTING well (a bad thing, certainly). This is why sauces made from pre-grated cheeses are always grainy rather than smooth and silky.
June 2009 COTM: Elizabeth David Classics
I'm sorry I missed this thread when it was being written and experimented with. English Yeast Cookery is a work of absolute genius. The recipes are sound and the list of "bread lumineries" who've been powerfully influenced by it is a long one and includes Peter Reinhart. Read the history, by all means - but don't be intimidated by the recipes. They're terrific.
cookbooks: hidden gems?
I did read the Lisa Chaney biography. It's pretty good. I liked the Artemis Cooper one a shade better. I also have read a novel using E. David and Norman Douglas as characters called "Lunch with Elizabeth David".
cookbooks: hidden gems?
My current favorite "hidden gem" from my collection is one from 1913 called "Dishes and Beverages From the Old South" by Martha McCulloch-Willams. I've read it a couple times. I recently found it, too, at Feeding America (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/) an online American Cookery archive. I won't have to hurt my copy by reading it anymore because it's right HERE: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/html/books/book_66.cfm
I can't recommend the book or the site strongly enough.
cookbooks: hidden gems?
A couple of things about your post, BerkshireTsarina:
I completely agree about Elizabeth David. She was a wonderful writer and food scholar and I have all her books.
It's not fair, though, to MFK Fisher to say that Elizabeth David was there first. Fisher first published (Serve It Forth) nearly 15 years before Elizabeth David's first book came out. In fact, MFK Fisher had published 8 books by the time Mediterranean Food came out in 1950. It is surprising to me, though, that they'd never met. I can't imagine they'd have gotten on all that well, though. They both had huge personalities.
Also this: Elizabeth David HATED being refered to as a "doyenne", according to Artemis Cooper, her biographer. But, then, she also apparently hated the idea of a biography so maybe none of that matters.
Pomiane, who was a great food writer, was only one of Elizabeth David's influences. I'd also point you toward Hilda Leyel, if you haven't already found her. She was an eccentric genius to say the least and deserves a lot more attention than she has received.
And, finally, I'd add that I never really think of Julia Child as being a food writer in the same sense that Elizabeth David and MFK Fisher were, but perhaps I've missed out. I haven't yet read, for instance, Ms. Child's book about living in France.
Get the feeling I'm an Elizabeth David fan? I am. Fanatic is perhaps the right word. The Elizabeth David equivalent of a Trekker. :)
Cookbooks I won't buy
I'm seconding the notion that Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Bible" books (Cake, Pie, Bread) are exceptions to your rule (which I think might be questionable anyway - but, then, I'm a collector). Also there are some TREMENDOUS books out there that claim to be "Complete" - Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads comes to mind as does the Complete American-Jewish Cookbook and The Complete Book of Greek Cooking (by The Recipe Club of Saint Paul's Greek Orthodox Cathedral). Ohhh... and Bruce Aidell's Complete Sausage book... that's pretty great. I can't think of any "Ultimate" or "Best" ones that I like. And most celebrity chefs can't write. One recent exception is Mario Batali.
