false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174848970m/446235.jpg 39540 7 Note: this is a US edition of this cookbook. "Cooking is not about just joining the dots, following one recipe slavishly and then moving on to the next," says British food writer Nigella Lawson. "It's about developing an understanding of food, a sense of assurance in the kitchen, about the simple desire to make yourself something to eat." Lawson is not a chef, but "an eater." She writes as if she's conversing with you while beating eggs or mincing garlic in your kitchen. She explains how to make the basics, such as roast chicken, soup stock, various sauces, cake, and ice cream. She teaches you to cook more esoteric dishes, such as grouse, white truffles (mushrooms, not chocolate), and "ham in Coca-Cola." She gives advice for entertaining over the holidays, quick cooking ("the real way to make life easier for yourself: cooking in advance"), cooking for yourself ("you don't have to belong to the drearily narcissistic learn-to-love-yourself school of thought to grasp that it might be a good thing to consider yourself worth cooking for"), and weekend lunches for six to eight people. Don't expect any concessions to health recommendations in the recipes here--Lawson makes liberal and unapologetic use of egg yolks, cream, and butter. There are plenty of recipes, but the best parts of <I>How to Eat</I> are the well-crafted tidbits of wisdom, such as the following:<p> <ul> <li>"Cook in advance and, if the worse comes to the worst, you can ditch it. No one but you will know that it tasted disgusting, or failed to set, or curdled or whatever."<br><p> <li>On the proper English trifle: "When I say proper I mean proper: lots of sponge, lots of jam, lots of custard and lots of cream. This is not a timid construction ... you don't want to end up with a trifle so upmarket it's inappropriately, posturingly elegant. A degree of vulgarity is requisite."<br><p> <li>"Too many people cook only when they're giving a dinner party. And it's very hard to go from zero to a hundred miles an hour. How can you learn to feel at ease around food, relaxed about cooking, if every time you go into the kitchen it's to cook at competition level?"<br> </ul><p> <I>--Joan Price</I> 790280 1999 How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food total:350|5:151|4:135|3:57|2:7|1:0| 350 1480 492 46 5 3 false false Tue Aug 21 06:49:17 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 06:49:17 -0700 2007
If you're trying to cook from it, this book may frustrate you-- sometimes I had to dig to find what I had remembered reading. Some are ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon May 07 01:05:24 -0700 2007 Mon May 07 19:41:52 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 17:22:39 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 17:22:39 -0800 2009
While it is impossible to compare these two women, both write lovingly about food and eating. Lawson calls herself an eater, not a chef, and I ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 15 20:30:27 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 20:31:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jun 13 16:27:50 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 21 14:07:45 -0700 2007
i like her mantra of picking a skill to work on and then practicing it until it feels natural instead of a challenge. will apply thi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 28 06:52:08 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 06:54:39 -0800 2008 Some of her recipes I make again and again. The best ones are:
Yorkshire pudding (always rises really well)
Birthday...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Nov 24 16:07:08 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 16:24:25 -0800 2008 countless more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 29 13:19:42 -0800 2007 Tue Jan 08 19:25:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Jul 15 15:21:14 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 15:22:45 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jan 03 12:57:34 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 12:58:41 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Dec 18 13:47:18 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 13:49:29 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 16:37:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 16:38:52 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 05:46:27 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 15:25:30 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sat Feb 23 06:43:26 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 06:43:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 22 08:20:44 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 08:23:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 30 17:12:46 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 30 17:17:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 13 14:44:30 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 14:45:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Feb 15 10:38:11 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 10:39:29 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 06:18:11 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 19 09:49:40 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 10 09:21:27 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 10 09:21:27 -0800 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=446235