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Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
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Share the unsurpassed pleasures of discovering, cooking, and eating good, simple food with this beloved book. Equal parts cookbook and memoir, Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" combines her insightful, good-humored writing style with her lifelong passion for wonderful cuisine in essays such as "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant," "Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir," and "Stuffe
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Paperback, 184 pages
Published
June 1st 2000
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1988)
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Arimathea
Possibly, though not every cookbook needs to have someone cook their way through it.
Community Reviews
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Start your review of Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
Jun 18, 2007
Lauren
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Amber Hoover, Suzanne Theberge, Amy King
Shelves:
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My good friend Rachel B and her mom have read Laurie Colwin for years. I always noticed a row of her novels in their home outside Cambridge, MA. Never before my visits had I seen her books, but I happened upon Clothilde (sp) from Chocolate and Zucchini mentioning Laurie Colwin's exquisite food writing. So when it came time for me to buy Rachel some presents as a "thank you for hosting me in San Francisco" gift, I knew that one item had to be the collected food writing of Laurie Colwin.
And that ...more
And that ...more
I gave my mom a copy of Lucy Knisley's RELISH, and in turn she pointed me to Laurie Colwin, who pioneered the food-and-recipe-driven essay style that Lucy so deftly reinvented in the graphic novel format. I read most of this book on my iphone, in the dark, between the hours of 2 and 5am, awake with a 3-week-old baby. It was exactly what I needed then - comforting and funny and nostalgic, sending me on a pleasant, hazy, remembrance of my own early childhood in Boulder in the 1980s when arugula wa
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I haven't read this author at all -- I just happened to see the cover online and want to track down the book and find out who painted it.
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I haven't run across much food writing that can make me laugh out loud, but this book did just that. These are chatty, revelatory, often humorous essays on cooking, entertaining, and domestic life in general. Colwin's approach is warm and accessible. You need not be a cook to enjoy the book, but it might make you want to start using your kitchen for more than just the microwave oven. There are informal recipes scattered throughout the book, and some more formal ones at the end of most of the ess
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How to describe the delight of reading Laurie Colwin's part memoir, part philosophical essays on food and cooking and part recipe book? Written with great warmth and humor, she tells us stories about her life, stories about her friends, about entertaining in her tiny apartment that didn't include a kitchen sink, about her cooking successes and failures, stories that instruct us on how to make the best fried chicken for example, stories that should give anyone confidence to tackle home cooking. I
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This was my second read on this book. While I enjoyed it, I also felt like perhaps me, as a cook, has changed. Or me as a reader has changed. Maybe I've read too many incredible food memoirs in the meantime, or my skills have improved. This time I sort of felt like I was getting advice from a 1970s earth mother in a room with a spider plant. This is not to say I didn't identify with her ("Because I am always hungry, I myself eschew hors d'oeuvres. When they come my way, I eat too many and then I
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Reading Laurie Colwin is like sitting in a friend's kitchen sharing a cup of tea. She shares favorite recipes, dining experiences and opinions on food along with stories of notable disasters. This book is the food writer's version of comfort food. The recipes are good and the cooking advice is sound. The creamed spinach with jalapenos is wonderful, the gingerbread delicious, and the potato salad very good. I enjoy rereading it every January while there is snow on the ground and think about it wh
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Jun 08, 2022
Julie Ehlers
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
food-and-drink
Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking and
More Home Cooking
are two funny, comforting volumes of food writing. Colwin intends to show that cooking is fun and easy to do at home, but sometimes the recipes themselves are a little vague or casual, so I might not recommend actually cooking from them unless you’re already a relatively experienced cook. The real reason to read these books is the writing itself. This new edition contains a lovely introduction by Ruth Reichl, herself a food writer extraordin
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I was thinking about "comfort reading" (for #bookstagram purposes) and this is one of the first books that came to mind. It's impossible to even guess how many times I have read this dear, dear friend. In her foreword to this collection of essays on food, Colwin shares this oft-quoted philosophy: "One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends." I wo
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Laurie Colwin died very young.
I discovered her when I was in law school - a friend of mine had picked up her last book A Big Storm Knocked It Over: A Novel and pressed it on me with the fervor of an evangelical, telling me that this book, this book was everything to her. I didn't know it then, but Laurie Colwin was already dead of a heart attack.
I read A Big Storm Knocked It Over, and then went on to read Happy All the Time, a book that I still own, that I left out in the rain and has a cover t ...more
I discovered her when I was in law school - a friend of mine had picked up her last book A Big Storm Knocked It Over: A Novel and pressed it on me with the fervor of an evangelical, telling me that this book, this book was everything to her. I didn't know it then, but Laurie Colwin was already dead of a heart attack.
I read A Big Storm Knocked It Over, and then went on to read Happy All the Time, a book that I still own, that I left out in the rain and has a cover t ...more
For two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I am obsessed with the meal... to brine or not to brine, twice baked or mashed, how many sides, will four pies suffice, etc. Never mind the logistics of fitting everyone around the table or what time dinner should be served.
As I fussed with recipes, shopping, and planning, Laurie Colwin was like an old friend whose quiet presence reassured me it would all turn out just fine. During this time, I was too preoccupied to read much, but her short essays were ...more
As I fussed with recipes, shopping, and planning, Laurie Colwin was like an old friend whose quiet presence reassured me it would all turn out just fine. During this time, I was too preoccupied to read much, but her short essays were ...more
Laurie Colwin is plain winsome. Her (writing) voice is capable, soothing, wry, funny, unassuming. I moseyed my way through her comfort-filled chapters. I'm conflicted about the decision to keep or release this book. It's reassuring reading you could pick up, read a random chapter, and set down again.
I do not believe you have to spend a lot of money to eat well: it is hard to beat a plain old baked potato.
A long time ago it occurred to me that when people are tired and hungry, which in adult lif ...more
I do not believe you have to spend a lot of money to eat well: it is hard to beat a plain old baked potato.
A long time ago it occurred to me that when people are tired and hungry, which in adult lif ...more
After reading so many accolades about Laurie Colwin and her book, "Home Cooking", I wanted to experience it for myself. She holds legendary status in the field of food writing. Sadly, she died in her early forties.
Now I understand why her readers and fellow writers adored her. Colwin's writing is lively, opinionated and fun. Reading her is like talking with a good friend. As she writes of her food adventures, bits of her personal life are shared. I would call "Home Cooking" a food memoir rather ...more
Now I understand why her readers and fellow writers adored her. Colwin's writing is lively, opinionated and fun. Reading her is like talking with a good friend. As she writes of her food adventures, bits of her personal life are shared. I would call "Home Cooking" a food memoir rather ...more
Jan 07, 2019
Julie Durnell
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cookbook,
non-fiction
A treasure of both essay-type memoirs and recipes! I've not read any of Laurie Colwin before but this was a great one to start with. The "Kitchen Horrors" chapter is laugh out loud funny and there are many amusing moments-some aimed at her and some at others. Her recipes are down-home, tried and true with a hint of gourmet to shake it up! Can't wait to read the second book, More Home Cooking!
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There's nothing like a Laurie Colwin book and this is one of the best. She's a lovely and wonderful friend in my head and reading her is just pure comfort and joy. Her outlook on life makes me so happy. Read this! Read everything by her and, when you're done, read it again.
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(4.5 Stars)
I have Dorian (at Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau) to thank for introducing me to Laurie Colwin. (You can read more about the background to that intro in my review of Colwin’s 1982 excellent novel, Family Happiness, by clicking on the link.) Alongside fiction, Colwin also wrote about food – specifically, home-cooked food, the kinds of simple yet flavoursome dishes that any good cook needs to have in his or her repertoire.
First published in 1988, and reissued by Fig Tree in this lovely 2012 e ...more
I have Dorian (at Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau) to thank for introducing me to Laurie Colwin. (You can read more about the background to that intro in my review of Colwin’s 1982 excellent novel, Family Happiness, by clicking on the link.) Alongside fiction, Colwin also wrote about food – specifically, home-cooked food, the kinds of simple yet flavoursome dishes that any good cook needs to have in his or her repertoire.
First published in 1988, and reissued by Fig Tree in this lovely 2012 e ...more
There's Nora Ephron, there's Ruth Reichl, and then there's Laurie Colwin. A huge admirer of the first two, I hadn't dipped my toe into the Colwin pool until recently. I'm glad I did. Whereas Ephron is mostly a humorist, and Reichl mostly a gastronome, Colwin sits right in between: she's obsessed with food, but she's self-deprecating about it, happy to share her own failures as willingly as she does her triumphs. Her tastes will surprise you: she finds a stuffed breast of veal to be meh, but love
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I devoured this cozy, delicious read!! Laurie Colwin was ahead of her times, so much content in these foodie essays of the late 80s is as relevant as ever. And even as a vegan I appreciated Laurie’s approach towards simple food & flavors & an appreciation & love for cooking & enjoying meals. Bravo!
Apr 21, 2018
MargaretDH
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
cooking
From the essay "The Same Old Things:"
Many of my closest friends are sick of my baked chicken, and even when I point out that I know a million variations on this theme, they rightly point out that they have had them all, and more than once....more
But when the chips are down, the spirit is exhausted and the body hungry, the same old thing is a great consolation. When people who must provide meals are too tired to think of what to cook, those old standbys come to the rescue. These are things a person can
For the first 120 pages, I really detested Colwin. Such smug superiority! I put this down a lot.
This morning I picked her book of essays again in perhaps a more forgiving mood. I reasoned, that even though she comes off quite snobbish, at least she does share her screw-ups in the kitchen. Not many cooks own up to that fact - cooking is a learning process and one makes a few mistakes along the way. Colwin also shares that sometimes, recipes just do not turn out the way you expect. I liked that.
T ...more
This morning I picked her book of essays again in perhaps a more forgiving mood. I reasoned, that even though she comes off quite snobbish, at least she does share her screw-ups in the kitchen. Not many cooks own up to that fact - cooking is a learning process and one makes a few mistakes along the way. Colwin also shares that sometimes, recipes just do not turn out the way you expect. I liked that.
T ...more
Laurie Colwin, who passed away unexpectedly in 1992, was a cook for the rest of us. Although she could make gourmet meals, she typically didn't. She was interested in food, the tastes, the smells, the textures, even the visuals - not the plating like a chef would use, but how does it look when it comes together. She's not afraid of her failures and sees them for the amusement value they provide. In other words, she's not full of herself. She's full of life and joy and the pleasures of food. Ever
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This isn't really a cookbook in the traditional sense. It is a collection of essays on food, dining,life experiences that happen to center around food. I tucked into this read with true relish. And I enjoyed every word. Before I knew it, I was done! What to do? Find more from this author right away!
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Aug 16, 2020
reading is my hustle
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
foodies,
memoirs-biographies
The table is a meeting place, a gathering ground, the source of sustenance and nourishment, festivity, safety, and satisfaction. A person cooking is a person giving: Even the simplest food is a gift.
-Laurie Colwin
sunday supper is my favorite meal of the week. it's always felt like an ideal day to try new recipes or cook more complicated ones. Laurie Colwin's collection of food essays read like sunday supper. most of the essays are about food, friendship, & the pleasure of sharing both. her re ...more
This is a three star cookbook, and five star collection of essays. A friend gave this to me in 2015 with the inscription "Caroline– you don't cook, but when you do, start here". At first I thought this was bad advice, because the recipes are extremely American, the measurements are vague, the ingredients not very easy to find. Some the recipes are dated. There's a heavy preoccupation with stews and casseroles, which – even now, that i can cook – I don't ever make. The reason you read this book b
...more
I just revisited this book as an audio edition, and was as delighted with it as I was with my first reading of the book years ago. Now I am hoping that there is an audio edition of the follow up book, More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen, in the offing!
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Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen is a delightful, albeit slightly dated (published in 1988), collection of essays on home cooking and entertaining. Colwin is at her funniest when describing dinner parties and dishes gone horribly awry, but the tone of the whole is engaging and personal. Her voice is both self-deprecating and assured. If you like to cook, this is definitely worth the read.
Another book that I bought for $1 while working as a volunteer at our local library book sale. I had read Happy All the Time, a novel by Colwin and enjoyed it. This book was a light-hearted account of cooking with chapters like Friday Night Supper or The Same Old Thing or Kitchen Horrors.
I tried one recipe for Warm Potato Salad with Fried Red Peppers. It was pretty awful.
I tried one recipe for Warm Potato Salad with Fried Red Peppers. It was pretty awful.
My first Colwin, and I felt at sea until I realised that despite the 2000 publication date I saw, it was originally from 1988. It is charming and quick and Colwin is funny, but the sense of being from a different world was strong, so I read it more as a period piece than as anything connected to my own life or experiences in the kitchen. I am curious to try her fiction.
I ADORE this book. This is the most accessible and enjoyable food writing I have ever read. She maintains a down-to-earth tone and made me actually giggle with her honest reflections on cooking and eating. Love, love, love.
4.5 stars
This is essentially comfort reading. It's not fluffy, but not too taxing on the brain, either. Colwin is funny and relatable; she loves to cook, but doesn't do so professionally, so that reading her book is like listening to a friend - an average cook with her share of food blunders.
Like a friend, the author expresses some strong opinions that I disagree with, but it didn't bother me in this book the way it might in others. Since it was published in 1988, there are a few outdated nutrit ...more
This is essentially comfort reading. It's not fluffy, but not too taxing on the brain, either. Colwin is funny and relatable; she loves to cook, but doesn't do so professionally, so that reading her book is like listening to a friend - an average cook with her share of food blunders.
Like a friend, the author expresses some strong opinions that I disagree with, but it didn't bother me in this book the way it might in others. Since it was published in 1988, there are a few outdated nutrit ...more
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| Huntsville-Madiso...: Hoopla Pick - June 9 | 1 | 8 | Jun 09, 2020 03:29PM | |
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Laurie Colwin is the author of five novels: Happy All the Time, Family Happiness, Goodbye Without Leaving, Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object, and A Big Storm Knocked It Over; three collections of short stories: Passion and Affect, Another Marvelous Thing, and The Lone Pilgrim; and two collections of essays: Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. She died in 1992.
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“The old days were slower. People buttered their bread without guilt and sat down to dinner en famille.”
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