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More Home Cooking
More Home Cooking, like its predecessor, Home Cooking, is an expression of Laurie Colwin's lifelong passion for cuisine. In this delightful mix of recipes, advice, and anecdotes, she writes about often overlooked food items such as beets, pears, black beans, and chutney. With down-to-earth charm and wit, Colwin also discusses the many pleasures and problems of cooking at home in essays such as "Desserts That Quiver," "Turkey Angst," and "Catering on One Dollar a Head." As informative as it is entertaining, More Home Cooking is a delicious treat for anyone who loves to spend time in the kitchen.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Laurie Colwin
33 books538 followersLaurie 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 231 reviews
March 24, 2025
"more of something you liked" is a great title format.
true to form, this was too charming for its own good. even if it had too many gelatin-based creations and unique uses of beef for my taste.
i have grown to really love laurie colwin, and i love these books because they're insights into her actual self, what she likes to eat and read and surround herself with. the fact tthat she died so young, that we could still have her active writing, is so devastating it takes my breath away.
bottom line: i could never have enough laurie colwin, but we have far too little.
true to form, this was too charming for its own good. even if it had too many gelatin-based creations and unique uses of beef for my taste.
i have grown to really love laurie colwin, and i love these books because they're insights into her actual self, what she likes to eat and read and surround herself with. the fact tthat she died so young, that we could still have her active writing, is so devastating it takes my breath away.
bottom line: i could never have enough laurie colwin, but we have far too little.
February 6, 2016
I have read this beloved cookbook so many times that as I skim through favourite bits they almost feel like my own well-worn stories. I associate this book, entirely, with my first year in England. I had not long been married, and I was pregnant. I knew almost no one, but I was lucky in my next-door neighbours. We lived side by side in a Victorian semi-detached cottage, divided in the front garden by a red rose hedge. The two young daughters of the neighbouring family had the long blonde hair and pink cheeks of little fairy princesses, and they seemed so sweet that I was delighted to be having a baby daughter myself. Marilyn, the mother, had an extensive collection of paperback novels that she was willing to share and I remember gorging on the novels of Mary Wesley, Joanna Trollope and Rosamund Pilcher. For an idyllic two months I had nothing to do but read, cook, take walks and contemplate my approaching motherhood. I'm sure not everyone would enjoy this state of solitary suspension, but I loved it. I probably would have felt quite alone if I didn't have all of these fictional friends, but I did -- and I also had Colwin's cookbooks, which I cooked from extensively.
I love the way Colwin writes, and her writing transports me to a world which feels safe, cosy and civilized. This is an example of a scene she creates:
"I had my first taste of black bean soup on a cold winter Saturday when I was sixteen years old. A friend, home for the holidays from a very glamorous college, gave a lunch party and invited me. Seated at her table, I felt that I -- mired in high school and barely passing geometry -- had died and entered a heaven in which people played the cello, stayed up at night discussing Virginia Woolf, saw plays by Jean-Paul Sartre, and went to Paris for their junior years abroad. But it was the black bean soup that changed my life."
We agree, entirely, on a philosophy of food and cooking. We also have many of the same comfort foods: black bean soup, fried chicken, roast chicken, biscuits, gingerbread, apple pie and rice pudding. I have bought nearly every cookbook she ever recommended, although I've never loved any of them as much as I love hers.
I love the way Colwin writes, and her writing transports me to a world which feels safe, cosy and civilized. This is an example of a scene she creates:
"I had my first taste of black bean soup on a cold winter Saturday when I was sixteen years old. A friend, home for the holidays from a very glamorous college, gave a lunch party and invited me. Seated at her table, I felt that I -- mired in high school and barely passing geometry -- had died and entered a heaven in which people played the cello, stayed up at night discussing Virginia Woolf, saw plays by Jean-Paul Sartre, and went to Paris for their junior years abroad. But it was the black bean soup that changed my life."
We agree, entirely, on a philosophy of food and cooking. We also have many of the same comfort foods: black bean soup, fried chicken, roast chicken, biscuits, gingerbread, apple pie and rice pudding. I have bought nearly every cookbook she ever recommended, although I've never loved any of them as much as I love hers.
June 6, 2022
My sister, who has always been a fan of food writing, lent me Laurie Colwin’s two volumes on home cooking many years ago, and I was just alright with them. I think this is probably because, at the time, I was somewhat inexperienced in both cooking and life and therefore did not appreciate the wisdom the books impart on both. Colwin’s brand of gentle humor seemed to land better this time around, too. I decided to read these again because I was drawn to the beautiful redesigned paperback editions; I started with More Home Cooking because I remembered preferring it last time, and because it had a new introduction by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen fame. Having reread both books in quick succession, though, I think it would be better for the new reader to read them in order (Home Cooking followed by More Home Cooking). She does refer to the first volume occasionally in this one, and some concepts from the first book go unexplained here because she figures you already know. If you like food writing, though, both books are recommended.
July 10, 2021
Delightful and amusing essays and recipes!
October 21, 2025
Sometimes I forget how important it is to read the subtitle. The full name of this book is More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen. If I had done my due diligence, I wouldn’t have been surprised that the accompanying stories are so lengthy.
What would have been surprising regardless is the format of the recipes. Author Lori Colwin’s recipes don’t have an introductory list of ingredients, making it a bit more difficult to assemble what you need beforehand. Some of the recipes are not even recipes but more some elderly relative passing on cooking advice: “As a mere youth, I used to make large crocks of something we all called Chinese Ginger Cabbage. You cut up a green cabbage as for coleslaw, salt it liberally, dress it with dark sesame oil, sprinkle it with powdered ginger, and squirt over it the juice of a lemon or two. Toss and weigh down with a plate. I ate large quantities of this stuff.” Okaaaay!
Colwin also categorizes her recipes in a most irregular way. Normally, recipes are divided by type: beef, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetarian, vegan, etc. Or by meals: breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, dessert. Instead, the first four of Colwin’s categories reveal how random the categories are: After the Holidays, Black Beans, Lemons and Limes, and The Once and Future Dinner Party. Huh?
Colwin is probably perfect for serious foodies, those who could appreciate a recipe that requires a duck press or a split calf’s foot. But I need — how can I say it? — more structure in a cookbook, so that I am not browsing through hundreds of words to discover how Colwin recommends one make scalloped potatoes or garlic vinegar. I feel ashamed, wondering if it is that I am too conventional rather than that Colwin is too unorthodox. Regardless of who’s at fault, this cookbook was just not for me.
What would have been surprising regardless is the format of the recipes. Author Lori Colwin’s recipes don’t have an introductory list of ingredients, making it a bit more difficult to assemble what you need beforehand. Some of the recipes are not even recipes but more some elderly relative passing on cooking advice: “As a mere youth, I used to make large crocks of something we all called Chinese Ginger Cabbage. You cut up a green cabbage as for coleslaw, salt it liberally, dress it with dark sesame oil, sprinkle it with powdered ginger, and squirt over it the juice of a lemon or two. Toss and weigh down with a plate. I ate large quantities of this stuff.” Okaaaay!
Colwin also categorizes her recipes in a most irregular way. Normally, recipes are divided by type: beef, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetarian, vegan, etc. Or by meals: breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, dessert. Instead, the first four of Colwin’s categories reveal how random the categories are: After the Holidays, Black Beans, Lemons and Limes, and The Once and Future Dinner Party. Huh?
Colwin is probably perfect for serious foodies, those who could appreciate a recipe that requires a duck press or a split calf’s foot. But I need — how can I say it? — more structure in a cookbook, so that I am not browsing through hundreds of words to discover how Colwin recommends one make scalloped potatoes or garlic vinegar. I feel ashamed, wondering if it is that I am too conventional rather than that Colwin is too unorthodox. Regardless of who’s at fault, this cookbook was just not for me.
November 13, 2021
I came into my marriage knowing how to make easy over eggs, which Dad asked me to make him on Sunday mornings, and how to stir gravy Mom had thickened with Wondra. Otherwise, I knew how to grate potatoes for Mom’s Potato Pancakes, use the can opener, and pour milk on cold cereal. Mom gave me recipe cards with her signature dishes–spaghetti, chili, chicken and rice. Dad gave me a cookbook.
My husband was in grad school and we were poor, living on a campus in the middle of nowhere. Learning to cook and bake and ‘put up’ and garden became our hobbies. We watched the tv chiefs. I borrowed cookbooks from the local library. We took an organic gardening class. We bought armfuls of rhubarb from a farmer and made jam.
On Sunday afternoons, we made the week’s bread. We had homemade soup and salads for lunch. For dinner, we made slow cooked baked beans (in a bean pot), served with home made cornbread, stuffed zucchini in summer, and for a treat chicken stewed with tomatoes and zucchini.
After my husband’s graduation we moved to Philadelphia. We found recipes in The Philadelphia Inquirer that we still use, and clipped recipes from the New York Times.
It was in Philadelphia, in the mid-1970s and 1980s, that I read Laurie Colwin‘s novels and her articles. I am delighted that her work is being republished. And even more delighted to have a copy of her 1992 book More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen, sent me through The Book Club Cookbook.
Colwin’s writing is always entertaining and delightful. Her voice is friendly. She has a sense of humor that is never mean spirited. I waylaid my husband and read sections aloud to him.
I have been reading about sourdough starters for years, but frankly, I was too chicken to start one. I never took chemistry in high school, and besides, even if by some miracle it came out right, sourdough starters sounded demanding—what with stirring them or using them once a week and taking them out for an airing and keeping them in the right place in the fridge.[…]who needs sourdough starter? You might as well get a dog.
from More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
Her descriptions of food and her recipes inspired me to jump up and get into the kitchen and cook. Her meals are simple but with an exotic touch. Like pan roasted beets simmered in chicken broth, with red onion, rosemary, and hot pepper flakes added, and served on Angel’s Hair pasta. Or, Cranberry Beans in a Béchamel Sauce. A simple four ingredient biscuit recipe becomes savory with the addition of Cheddar cheese or poppy seeds, while adding a dash of sugar and add fruit makes scones. Roll it out for a pizza dough topped with fried vegetables or pesto, or top with jam and sliced fruit for an easy desert.
My mouth is watering just writing about it.
If you are a Colwin fan, or new to her work, you will want to check out More Home Cooking and her other books now rereleased.
I received a free book through the Book Club Cook Book. My review is fair and unbiased.
My husband was in grad school and we were poor, living on a campus in the middle of nowhere. Learning to cook and bake and ‘put up’ and garden became our hobbies. We watched the tv chiefs. I borrowed cookbooks from the local library. We took an organic gardening class. We bought armfuls of rhubarb from a farmer and made jam.
On Sunday afternoons, we made the week’s bread. We had homemade soup and salads for lunch. For dinner, we made slow cooked baked beans (in a bean pot), served with home made cornbread, stuffed zucchini in summer, and for a treat chicken stewed with tomatoes and zucchini.
After my husband’s graduation we moved to Philadelphia. We found recipes in The Philadelphia Inquirer that we still use, and clipped recipes from the New York Times.
It was in Philadelphia, in the mid-1970s and 1980s, that I read Laurie Colwin‘s novels and her articles. I am delighted that her work is being republished. And even more delighted to have a copy of her 1992 book More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen, sent me through The Book Club Cookbook.
Colwin’s writing is always entertaining and delightful. Her voice is friendly. She has a sense of humor that is never mean spirited. I waylaid my husband and read sections aloud to him.
I have been reading about sourdough starters for years, but frankly, I was too chicken to start one. I never took chemistry in high school, and besides, even if by some miracle it came out right, sourdough starters sounded demanding—what with stirring them or using them once a week and taking them out for an airing and keeping them in the right place in the fridge.[…]who needs sourdough starter? You might as well get a dog.
from More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
Her descriptions of food and her recipes inspired me to jump up and get into the kitchen and cook. Her meals are simple but with an exotic touch. Like pan roasted beets simmered in chicken broth, with red onion, rosemary, and hot pepper flakes added, and served on Angel’s Hair pasta. Or, Cranberry Beans in a Béchamel Sauce. A simple four ingredient biscuit recipe becomes savory with the addition of Cheddar cheese or poppy seeds, while adding a dash of sugar and add fruit makes scones. Roll it out for a pizza dough topped with fried vegetables or pesto, or top with jam and sliced fruit for an easy desert.
My mouth is watering just writing about it.
If you are a Colwin fan, or new to her work, you will want to check out More Home Cooking and her other books now rereleased.
I received a free book through the Book Club Cook Book. My review is fair and unbiased.
July 31, 2009
I truly love Laurie Colwin, and was personally devastated when she died in 1992. I've read all of her books, and though this one is not a work of fiction, it is every bit as wonderful as the others.
The book is a series of essays Colwin wrote for different publications about food and cooking. It's a combination of stories, recipes, and life lessons, all told in her incomparable style. She writes like someone who is your best friend, and maybe doesn't live nearby anymore. It's like she is telling you what's been happening with her and her family since you last talked.
The recipes that I have tried are all really good, and for the most part, very simple.
I so wish she was still around to write more. But what she left is definitely better than nothing!
The book is a series of essays Colwin wrote for different publications about food and cooking. It's a combination of stories, recipes, and life lessons, all told in her incomparable style. She writes like someone who is your best friend, and maybe doesn't live nearby anymore. It's like she is telling you what's been happening with her and her family since you last talked.
The recipes that I have tried are all really good, and for the most part, very simple.
I so wish she was still around to write more. But what she left is definitely better than nothing!
May 24, 2015
This book is straight up amazing. It's one of those books that makes you wish you could invite the author over for a cup of tea or coffee, and talk about all kinds of things with her, not just cooking. But then at the same time, you wish she could come over and make jam with you, or biscuits, or her amazing spiced beef recipe, just so you could see how truly easy these recipes are. But unfortunately, Ms. Colwin died in 1992, very unexpectedly. My husband had looked it up for me, and so when I came across in one of the essays that she was writing in October of 1992 (the same month she died), it made me quite sad.
Anyone who loves food will love this book, especially those who love to cook. There are so many recipes to be found within its pages, and I've managed to cook one already (the recipe for Inez Fontenez's Succotash, which was a huge hit at my house. I also loved how Ms. Colwin insists that children will eat almost anything, that you don't have to prepare special "kid food" (ie, chicken nuggets and French fries) for every meal. The bit about how she and her daughter will eat capers straight out of the jar made me laugh, as my kids fight over the measuring spoon when I use fish sauce. Kids can be picky, sure, but they can also love foods that would surprise most adults.
I highly recommend this book. It's worth it as sort of a love story on food, but the recipes look pretty incredible as well. And the recipes are so very accessible; you won't have to go out and find some obscure ingredient or strange implement to make them. Buy this book. You will not regret it.
Anyone who loves food will love this book, especially those who love to cook. There are so many recipes to be found within its pages, and I've managed to cook one already (the recipe for Inez Fontenez's Succotash, which was a huge hit at my house. I also loved how Ms. Colwin insists that children will eat almost anything, that you don't have to prepare special "kid food" (ie, chicken nuggets and French fries) for every meal. The bit about how she and her daughter will eat capers straight out of the jar made me laugh, as my kids fight over the measuring spoon when I use fish sauce. Kids can be picky, sure, but they can also love foods that would surprise most adults.
I highly recommend this book. It's worth it as sort of a love story on food, but the recipes look pretty incredible as well. And the recipes are so very accessible; you won't have to go out and find some obscure ingredient or strange implement to make them. Buy this book. You will not regret it.
January 29, 2024
i didn’t think this would top “home cooking” — the original is almost always better and hard to beat — but it did. i think i love this one even more. oh laurie colwin, you were gone too soon.
November 5, 2025
4⭐
Para quienes nos gusta cocinar pero el mismo tiempo no tenemos tiempo o a veces no hay energía, este libro es perfecto. Posiblemente lo hubiera disfrutado más en físico, pero me gusta mucho como Laurie nos muestra que se puede cocinar cosas deliciosas sin ser un profesional, con consejos muy sencillos de seguir y alternativas para variar las recetas.
La cocina puede ser un lugar para dejarse llevar o solo estresarse, no hay intermedio, pero lo que aprendes cuando cocinas, es increíble. Una carta de amor a la cocina casera.
Para quienes nos gusta cocinar pero el mismo tiempo no tenemos tiempo o a veces no hay energía, este libro es perfecto. Posiblemente lo hubiera disfrutado más en físico, pero me gusta mucho como Laurie nos muestra que se puede cocinar cosas deliciosas sin ser un profesional, con consejos muy sencillos de seguir y alternativas para variar las recetas.
La cocina puede ser un lugar para dejarse llevar o solo estresarse, no hay intermedio, pero lo que aprendes cuando cocinas, es increíble. Una carta de amor a la cocina casera.
December 31, 2013
I love food, and I love fine writing. Unsurprisingly, I love fine writing about food. What is there not to love about Laurie Colwin’s essays? I’ve also read Colwin’s marvelous fiction, and I truly think both her collections of food writing--part recipe collections, part memoirs, and even a little bit of politics--are every bit as good. Her prose is delectable without being fussy, rather like the food she describes. She can occasionally be judgmental and snappish about food, but to me that just shows that she takes the topic seriously, and good for her. I get a bit up on my own high horse when it comes to the machinations of agribusiness and the processed food industry. My only complaint? I can’t decide whether reading this stuff makes me want to retreat to my office to write or to my kitchen to cook.
February 8, 2013
An example of more being better. More Laurie C, your best girlfriend who can march into your kitchen on a day when you've sprained your ankle and bounced a check, stare into your fridge for 2 minutes, and whip up something comforting. Recommended for the anxiety-ridden and the hungry.
September 18, 2017
This was even better than the first book. But really - biscuits, butter, and roast chicken...need I say more?
October 31, 2018
More dated than the first book, and also more recipes so slightly less readable.
July 3, 2021
“You want comfort; you want security; you want food; you want to not be hungry; and not only do you want those basic things fixed, you want it done in a really nice, gently way that makes you feel loved. That’s a big desire, and cookbooks say to the person who’s reading them, ‘If you will read me, you will be able to do this for yourself and for others. You will make everybody feel better.’”
I read Laurie Colwin’s “Home Cooking” a little earlier this year, and I absolutely loved it! I’ve loved & enjoyed cooking for my whole life, so it was very fun & soothing to read about different recipes and Colwin’s own food memories and cultural background. The second book was somehow even better than the first, and very comforting to read over the last week, which was very stressful in my own personal life. It was very soothing to read a chapter or two before I went to bed every night; my favorite chapters were about coffee, down-home standbys, the harried cook’s guide to fast food, food for kids, things to eat when you have jet lag, and things that are good for picnics!
I read Laurie Colwin’s “Home Cooking” a little earlier this year, and I absolutely loved it! I’ve loved & enjoyed cooking for my whole life, so it was very fun & soothing to read about different recipes and Colwin’s own food memories and cultural background. The second book was somehow even better than the first, and very comforting to read over the last week, which was very stressful in my own personal life. It was very soothing to read a chapter or two before I went to bed every night; my favorite chapters were about coffee, down-home standbys, the harried cook’s guide to fast food, food for kids, things to eat when you have jet lag, and things that are good for picnics!
April 29, 2025
I bought this off ebay for a tenner and discovered to my utter delight that there’s a dedication written in biro on the first page that reads For Les and Michel, thank you for all the wonderful dinners and for [word I can’t read] Estelle Colwin Something Something the handwriting is hard to make out Laurie Colwin’s mother.
How amazing is that!!!
Anyway, it goes without saying I love Laurie Colwin so much and I’m so sad she’s dead and I can’t email her
How amazing is that!!!
Anyway, it goes without saying I love Laurie Colwin so much and I’m so sad she’s dead and I can’t email her
December 27, 2024
As delightful as its predecessor. Knowing this book was published posthumously, I sighed a little every time Ms. Colwin mentioned looking forward to seeing what culinary traditions her child would have at Thanksgiving, or anticipating future meals and times with friends in the coming years. I would have loved to know her feelings on changing food trends, on cooking shows, on diets and meal kits.
July 11, 2022
I love memoirs that are built around food and cooking. Very enjoyable.
October 17, 2025
It was really good
October 3, 2024
I am sad to think Colwin died at too young an age. We are all poorer for it. I just want to reread this and Home Cooking over and over, make the recipes and source all the cookbooks she mentioned. RIP.
October 8, 2024
I love that she roasts everything that goes in the oven at 300 degrees. Pot roast. Chicken thighs. Vegetables. Roast chicken. Turkey. All of it 300.
November 24, 2022
3.5 stars
Colwin's writing is so down-to-earth and homey. I'm not really a fan of cooking, but she makes me want to do more of it.
The book is a product of its time, in the sense that "low-fat" was the prevailing wisdom of the day. Colwin doesn't make everything low-fat, but she mentions how to alter items to make them "healthier."
There are a few instances of profanity, including God's name used as an exclamation.
Colwin's writing is so down-to-earth and homey. I'm not really a fan of cooking, but she makes me want to do more of it.
The book is a product of its time, in the sense that "low-fat" was the prevailing wisdom of the day. Colwin doesn't make everything low-fat, but she mentions how to alter items to make them "healthier."
There are a few instances of profanity, including God's name used as an exclamation.
January 22, 2023
Truly enjoy the ideas about cooking and the general great conversational style.
October 1, 2021
This book was written in 1992 and it’s a little dated as far as food trends. I like Laurie Colwyn and her relationship with food, but I actually don’t like what she makes. In 2021 I don’t eat bread but I do appreciate her love of fresh foods. A lot of jams, breads chutney, fruits especially pears.
, Sad that Laurie is no longer with us to see what she would create in the time of keto.
, Sad that Laurie is no longer with us to see what she would create in the time of keto.
December 7, 2017
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.
Occasionally details date this 1992* book, e.g. how unhealthy eggs are. But overall, Colwin's writing is timeless and enduring. I love her. Though our lives are/were (she, 48, didn't wake up one October day in 1992) different in context and culture, her themes of cooking, reading, writing, family, and community are practices I cherish.
She writes about reading and I purr (not even a feline aficionado) as I vow to reread all of Barbara Pym.
Basically, all I ever do is read. I read about monastic life, polar Eskimos, arctic travel — I have no interest in ever going to the Arctic, by the way, and as I am not Christian, I can never enter a monastery — and I read English novels. One of my favorite novelists is Barbara Pym, who is an underrated writer, like Jane Austen. Everyone things she's just darling, but she is not just darling, she's really tough. One of the great things about Barbara Pym is that the food in Barbara Pym is just wonderful.
Colwin is Queen of zingers.
Black beans are the frazzled person's friend.
Biscuits are the utility infielder of the culinary world.
What is good for Mrs. [Edna] Lewis is good for the nation, in my opinion.
A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.
Lentils are friendly — the Miss Congeniality of the bean world.
It is amazing how many adults loathe beets - although puréed, strained beets are a staple in the baby-food industry.
Added to the riches of Colwin's prose, are the resources she recommends: cookbooks by Elizabeth David, Marcella Hazan, Edna Lewis, Sylvia Thompson, Jane Grigson, Margaret Costa, John Thorne, and Madhur Jaffrey. A hemisphere of food writing awaits.
The recipes look lovely, but so far they have nourished only my spirit.
*I chuckled at this: If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me "I don't have time to bake bread anymore," I would be as rich as Donald Trump used to be.
Occasionally details date this 1992* book, e.g. how unhealthy eggs are. But overall, Colwin's writing is timeless and enduring. I love her. Though our lives are/were (she, 48, didn't wake up one October day in 1992) different in context and culture, her themes of cooking, reading, writing, family, and community are practices I cherish.
She writes about reading and I purr (not even a feline aficionado) as I vow to reread all of Barbara Pym.
Basically, all I ever do is read. I read about monastic life, polar Eskimos, arctic travel — I have no interest in ever going to the Arctic, by the way, and as I am not Christian, I can never enter a monastery — and I read English novels. One of my favorite novelists is Barbara Pym, who is an underrated writer, like Jane Austen. Everyone things she's just darling, but she is not just darling, she's really tough. One of the great things about Barbara Pym is that the food in Barbara Pym is just wonderful.
Colwin is Queen of zingers.
Black beans are the frazzled person's friend.
Biscuits are the utility infielder of the culinary world.
What is good for Mrs. [Edna] Lewis is good for the nation, in my opinion.
A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.
Lentils are friendly — the Miss Congeniality of the bean world.
It is amazing how many adults loathe beets - although puréed, strained beets are a staple in the baby-food industry.
Added to the riches of Colwin's prose, are the resources she recommends: cookbooks by Elizabeth David, Marcella Hazan, Edna Lewis, Sylvia Thompson, Jane Grigson, Margaret Costa, John Thorne, and Madhur Jaffrey. A hemisphere of food writing awaits.
The recipes look lovely, but so far they have nourished only my spirit.
*I chuckled at this: If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me "I don't have time to bake bread anymore," I would be as rich as Donald Trump used to be.
December 11, 2010
I first read this book, and its companion Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen in 1997. This time around I devoured it in one sitting...and it is still a satisfying read.
Food writing as it should be..true Kitchen Table talk...full of stories, anecdotes, hints, tips, victories and flops. The recipes? some work...some don't
The favor Ms Colwin did for me was mentioning Taste of Country Cooking by the inimitable Edna Lewis...which title I recommend to anyone interested in "American" cookery...besides that, Ms Lewis is one hell of a storyteller.
MORE HOME COOKING has a chapter on what to eat whilst suffering JET LAG....the bugbear of our times. Her chapter on feeding children is a gem since she does not focus so much on the "dos and donts" as she does on the "exciting the palate" of those who are not jaded..Her chapter on Lentil Soup left me with a serious craving...and are those drool spots on the page(s)???
I love this book. It's a pity Ms Colwin died so young...we lost a good Foodie....and a Good Woman to boot.
4 Stars
Food writing as it should be..true Kitchen Table talk...full of stories, anecdotes, hints, tips, victories and flops. The recipes? some work...some don't
The favor Ms Colwin did for me was mentioning Taste of Country Cooking by the inimitable Edna Lewis...which title I recommend to anyone interested in "American" cookery...besides that, Ms Lewis is one hell of a storyteller.
MORE HOME COOKING has a chapter on what to eat whilst suffering JET LAG....the bugbear of our times. Her chapter on feeding children is a gem since she does not focus so much on the "dos and donts" as she does on the "exciting the palate" of those who are not jaded..Her chapter on Lentil Soup left me with a serious craving...and are those drool spots on the page(s)???
I love this book. It's a pity Ms Colwin died so young...we lost a good Foodie....and a Good Woman to boot.
4 Stars
June 21, 2018
Reading Laurie Colwin is absolute comfort food. She speaks to me where I live, as a food-loving, book-loving mother who cooks almost every day. I'm also amused at her allusions to absentmindedness; as a writer, she often worked at home and was glad to put a pot of something simmering on the stove for hours so that she could promptly forget about it. I can really relate to that.
She's unpretentious and warm; she acknowledges how wearying it can be to scrape together a meal at the end of the day, but she also celebrates what a pleasure it is to cook for and eat with friends and family. I'm eager to try her biscuit dough with nectarines; I share her love of black beans; and, like her, I'm so excited when I conquer a new kitchen challenge like jams or chutneys. She's also a lover of cookbooks and has me eager to read Jane Grigson and Edna Lewis
She's unpretentious and warm; she acknowledges how wearying it can be to scrape together a meal at the end of the day, but she also celebrates what a pleasure it is to cook for and eat with friends and family. I'm eager to try her biscuit dough with nectarines; I share her love of black beans; and, like her, I'm so excited when I conquer a new kitchen challenge like jams or chutneys. She's also a lover of cookbooks and has me eager to read Jane Grigson and Edna Lewis
January 7, 2022
I love this book so much. Laurie Colwin truly makes me feel like I'm sitting in the kitchen with a close friend sipping tea or wine, discussing our intricate opinions on potato salads, chocolate chips, and dates. I recommend keeping a notepad nearby while reading so you can record which recipes you want to make as well as the many cookbooks that she recommends!
April 29, 2014
You know how when you love something, and that love attracts all sorts of derision and mockery from others? Like when you love Miley Cyrus, and you're afraid to tell anyone you know, so you keep it inside for months and months until you meet someone you think you could call "friend"--best friend, even--so you share your dirty little secret love of MC and s/he turns to you with a look of disgust and horror and answers with "She's no Dylan!"? And you're thinking, "What do I say to that? I don't even like Bob Dylan! And I never said Miley was anything like that dude in the first place!" but instead of saying that, you reply with "Oh, I forgot I have a colonoscopy appointment in 10 minutes. See ya!"
You need not settle on secret love when it comes to this glorious little book of essays. Share that love with the world, and everyone will want to embrace you. Laurie Colwin is a writer I aspire to be, and for once, the peoples and snobs of Earth would agree she's awesome.
You need not settle on secret love when it comes to this glorious little book of essays. Share that love with the world, and everyone will want to embrace you. Laurie Colwin is a writer I aspire to be, and for once, the peoples and snobs of Earth would agree she's awesome.
January 16, 2021
So many parts of this book I want to read to other people. Foods we share, recipes we’ve tried, things we like or would like to eat. And she was so funny and down to earth, that Laurie Colwin. What a loss to the world when she died young. She reminded me of the social parts of cooking and eating, how each brings us together. (Maybe this stuck out more because we don’t eat socially these days.)Not all her writing translates over time, however. Even in just 30 years, cooking and language and roles and perceptions have changed some, as I guess they always will. But this book and the warmth and love of food she shares are timeless.
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