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Reading and Cooking with Bruno, Chief of Police
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Theresa wrote: "Part 2 - my evening with Bruno a/k/a Martin Walker - I did say there was more and after several hours of prepping for back to back closings tomorrow I decided I needed to dribble out a little mor..."
Thanks for sharing, Theresa. So Cool!
I was really excited when I read the section of the book where the connections with America were talked about.
Joanne wrote: "I decided I am going to try finding Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen and spend the winter cooking and eating-and reading of course"Please share your experience! I have a similar plan and just joined Tertulia chasing the cookbook as my 50% off welcome book.
Yeah! A little angel sent me a copy, so I am already reading through it! Maybe we can cook together and share our opinions!
Booknblues wrote: "I've finished A Grave in the Woods and like his last book A Chateau Under Siege he uses a real chateau, with the actual owners in his book. The chateau is Domaine d..."Wonderful! Wish we could take a field trip!
Theresa wrote: "Some more tidbits before I have to spend a couple more hours working...When I arrived at the shop, I bought a copy of the book for him to autograph for me of course, even though I am only at the ..."
Great experience. Thanks for sharing, felt like I was there!
Part 3 - the conclusion of my hour with Bruno a/k/a Martin Walker - no I have not been sleeping since I finished the 2nd post - but travelling - I've been in Montana and Wyoming with Tessa a/k/a BookConcierge visiting Big Sky and Yellowstone National Park. More on that in Kaffeeklatsch.
At the end there was quite a bit of Q & A in which he talked about many things including his journalism career, when he started writing fiction (he's published non-fiction I believe - fiction was from his wife's encouragement), why named Bruno - and he said that is due to his wife Julie (who told him he could not use Pierrot as he intended (name of the real town flic) because everyone would think this some Italian farce - he needed a name like Bruno), and of course about food and his garden and how much he enjoys cooking. Of course his cookbook was mentioned and the store manager said they had copies. Needles to say, I made dang sure I got myself one of the 2 copies the store had and got it autographed! A
As I wanted a chance to talk to him again for a few minutes, I waited to be the last getting my books autographed - and spent several minutes talking to him not just about the online fan group reading his books together (YES, JoAnne, I did mention us!) but also about one of my friends in that group named JoAnne who had declared she was going to spend a year or so cooking from his cookbook. He immediately lit up and said he hoped she enjoyed doing so. As he autographed my cookbook, I mentioned how much I enjoy cookbooks by 'fictional characters' and that I had once long ago given a friend whose favorite author was Dorothy Sayers [book:The Lord Peter Wimsey Cookbook|66539 and we both loved the Shepherd's Pie recipe in it. (This book is long out of print and copies rare and expensive to find. I of course did not buy myself a copy at the same time because I do not like the books. Walker sympathized with me). That led to us talking about the french classic Boeuf Bourginon and he then made a recommendation from his cookbook for JoAnne -- and me of course: The Beef with prunes. NOTE: index in cookbook has both English and French titles of each recipe.
We also talked about my own fascination with France dating from before my student days there - and that the Perigord was one of the few places I have not yet visited and he encouraged me to do so.
At this point the manager was all but pulling Walker's chair out from under him to close up (it was a minute before 7 PM), but I have a few more tidbits to share about the evening.
He first became fascinated with the Perigord because of the Caves de Lescaux and has been there several times - he described them in some detail and some recent knowledge gleaned by archeological efforts in the area about how these cave paintings were done (required some sophisticated engineering and light sources), showing that the people in these early times were not all that primitive -- like the Egyptians and the Aztecs and more.
He has chickens and loves them - names all the hens - he was hilarious as he told us - and showed us - how each has a personality that reminded him of various politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Hilary Clinton so he named them after those ladies.
He's an admirer of Eleanor of Aquitaine as it was under her that the Perigord and its people flourished. He's an avid historian who delights in researching the Perigord.
He also mentioned how much he loves gardening. Walker mentions his wife Julie frequently, and they collaborated on the Cookbook. Many of the photos have her in them.
It was such a delightful evening all around. However, the store manager at The Mysterious Bookshop is a jerk and rather rude in his manner - I got the distinct impression that he's a gay man who hates women. Be that as it may, and that's something you do run into in NYC from time to time (I had a college professor who defined gay man who hates women), he also doesn't treat visiting authors it seems to me with the attention and respect they should be getting, nor those who come to those events - and coincidentally add to the profits of the store he's managing. He doesn't have someone stationed at the checkout the entire time the event is on so those of us buying books to be autographed or just impulse shopping stand waiting for a long time for someone to appear from the back to check us out. The manager also keeps such a tight eye on the clock that at more than one of these events he's cut the author short on their answer to a question because he the manager wants to close on the dot of 7 PM. In fact he starts packing up all the folding chairs during the applause - a not so subtle message to leave even though he had not started signing the books of those in attendance.
He even did this to Juliet Grames when she was there promoting her own book a couple months ago to sigh - and she's a Senior Editor at Soho Crime, one of the major publishers of crime novels. Seems a tad short-sighted to me.
I've been to many signings at Mysterious Bookshop over the decades, seen managers come and go, and while all of them are a tad supercilious and less than warm and friendly (owner of the shop is an elitist), they never ever rushed authors out. This guy has events start at 6 and they must end with everyone out the door by 7 PM so he can lock up.
Seems particularly rude even inconsiderate when the author is here from France! Might also explain the light attendance - people don't like being rushed, especially if it is an event they have had to rush to get to from work.
But even if hustled out, it was a delightful evening.
Joanne wrote: "Yeah! A little angel sent me a copy, so I am already reading through it! Maybe we can cook together and share our opinions!"As you just read, I obtained my own copy - and got it autographed - when at the signing. So I shall be joining in the cooking!
Though I don't expect to start for a bit.
Those cooking from Bruno, please use this thread to post about it! I'll adjust the name of the thread to encompass it.
What a lousy bookshop owner! Why not just lock the door so no one else can come in and let the attendees dawdle a bit! They are obviously readers, and don't you think it would help his sales? Truly an unkind owner who takes advantage.Thanks for sharing all this, Theresa it was great entertainment! I knew at some point you must have mentioned this group (how could you not?). I was just getting antsy to hear about it.
I did see the recipe of Beef with Prunes, and scrunched my nose up at it. Boeuf Bourginon was something I use to make quite often. I will have to un- scrunch my nose and give the Beef with Prunes a try. Prunes are not something I like too much, but perhaps it will pair nicely. When I find a good cut of beef I will have to give it a go (and can afford it !! Everything for good cooking is sooo expensive these days).
I am not someone who munches on prunes either - give me raisins, currents, or dried apricots - but I don't scrunch my nose up at them. Love them in pastries like hamantaschen, and I've had middle eastern dishes which include them, all delicious, and a Moroccan lamb tagine that was sublime. But we need not start with that. I might save that for Christmas/New Years and have a couple friends over.
I was wondering if the cookbook shows what book the recipes came from.The Beef with Prunes sounds familiar. I actually could see them working quite well as a compliment to the beef.
In all honesty, Fran, with getting my sister moved out of her group home and into a Long Term facility, I have not had the time to really delve into the book. I have been skimming the index and then lookin at certain pages but only the recipe itself.The holidays sound perfect for this dish, Theresa. I will put onto my list for holiday cooking.
I would love to try that beef with prunes recipe. I do like prunes, but prefer the fresh "Italian prune plums" that appear in the grocery store for about 2 weeks each fall. I bought ( and ate) some the week before I left for vacation in Yellowstone. I'm sure they will no longer be available when I get back.
I used the cookbook last night and made the Pot Roast. I will admit I was a little leery of it, as I always cook these cuts of meat very very low and slow, as they are tough, filled and with fat. (Nothing wrong with that! I will humbly admit I will steal pieces at the ends that have that fat on it and savor that taste of the meat and fat together). I don't have the book next to me right now, put I will be back to give you the page number.Also, my roast always gets a thick luscious gravy, which always puddles in the mash I make to go with it. This is something else all together, but WOW! delicious! And some of this sauce ran into the mash on my plate and it was very good together.
In the end I had to leave my roast in an oven turned down to
170 Farn. for another 1 1/2. When I first pulled it out and tested it (with fat of course) it was still very tough. It was not the the cut of meat, because I buy all my meat at a trusted butcher. More expensive, yes, but well worth the taste of even their chicken.
It was a great meal-lots of leftovers. Recommend for company and when you are in need of comfort food. Served with a medium-cost Red Table Wine.
Oh, JoAnne, that sounds delicious! Pot roast was Sunday Dinner on the farm. Haven't made it in years but some cold wintry night I will do so. If we ever get a true cold wintry night here in NYC again!
No time or energy yet in this house to try any recipes, but have been dipping into the cookbook.
🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔December tag is mystery-suspense a/k/a BRUNO!
We know there will be Bruno reads and even re-reads, but how about including some cooking from his cookbook?
Yes indeed-I have a few things lined up for December. One them is the Chocolate cookies. We have a cookie exchange at my cook book club and we can cook from any book we like.
Joanne - Chocolate Cookies look like a tasty choice! Do you have a favorite beverage you like to accompany cookies?Now that I'm settled into Fall, I started #2 The Dark Vineyard in search of food inspiration but I already got bogged down in Chap 3 with caves and prehistory.
However, I did snack on dried, golden raisins macerated in sauterne with Tropilia (cocoa chocolate coating) as I sipped Limoux Brut last evening - heavenly!
Cookies and extremely cold milk! Cookies just do not go with wine, for me anyway.Those raisins sound delightful!! Have no fear, Bruno and friends will eat sometime in that book-I don't remember the food parts, but I do remember that the 2nd book was pretty suspenseful. Enjoy!
Well, Florence's Chocolate Cookies were a disaster. I am not sure what I did wrong-I doubled the recipe, perhaps that was not a good idea. Maybe my idea of walnut size balls is larger then the French walnuts. Whatever I did wrong, the first batch spread into a cake. Then it just crumbled after cooling and I tried to cut it.I made the second batch balls much smaller, and they still spread to small thin pancakes. I threw the rest of the batter away.
My husband has been eating crumbs all afternoon. He says they are delicious and after tasting them, I must agree. I will try them again another time. But, glad I tested them out before I took them to cook book club! I will find something else to make.
Tomorrow I try the lemon tart-fingers crossed it comes out. That is our dessert for Thanksgiving!
Oh dear! Interesting because when I tried to find the cookie recipe the index said "see small cakes and cookies". Maybe cookies are cakes in Bruno's world!! Lemon tart sounds like a plan. We have citrus trees and I try to use as much as I can in holiday cooking.
The french don't make cookies, really, that are like ours. They do make tuiles - wafer thin and when still warm and soft, you real each one around someting like a round wooden spoon handle to shape into cylinders let them harden then slip them off. They will be crisp. You can leave them as rounds or shape them as cylinders or even cones. I am away so don't have the cookbook handy to look at the recipe but from what you describe that is what they would be.
I will have to look at the recipe when I get home.
Nope, look at the picture when you get home-should be cookies! I screwed up somewhere-but it is my first failure in the kitchen for quite sometime. We all need a reality check occasionally! I am thinking I did not grind the sugar fine enough to make it super fine.
Joanne wrote: "Nope, look at the picture when you get home-should be cookies! I screwed up somewhere-but it is my first failure in the kitchen for quite sometime. We all need a reality check occasionally! I am th..."I plan to give them a try and I happen to have a box of superfine sugar in my cupboard from some other recipe I had intended to make from a Nigella Lawson cookbook -- who is British and often uses things that are more common in British baking - like treacle rather than molasses. Sometimes you can substitute and sometimes not.
Well, Natalie said the Lemon Tart was divine. She is a bit prejudice as she did all the grating and whisking. Adam being a little unsure took only a small piece to begin with-quickly followed by a large portion, and few moans of pleasure.Personally I think at least 1/2 the lemon rind needed to be grated very fine (Bruno gave no direction on this). The larger pieces of grated lemon rise to the top of the tart and become a glorious crusty deliciousness.
All in all, marked as a success, and noted to make again and again.
I love lemon tarts and had noted this recipe. Thanks for jumping in first and providing a review!
Well done! Thanks for the rind tip. On my TBC list.
I have GOT to get this cookbook! (After the move ... refuse to have to pack one thing more than needed.)
Been a while, ladies. I made Chicken braised in wine and grapes, minus the grapes because I forgot to buy them. Natalie came for dinner, and both she and Adam had clean plates. It was a bit of work to prep and then keep an eye on it, but it would make a fine dinner for company. Oh, and I left out the fennel, as it is not a taste I like. Served with roasted baby carrots- just lovely.
I am keeping an eye on this thread because of one of my new PLAY Harder prompts needs something just like this....
It would be a great dish to cook up on a lazy Sunday, Theresa. You would have enough left for the rest of the week. Or you could do as I did and use bone-in breasts only. No one here, except me, likes dark meat, but I am betting the richness of the dark part of the bird would add to the dish.
Book Concierge wrote: "I have GOT to get this cookbook! (After the move ... refuse to have to pack one thing more than needed.)"The move is nearly in the books (😉). Time for you to get this book, Tessa. Come cook with me!
Amy wrote: "I am keeping an eye on this thread because of one of my new PLAY Harder prompts needs something just like this...."These books have a bit of everything, Amy. Mystery, romance, The French Resistance history, a bit of humor and of course a hunky guy with a dog! Hope you join the Bruno fan club.
Note:You need to start with book # 1.
Joanne wrote: "It would be a great dish to cook up on a lazy Sunday, Theresa. You would have enough left for the rest of the week. Or you could do as I did and use bone-in breasts only. No one here, except me, li..."And I prefer dark meat of course. I also love fennel in dishes.
I bet it tastes even better the 2nd and 3rd day.
I need to find what tower of books by my sofa is harboring this cookbook and do some menu planning. I've been working through the freezer and cupboards lately. I'm almost at the point I can start restocking -- and this recipe may just be one of those I start the restocking with.
@Amy - you need Bruno as one of your book boyfriends. And food features large in the books which is why Walker wrote the cookbook.
Recently prepared a Bruno inspired birthday meal for hubby. So many things are either not available locally or don't match my preferences/practices established over the decades. Rabbit with Prunes became Pork Roast with Dried Apricots in the Crock Pot, French Green Beans Stewed in Butter were excellent, my attempt to embrace more Duck lead to an appetizer of Duck Prosciutto, Brie and Dried Apricot on French Bread. A good time was had by all!
I always find that not adhering to a recipe, usually works! 😄😄😉
I frequently add / subtract / substitute ingredients when cooking for ourselves. I made picadillo for my brother and sis-in-law last weekend (Their flight was arriving late due to weather delays, and they had no time to grab anything in an airport, and Paul is diabetic.) I added zucchini. My brother was surprised, but willingly went along. He admitted that he sometimes adds peas when he makes it at home. However ... I used to belong to a gourmet cooking group. The group met at the beginning of the year to select the themes for the year, and to assign diners (we rotated so you had a chance to host and a chance to eat with each of the other couples in the group by the end of the year). The host would research the menus for the theme and assign recipes to each couple who would be attending. Sometimes you got a very complicated recipe, and sometimes you lucked out with something less challenging. But the conversation was always stimulating and the dining was mostly fabulous. Until ...
A new couple joined and he had some health issues, which his wife was adamant about following dietary restrictions. She was ALWAYS changing the recipes before bringing them to the gathering. Okay ... it's NOT beef bourguignon if you refuse to use butter, onions, bacon, and red wine. It's some other kind of beef stew. Richard and I (and a few other couples) finally left the group rather than put up with her nonsense. We formed another group that was willing to say "hang the dietary restrictions" for this ONE meal every two months!
The first time or two I make a new savory recipe I tend to stick pretty close to the recipe so that I get a sense of how it really is supposed to turn out. But that doesn't mean I don't swap out some items for others such as use only dark meat if calls for chicken breast. Or use the leftover white wine in the fridge rather than the red wine called for. But after that initial test, if it's good, then I can change it up. But like Tessa says, it's not Boeuf Bourguignon without butter, onions, bacon and white wine. It may be a perfectly delicious stew of a different type.
Baking of course is another whole thing, one that requires far more precision in most desserts made. Not of course crumbles.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
A Grave in the Woods (other topics)A Chateau Under Siege (other topics)
Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen (other topics)
Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen (other topics)
Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen (other topics)
More...
I did say there was more and after several hours of prepping for back to back closings tomorrow I decided I needed to dribble out a little more ....
As I mentioned, the official event started and he did not remain seated in his chair but immediately stood up and walked to the area next to the table which is where he is pictured. He moved around a bit, talks a lot with his hands, has great facial expressions too. So dynamic and a really good engaging your attention speaker.
And ... now don't be jealous .... I swear to you that 90% of the time he was telling it to me directly -- I mean I was 4 to 5 feet from him, depending on his movement, and he kept his eyes meeting mine!
*sigh* - he's an attractive man but it's also his personality - and I will likely forever see and hear him in my mind when I read a Bruno mystery as Bruno.
The truth is, I'm sure, that I was basically the only one in the room who was no longer a complete stranger because we'd been chatting for 15 minutes or so. I know from my own speaking engagements that you do tend to lock eyes with whoever you know in the crowd.
But still ... and of course I had to pay very close attention!
He started off telling a little bit about the Perigord region of France and its history, especially about a chateau and some personages from the Enlightenment period - 18th Century. That was his introduction, as he mentioned that with this book he was looking to provided information that would appeal to Americans especially. He then launched into a bit of a summary of more historical fact about Thomas Jefferson, his relationship to the Perigord, and how in Jefferson's library, there are 4 copies of a book written by a young scholar from the Perigord that referenced Telemarchus, Ulysses' Son - a book that was the bestseller of the 18th Century. That led him directly into reading several pages from his book - starting at about p. 20 - the section written with a character introduced to appeal to Americans in particular.
I'll finish up at a later time - I need to get some sleep.