Cookbook Project, Books #134, 135, and 136

[ladysprite]

"Williams-Sonoma Seasonal Favorites," Joanne Weir

Alas and alack, woe betide me, we are almost at the end of my collection of shiny, beautiful, sexy, awesome Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, and it is breaking my heart. As I proceed in this project, I will be limited to stroking them gently and telling them that I still do love them, and occasionally taking them out to look over their luscious and seductive pictures. Which, to be honest, is all I really did with them before this project started, and is a mark of how things have changed.

I had to save this one for late in the course, since it's a collection of autumn and winter recipes, and I was really looking forward to using it - autumn and winter are my favorite time to cook, since you don't have to worry about overheating the house or missing glorious go-outside-and-play weather. And there are so many tempting recipes in here... but I knew our winner as soon as I saw it.

Pappardelle with Wine-Stewed Duck. Just the name sounds amazing. I love duck, and I've only ever roasted it (and even that is exaggerating, since umbran is usually the one in charge of cooking it). This was new and different, and the recipe was interesting and complicated enough to make a nice, busy afternoon of cooking, and we don't often indulge in fancy homemade dinners for just the two of us. It sounded amazing.

Unfortunately, it did not quite live up to the image I had in my head. Oh, it was fun to make, and the house smelled like heaven while it was cooking, and the end product was pretty okay, but I'll be honest. I had been hoping for delicious, melt-in-my-mouth, rich flavors, and what I got was decent, mild, and a little bland and dry. I don't quite know what was missing, but somehow the duck and the wine and the tomatoes and pancetta and all the other luscious, flavorful ingredients just vanished somewhere along the way. Not a failure by any stretch of the imagination, but not the home run I had dreamed of either.


"The Italian Cookbook," Staff Home Economists of the Culinary Arts Institute

This is another ancient pamphlet put out by Shop-Rite that I got as a hand-me-down from my mom, in the same line as "Dishes Children Love." It is even more entertaining, because it has a quaint 'those wacky foreigners!' vibe that both amuses and embarrasses me, but on a read-through it does actually have some passable-looking recipes. I'm not quite sure how authentically Italian they are, but they're food, and that's enough.

I found a few ideas worth trying, but we wound up basing our decision on pantry staples and made Polenta con Salsiccia (polenta with sausage). The polenta was pretty basic, and it was served with a quick tomato sauce with sausage over it. And it was pretty good. Polenta has become one of my favorite starchy sides/bases, and I'm happy to learn that there's a middle ground of tomato sauces that lies somewhere between 'sugary yuck from a jar' and 'three hours of stewing and stirring.' I don't know if I'll use this exact recipe again, but the general style is worth making more than once.

"The Brand Name Supermarket Cookbook," Jody Cameron

This is a little paperback cookbook that umbran says came from his collection. It's old, and ugly, and unimpressive in every way, shape, and form. There are no illustrations, no notes or commentary, and absolutely nothing to make it stand out. I almost feel sorry for it; I can just imagine this poor little thing at the Cookbook Prom, standing with her back against the bleachers while the Cooks Illustrated Compilations and the Williams-Sonoma super-glossy shiny books bounce around and strut their stuff and show off in front of the chaperoning spice jars and tupperwares full of rice and sugar.

Wow, that description went off into left field. Anyway, suffice it to say that I felt a little bit bad for disliking and ignoring this book on general principle. A look-through showed me that, while it's not full of droolworthy meal ideas, it's also nowhere near the worst book in my collection.

Because this is dangerously close to becoming the Main Dish project, I decided to pick a side-dish to make to go along with the Sesame Catfish I mentioned in my last post. We wound up making Broccoli Orientale, which was not particularly oriental, being broccoli with water chestnuts, pimento, and lemon juice, but it was tasty - quick, easy, and a little more interesting than just plain broccoli.

I'd make it again. Heck, I'd even make something else from this book. Though that may just be because I've anthropomorphised it to a disturbing point....

Comments

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

One of the finest things I've ever eaten was Tandoori crispy duck breast - a spicy outside, verging on a herb crust, the skin crisped by the Tandoor, and the fat layer between keeping both moist. Duck takes that sort of cooking REALLY well!

[serakit.livejournal.com]

You have now inspired me to try to write a story about the Cookbook Prom.