You are Hereby Warned: Do not Read This if you are Hungry.

Jesse Kornbluth

6 years ago

Buy it on Amazon

Bertolt Brecht wrote, “First feed the face, then talk right and wrong.” Agreed. At the holidays, food seems to become more important. So….

BOOKS THAT MAKE YOU HUNGRY

Between Meals
In 1926, A.J. Liebling had graduated from college and had bungled his first job. It seemed to his father that this was a good time for him to study for a year in Europe. Liebling pretended to protest. “I’m thinking of getting married,” he lied. “Of course, she’s ten years older than I am….” The story of his romance — which was utterly fabricated — worked like a charm. His father not only bought him a steamship ticket, he gave him a $2,000 line of credit. And Liebling went to Paris and began to eat. Anthony Bourdain, asked by the Times Book Review for “the best book about food” he’d ever read: “A. J. Liebling’s Between Meals’ is his memoir of meals in Paris before and after the war, and it’s fantastic. He was an enthusiastic lover of food and wine, very knowledgeable but never a snob. It’s the benchmark for great food writing.”

Life Is Meals: A Food Lover’s Book of Days
James and Kay Salter, both writers, were together for more than three decades. This book is a record of their lifelong interest in food. When they name-drop, it’s more often the name of a long-dead French chef than a celebrated friend. But they’re not snobs. When they share a recipe, it’s usually for a dish that’s already an old favorite of yours: Gratin dauphinoise. Risotto. French chicken. Chili. Cucumber soup. Their household cookbook is handwritten. Their book of days is casual: a personal anecdote here, a recipe there, a memory following.

CLASSIC COOKBOOKS

Julia Child and Simone Beck: Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One
Judith Jones was the first American editor to read the manuscript. She flipped: “I pored over the recipe for a beef stew and learned the right cuts of meat for braising, the correct fat to use (one that would not burn), the importance of drying the meat and browning it in batches, the secret of the herb bouquet, the value of sautéing the garnish of onions and mushrooms separately. I ran home to make the recipe — and my first bite told me that I had finally produced an authentic French boeuf bourguignon — as good as one I could get in Paris. This, I was convinced, was a revolutionary cookbook, and if I was so smitten, certainly others would be.”

Marcella Hazan: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Few of the recipes in these 704 pages have more than 10 ingredients. Instructions put you in charge (you observe the meal you’re cooking, you decide when it’s done). And she makes sure that you won’t be standing in the kitchen putting on the “finishing touches” while your guests twiddle their thumbs at the table — this is hearty, traditional, Northern Italian “home cooking” that you can master for considerably less than the $3,000 that Hazan used to charge for a week of cooking classes in Venice.

Canal House Cooks Every Day
Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer won the lottery. They get to live authentic lives and cook real food and write books that are both creative and simple. These 250 recipes are the proof.

…AND ONE BOOK ABOUT WINE

Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine: 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style
What do you order on Valentine’s Day? Oldman tells you. What do you drink the day you get out of prison — or on your deathbed? He knows that too. He matches wine with food for you. He explains why wine is unsatisfying with salads and artichokes. He blows the whistle on restaurant wine lists. He even tells you what to buy at Costco. And how can you not love a wine writer who serves up “fifty best buys under $15.”

PROBABLY NOT AVAILABLE IN A MARKET NEAR YOU

Nam Prik Asian Chili Hot Sauce
When I met Erick Yi, he was an investment adviser at Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles. And then he was gone — he’d invented Nam Prik, an Asian chili sauce that was both spicy and sweet. Nam Prik (pronounced: nam-preek, literally “fluid chili”) isn’t like all the other smartly-labeled sauces you see on grocery shelves. It delivers fire and flavor, adding personality to eggs, Mexican food, Asian dishes, meat and chicken entrees — it could be the next Sriracha. In the full-service spirit of the banker he used to be, Erick offers some recipes. Try the crispy Nam Prik chicken wings — you’ll forget all about Buffalo.

HARDWARE

Unicorn Pepper Mill
The Unicorn pepper mill looks simple, and is, in the way that Apple products are simple. Functionality rules. It’s made of easy-to-wipe-clean plastic. Black plastic; like the Model T, you don’t get a choice of color. There’s a large, easy-to-open hole near the top that allows you to fill the cylinder with peppercorns. You adjust the grind on the bottom with a simple thumbscrew. Then you grind. Batteries? Oh, please.

Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug
READER REVIEW: “I bought one of these last year on your recommendation and I can’t stop telling people what a great buy this is. 6 hours hot? Sometimes I put coffee in at 10 PM and it is still steaming when I open it at my work desk the next day at 8 AM.” Just so: It does exactly what it’s supposed to. Hot stays hot. Cold stays cold. For hours and hours and hours…

Anne Taintor Coffee Mugs
Anne Taintor blends smarts and snark. Her signature item is the 14 oz. ceramic gloss finish coffee mug: inexpensive, amusingly boxed, an unfailing bit of intelligent good cheer in the blur of the early morning or the grind of the office. Slogans and images send messages: “We Go Together Like Drunk And Disorderly.” “If It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere Can I Go Home Now.” “If You’re Going To Kick Ass, You Need Kickass Shoes.” “Walk Faster… The Children Are Catching Up” And my favorite: “She Was Comforted By The Knowledge That They Were Helpless Without Her.”

COFFEE & TEA

Capresso Burr Coffee Grinder
A cheap grinder batters the beans and chips them into uneven bits. Worse, it runs fast, so it heats the beans, which is exactly what you don’t want, particularly if, like me, you run the machine for a full minute for a finer grind. The pros use a burr grinder. Because it runs at a slower speed, it generates less heat. And the burrs create uniform grounds.

Mayorga 100% Organic Cubano Coffee
Mayorga Dark Roast Cubano coffee is good enough for espresso, more than good enough for that all-important first cup of the day, as well as all the mugs required to fuel my daily quota of words. Mayorga Organics was launched in 1997 by Kerry and Martin Mayorga. They still own it. Because they have no investors, they say, they can maintain a commitment to more than profit; they want to “eliminate systemic poverty in rural Latin America through responsible trade of artisanal organic foods.” That means Fair Trade. Organic. Eliminating as many players in the supply chain as possible so their growers can make more money. The Mayorgas roast and package — in foil bags with one-way degassing valves — in Maryland, where their plant could not be more environmentally correct. On Friday afternoons, they give away burlap bags and chaff that’s useful for compost. Righteous and delicious? Yes.

Pu-erh tea
It looks like a cow pie. But it has taste benefits. And is distinctively packaged. Alice Waters drinks Pu-erh tea. And swears by it: “My cholesterol went down 100 points since I started drinking this.” Saveur Magazine: “Pu-erh’s earthy depth and strong body make it a perfect candidate for a coffee replacement.”

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Previously published on The Head Butler.