Alice Waters and then some
Categories: Cookbooks
Alice Waters is the reigning queen of American food since Julia left us. Her philosophy of eating seasonal and local foods has transformed how many of us cook at home and in restaurants. The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution is the first cookbook she has produced that is not specifically tied to Chez Panisse, her famed Berkeley restaurant.
Handsome in appearance, the book is well organized and laid out for beginning cooks, with instructions on ingredients and basic equipment. Menu planning is up front, a nice change from most books that tack it on at the end, so you are inspired to try some of the recipes as you go. Waters also has chapters on key recipes and techniques such as Four Essential Sauces, Broths and Soups, Grilling and other basics that once mastered, can be taken to different levels of taste depending on available ingredients, appetites and imagination.
The second part of the book goes into more specific recipes where Waters offers some fresh takes on veteran standards such as Nicoise salad or Leeks Vinaigrette. The chapter on vegetables is great with at least one recipe for almost any vegetable you can find in a supermarket.
There is nothing radically weird in this book (no foam fantasies, thank God) and most of these recipes are very suitable for home cooking. In fact, most of them are comfortable classics that Waters has returned to over and over during her four-decade involvement in food. Veteran cooks will like the variations and newbies will gain confidence.
Those looking for more about Waters can turn to Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution by Thomas McNamee. McNamee's authorized biography is pretty heavily a love letter to Alice (he had access to her friends and family as well as Waters) and there is little negative press here, despite what other commentators on the food revolution have written in the past about her. But for anyone curious about how we got to the current state of American cuisine, this is definitely a must read. Former Chez Panisse chef Jeremiah Tower in California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution offers a different spin on Waters and claims his part in transforming American food was just as vital. A great read of delicious dirt and wonderful food. Meow.
