Mar
13
Posted on 03-13-2008 at 11:47am
From the Cookbook Shelf
Filed Under (Books, Food & Restaurants) by Claudia on 03-13-2008

(excerpted and edited from ‘tigers and strawberries’)

The Art of Simple Food - by Alice Waters

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution

…is not just a cookbook.

It is also a primer of essential culinary techniques, with basic recipes for the neophyte to memorize and expand upon creatively.

It is also a guide to building up a pantry with basic items which will allow one to cook good, simple food from any fresh, seasonal ingredients available; it also gives a ground-up lesson on the most simple, basic kitchen tools needed to cook well and easily.

It is also Waters’ personal food philosophy and lifestyle manifesto, which boils down to these admonitions emblazoned on the back cover of the book:

Eat locally and sustainably; Eat seasonally; Shop at farmers’ markets; Plant a garden; Conserve, compost and recycle; Cook simply; Cook together; Eat together; and Remember food is precious.

The Art of Simple Food is a literary distillation of the Slow Food Movement, and embodies everything that is beautiful about the worldwide food revolution. Before even opening the book, this aesthetic adherence to the principles of simplicity in food are evident (and not just because the word, “simple” features in the title.) The hardcover book features no shiny dust jacket, nor any flashy food porn photographic illustrations. Instead, the spine is bound in sundried tomato-colored fabric, with the embossed, turmeric-hued boards of the cover finished to a smooth matte embellished only by the title, subtitle and author.

As she leads her reader along this winding path towards treating food as a precious gift instead of a worthless commodity, Waters writes in a clear, distinctive voice which reminded me of none other than Julia Child. She has the same clarity in her explanations of technique and a very similar ability to describe the cooking process in a visceral way which not only teaches the neophyte cook to use every sense while they cook, but also makes serious cooking seem unstuffy, easy and yes, even fun.

Consider this passage, a sidebar to her basic instructions on how to make risotto:

Listen to the sounds the risotto makes as it cooks. The crackling sizzle of the rice tells you it’s time to add the wine, which makes a gratifying whoosh; and the bloop-bloop of the bubbles popping signals it’s time to add more broth.

While her onomatopoeic description is certainly droll, it is also a perfect description of what making a risotto sounds like. This sort of earthy, lightly humorous prose really helps loosen up a new cook in the kitchen, giving them something concrete to grab onto as they sail the uncharted seas of a new recipe. It is almost as good as having a seasoned cook standing close by, whispering advice into your ear…

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Comments

Southern Beale on 13 March, 2008 at 12:48 pm #

This reminds me, anyone watching Top Chef this season? Awesome!


Claudia on 13 March, 2008 at 1:00 pm #

i haven’t been - is it any good? is everyone annoying? i should tivo it…


Southern Beale on 13 March, 2008 at 1:16 pm #

i haven’t been - is it any good? is everyone annoying? i should tivo it…

It just started last night, I’m sure you can catch a repeat on Bravo, seems like they replay these things a gazillion times.

I love this show because it makes me want to be more adventuresome with my cooking.


Lesley on 13 March, 2008 at 1:19 pm #

“Listen to the sound” reminded me of bubble and squeak (an Irish dish so-named for the way it sounds while it’s cooking)–one recipe I read included in the instructions that you should stand back and enjoy its music. Indeed!


Slartibartfast on 13 March, 2008 at 5:34 pm #

Slow food?

The slow food movement?

OMG.

They’ve poiticised work life, human sexuality, the neighborhoods in which we live, entertainment, parenting, sports, business, even dress, grooming, and weight!

No, no, a thousand times no.

They can’t have food. Hell to the no.

We already have a kind of food legalism when it comes to health. “Good” foods and “bad” foods. Now, we’re going to add a new layer based on some antiglobilisation worldview?

Just damn.

I love locally grown vegetables in season (especially tomatoes) just as much as the next guy, but I also know that there are times when a Hostess Twinkee is just what the doctor ordered.

I guess I should view this movement like I do vegetarianism: it leaves more good stuff for me!


saraclark on 13 March, 2008 at 5:35 pm #

I saw the most interesting Iconoclasts segment on Sundance with Alice Waters and Mikhail Barishnikof(sp?). I didn’t know about her cooking but her interests and passions came across very clearly. She would be an interesting instructor in person too.


Claudia on 13 March, 2008 at 5:53 pm #

slarti - what’s poiticised? you know, i just can’t get on the twinkie bandwagon… they are just kinda gross to me. they taste like sugared chemicals and well, i think that is a bad thing on a few levels… this conversation is so heavily layered i wouldn’t even know where to begin with you so i will just happily fork over my share of twinkies to you and let it go.

sara - i gotta see if i can find that…


democommie on 14 March, 2008 at 9:33 pm #

Claudia:

I used to tell some folks that all of the Hostess twinkies were made on a giant lathe in Cedar Rapids, IA. Then, I watched “Unwrapped” or one those similar shows. The reality is far worse. I eat my share of crap, but I’ve been “Twinkie Free” for a good long while. Now, a good moonpie? that is hard to pass up.

Alice Waters is Chez Panise? I lose track. I remember Tony Bourdain going nuts on people who don’t want to eat anything that’s cooked and then waxing lyrical about exactly what Alice Waters is up to.

I long for the day when I can cook without disconnecting the sump pump!


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