Monday, November 24, 2008

Cookbooks I DO NOT WANT

Here are 5 cookbooks I DO NOT WANT TO OWN:
Why not? I've read the reviews. All five are about cooking things for which I have no appetite whatsoever using equipment I find very unappealing. Vacuum pumps? Industrial foam makers? Dewars full of liquid nitrogen? Maybe I'm prejudiced -- I have never tasted any of this cuisine, just read descriptions by the idol-worshipers. I dread the day when some poor provincial second-rater tries to re-create it at a restaurant around here.

If you are going to spend all that effort to make perfectly good food into something else, leave me behind with Julia Child. I think that food like that was better when it was "Futurist" and thought to be ironic. Maybe irony is a dish best tasted not at all.

Here's a recently reissued book that I'd like to read:
  • Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point (original on the right, reissue on the left)

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7 comments:

  1. Unknown11/24/2008 8:33 PM

    all the same...just 100 ( or so) years later....

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  2. Mae Travels11/24/2008 10:28 PM

    Grant's comment is so bizarre...

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  3. Anonymous11/24/2008 10:32 PM

    I agree completely! I'm posting next week about the books I do want -- with limited room on the bookshelf, I want to make sure that every book is one I will use.

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  4. Jen11/25/2008 12:39 PM

    My mother had that cookbook when I was young. I'd like to read it, too.

    I prefer the simpler the better in terms of cooking, so I couldn't agree more about the cookbooks you de-selected.

    As for me, I don't want any cookbooks that promote the use of splenda or diet margarine, etc., etc. I don't understand why Weight watchers and that ilk use so much fake food - Cooking Light uses the real stuff.

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  5. Mae Travels11/25/2008 9:14 PM

    In response to an email comment, I just spent more time looking into the French Laundry cookbook (on amazon.com) -- many of the Thomas Keller recipes are probably delicious. I wouldn't want the cookbook though because they would be next to impossible to follow: truffle oil, lemon oil (not the furniture polish kind), guinea fowl, all kinds of impossible ingredients. And most recipes have at least three components including some kind of really challenging pastry. So that's why I wouldn't want that cookbook.

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  6. ~~louise~~11/29/2008 11:34 AM

    I so agree with Lydia. I have many many cookbooks (collector I guess you could say) Yet, there are many cookbooks which I don't want. Keep it simple, fill it with history and that would be fine with me.

    Great post BTW my first time here. Bookmarked!

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  7. Mae Travels11/29/2008 9:05 PM

    Glad to meet you, Louise. I'll have to take a look at your blogs. I think we both love food history.

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