Gracious living

 Life is Meals: A Food Lover's Book of Days by James and Kay Salter

Alfred A. Knopf  2010

The start of a new year seems a good time to look at this charming book. A free-flowing collection of stories, recipes, trivia, food facts and memoir, there is nothing quite like it. While it can be used as a reference, it's much more a book for pleasure reading.

Arranged neatly by the days of the year, the entries are sometimes very specific to the day; at other times they nod at seasonality, and sometimes the authors abandon any strict time constraints and ramble on joyfully.

The Salters clearly have spent years compiling this collection. Interwoven among the hard facts are reminiscences of meals eaten, various dinner guests, and thoughts on food, entertaining, and the place of dining in our lives. They also have a special affinity for other writers, and there are many literary nuggets, some only tangentially related to food.

Throughout, there are sweet watercolor illustrations by Fabrice Moireau. Paging through this on a gloomy winter day, the images conjure up Paris and the Côte D'Azur. The Salters themselves seem like a Wes Anderson film family come to life. I suppose it's too late to be adopted.

If you are at all like me, then your first impulse is to read the entry for today's date before reading the entry for your birthday. Both are good examples of the range of the book. January 7 is the birthday of Ruth Cleveland, for whom the Baby Ruth is named. My birthday gives advice on the size and arrangement of dining room tables. Perhaps not one of the more exciting entries, but what do you expect for a Virgo? The Leos and Scorpios always get all the attention.

Summer time and the living is easy

Summer Cooking

by Elizabeth David

Penguin Books 1955

It's high summer in Michigan now and it's time for my annual reading of Elizabeth David's Summer Cooking. I don't remember when I first started reading it in the summer, but it has become a small ritual of the season. Sometimes I read one or more of the others in my Penguin box set: French Country Cooking, French Provincial Cooking, Italian Food or Mediterranean Food; the latter is just as timely for the season with its emphasis on warm weather crops.

But Summer Cooking is a must each year as the days get a little too warm and the threat of too much produce becomes more real. It's a slim book so it doesn't take long and it's packed with ideas on how to make the most of summer eating. Not necessarily cooking, because one of the book's strengths is David's recognition that although summer is bountiful in terms of produce, we often don't feel like cooking with a lot of heat or fussing over complicated recipes. Simpler is better in the summer and many of her recipes are ideas for salads and cold plates.

The more I read David the more I wonder at her food. Given that when she wrote these  England was barely past WWII and had only just begun to end rationing, her books must have been like a fever-dream to UK eaters. Not only did David draw on foreign cuisines, she called for ingredients that were neither in vogue or readily available to her readers including such modern staples as olive oil, red peppers, and zucchini.

Yet somehow she doesn't come off as snooty or contrived. Rather than causing anger at food that is hard to obtain, she inspired generations to reach higher. And if you couldn't get bottarga or fresh anchovies, then you could use her same focused approach on the ingredients you did have. In David's world a good cook stops complaining about what she can or cannot get and uses what is good to make something worth eating.

Summer Cooking is all over the map culinarily-speaking. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it still seems fresh. The flavors are bold, with liberal use of herbs and acids. There is an emphasis on seasonal vegetables which is useful, as well as advice that still holds up today on how to cook when on vacation. Perhaps that is because many of today's summer cottages still have kitchens equipped from the 50s.

I use this book more for ideas than for recipes. I have made some and adapted some so thoroughly that they look nothing like hers although in my head I still think of them as a Elizabeth David recipes. Take her tonnato sauce for example. For years, every summer I make this once or twice and eat it on top of green beans and/or sliced tomatoes. Traditionally tonnato is a tuna-based mayonnaise sauce that you pour over cooked veal and let chill. I'm sure that is good, but I've never bothered with the veal roast. It just sounded like it would be good as a dip/sauce for veggies so I made it.

I think I make it from David's recipe but in looking it over for this post I realize I have drifted far off course. I don't measure it anymore either, just add everything to taste. I think David would approve, but she was known for her opinionated voice, so perhaps not unconditionally.

If tonnato sauce intrigues you, feel free to play with mine:

1 5oz can of chunk light tuna (note not albacore--you want the mushy stuff for this)

2 Tbs of mayonnaise

1 lemon--you'll need ½ to all of the juice

1 Tbs water

1 Tbs olive oil

½ tsp of anchovy paste

fresh pepper. Salt if needed

Puree all ingredients in a blender. Serve with cooked green beans, tomatoes from the garden and/or hard-boiled eggs.

In contrast, here is what David's recipe says:

"Make a good cupful of mayonnaise with 2 yolks of eggs, olive oil and lemon juice. Pound or sieve about 2 oz. of best quality-tunny fish in oil, and add this to the mayonnaise."

So where did I get the rest of mine? Perhaps an amalgamation of other recipes, perhaps I stole it from Marcella Hazan? More research will be needed.

A Bible of berries

The Berry Bible

by Janie Hilber

William Morrow 2004

This may be the best single-subject cookbook I own. Not only does it have delicious, reliable, and inventive recipes, it also offers comprehensive information on 41 types of berries, including history of cultivation, culinary uses, picking and storing information and a color supplement of identification photos. 

Hilber explores so many types of berries it can be torture to read this book in winter. I highly recommend perusing it in early summer; it will help you plan your summer. And maybe your vacation. And what you will grow in your garden.

Even though I have loved this book since I got it (one of my rare full-priced brand-new purchases) I forget how much good stuff is in it. I just noticed her handy table that converts ounces to cups of berries and a table of puree yields for different types of berries.

I thought I knew my berries, but it turns out I, and most likely you Dear Reader, are woefully ignorant of the bounty that is out there. Here are just some I have never heard of: arbutus, buffalo berry, jostaberry, ohelo berry, and salal. Others I have only read about, such as cloud berries and salmon berries, as they are both highly regional and highly perishable.

Interspersed through the text are sidebars on Native American ways with berries, quotes on berries from literature and history, as well as remembrances from foragers, cooks, and eaters.

Beautiful and delicious

In short, this book makes me happy. And the recipes are excellent. They include drinks, salads, soups and entrees as well as the expected baked goods, desserts, and preserves. Her Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins are my standard now. They have excellent balance between sweet and tart.

Things I want to try this summer: Staghorn Sumac Lemonade (I haven't had this since summer camp), Black Currant Conserve, Boysenberry Honey, and Boccone Dolce (chocolate coated meringue disks topped with whipped cream and strawberries).

I may try her Perfect Strawberry Shortcake. I am sure it is good. It calls for a scratch baked biscuit, strawberries, sugar and cream. Nothing weird nor any attempt to gussy up what is, when done right, perfection. But I am wedded to my own version, which is my mother's, which was her mother's version.

It too is made with a biscuit. While strawberry shortcake does have the word cake in its title it MUST be made with a biscuit. Strawberries on cake with cream is also a lovely dessert but it is not the same thing. And those of you who have only had strawberry shortcake using those pre-packaged spongy rounds from the grocery store, well…I just feel sorry for you.

Strawberry Shortcake for a day in June

biscuits

strawberries

sugar

whipping cream

confectioner's sugar

While it is still cool in the morning make your biscuits. Unless it is very humid; they won't hold well, so make them later. You do this early so that the kitchen will be cool when you eat this for supper. Yes supper. It is wonderful as a dessert, but for a pure summer moment, have shortcake for dinner.

I use Christopher Kimball's' recipe from the Yellow Farmhouse Kitchen cookbook. I like the texture--short but not too crumbly and the addition of vanilla rounds out the flavor. One recipe will serve 4 for dessert, and 2 for supper.

You, of course, may use whatever biscuit recipe is your favorite. Even Bisquick or Jiffy Mix works, though both are saltier than a homemade biscuit. You'll have to adjust the sugar accordingly. You want to make drop biscuits; their rough texture and browned bits is more appealing for this than a rolled biscuit.

While the biscuits bake, or at least an hour (two is better) before serving, slice the strawberries. You need a good pound, pound and a half for 4 people. Better to be too generous than skimpy. And you can always have any leftovers for breakfast.

Hull and slice the berries into a bowl. Add sugar. This is where it gets tricky. I admit I do this by eye and by taste. It is slightly different each time, because berries vary so much. I start with a quarter cup--it may take up to ½ a cup. Put in a smaller amount first and let the berries macerate until they release their juices, 30 minutes or so. Mash about half the berries in the bowl--you don't need to separate or measure out half. Just press down with a potato masher, or if you are among the fortunate, your grandmother's strawberry masher. Let sit another 30 minutes or so until you have a beautiful jewel-like blend of syrup and strawberries.

When it is time to eat, whip a cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add a smidge of confectioner's sugar--1-2 Tbs for the whole batch. You want the rich cream to contrast with the sweetness of the berries, not override them.

Do not add liquor to the berries or the cream. Do not try using fancy turbinado or maple sugar for the white sugar with the berries. You think it will enhance; it doesn't; it just muddles the berry flavor. I know, because I have tried. Herbage in the cream or the berries can be nice--but then it becomes something other than strawberry shortcake.

Split the biscuits, place half in a bowl, generously cover with strawberries and syrup. Splodge a lot or a little of the whipped cream, per your constitution. Top with the other half of the biscuit. Try to squish it down into the berry mixture a bit so it, too, can soak up some of the juices. Serve with any extra berry mixture and cream. This way you can adjust for the proper ratio as you eat. Ponder the fleeting nature of summer as you eat with joy.

If there are leftovers (and if you are canny you will squirrel away some extras from your guests; any amount put on the table tends to get eaten) this makes a sublime breakfast.