Canal House Cooking Volume No. 1: Summer [Paperback]

Hamilton & Hirsheimer (Author), Christopher Hirsheimer (Author), Melissa Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 25, 2011

CANAL HOUSE COOKING, VOLUME N° 1, SUMMER is a collection of our favorite summer recipes, ones we cook for ourselves all through the long lazy months. We are home cooks writing about home cooking for other home cooks. We cook seasonally because that’s what makes sense. In midsummer, we buy boxes of tomatoes to dress as minimally as we do in the heat. And in the height of the season, we preserve all that we can, so as to save a taste of summer. We make jarfuls of teriyaki sauce for slathering on chicken. We love to cook big paellas outdoors over a fire for a crowd of friends. We are crazy for ripe melons in late summer. And we churn tubs of ice cream for our families.        

If you cook your way through a few of our recipes, you’ll see that who we are comes right through in these pages. With a few exceptions, we use ingredients that are readily available and found in most markets in most towns throughout the United States. All the recipes are easy to prepare (some of them a bit more involved), all completely doable for the novice and experienced cook alike.

Cook all summer long with Canal House Cooking!        

81 delicious triple-tested recipes

Editorial Reviews

Review

“With gorgeous pictures and watercolors, just because. Hard to believe that something this useful could be this lovable. But the evidence that this is true is on each and every page.”—Jesse Kornbluth, HeadButler.com

“Melissa and Christopher, thank you for your beautiful book! As Fanny said, everything you do is perfect!”—Alice Waters

“Check out the latest volume of Canal House Cooking a collaboration of talent and love by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer.”—Lidia Bastianich

“The Canal House Cooking series, which features their rustic and seasonal cooking, publishes three times a year and has earned Melissa & Christopher a cult following among the fooderati. It sure hooked us!”—Adam Rapoport, Bon Appétit

“Once you see the summer volume, you’ll want them all.”—Elaine McCardel, theItaliandishblog.com

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Canal House is more than just Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton's studio--it's their workshop, dining room, office, kitchen, lair, lab, and atelier devoted to good ideas and good work relating to the world of food. The duo writes, photographs, designs, and paints, but in their hearts, they both think of themselves as cooks first.

And every day they cook. In the middle of the day they stop their work, set the table simply with paper napkins, and have lunch. So it came naturally to write down what they cooked, thus bringing about the Canal House Cooking series.

This cookbook is a seasonal collection of Christopher and Melissa's favorite recipes--home cooking by home cooks for home cooks. With a few exceptions, they use ingredients that are readily available and found in most markets in most towns throughout the United States. All the recipes are easy to prepare, all completely doable for the novice and experienced cook alike. These two women believe the everyday practice of simple cooking and the enjoyment of eating are two of the greatest pleasures in life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 122 pages
• Publisher: Canal House; Original edition (October 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0692003177
• ISBN-13: 978-0692003176
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best summer cookbook I've ever used June 9, 2009

By Jesse Kornbluth TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

If you were assembling a cookbook of your favorite seasonal recipes --- recipes for meals you've actually served, and served often ---- it would be the size of Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton's Canal House Cooking, Volume 1. That is, about 60 recipes. These recipes would offer the unique tastes of your "signature" dishes. They would be easy to make --- this is a summer cookbook. And you'd have very few choices in each category.

That's the key idea: choicelessness. As consumers, we are awash in choices. Most are false choices, so your mind goes blank. You don't so much choose as surrender. And this is as true of cookbooks as it is of the hundreds of cereals that are basically just delivery systems for high-fructose corn syrup.

What we want, whether we know it or not, is an editor. Or, better, a curator --- someone who knows our values and tastes and can reduce the world to the very few things we might like. [..] is built on this principle. So is Hirsheimer and Hamilton's book.

These women describe themselves as "home cooks". That's testimony to the enormous effort they have undertaken to liberate themselves from decades of professionalism. Christopher Hirsheimer was one of the founders of Saveur Magazine. She has co-authored four cookbooks and taken the photographs for thirty more. She knows from "high end". Melissa Hamilton co-founded a restaurant, did a stint at Cook's Illustrated and ran the test kitchen at Saveur before becoming its food editor. Her bio does not mention a love for sliders.

Something happened to Hirsheimer and Hamilton when they moved to little towns across the river from one another in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Fresh produce, of course. But also a gentler pace. They found a loft overlooking a canal and opened a studio: Canal House. It has a dishwasher they don't use and a wood stove they do. And in late summer they roll up their sleeves and preserve their bounty.

Volume 1 is their summer cookbook. It starts with seven kinds of drinks --- did I say this is a summer cookbook? They teach you how to hard-boil an egg. [For easiest peeling, use eggs you've refrigerated for a week.] A few nibbles. Tomato and crab aspic. Four soups. A sprinkling of salads. Enough ideas for tomatoes to make you less guilty about that big-eyed purchase at the farm stand. Three kinds of fish. Ditto for chicken. Just six vegetables. And modest desserts.

In short: the basics, the meals they love. Presented casually, just as you would. With gorgeous pictures and watercolors, just because. Hard to believe that something this useful could be this lovable. But the evidence that this is true is on each and every page.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Book July 4, 2009

By Faith B.

Format:Paperback

This is a beautifully produced cookbook with a carefully edited selection of very appealing seasonal recipes that you really can make. It is also the perfect gift for those friends who invite you to their country place or beach house this summer. I write about food and own hundreds of cookbooks, so am not easy to impress. I could go on, but I must go straight to my kitchen to start cooking! (Better yet, there will be three seasonal books each year, so I'm already looking forward to fall and holidays!)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible April 1, 2010

By Nell27

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been cooking my entire life and consider it one of my greatest passions. There are few things the serious home cook can appreciate more than a beautifully laid out, clear, wonderfully simple cookbook like this. The photography is great, the stories are engaging, the instructions clear, ingredients accessible and recipes that are interesting, fresh and appealing to the whole family. This is one cookbook that will satisfy foodies, serious cooks and those just starting out. In a nutshell - fantastic and wonderfully versatile.