Farmhouse Cookbook [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Susan Herrmann Loomis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1991

Nothing evokes comfort, warmth, and mouth-watering hospitality like the dishes prepared by people who actually grow the food. From Susan Herrmann Loomis, author of The French Farmhouse Cookbook, The Italian Farmhouse Cookbook, The Great American Seafood Cookbook, and Clambakes & Fish Fries, Farmhouse Cookbook is the result of a 20,000-mile trek across rural America in search of the soul of the family farm. Passionate in her quest to taste the freshest corn, understand the basics of cattle ranching, and find out just how an artichoke grows, the author contacted legions of farmers who generously shared their time, their knowledge, their homes, and their recipes.

Although Farmhouse Cookbook includes the best pot roast, meat loaf, and stew you're ever likely to encounter, it goes well beyond the expected meat-and-potatoes fare. Here is Chew Chang's Chicken and Mustard Green Soup, Lentil Salad with Smoked Turkey and Tarragon, Pork Loin with Coriander and Garlic Crust, a Basque Fourteen-Hour Leg of Lamb, Lemony Herbed Chicken Wings, Nate Pennell's Mulligan Stew with Blueberry Dumplings, Amish Corn Pudding, and Mary Navarette's Garlicky Enchiladas, from the Christopher Farm in Gilroy, California, the garlic capital of the world. Plus, extraordinary baking-Hot Pepper Corn Bread, Funny Cake, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, Rhubarb Crunch, Sour Cherry Crumb Pie, and Best Ever Chocolate Cake.

With profiles of farms and farmers, tips, lore, and an almond to zucchini lexicon, Farmhouse Cookbook is as irresistible as the ring of the dinner bell over the fields.

Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club's HomeStyle Books and Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service. 197,000 copies in print.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Loomis, author of the excellent Great American Seafood Cookbook ( LJ 10/15/88), spent several years criss-crossing the country in search of "the soul of the American family farm." Here she presents 300 recipes, some from the families she met, some her own, along with a great deal of information about the farmers themselves and what they produce. While all the recipes are good, a few seem somewhat out of sync with the rest of the book (e.g., Grilled Shrimp in Chile Marinade with Three Melons), and some readers may find the headnotes and sidebars overly long. Glenn Andrews's recent Food from the Heartland ( LJ 4/15/91) provides a good, though more limited, look at farm cooking; still, Loomis's latest should prove popular too. BOMC HomeStyle alternate; Better Homes & Garden alternate.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

To compile this cookbook Loomis has visited farms throughout the country, and the recipes come with notes on her encounters with the farmers. Since she writes well (allowing for the usual cookbook writer's effusion), this adds a nice dimension to your experience of the dish. The food is good, not necessarily low in fat (the heavy breakfasts seem particularly artery-clogging) but otherwise wholesome and often organic, and far from limited to standard American meat-and-potatoes, though there is much of that too. Loomis had Mexican posole and tamale pie on a farm in Iowa, a Finnish stuffed cabbage in Montana, a slow-cooked Basque leg of lamb in Idaho, curried catfish in Mississippi, and heaps of enticing cookies, cakes, pies, and baked fruit desserts everywhere. She visited an herb farm, a trout farm, an almond farm, and a garlic farm, and she describes operations on some of these and others in interesting two- or three-page profiles. Likely to have wide appeal. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 11, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563051257
• ISBN-13: 978-1563051258
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SUSAN HERRMANN (formerly Loomis), BIOGRAPHY
www.onruetatin.com Www.nutsinthekitchen.com

I am a France-based, award-winning author with nine books to my credit, as well as a professionally trained chef and cooking school proprietor. Originally from Seattle, Washington, I moved to France in the early 1980's to study cooking, stayed on to open a restaurant, and then to work with Patricia on her first book, THE FOOD LOVER'S GUIDE TO PAIRS. I returned to live in France again in 1993, and opened my cooking school in 2001.
Included among my books are THE GREAT AMERICAN SEAFOOD COOKBOOK, FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK, CLAMBAKES AND FISH FRIES, FRENCH FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK, ITALIAN FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK, (all Workman Publishing, Inc.) and ON RUE TATIN (Broadway Books. 2001) a narrative about my life in France, with recipes, which won the IACP best literary food book for 2002. It was followed by a sequel, TARTE TATIN (Harper Collins UK, 2003), by COOKING AT HOME ON RUE TATIN, (William Morrow, May 2005)and most recently by NUTS IN THE KITCHEN (William Morrow 2010).
I contribute to many newspapers and magazines including COOKING LIGHT, METROPOLITAN HOME, THE NEW YORK TIMES, GOURMET, and BON APPETIT, and have appeared on Good Morning America (ABC), Home Matters, Epicurious/Discovery, The Splendid Table with Lynn Rosetto Kasper" (MPR); "Food Talk with Arthur Schwartz" (WOR); and "Good Food Hour with Evan Kleinman" (KSRO);
My cooking school in Louviers, Normandy and in Paris is a cultural and hands-on culinary program. Participants spend five delicious days cooking and enjoying the meals we've made together, along with wines from throughout France, visiting local markets and artisan food producers, and getting an in-depth look at and feeling for all that is wonderful about France. My cooking classes in Paris will be similar, with hands-on classes in Patricia's gorgeous kitchen, visits to producers, and an insider's look at Paris and its gastronomy. www.onruetatin.com I am also a founding member of notakeout.com a website devoted to making mealtimes manageable and delicious!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars second purchase, July 2, 2006

By 

Amanda A. White "knoxiesmama" (Gulfport, MS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Farmhouse Cookbook (Paperback)

This is my FAVORITE cookbook ever! I am a self-proclaimed cookbook junkie who lost all my collection in hurricane Katrina. I purchased this cookbook ten years ago in my college bookstore and have made so many memorable dishes from it. Aside from the great food it is a pleasurable read. I am so happy it is still in print and can't wait to get it back!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Cookbook!, November 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Farmhouse Cookbook (Hardcover)

The author traveled the country visiting farms and collecting recipes, many of which are family recipes made for generations. Each is introduced with a section of text explaining it's origin, how to select and use ingredients, hints on cooking, variations, and stories of the people she met while compiling this book. If you want good home cooking made simple but VERY tasty, this is the book for you.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best cookbook I own!, September 2, 2002

By 

"magaidh" (Santa Cruz, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Farmhouse Cookbook (Paperback)

I have a extensive cookbook collection and this is my favorite book hands down. Everything I've made from it has been very good. Some of the recipes are a bit labor intensive but I've found that the end result is worth the effort. The whoopie pies are a bit of heaven on earth!