Summer Cooking (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

Elizabeth David (Author), Molly O'Neill (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: New York Review Books Classics | Publication Date: April 30, 2002

For the great English food writer Elizabeth David, summer fare means neither tepid nor timid. Her stress is always on fresh, seasonal food-- recipes that can be quickly prepared and slowly savored, from Gnocchi alla Genovese ("simply an excuse for eating pesto") to La Poule au Pot to Gooseberry Fool. Divided into such sections as Soup, Poultry and Game, Vegetables, and Dessert, her 1955 classic includes an overview of herbs as well as chapters on impromptu cooking for holidays and picnics. Chockablock with both invaluable instructions and tart rejoinders to the pallid and the overblown, Summer Cooking is a witty, precise companion for feasting in the warmer months.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These debuted in 1950 and 1955, respectively, thrusting the British-born David into the cooking limelight. She is credited with debunking a lot of myths involving foods and their preparation. These editions contain new forewords by Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of TV's famed Fat Ladies, who introduces the Mediterranean volume, and New Yorker columnist Molly O'Neill who offers her take on Summer Cooking. With the remarkable popularity of cooking shows, these might be more popular now.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Decorated with a portrait of twin cherries, yellow runner beans, and the sweet, petite wild strawberries known as frais de bois, to urban eyes starved of July's sensual delights, the sunny cover of Summer Cooking seems to promise a storybook world...Summer Cooking is a wonderfully subversive volume -- every bit as unexpected and enchanting to read today as it must have been 50 years ago...But the purest thrill of Summer Cooking,as in all of David's volumes, is the nearly pugilistic punch of pleasure her food delivers, and the graceful way her bright, well-mannered prose captures the artist's fleeting delight...Whether read in bed in a baking tenement or at the breezy desk of a lolling barge, her words still ring like hypnotic prayers." --Salon.com

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (April 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590170040
• ISBN-13: 978-1590170045
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the Heat of the Night, July 24, 2010

By 

Lorenzo Moog (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Summer Cooking (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Just now the East Coast of the USA is sizzling hot......106 in Richmond, 102 in Baltimore, Massachusetts all in a sweat! Here's a good book for an amusing and intelligent assessment of what's essential to great summer cooking; freshness and planning and pleasure. Summer Cooking, is from the perspective of E. David, an English woman, who was well travelled in Europe, N. Africa & India bringing all of her accumulated culinary experiences into her own English kitchen circa 1955 and this book is the result. This is well before the extravaganza of electric kitchen appliances had flooded the market so there is the rich experience of reading all of the hands on cooking she is doing and giving us the pleasure to do it with her. So I do that and have done for now many years. Thankfully, New York Book Review re-published it, my old copy from the 60s was held together with tape and tattered because I used it every summer. I like the new one, everything about it, size, paper, the way it feels in the hand, etc. This is her most English and most personal book. It is as she cooked in her own kitchen on Halsey St, London, served at her parties and cooked on holiday. The food is all about seasonal freshness and not a lot of fuss but she doesn't stint on technique so be prepared put some work into your supper. The book is divided into sections by Eggs, Fish, Vegetables, Meat etc very easy to reference and a delight to read. The recipes are from all over, French, Italian , Middle Eastern, Russian, Jewish and English. I like Sand Cake ,Sweet Pastry for Open Fruit Pies & Raspberry Shortbread to name a few sweets ( I need one for tomorrow). Meat, Fish & Poultry chapters are packed with great ideas mostly grilled, lots of fresh herbs, some quick sautes, some terrines and pates.The Egg chapter is wonderful with lots of interesting French recipes for a wide assortment of baked eggs with herbs and cheese and jellied eggs.
There are several recipes that are jellied with calves or pigs foot the finished meat surrounded by cubes of the gelatinous stuff. Do people still do that?
I see the cool idea of it for summer but... things were different then. Britian was coming out of post WW2 rationing, eggs and cream had been impossible to get. In 1955 chicken was an expensive commodity, fish was cheap. David gives an interesting look at a sophisticated 1950s palate, one that would have a wide reach right into our own time. She is a writer who is utterly devoted to the pursuit of fine dining and I read the book every year not so much for the recipes (of which there are many!) but for the creative energy that comes through year in and year out with her strong clear writing and her undaunted spirit. By all means a useful and necessary addition to any serious cooks collection. Very Highly Recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An oldie but goodie, April 26, 2011

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Summer Cooking (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

`Summer Cooking' was first written in 1955 while Britain was still suffering the aftereffects of WWII. Elizabeth David did much to change the attitude towards cooking and food and this is one of her more interesting books. Recipes can still be prepared today from it, but probably by more experienced cooks, since she did not always give exact measurements, for example; boil in a little bit of water might create uncertainty in those who have not cooked before.

Each section is introduced by Elizabeth David and her comments are, as always pointed, "how one learns to dread the season for salads in England."
This book is not set up the way a normal cookbook would be, ingredients are not listed, nor in bold type, you must read through the recipe to figure out what you need in most cases. Some recipes you will not have an easy time finding the ingredients: pigeon, cockles, eels, ox tongue, pig's head, marrow; or you might need a translation, i.e. tunnyfish = tuna. Oven temperatures are in gas marks, and there is a conversion table in the back of the book. There is a good section on fresh herbs.
Recipes include; hors d'oeuvre and salads, soups, eggs, fish, meat, poultry and game, vegetables, sauces, sweets, jams, jellies, preserves, buffet food, cooking for holidays and weekends, picnics.

These are interesting recipes and can be tried for variety and their good taste. Those who enjoy cooking might like the challenge of Elizabeth David's recipes although they for the most part are not difficult to prepare. Favorites in this family have included peas with ham, and potatoes with mushrooms.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, small print hard to read and not what I had expected Would not have bought, September 24, 2011

By 

Charles G. Wanner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SUMMER COOKING (Hardcover)

Disappointing, small print hard to read and not what I had expected Would not have bought.

Amazon don't bother me again and I will stop buying from you. I can give you more than 20 profane words why this is annoying. Please tell Jeff this is not the way to build customer loyalty.