The Lost Art of Real Cooking: Rediscovering the Pleasures of Traditional Food One Recipe at a Time [Hardcover]

Ken Albala (Author), Rosanna Nafziger Henderson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 6, 2010

Read Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger's blogs and view their pictures on the Penguin Community.

It's time to take back the kitchen. It's time to unlock the pantry and break free from the shackles of ready-made, industrial food. It's time to cook supper.

The Lost Art of Real Cooking heralds a new old- fashioned approach to food-laborious and inconvenient, yet extraordinarily rewarding and worth bragging about. From jam, yogurt, and fresh pasta to salami, smoked meat, and strudel, Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger arm you with the knowledge and skills that let you connect on a deeper level with what goes into your body.

Ken and Rosanna celebrate the patience it takes to make your own sauerkraut and pickles. They divulge the mysteries of capturing wild sourdoughs and culturing butter, the beauty of rendering lard, making cheese, and brewing beer, all without the fancy toys that take away from the adventure of truly experiencing your food.

These foods were once made by the family, in the home, rather than a factory. And they can still be made in the smallest kitchens without expensive equipment, capturing flavors that speak of place and personality. What you won't find here is a collection of rigid rules for the perfect meal. Ken and Rosanna offer a wealth of recipes, history, and techniques that start with the basics and evolve into dishes that are entirely your own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Almost all the recipes on offer here, from pickles to pastry, are doable in the humblest of kitchens..."
-The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Ken Albala is professor of history at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where he teaches courses on the Renaissance and Reformation, Food History, and the History of Medicine. He is the author of many books on food, includ­ing Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern Europe, Cooking in Europe 1250–1650, The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe, Beans: A History (winner of the 2008 International Association of Culinary Professionals Jane Grigson Award), Pancake, and the forthcoming World Cuisines written with the Culinary Institute of America. He is also the editor of three food series for Greenwood Press with 27 vol­umes in print and is now editing a four-volume Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. Albala has been the book reviews edi­tor of Food Culture and Society for the past six years and is now co-editor of the journal. He is currently researching a history of theological controversies surrounding fasting in the Reforma­tion Era and editing two collected volumes of essays, one on the Renaissance, the other on food and faith.
Rosanna Nafziger grew up on a mountain in West Virginia. She spent her girlhood working in the orchard, plant­ing beans, and selling pies at the farmers' market. Now she trans­lates the traditions of her Appa­lachian Mennonite upbringing to the urban kitchen on her blog, Paprikahead.com. A chef, nanny, and editor, she lives in San Francisco. This is her first book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1 edition (July 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399535888
• ISBN-13: 978-0399535888
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Reassuring Idea August 7, 2010

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

With `The Lost Art of Real Cooking' you can discover food that maybe your family thinks might only come from the store. If they or you wonder; how on earth can someone make this?, then you can actually do it.

However, there are no lists of ingredients, you have to read the recipes and even then the instructions will say: cut the tomatoes, maybe a dozen, or pull sprigs from fresh oregano, maybe rosemary too, put oil in a pan, maybe half a cup if you are brave. These are very personal recipes, sort of how your grandmother cooked, with a handful of this or that. As you turn pages, it looks more like a regular book, not a cookbook; but there are things you might never think of making.

This is for the adventuresome, make flour tortillas, or oatmeal porridge. There are hardly any pictures, you will have to know what challah bread looks like, but you can create medieval pork pie or beef jerky. Even snails are in here, but first you have to catch them and there is advice on how to do it and clean them. You can make butter without a churn too.

This can be a fun exercise for cooks and families. You can have an entertaining time making cheese, wine and beer and even reading some poems contained therein.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine, accessible survey for any who want to return to the basics without fuss or expense October 18, 2010

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Hardcover

Any library strong in culinary history will relish this survey of real home cooking: recipes which cover such nearly-forgotten basics as cultivating wild yeast, making butter, rendering lard, and brewing beer. No fancy kitchen utensils are advocated, either, making this a fine, accessible survey for any who want to return to the basics without fuss or expense.

33 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No pound cake? July 16, 2010

By William D. Colburn VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

There is no recipe for pound cake here. Kind of a shocking omission in my mind. But I love this book nonetheless.

It's a simple book of prose. There are no bulleted lists of ingredients, no special formatting, and almost no illustrations. Recipes are signed with a single letter identifying the author.

With the exception of pound cake this seems to be a rather good survey of basic cooking skills and recipes. You'll learn how to make miso (not the soup, the ingredient), cultured butter, bread, salami, and etc. If you're timid, or totally dependent on explicit and detailed instructions, well, you'll need to get over it. The approach to recipes is casual, not clinical. Just be brave, and go for it. It will probably work out just fine.