The lobster just wouldn’t die. Neat black-and-white drawings in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking fail to tell the whole story. Nothing there about squirming bodies, queasy stomachs, and misplaced stabs to crustacean heads. “While professionals simply cut up the lobsters with never a qualm nor a preliminary, you may find this difficult.” … More Cordon Bleu, Paris
Noted food historian, Cynthia D. Bertelsen’s new book, Stoves & Suitcases: Searching for Home in the World’s Kitchens, knocks one out of the ballpark. Not since Jessica B. Harris’ s My Soul Looks Back has a book captured me so completely, cover-to-cover. I read it in a day. In this high-caliber travelogue of tastes, flavors, … More Stoves & Suitcases, a Review by Leo Racicot
When my father died in 2015, my mother pointed to a box of his cookbooks and told me to take anything I wanted. She’s never been much of a one to use cookbooks. And she hates clutter. One of the books in the box caught my eye, its bright blue cover filled with the sort … More Arizona Highways Heritage Cookbook: Riding through History via the Mouth and the Stomach
Thanks to the COVID-19 virus, I’m missing Mother Nature. And Arizona. When I opened the July 2020 issue of Arizona Highways, I realized just how deep my discontent has become. Twenty-five writers and photographers tell stories of the places they yearned to see once quarantine ended, when they could clamber into a Jeep and hike … More Dreaming of the Sonoran Desert: Metaphors for Escape in the Time of COVID-19), Part 1
Announcing the publication of my newest book, a collection of essays and meditations related to Africa and the wonderful food there, dedicated to the women of Africa, may they persist: And the book includes dozens of recipes, too! Plus a multitude of chapters on ingredients found in the cooking of Africa. Africa has a way … More “Wisdom Soaked in Palm Oil: Journeying Through the Food and Flavors of Africa” My Newest Book Now Available!!
COOKBOOKS Winners by Countries – Gourmand Awards 2020 D05 CULINARY HISTORY USA – A Hastiness of Cooks, Cynthia D. Bertelsen (Turquoise Moon Press) https://www.cookbookfair.com/i…/gourmand-awards/winners-2020
When I moved to my current house, I discarded – with much pain and anguish – hundreds of cookbooks. Granted, they ended up at a local culinary school, but my name isn’t affixed to the collection. And I didn’t really care. All that mattered to me was that they would huddle together, at least … More The Mouthwatering and Mind-bending Experience of Cooking from Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Jerusalem”
The picadillo at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, a neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. That’s where it began, where the seed got planted. I’d just turned 21. To celebrate, several friends treated me to a fancy dinner there. And I ordered the picadillo, sided with a lime dacquiri. I think. I vaguely recall black beans, … More Cooking Cuban During El Período Especial Estadounidense