Weekend Cooking- Old-School Comfort Food by Alex Guarnaschelli

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Old-School Comfort Food-The Way I Learned to Cook by Alex Guarnaschelli
Published by Clarkson Potter ISBN 978-0-307-95655-2
Hardcover, $30, 304 pages

I didn't know much about chef Alex Guarnaschelli until I had the pleasure of hearing her speak at Random House's Open House in May. I knew that she was on the Food Network shows Iron Chef and Chopped, but that was about it.

She was very funny and blunt in her talk, and I enjoyed her stories about growing up on 55th Street and 7th Ave. in Manhattan. Her mother edited cookbooks and her father was an adventurous cook himself, so Alex learned much about food from both of them. (My post on her talk is here.)

Her cookbook Old-School Comfort Food- The Way I Learned to Cook is a terrific blend of stories and recipes that she created. She is a wonderful writer, and her voice comes through clearly in her stories. The beginning of the book, with her fascinating food history from helping her mother with recipes in her childhood to her culinary education working in the kitchens of famous chefs like Guy Savoy in France and Daniel Boulud in New York, could be expanded to a full length autobiography it is so interesting. (I loved the Prince story!)

Sometimes cookbooks by chefs contain recipes that as I peruse them I think "that is too complicated for me", and frankly after reading Guarnaschelli's history I thought that might be the case here. She has incredible skills that I do not possess.

But looking through the book I had over a dozen post-it notes for recipes I want to try, including:

• Broccoli and Onion Dip
• White Mushrooms on Toast
• Arugula and Strawberry Salad
• Beef Meatballs and Sauce with Rigatoni
• Braided Short Rib French Onion Soup

The recipe for Beef Meatballs and Sauce with Rigatoni is available on her website here.

At the end of the book Guarnaschelli has a section titled "Sources" that lists some of her "old-school favorite places to explore new ingredients or taste a bit of nostalgia." Since she lives in New York, many of the places are there, and that means I will be adding them to my list of places to explore. It's great that she tells you which vendors to visit at Union Square's Greenmarket.

I wasn't sure that this would be a cookbook that I would like or use, but I'm so glad that I got a signed copy at the Open House. It's always fun to find something you didn't expect.

rating 4 of 5 

Weekend Cooking- Chef Alex Guarnaschelli at Random House Open House

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

I have never watch Food Network's Chopped (I know, don't yell at me), but I have seen chef Alex Guarnaschelli on TV talking about her new cookbook, Old-School Comfort Food- The Way I Learned to Cook, and found her very interesting.

She made an appearance at Random House Open House last week, and her conversation with Huffington Post Food Editor Carey Polis was so enjoyable. Guarnaschelli has a deadpan, low key sense of humor and she had us all laughing with her funny asides. I liked her cool, biker-chick wardrobe too.

She wanted to write a book "that readers could cook from", using ingredients we all can find. Poking fun at crazy recipes that call for ".7 grams of leather extract", she asks "Where do I find that? Do I melt down a coat? Scrape a shoe?".  She said "you don't have to buy eye of newt to make my food".

Comfort food to her is food that you grow up eating. Her mom, a cookbook editor, made classic French recipes, and so Guarnaschelli says that she found it "interesting to redefine comfort food in my own way" in this book. She says she feels she "let down the mac and cheese set" as that recipe will not be found here. Some of her favorite recipes are for coffee cake, melon soup, arugula and strawberry salad.

One of her biggest take-aways is that "being a spectator to cooking before you cook is highly underrated." She learned a lot watching her mother cook, and says that much like learning how to play basketball, you first have to watch how it is done and practice before you start. I never thought about cooking that way, but it makes sense.

She talked a little bit about her process for appearing on Iron Chef. Before her appearances on the competition show, she practices "between 9- 23 recipes" in her head. She said everyone should have a repertoire of dishes you can make "no matter what." These should include "a cake, salad dressing and a basic sauce", things you can build upon. Her goal is to win Iron Chef, something that has eluded her thus far.

The discussion ended with a recitation of Guarnaschelli's favorite foods- "Oreos, Twizzlers, Bugles, Funyuns, Cool Ranch Doritos, Munchos, frozen yogurt with lots of fruit and chocolate, cinnamon donuts from the box with three kinds of donuts, unfrosted strawberry Pop-Tarts, Dr. Brown Black Cherry soda and Dr. Pepper, and bologna." No one saw that coming!

If Guarnaschelli decides to leave the chef world, she would make a terrific stand-up comic. She had a lot to say about her mother (whom she lovingly and laughingly compared to Darth Vader at one point) her dad ("the greatest guy in the world"), and her curious 5 1/2 year-old daughter. I picked up a copy of her cookbook and she graciously signed it for me. I'll have a review in a future post.

Me and Alex Guarnaschelli at Random House Open House

Alex Guarnaschelli's website is here.

COMFORT FOOD a treat for Food Network fans

Author Kate Jacobs , who wrote the successful The Friday Night Knitting Club , moves to the culinary world in her new novel, Comfort Food. If you enjoy spending the evening watching Food TV, this novel is for you.

Augusta "Gus" has been hosting a successful TV show on the CookingChannel for years. She was widowed several years ago and left alone to raise her two young daughters Aimee, a global economic analyst, and Sabrina, an up-and-coming decorator. Gus is about to turn fifty years old when she receives news from her boss- the format of her show is going to be changed and she is getting a sexy young co-host, Carmen, a former Miss Spain.

Carmen appears to be a manipulative woman, gunning for Gus's job. Somehow, Gus's daughters, Sabrina's ex-fiance Troy, Gus's reclusive neighbor Hannah, and new chef Oliver all end up on the TV show, making for a crowded kitchen, with insults being tossed around the kitchen, along with the ingredients.

Gus has been told that if this doesn't work, she will be out of a job. So as she has always done, she rolls up her sleeves and is determined to make it work.

Jacobs writes interesting characters, and the family dynamic amongst Gus and her daughters is very real. They never dealt openly with the loss of their father and husband, never spoke about it. Eventually all of the repressed feelings come to light and must be dealt with. Many families handle situations like that in the same manner, and readers will identify with this. A passage that I found thought provoking was this:

"You don't know what it's like to struggle." Gus was getting angry; her cheeks were turning red. "I have done everything for you two."
"Maybe don't do so much, then," Aimee said quietly. "We may not have had your struggle, but we've had our own."

That sounds like a conversation many families could have.

All of the characters have strengths and weaknesses, they are three dimensional, and for the most part likable, just as most people are. Everyone is just trying to do their best to get what they want out of life. Gus meddles in her daughter's love life, Hannah is reclusive for a good reason, Troy wants to win Sabrina back, and Oliver has his eyes on romance; Jacobs manages to keep all of these plates spinning while the story unfolds.

Many people watch Food TV for the personalities as well as the food, and if you are one of them, you'll find Comfort Food a tasty treat. You get a bit of a backstage look at how those shows work, and for good measure, Jacobs gives the reader a few recipes mentioned in the story at the end of the book.

Rating 3.5 of 5 stars