What I’ve Been Reading Lately

I’m always reading – often not related to food or drink (give me poetry, classic literature, non-fiction, memoirs, religion and philosophy – I devour it all). But on the imbibing front, there are ever intriguing reads and resources to share…

Food

Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbably Restaurant – Anthony Myint & Karen Leibowitz

Leave it to McSweeney’s to publish a book that is ode to a series of brilliant SF dining concepts, a recent history of cutting-edge food, and a vividly illustrated cookbook. Mission Street Food the book, makes me nostalgic for those not-so-long-ago early days of Mission Street Food, the experience. Through the book, I reminisced about favorite dishes served in that ultimate pop-up restaurant out of dingy Lung Shan, found my mouth watering for that incomparable Mission Burger out of Duc Loi Supermarket, and appreciated the current day incarnation of Mission Chinese. This book encapsulates it all, sharing many of the best recipes (with step-by-step photo instructions). We are lucky to have Myint and the Mission Street crew’s visions among us… and such a book to capture the experience.

Food Trucks: Dispatches & Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels – Heather Shouse

Though Food Trucks (released this Spring) paints broad strokes of the rise in the phenomenon that is food trucks, it is a worthy snapshot of how this movement has risen nationally as the economy has suffered. It highlights ingenuity and fresh-thinking from chefs across the country who wanted to make food as affordable as it is exciting. It goes region-by-region through the US, listing a handful of trucks in various cities. Only five Bay Area trucks are listed (including Spencer on the Go! and RoliRoti), which is barely scratching the surface. Nonetheless, it’s a peek into a handful of individual stories and recipes of food trucks launched from New Orleans to Hawaii (including some of my favorite Oahu trucks).

Drink

America Walks into a Bar – Christine Sismondo

Though Sismondo is Canadian, she offers a detailed account of US history from the front row seat of its bars, taverns, saloons, speakeasies and grog shops in her new book, America Walks Into A Bar. She posits that the States’ most important movements, from Revolution to Prohibition, were birthed out of the communal gathering places that are our bars. Factual and historical, Sismondo keeps it seamless, though I found some chapters more interesting than others. Stories of tipsy judges ruling court cases out of taverns and women-bar owners indicted during Salem Witch Trials are engaging and worth a look for those curious about just how much drink has factored into our country’s foundation.

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Two Intriguing New Food Memoirs

Just released in early March, here are two new reads I’d recommend not only for foodies but for fans of absorbing, well-crafted memoir.

Life, On the Line – Grant Achatz & Nick Kokonas

When Alinea’s chef genius Grant Achatz writes a memoir, it’s destined to get buzz amongst foodies. When this visionary chef was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer, threatened to lose his tongue and taste buds (something devastating to anyone, much less a celebrated chef), it was news well beyond the food world.

Achatz first memoir, written with his business partner, Nick Kokonas, is much more than a cancer survival story. It is concurrently more than a chef memoir. Appropriately titled, Life, On the Line, it may not be the most literary of food memoirs, but it is gripping. I couldn’t stop reading of Achatz’ humble Michigan roots, his rise as a chef under Charlie Trotter and Thomas Keller, and particularly the incessant drive that led him to opening his own, widely acclaimed restaurant just as he entered his thirtieth decade.

I’m already plotting how I can get to Chicago after his unparalleled concepts of Aviary and Next open…

Blood, Bones & Butter – Gabrielle Hamilton

Who knew chef of NY’s beloved Prune, in the East Village, was first and foremost a writer? Early word on the street was that her book was, as Anthony Bourdain himself said, “the best memoir by a chef ever.”

I find the hype a bit high, but do think cooks and food lovers will find much to savor in Blood, Bones and Butter. Though I found it not as compelling as Achatz’s Life, On the Line, Hamilton shines in her mastery of the English language, making it a more pleasurable read.  From idyllic, dreamy parties her parents threw at her rural Pennsylvania childhood home, to the devastation of their divorce that led Hamilton to support herself in restaurant jobs from teen years on, her choice of words creates vivid pictures of each era of her life.

Amidst dish-washing and butchery, she describes her move back to school at “the Harvard of the Midwest” (University of Michigan), where she gets an MFA in fiction writing. It’s an intriguing journey from writing to unexpectedly running her own restaurant. You can’t help but feel writing is her first calling.

As she describes the lamb roasts of her youth, you clearly envision it, and acutely wish you were there: “… the sun started to set and we lit the paper bag luminaria, which burned soft glowing amber, punctuating the meadow and the night, and the lamb was crisp-skinned and sticky from slow roasting, and the root beer was frigid and it caught, like an emotion, in the back of my throat.“

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Books for holiday gift-giving

For the foodie and drink hounds among you, here are a few recent book releases to delight and enlighten.

FOR THE WINO

Secrets of the Sommeliers by Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay – Secrets of the Sommeliers, a new book from local SF treasures (sommelier extraordinaire Rajat Parr and drink writer Jordan Mackay) is the best wine book to come across my desk in awhile. Stories from a range of the world’s best somms and winemakers stand alongside insights on tasting, purchasing, storing, pairing, ordering and serving wine. Sections Thinking Like A Sommelier and The Wine List deliver a true insider’s perspective and expertise. This intelligent, understated book is a must for any wine lover, budding or educated.

FOR THE TIKI FANATIC

Beachbum Berry Remixed by Jeff Berry - Whether a retro tiki fanatic or one who prefers drinks reminiscent of an island getaway, this book from modern-day master of tropical cocktails, Jeff Berry (aka Beachbum Berry), satiates. Colorful vintage photos and graphics illumine mid-century history and tiki culture. I try out a number of the recipes on friends, some from top bartenders, many classic, never-before-published or “lost” exotic drink recipes. I have not run across one yet that is less than crowd-pleasing. Remixed combines Berry’s first two books, Grog Log and Intoxica!, adding 107 recipes for one comprehensive collection.

FOR THE CONSCIENTIOUS COOK

Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights: Recipes for Every Season, Mood, and Appetite by Sophie Dahl - A cookbook by a famous model is among the last places I’d look as cooking source (I’m skeptical enough of ultra-skinny cooks like Giada). But Dahl is no typical model, having written three books and as a self-professed, avid eater. She’s the daughter of brilliant writer Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal. Her oft-discussed weight, modeling at real world sizes (like 10), convinces me she understands “voluptuous”. Her recipes may not be the most challenging on the shelf, rather they are approachable as the book’s layout is charming. As she does not eat red meat, there’s plenty here for a vegetarian. Whether you’re making brown rice risotto with pumpkin or something as simple as flapjacks, Dahl’s personable approach draws you in while her seasonal recipes comfort.

FOR THE DRINK AFICIONADO

Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits by Jason Wilson – Though Boozehound by Washington Post’s spirits columnist Jason Wilson contains over 50 drink recipes, it is more a study on a range of spirits, history mixed with personal experience. His journeys to distilleries around the globe play as engaging travelogue, with breakthrough moments sipping an unusual liqueur or uncovering hype around others. It’s like reading a food memoir but with drink as the backdrop and instigator. The chapter Bitter is Bella made me miss Italy’s fabulously bitter palate; I began craving aquavit and bacalao reading Water of Life. His stories of researching tequila in Jalisco, Mexico, or chatting with Borje Karlsson (Karlsson’s Gold Vodka) rekindle my own memories. He explores sips as far-ranging as bianco vermouth, sloe gin, Barolo Chinato and pisco. There is education here, certainly, but via a pleasurable, relaxing read. Like a fine drink, at its finish, I found myself thirsty for more.

FOR THE COCKTAILIAN

Speakeasy: The Employees Only Guide to Classic Cocktails Re-Imagined by Jason Kosmas & Dushan Zaric - An elegant book from bartenders behind Employees Only in NYC’s West Village, this book lists a range of recipes from classics (e.g. the Martinez) to new drinks that play like classics, such as the Provencal. We have seen compendiums of classic recipes before, but this one ups the game with thoughtful directions and NY flair. Four sections cover categories like aperitifs, punches, cordials and homemade syrups. Inspired by Prohibition-era speakeasies, these two were doing “speakeasy” long before it became a trend. As they state in the section Mastering the Perfect Cocktail: “Every Cocktail Has A Story”. Speakeasy helps you tell stories through the preparation of a drink.

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In conversation with David Wondrich about his new book, PUNCH

When drink historian and Esquire columnist David Wondrich speaks about drink, you listen… or read, as the case may be. His latest book Punch, which releases on 11/2, is the first of its kind on the glories and history of the punch bowl. I had the privilege of speaking with Dave over the phone from his home in NY. He answered the question, “Why punch?” Or, to quote his book, what makes punch “necessary”?

Dave deems punch, “The great social beverage of all time… now more than ever we need beverages that promote friendship.” He also calls punch “more gentle than cocktails”, its preparation “easy and utterly pleasurable.”

It becomes readily apparent: the punch bowl is communal, ideal for a group or festive gathering, less laborious than individual cocktails and a hell of a lot more fun. Or as Dave states in the book’s Preface: “Most of Punch’s stories are of warm fellowship and conviviality and high-spirited gatherings afloat on oceans of witty talk”, not to mention a few “battles and brawls.”

We’re not talking about “frat juice” or fizzy, sweet flowing bowls here. We’re talking honest-to-God punch: boozy, delicious, layered with citrus, raw sugar, varying spirits. The book starts with a comprehensive history, who drank punch, and where. He mentions the book “started as a big chunk cut out of [his first book] Imbibe!”, which he expanded on.

Dave Wondrich (photo source: www.astorcenternyc.com)

The convivial punch houses of yore sound so appealing, I ask Dave if he envisions their return to modern day? “I certainly hope so.” Besides Rickhouse here in SF, some of his favorite bars for punch around the globe include Hix in London, Brooklyn’s Clover Club (a dangerously close distance from his home), and Manhattan’s Death & Co. He’s also says he’s a fan of Savoy Cocktail Night at SF’s own Alembic (hear, hear!)

Gorgeous Le Grand Punch at private Benedectine party w/ ice orb

Ever the thorough historian, Dave uncovers punch’s roots – like most classic drinks, the original creator isn’t known, though there are countless early references. One of his strongest sources is Google Books, where he digs up old newspapers, pamphlets and rare books before he then might cross reference in the libraries of New York or London. Another research source?  “I am trained as an academic so I have a lot of 1600’s books… I start with a  lot of blank space and start to fill that in, using every kind of source possible… I’ll track down the original source, and don’t settle for first mention.”

I asked if he’d ever write the book he wishes existed (mentioned on page 6 of Punch): a detailed source on distilling, its origins, history and importance. He says it’s a project “too big for any one person to bite off unless they have all the time in the world and know multiple languages,” but he “could tackle parts of it” in collaboration with others.  He surmises it would take at least three co-writers, fluent in languages from Dutch and German, to Chinese and Indian, to be able to read and translate ancient texts.

What we’re more likely to see Wondrich write about next is how the American style of drinking, particularly our contribution of cocktails and in spirits, went global. He’s already done “tons of research” for presentations he’s given, fascinated by our legendary cocktail showcases in world’s fairs, for one, and how the rest of the world began to imitate techniques initially launched here.

A liquid nitrogen punch bowl

Though Wondrich deems Punch‘s Book II for “total mixology geeks”, I find it a useful, necessary account of ingredients, tools needed, and proper measurements, particularly his spirits recommendations under Ingredients.

Naturally, a good half of the book is recipes, ranging from Milk Punch to American Fancy Punch. When asked which ones he makes the most, he named the bracing Chatham Artillery Punch on page 248 (a Savannah original, one I’ve walked down Savannah streets imbibing, though far from a well-crafted version). Back in the day, a local paper described the punch thus: “As a vanquisher of men its equal has never been found.” Dave says the recipe in this book (there is another in Imbibe!) “claims to be the original, and very well might be”, though when it comes to  traditional recipes, “they get passed down like a game of telephone”, each iteration evolving.

One of his biggest crowd-pleasers (which people consume in “shocking amounts”) is his own recipe of Royal Hibernian Punch (p. 269):

“Prepare an oleo-saccharum with the peel of three lemons and 6 ounces of white sugar. Add 6 ounces strained lemon juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add to this 12 ounces Sandeman Rainwater Madeira, stir and pour the Madeira shrub into a clean 750-milliliter bottle. Add enough water to the bottle to fill it, seal and refrigerate. Fill another clean 750-milliliter bottle with filtered water and refrigerate that, too.

To serve, pour the bottle of the shrub, the bottle of water and one 750-milliliter bottle of Jameson 12 or Redbreast Irish whiskey into a gallon Punch bowl, add a 1 1/2 quart block of ice and grate nutmeg over the top.

Yield: 9 1/2 cups.”

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Three Recent Food Books

These three books (one factual journey, one memoir, one cookbook) have two things in common: they’re all new this year and centered around food.

TWAIN’S FEAST – Andrew Beahrs

Andrew Beahrs, an East Bay local, displays his affection for the great Mark Twain in this thoroughly researched book. Twain’s Feast explores the history of foods Twain waxed eloquent about that are either gone entirely or slowly making their way back into the American landscape.  Experiencing food and coffee in his European travels “as tasteless as paper”, Twain found American cooking of his time “generous”, “genuine”, “real”. Of course, the prairie hens he grew up with, fresh possum and raccoon, New Orleans’ sheep-head and croakers, and the “heaven on the half shell” of San Francisco’s own oysters and mussels, are largely extinct or rare nowadays.

The book is, yes, a poignant ode to the pre-mass-produced, homogenized, dangerously grown American “food” we now know. It’s also a hopeful challenge to the reader, worded gently in the epilogue: “… choices about what we eat help to determine which American landscapes survive and thrive.”

There are many worthy stories here, both for the Twain aficionado and food historian. What I came away with, besides a reminder to support the craftswomen and men making food and growing animals with care (which we’re heavily blessed with in the Bay Area), was Twain’s insataible passion for robust flavor, a hunger to drink life to the dregs. I relate to the way he eats… and heartily writes about it.

As Beahrs says, “… Twain’s love for a dish was inseparable from his love of life.” Amen.

HUNGRY TOWN – Tom Fitzmorris

Make no bones about it, I have a mad love affair with New Orleans, a city you hear me go on about often enough. Naturally, I ate up (no pun intended) Tom Fitzmorris‘ Hungry Town, a leading Nola restaurant reviewer both in print and on the radio for decades.

He knows the city’s food scene intimately: its history, key players, essential recipes (included in the book), and the post-Katrina struggle that has brought the culinary magic of the ultimate Southern city back to even greater heights (and more restaurants) than before the storm. His post-Katrina assessments are honest insights into just how torn apart families and businesses were, including his own. But he unabashedly claims: “Food Saves New Orleans”.

I value his commitment to Creole and Cajun as the “default” styles of cooking in New Orleans, essential to the city’s future. He states: “The genius of New Orleans cooking is not that we cook better than anyone else. It’s that nobody in the world cooks our local specialties – except when they consciously imitate us (usually badly, I’ve found). The day that our food fails to be flagrantly distinctive… is the day we become Anywhere, USA. That’s also the day I’m leaving town.”

THE SUNSET COOKBOOK

Cooks take note: 10/19 is the release date of the massive, 1000+ recipe tome that is the latest edition of the Sunset Cookbook. It’s a fine one. Not only are the clean, bright photos dangerous to peruse on an empty stomach, but the book manages to be both approachable and widely comprehensive, with sections on every aspect of a meal you can think of from bread to cocktails to preserves and pickles.

Sunset magazine‘s  food editor, Margo True, is also the book’s editor and she maintains a cohesive standard of ‘farmers-market-fresh’ ingredients with regional Western foods. Yes, Sunset magazine is based in the Bay Area, so California ethos displays prominently with international influences married to a rich range of produce. But the styles of cooking cover the world, showcasing food of the West as what it truly is: global.

Many recipes tempt me here, including this snack and shake:

Avocado Fries
SERVES 6 | TIME 30 minutes

Canola oil for frying
1?4 cup flour
1?4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 eggs, beaten to blend
11?4 cups panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
2 firm-ripe medium Hass avocados, pitted, peeled, sliced into 1?2-in. wedges

1. Preheat oven to 200°. In a medium saucepan, heat 11?2 in. oil until it registers 375° on a deep-fry thermometer.

2. Meanwhile, mix flour with salt in a shallow plate. Put eggs and panko in separate shallow plates. Dip avocado wedges in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg, then panko to coat. Set on two plates in a single layer.

3. Fry a quarter of the avocado wedges at a time until deep golden, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer wedges to a plate lined with paper towels. Keep warm in oven while cooking remainder. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

California Date Shake
One of the great foods of the Sunshine State, the date shake is exactly what you want to be slurping while visiting baking-hot date country near Palm Springs. Our favorite shake is the one at Shields Date Gardens, in Indio. Shields uses its own date “crystals”—dehydrated Deglet Noor and Blonde dates (the latter is one of its signature varieties). You can order these online (shieldsdategarden.com) or substitute fresh, as we’ve done here. This shake is sensational with a shot of rum stirred in.

Makes 1 shake (11?3 cups) | TIME 10 minutes

4 pitted Medjool dates (about 3 oz.), coarsely chopped
1?4 cup very cold milk
11?4 cups high-quality vanilla ice cream

In a blender, blend dates and milk until smooth and super-frothy. Add ice cream and pulse a few times, until just blended.

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STUDYING DRINK: Three Books to Up Your Cocktail-Making Game or Historical Knowledge

LEFT COAST LIBATIONS - Ted Munat with Michael Lazar
Left Coast Libations, which came out September 1st (catch the launch party this Saturday, 9/18, at Heaven’s Dog), is, as far as I’m concerned, a must for the library of any West Coast cocktailian, not to mention drink aficionados everywhere.

Ted Munat clearly displays a fan’s love of drink and the bartenders behind them in his cheeky, delightful bartender bios, Jenn Farrington’s pristine photos give the book a sleek, pure look, and Michael Lazar painstakingly made every recipe to ensure workability for those of us trying these recipes at home. Naturally, San Francisco makes a strong showing with LA, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver bartenders sharing many of their greats, all highlighting the innovation happening in cocktails on the West Coast.

You’ll find recipes for local favorites like Daniel Hyatt’s Southern Exposure or Joel Baker’s Pear Sonata. I’ve been making many of these at home and the book is rich with possibility. In the midst of intriguingly unique recipes calling for homemade syrups or tinctures, I am also grateful for simple beauties like Murray Stenson’s (who won American Bartender of the Year at Tales of the Cocktail) Stephan’s Sour with Beefeater gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and Bitter Truth celery bitters.

VINTAGE SPIRITS and FORGOTTEN COCKTAILS – Ted Haigh
After meeting attending his Hollywood Cocktails seminar at Tales of the Cocktail, I can say Ted Haigh is one crazy guy… and one of the best resources in the world for history behind drinks (just read his regular column in Imbibe magazine). With a well deserved win as Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book at Tales, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails feels like the kind of tome that would be a definitive resource in any era. Focused on the classics, it’s rich with historical notes, vintage artwork, and approachable, standard-setting recipes every bartender (or at-home novice) should know. Kudos for the spiral bound presentation, making it easy to use while mixing drinks.

LAST CALL: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition – Daniel Okrent
Last Call is an almost textbook-detailed approach to the history, people and circumstances surrounding Prohibition and how it changed the face of America in issues as far-ranging as personal freedom to organized crime. Daniel Okrent is best known as the first public editor of the New York Times, but is also a Pulitzer nominee. His painstaking research reveals fascinating stories (Carry A. Nation, the temperance “saloon smasher” with a hatchet, for one), and debatable but thought-provoking conclusions. Just delve into the introduction with eye-opening stats on just how much America drank pre-Prohibition, and you’ll be hooked.

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M.F.K. FISHER Among the Pots & Pans
- Joan Reardon

Mary Frances in the kitchen (photo source: http://www.nytimes.com)

Like any self-respecting food lover (and writer),  I’m well aware that, hands down, M.F.K. Fisher (Mary Frances) is our greatest food writer and I’ve been pursuing the pleasurable endeavor of working my way through her entire catalog over the years.

As with my literature preferences, I find myself more often drawn to the classics, or, in this case, first flush of food writers who set the tone mid-20th century, like A.J. Liebling (read “Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris“) and Angelo Pellegrini (read “The Unprejudiced Palate”), though none have the impact on me that Fisher does.

She writes of food, travel, life but most importantly, she writes… drawing you in, enveloping you first and foremost with her person, heart, and poetic style.

There have been numerous books written about her over the years but one that landed on my desk was a 2008 UC Press edition of M.F.K. Fisher among the Pots & Pans by Joan Reardon.

The book is a straightforward biography summarizing key points in Mary Frances’ (I love that Reardon refers to her by the name she preferred to be called) life and complicated relationships, but through the intriguing slant of the many homes she lived in, particularly the kitchens she cooked in, from California to France.

Irish illustrator, Avram Dumitrescu, paints warm vignettes of her kitchens, imparting a friendly glow to the book, and complimenting photos of Mary Frances. Whether it be the cover illustration of her kitchen in Hemet, CA, or those in her St. Helena and Glen Ellen homes, one gets a glimpse into Mary Frances, the cook, though she was first and foremost a writer.

As her birthday just came and went on July 3rd (she would have been 102), it’s as good a time as any to read and reflect on one of our most gifted writers, who also happened to love food.

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