Thanking Fanny Farmer

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

These days I have to confess I don’t cook very much or at least I rely on tried-but-true recipes from my more-eager cooking days when I do. When I remarried over two years ago, that was one of the perks on the table, so to speak. I had only to show up for dinner each night (hopefully on time or with a good excuse if otherwise.)

My husband often relies on fast recipes for the weeknights due to the time crunch between his arrival home and our grandson’s homework and bedtime. And he always makes a stop at the grocery store for a last-minute purchase. One of his favorite new tricks is to use his new iPhone app, “Epicurious.” This handy Internet novelty not only hands over a recipe (using one or more search ingredients) but also gives him an exact shopping list. And all at the tap of his finger.

Would our most famous Boston cooks approve? Known for some of the most complicated recipes in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” Julia Child could also make things as simple as possible. Julia’s roast turkey recipe includes a short list of ingredients: oil, salt, pepper, celery onions, lemon, butter. And Port or Madeira, if desired. Even Fanny would approve of that.

 

            I searched for my favorite holiday cranberry sauce recipe this past weekend and came across my mother’s “Fanny Farmer Cookbook.” It was handed down to me nearly thirty years ago and it bears the stains of several generations of cooking. I grew up the daughter of a traditional New England cook who was transplanted to Northern California. Most of my friends had never tasted Baked Beans or Oyster Stew, let alone watched their mothers cook them all from scratch.  My mother actually had a baked bean cooker, much like a modern and trendy crock pot. Those chubby little white beans soaked all Friday night, they simmered all the next day (along with a huge slab of salt pork) and every corner of the house steamed with a rich molasses smell by Saturday night. Lemony Snow Pudding or Coffee Jelly rivaled the tastiest desserts of my friends’ homes.  My mother’s apple pie crust was never store bought. I have Fanny to thank for it. 

            As a young wife I must admit that I didn’t actually “cook” from Fanny Farmer but often referred to her when I needed some basic instruction. I was the experimental type and preferred to wrestle through Craig Claiborne’s “NYT International Cookbook” (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, p. 184 or Pork Chops Veracruz, p. 470) I moved on in the next decade to Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins of the Silver Palate Restaurant fame.  Roast Lamb with Peppercorn Crust (p. 100) and the best hummus recipe I’ve ever had (p.346) both from “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and Cajun Chicken Morsels (p. 25) of “the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook.”

            Our library has most of these books on its shelves – and many more written a bit more recently. One of the newest cookbooks in the library is “Bubbly’s Brunch Cookbook.”  In the introduction, restaurant owner and chef Ron Silver tells us that ‘of all the meals you’ll ever make, brunch is the most flexible, the most forgiving and the most fun.” I happen to agree and my repertoire of quiche and tarts proves it to be quite true. Silver gives us great breakfast menus to try – the Pancake Lovers Brunch through to a Midnight Brunch for Two. 

            In TV Chef Charles Mattocks’ new cookbook, “Eat Cheap But Eat Well” the author tells us that “it’s always good to have some vegetarian dishes in your repertoire,” with recipes like Barley and Apple Pilaf and Portobello Burgers. Raising his son on his own, Mattocks began by watching cooking shows on television. He became known as The Poor Chef and his cookbook is rich with traditional meals without the fuss of fancy ingredients.

             Those best cookbooks are sometimes ones that make our lives simple. “Cooking With All Things Trader Joe’s” by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati has been on the library shelves since last winter.  With a store just newly opened in Dedham the book and its recipes could be both a timesaver and a repertoire-stretcher. “Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Crepes” and “Calamari Brodetto” (and all of the recipes in the cookbook) use fresh, frozen, canned and bottled ingredients right from Trader Joe’s shelves.

            Like Julie Powell (“Julie and Julia”), author Stephanie O’Dea made a New Year’s resolution to use her slow cooker every single day for an entire year. “Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking.” includes Breakfast Risotto and Tomatoes and Goat Cheese with Balsamic Cranberry Syrup among the 300 recipes that resulted from her quest.  

            These days I have to confess I don’t cook very much or at least I rely on tried-but-true recipes from my more-eager cooking days when I do.  When I remarried over two years ago that was one of the perks on the table, so to speak. I had only to show up for dinner each night (hopefully on time or with a good excuse if otherwise.) 

            My husband often relies on fast recipes for the weeknights due to the time crunch between his arrival home and our grandson’s homework and bedtime. And he always makes a stop at the grocery store for a last-minute purchase. One of his favorite new tricks is to use his new iPhone app, “Epicurious.”  This handy Internet novelty not hands over a recipe (using one or more search ingredients) but also gives him an exact shopping list. And all at the tap of his finger.

            Would our most famous Boston cooks approve? Known for some of the most complicated recipes in “Julia Child’s French Cooking,” Julia Child could also make things as simple as possible.  Julia’s Roast Turkey recipe includes a short list of ingredients, oil, salt, pepper, celery onions, lemon, butter. And Port or Madeira, if desired. Even Fanny would approve of that.

            Visit our website, www. norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200.  We look forward to seeing you in the library browsing our cookbooks, searching the Internet or attending our programs.