amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (02/01/84)
One of my favorite cookbooks is something of an oddity. It is called The Supper of the Lamb, by Robert Farrar Capon. Capon is an Episcopal priest (this is important in understanding the book), and TSotL reminds me of Brillat-Savarin in that it is not so much a collection of recipes as an extended essay on the art of cooking. He starts off with by giving the ingredients for a recipe called "lamb for eight persons four times" and finally finishes it sixteen chapters later. Capon is opinionated and given to going off on tangents, but he is a good writer, is consistantly entertaining, and his opinions are worth listening to. He talks about such things as making puff pastry, explaining why you do everything, how to make a gravy, how to thicken a stew. He is not so interested in the hows as the whys of everything. A typical example, talking about people who object to wine in cookery: Consider first the teetotalers. They began, no doubt, by observing that some men use wine to exxcess--to the point at which, though the wine remains true to itself, the drinker does not. That much, I give them: Drunks are a nuisance. But they went too far. Only the ungrateful or the purblind can see that sugar in the grape and yeast on the skins is a divine idea, not a human one. Man's part in the process consists of honest and prudent management of the work that God has begun. Something underhanded has to be done to grape juice to keep it from running its appointed course. Witness the teetotaling communion service. Most Protestants, I suppose, imagine that it is part of the true Reformed religion. But have they considered that, for noneteen centuries after the institution of the Eucharist, wine was the only element available for the sacrament? Do they serious envision St. Paul or Calvin or Luther opening bottles of Welch's Grape Juice in the sacristy before the service? Luther, at least, would turn over in his grave. The WCTU version of the Lord's Supper is a bare 100 years old. Grape juice was no commercially available until the discovery of pasteurization; and, unless I am mistaken, it was Mr. Welch himself (an ardent total abstainer) who persuaded American Protestantism to abandon what the Lord obviously thought rather kindly of. That much damage done, however, the itch for consistency took over with a vengance. Even the Lord's own delight was explained away. One of the most fanciful pieces of exegesis I ever read began by maintaining that the Greek word for wine, as used in the Gospels, meant many other things than wine. The commentator cited, as I recall, *grape juice* for one meaning, and *raisin paste* for another. He inclined, ultimately, toward the latter. I suppose that such people are blessed with reverent minds which prevent them from drawing irreverent conclusions. I myself, however, could never resist the temptation to read raisin paste for wine in the story of the Miracle of Cana. "When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made raisin paste...he said unto the bridegroom, `Every man at the beginning doth set forth good raisin paste, and when men have well drunk [*eaten?*--the text is no doubt corrupt], then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good raisin paste until now.'" Does it not whet your apetite for the critical *omnia opera* of such an author, where he will freely have at the entire length and breadth of Scripture? Can you not see his promised land flowing with peanut butter and jelly; his apocalypse, in which the great whore Babylon is given the cup of the ginger ale of the feirceness of the wrath of God? Capon has also written two other cookbooks in much the same vein, Food For Thought and Party Spirit (in which he asks the question What makes a successful party?). John Hobson AT&T Bell Labs Naperville, IL (312) 979-7293 ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2
cdanderson@watarts.UUCP (02/03/84)
For a very good book on Oriental natural and macrobiotic (i.e. not
vegetarian only), I suggest the Chico San Cookbook, published by GOMF.
The printer is First Feathers Press at 1544 Oak St., Oroville, California
95965.
Besides having authentic recipes, the first ~10 pages are illustrations
of cutting techniques for different veggies, and the glossary contains both
the Japanese or Chinese names and pictures of used foods and equipment.
From the JabberWokky,
C.D. Andersondiane@rochester.UUCP (Diane Litman) (02/08/84)
Marcella Hazans "Classic Italian Cookbook" (or something like that) is now out in paperback (i.e. $5 instead of $18). As already mentioned by several people, it is excellent. There is also a second volume, but I'm not sure if that is still only in hardback.
gordon@bolton.UUCP (Gordon Partridge) (02/09/84)
One of my favorite cookbooks is Louis Diat: "Gourmet's Basic French Cookbook," Gourmet Distributing Corporation, 768 Fifth Avenue, New York 10019, Published 1961. It may be out-of-print by now, of course. The recipes are easy to follow and give delicious results, but part of the charm of the book is the author's commentary, part biographical and part historical. Gordon Partridge, GenRad, Inc., Mail Stop 98, Route 117, Bolton, MA 01740
donn@hp-dcd.UUCP (02/10/84)
(I'm going by memory here, so someone correct me on details if necessary.) When I first started reading your article on Fr. Capon, I thought you were speaking of Rev. Charles Smith (?) of Tacoma, Wa. He was the chaplin of a university there, and then started his own gorumet store, "The Chaplin's Pantry". He's an excellent speaker and also has, I believe, a cookbook out. (Being now in the wilds of Colorado, it's hard to keep up.) He may also have written a book on the philosophy of food, and I think he may now have a syndicated TV show on cooking. The one time I heard him speak he spoke to much the same thought on the use of wine, particularly in the sacrement. (This was to the (o)Enological Society of the Pacific Northwest in Seattle.) The major points were on the importance of wine (not grape juice!) to the Jews, and that one should never forget that Christ was a Jew. Two quite quotable phrases from his talk. (My recreation from memory. Jewish scholors can correct me.) When the Jews, in their <period?> blessing at the table say "Blessed are you Lord God of all creation and maker of wine." they're saying "Just see how powerful my God is!" Wine is [God's] absolute proof that we have no business being unhappy. That's a sentiment that I like! [Theological issues can go to net.religion; food and wine philosophy can stay here!] Donn Terry hplabs!hp-dcd!donn