Volume 2, Issue 1
“Cooking Ex-Libris” is a CasaFestiva.com series exploring new recipes from my own cookbooks. Enjoy!
By Katy Budge
An older tome on the bookshelf caught my eye for this post, in part because of the vintage art on the cover. A quick look through the pages revealed a lot more of the festive illustrations, but it wasn’t immediately apparent who had written it. There was no author name on the cover or spine.
The title page solved the mystery, revealing that The Fireside Cook Book (Simon & Shuster, 1949) was written by none other than James Beard! He would go on to publish about 20 more books in his illustrious career, but – according to the James Beard Foundation website – this fourth one “made his culinary reputation.”
It’s easy to see why. The book’s subtitle is “A Complete Guide to Fine Cooking for Beginner and Expert,” and it is indeed a wide-ranging and comprehensive explanation and exploration of cuisine. With no less than 1217 recipes, Beard covers everything from simple hors d’oeuvres to pineapple duck, Parker House rolls to chicken à la king, crown roast of lamb to plain ol’ hamburgers.
Along the way, there are plenty of his own suggestions on entertaining with the utmost aplomb and élan. Beard’s competent voice is evident in those phrases, especially this last sentence from the introduction. “It is in the devout hope that indifference, the only cardinal sin of cookery, may be forever banished from his readers’ kitchens that the author has compiled this book.”
The tone of Beard’s utmost confidence is delightfully tempered by Alice and Martin Provensen’s wonderful artwork. Yes, their 400 color illustrations are decidedly vintage, but timelessly so, and added a sense of whimsy and accessibility to the book. (The Provensens were a prolific couple in their own right, publishing over 40 children’s books that they wrote and illustrated.)
American Cuisine with a Global Spin
Widely thought of as the dean of American cookery (a moniker coined by the New York Times), Beard always championed the quantity and quality of ingredients available to American kitchens. However, he doesn’t do this by pulling up the culinary drawbridge. The Fireside Cook Book offers a myriad of ways to use those ingredients to celebrate international influences and traditions. Menu suggestions include a “Far Eastern Indian Dinner” with mulligatawny soup and chutney rice, an “Austrian Dinner” with niernbraten and Linzer torte, and an “English Dinner” with Yorkshire pudding and trifle.
All in all, The Fireside Cook Book stands the test of time very well. It’s still a valid resource for cooks of any skill level, but there are a few reminders of the 1949 publication date. One is the manner of describing chickens in terms of how long they have taken to get to market, sadly no longer a factor with today’s food systems.
Another dated example is in the introduction to “Outdoor Cookery,” which states that “outdoor cooking is primarily man’s work, and man-sized portions and simple menus should be the rule. What fun is a picnic or barbecue if guest and host are hampered by formality or fuss?” Evidently, multi-course menus cooked inside by women are allowed such hindrances.
One more indication of its publication date is that the entire book was produced in the United States, right down to the paper – made by Champion Paper in Hamilton, Ohio – and the cloth for the binding – from Bancroft Mills in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Recipe
As much as I enjoyed reading The Fireside Cook Book, I did have a hard time settling on a recipe. Yes, I should have really reached beyond my comfort zone and tackled something like Wood Pigeon Casserole or Rabbit agro dolce, but … I did not. Cheese soufflé and cassoulet were under consideration for a bit, but … since Easter was on approach and I needed something to serve with ham, I settled on scalloped potatoes. Kind of simple, yes, but it was a good illustration of Beard’s approach throughout the book — presenting the basics of a recipe and offering variations on it. It also reminded me what an easy and tasty dish this is, especially kicked up with his suggestions of adding herbs and parmesan.
And, it went perfectly with the ham!
