Cookbooks, alive and well

Who goes straight to the internet for a recipe search, and who still curls up in bed with a cookbook ... their last thoughts before slipping off to sleep, dreaming of The Barefoot Contessa's Cheddar Corn Chowder and Pecan Squares? I casually surveyed friends and acquaintances this week, asking who still uses cookbooks and why, and pretty much heard a heartwarming cheer from the Cookbookers. Jane Ward, who just two weeks ago attended the BookExpo food writer's panel, reported that the question of for whom the bells toll - cookbooks? - was discussed by the experts, who apparently agreed that Epicurious is not a death sentence for The Joy of Cooking, and, yes, the experts still take cookbooks to bed. "Most cookbook readers," Jane reported, "also agreed that the stains in books continue to prompt memories of meals; stains on computers, no good." (Jane's favorite book, by the way, is Marcella's Italian Kitchen by Marcella Hazan, and her favorite recipe from it is Baked Eggplant Risotto.) Brian Knowles, who writes a blog about Guatemalan cooking under the name "The Gringo Chapin," added, "the stains on pages of cookbooks also help you find your favorite recipes easily." Here, here. I'd be lost without those soiled bookmarks. Abby Cahill O'Brien, of the blog "5thjoy," was a lone voice admitting she uses almost only the Internet when searching for something to make for dinner. "I keep them (cookbooks) in a talismanic spirit, but cook from online recipes 90 percent of the time. My laptop keyboard is filthy...keyboard currently sporting spice smudges from @ThreeManyCook 's chili." (Abby was the survey's only participant under 30, proof of how unscientific the study was.) Most of us can agree with Abby that the internet has changed home cooking forever. I clearly remember saying years ago, "when I can type onto a screen what's in my refrigerator and I get a recipe, computers will make sense." Well, guess what? Got too much Bok Choy from the CSA this week? Type it in. But browsing with a cursor upon an illuminated screen just isn't the same as holding pages in one's hands and savoring the photography. A book isn't all that easy to manage while lying back on the pillows in bed, but it's still not as hard and inflexible as a laptop. Mostly, I think the issue of cookbooks vs. computers is about the quality of seeing. Paper pages are just softer on the eyes, and ultimately make dreaming up a dinner party a more luxurious affair than scrolling through an "Easy Appetizers for a Crowd" search. So here's testimonial from the defiant cookbook believers: Eunice Panetta's affair with cookbooks - or one cookbook - began with marriage: "I basically learned what little I know about cooking from "The Way To Cook" by Julia Child, which was given to us as a wedding present by a great friend. I am not an improviser in the kitchen and this is the book for me. I just love being able to follow her directions slavishly and have the thing come out. Favorite recipe: Apple Charlotte. Tons of work but so delicious and special." Kathleen Valentine has written a cookbook and memoir titled, "Fry Bacon. Add Onions." The Valentine Family & Friends Cookbook, says of cookbooks, "I use them, I wrote one, and I love reading them in bed or out." The book on her nightstand right now is "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker," by Beth Hensperger. The Amazon review lists "more than a dozen oatmeals and porridges, ranging from Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal to Cream Cornmeal Porridge...Twenty-four types of baked beans are mere prelude for the 14 chili options..." "If you want to be really sinful," Kathleen adds, "get 'Seduced By Bacon: Recipes & Lore about America's Favorite Indulgence,' by Joanna Pruess, and try their Caramel Bacon Ice Cream." Judith Ross, contributor to the blog Talking Writing, praised, and who wouldn't, "Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book," by Judy Rosenberg. Caterer Leni Gross Young says she's been making Albert Kumin's Famous Chocolate Velvet Cake from the "Four Seasons Cookbook," by Charlotte Adams and James Beard, for probably 30 years. "And recently, I've used Francois Payard's "Bite Size" - every recipe in there is a winner and I make a lot of hors d'oeuvres. I use 'Joy of Cooking' for Quick Cherry Crunch. And I think everyone I know uses the Chicken Marbella from 'The Silver Palate.'" In fact, many agreed to praise Chicken Marbella, chicken marinated overnight in red wine vinegar, prunes, green olives and capers, for sparing us Swedish Meatballs at potlucks and eliminating baked chicken breast from Thursday night dinner. Garret McCord, author of the blog Vanilla Garlic, wrote he is currently reading "The Breath of a Wok: Unlocking the Spirit of Chinese Wok Cooking Through Recipes and Lore," by Grace Young and Alan Richardson, " - barely a cookbook, more of a culinary history book with recipes." In this week's video, I talk to MaryAnn McCormick of Lark Fine Foods about her cookbook favorites. Without pause she pulled "The New Best Recipe, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated," from her shelf, praising it for its reliability and thoroughness. Her favorite recipe? - the Creme Caramel on the cover. Then there is the category of the cookbook reader searching for something besides a recipe; Francesca Hillyer Combs responded to my survey, saying, "I definitely use cookbooks - more for reading and ideas than anything else - especially when I'm feeling that I'm cooking the same things over and over again." Maureen McNamara, a non-cook, cookbook fan, says, "I rarely cook but still I read all my cookbooks and also borrow them from the library. Now that I've typed that out... sounds kinda strange." Leslie Lyman and I swear by Ina Garten's, "The Barefoot Contessa." Once you start with this series of cookbooks, the success of the recipes are just addicting. For a while, desserts in my home were only "The Barefoot Contessa's" coconut cupcakes. And the soiled, buttery pages prove it. We all know a good recipe can change your life; it can make a potluck easier to attend. It can make the dinner party easier to give. In the end where you find a recipe isn't what matters; it's that you make the recipe (i.e. that we keep trying to change our lives). For its ratio of deliciousness to ease, here is a life-altering recipe that Leslie Lyman recommends from the Barefoot Contessa "Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun." We're changing the name so that you can even store the recipe in your memory.

Salmon 2, 3, 6

The proportions of the marinade, adapted from Ina Garten Marinade: 2 tablespoons. dijon mustard 3 tablespoons good soy sauce 6 tablespoons good olive oil one half teaspoon minced garlic Brush grill with oil to prevent fish from sticking. Whisk together marinade ingredients. Drizzle half the marinade on salmon lying skin side down in a glass baking dish. Let sit for 10 mintues. Place salmon skin side down on hot grill. Discard marinade the fish was sitting in. Grill 4- 5 minutes depending on size of fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill 4-5 minutes. Remove the salmon. It will be slightly raw in center but it will keep cooking as it sits. Transfer dish to flat plate skin side down. Spoon the reserved second half of marinade on top. Allow fish to rest for 10 minutes. Leslie says this recipe is foolproof; the only way to blow it is to put the marinade on too early. Don't be tempted. She also adds more garlic than the recipe states.

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