I wish I was a member of an “IRL” (In Real Life) book club.  If I lived in, or near, a major metropolitan area that also has a large deaf population (such as Washington, D.C., home of Gallaudet University), chances are pretty good I would be able to find, or form, a book club that I could participate in.  And, I know I certainly would like my book club to serve good food and drinks !  The next best thing, I suppose, to being part of an IRL book club would be to have “The Book Club Cookbook: Recipes and Food for Thought From Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors”, by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp. 

Published in 2004 by Tarcher/Penguin, I first discovered this cookbook from our local library.  There was so much that I liked about this cookbook that I soon after bought my own copy.  Then we moved twice.  To Pennsylvania in 2006, and then to Colorado in 2008.  Therefore, after only actually making one recipe from this cookbook (before our moves), it languished –but it shared the same fate with most of my other cookbooks.  This weekend, I got re-acquainted with “The Book Club Cookbook”.

First of all, this book is a wealth of resources for books to read — either on your own or as part of a book club.   This is a book about books; not just a cookbook.  At over 500 pages long, there is a diverse selection of about 100 books (and more that are mentioned in passing). Many are books I’ve either actually read, or are currently in my To Be Read Pile, or (especially since re-reading the cookbook) in my to-add-to-the-TBR list.  Both fiction and non-fiction books are represented.  Some classics are here: for “Anna Karenina”, there is Wild Mushrooms on Toast.  Older books, such as “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (Charlotte Russe) , are here.  Many multi-cultural books are included, such as Rohinton Mistry’s “A Fine Balance” (chicken biryani); or Naguib Mahfouz’s “Palace Walk” (Mrs. Mahfouz’s Mulukhiya (Green Soup) ).

Recipes are either submitted by the various book clubs covered in this book, or by the authors themselves (for example, Jhumpa Lahiri provided an recipe for “Mrs. Lahiri’s Hard-Boiled-Egg Curry in Mustard Sauce”).  There are also food-related essays written by select authors especially for this cookbook.  Recipes range from appetizers to main dishes to drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) to desserts.

So, what recipes have I actually tried so far?  Back when I first got this cookbook, I made (and have made again and again),  Pumpkin Biscuits.  This recipe is paired with “Seabiscuit: An American Legend” by Laura Hillenbrand; one of my all-time favorites for non-fiction.  The book group featured in the cookbook that discussed “Seabiscuit” chose this recipe for their book discussion, because Seabiscuit had a cow pony stable-mate that helped keep him calm.   His friend’s name was Pumpkin. 

This weekend, I wanted to try a recipe that would be perfect for summer-time, and avoid having to use the oven.  This recipe is based on a dessert that William Clark had of cherries, plums, raspberries, currants, and grapes.  He enjoyed this dessert on his 34th birthday on August 1, 1804, and Meriwether Lewis recorded in his journal that he ordered this dessert made for his friend– along with a meal of venison, elk, and beavertail.  This source is from the book “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West”, by Stephen Ambrose.

Here is a picture of “Macedoine of Red Fruits”. 

I modified it somewhat – not being able to find satisfactorily fresh raspberries, I substituted strawberries.  The idea is that all the fruits are red, but the plums I bought weren’t all that red inside.  I’d say the amount of each fruit is a guideline.  This fruit salad was very good, and my kids enjoyed it.  I’d like to get a cherry pitter before next time!

Macedoine of Red Fruits

1 1/2 cup pitted, sliced red plums

1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes, halved

3/4 cup pitted cherries or 1/2 cup currants

1 1/2 cup fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I left this out, since my daughter doesn’t like cinnamon)

2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar

Sweetened Sour Cream or Sweetened Whipped Cream (recipes follow after the directions; I used the whipped cream recipe)

1. Place the plums, grapes, cherries or currants, and raspberries in a serving bowl.

2. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the fruit mixture.  Drizzle with the vinegar.

3.  Mix gently and let stand for 20 minutes.  Serve with Sweetened Sour Cream or Sweetened Whipped Cream.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings (I used less fruit over all, so my serving size was less)

Sweetened Sour Cream

4 Tablespoons light brown sugar

2 cups sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir together the sugar and sour cream until the sugar is dissolved, then add vanilla.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

NOTE: For best results, chill a medium size metal bowl and beaters from electric mixer for at least one hour before using (I didn’t do this, and it turned out allright).

With mixer, beat together cream, sugar, and vanilla in bowl until stiff peaks form.  Do not overbeat.  Serve immediately.

I enjoyed also the passages in this book about various featured book clubs across the country — what they read and discussed (and the food they’ve shared), and how different they all are.  There are all-male book clubs, African-American book clubs, book clubs that focus on only one type of book (i.e. South Asian books).  I lived voraciously vicariously through these book clubs in this book!

There is a list of resources in the back of the cookbook for finding certain ingredients (such as Lyle’s Golden Syrup for ANZAC cookies, based on “The Road from Coorain” by Jill Ker Conway).  International readers interested in this cookbook will have to figure out metric measurements themselves — there are no charts or equivalents included.  Additionally, there are no photographs — not a detriment for me; especially since this cookbook is already good-sized.   I’s say most of these recipes are ideal for potlucks, and yes of course book clubs.  It’s not an all-purpose “family” or “home-cooking” cookbook.

Now, maybe I’ll try the recipe for Mint Juleps, based on “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.   This hot weather seems to call for it!

Does this cookbook and its’ concept sound good to you?  If you are actually not yet convinced, you can check out The Book Club Cookbook’s website, where there are even more recipes.  This website seems to be a good resource for book clubs in general, not just for additional recipes.

This  July, I received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program:  America Eats!: On the Road with the WPA – the Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chitlin Feasts That Define Real American Food by Pat Willard. 

The Works Progress Administration, or WPA, funded many employment projects during the Great Depression in America.  Most people, including myself, probably think of these projects as structural-related: building bridges, dams, and the like.  One lesser-known program funded by the WPA was the “America Eats!” project.  This project aimed to document the culinary heritage of America at that time.

Pat Willard happened across a mention of the “America Eats!” project while she was doing some routine research.  Intrigued, she then went over to the Library of Congress, where she found several manuscripts related to this project.  The “America Eats!” manuscripts, written by various writers hired by the WPA,  were meant to become a cohesive published work.  A lack of funding towards the end, and also a lack of organization, prevented this from happening.  In addition, many manuscripts had been lost , such as when a hurricane in Rhode Island damaged manuscripts in storage.  Many more may be still languishing, unknown, around across the country.

Pat Willard decided to travel cross-country, with some of the papers by her side, to find out how much has changed in regional food traditions since the project ended.  This book combines original writing by WPA writers (through the Federal Writer’s Program), and Willard’s own experiences.  There are a few recipes here and there.

Willard admits that there is a wide range of quality of writing by the WPA employees, and this is obvious throughout the book.   There were times when I wished that Willard would just relate her experiences, rather than also quoting passages of occasionally mediocre WPA writing.   When the contributing WPA writer is known, he or she is credited, but oftentimes who wrote some of the accounts are no longer known.

Willard tends to organize chapters by various type of events; rather than strictly by regional areas, such as the South or the Northeast.  Some events include:  Fund-raising dinners, Agricultural fairs, church suppers, and funeral ceremonies.  There is also a chapter on “City Life”, where FWP writers recorded their visits to Irish pubs in New York and similar places.

I found some chapters more interesting than others.  I liked  “The Frontier: Mexicans, Indians, and Cowboys”.   The WPA writers working from the state offices in the Southwest tended to romanticize the wild west – relating stories about cowboys and pioneers, rather than what the editors in Washington wanted: stories about what Native Americans ate and the lives of Mexican-Americans.  However, Willard provides good insight on what she found in the Southwest today, based on the scant evidence that the WPA writers provided from that region. 

During the WPA era, one writer related what the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes ate: puppy dogs, land terrapins (turtles), and various berries and fruits.   These tribes also ate various wild game such as buffalo and deer;  the game depended on the tribal geographic area.  When Willard visited the area, she found that the quality of these tribes’s diet have since declined, along with their health.  The reason is partly because our government issue poor-quality, highly processed and refined foods to many tribal members.   This problem was already beginning to be evident when the WPA writers were out in the field. 

Willard mentions a current cookbook, published by the USDA, “A River of Recipes: Native American Recipes Using Commodity Food”.   The federal government passes out this cookbook to reservations to teach the Native Americans how to use food given out through government food programs.  One recipe from that cookbook  is for “Orange Geronimo”, a drink that includes orange juice, instant nonfat dry milk, and corn syrup.  Only five of the recipes in this cookbook include vegetables, mostly the canned type. This probably does not help with the numerous health problems that many Native Americans have, such as diabetes!

There are some uneven qualities to this book, mostly because of the wide range of the quality of the original WPA writing itself.  Pat Willard manages to somehow pull it together, but not with total success.  However, it would not have been an easy task for anyone to pull off.

If you are a foodie (as I am), you may enjoy dipping into this book.  I did not find stories about the writers when they did their research, as I had hoped.  Rather, this book is more about what Pat Willard found today, compared to what WPA writers wrote about 70-some years ago.  I would not consider this book a travelogue — Willard does not cover her on-the-road traveling experiences, for example.

There are many photos (some never before published) included in this book, including some by Dorothea Lange who is probably the best-known of the Depression-era photographers.  The recipes in this book are best appreciated in the context in which they were recorded, rather than actual recipes to use today.

Overall, an interesting book, but I did not read through it quickly, or much of at one sitting. 

There are other food-related writing I have enjoyed much more, such as that by M.F.K. Fisher, who I consider the queen of food writing! 

Any food-related books that you have recently enjoyed reading?

This year, my oldest child became a teenager and I have been seeing him and my other kids grow and mature. I know they all emotionally need mom and dad forever, but I am seeing that they are becoming more independent from us.

I’ve just started a second blog so that any of my food and cooking thoughts can all be in one place, along with my cookbook weekend reviews. I have a link to it on the right column of this blog. Right now it only has one entry, but that will change soon! It’s called Adventures of Cooking.

I will continue to do quilting related comments at this blog here, in addition to any interesting family news or anything else that I feel like talking about.