February 2011 Cookbook of the Month WINNER

[smtucker]

The winner of the February 2011 COTM is The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century by Amanda Hesser.

Please use this thread to discuss techniques, ingredients, meal planning, along with interesting tidbits about these books and recipes.

If you discover any online sources for recipes from these books, please feel free to post them.

And just a reminder: If anyone is interested in guaranteeing the continuation of COTM by taking over coordination as of either the March or April nomination cycle (each book cycle takes about 1-2 hours total), please let me know; email in my profile.

Enjoy!

[nomadchowwoman]

I agree that this was a really great COTM. ENYT is well-written and fun to read, tracing insightfully and often humorously the evolution (and fading) of trends and how they have shaped American cooking. I've been pleasantly surprised by how many recipes I want to keep in my repertoire--and how many I still want to try. I really appreciated the diversity of styles, techniques, flavor profiles, and levels of difficulty; I've never been bored by this book, and, based on the number and variety of choices others made, others found a lot to work with here as well. It has been so instructive for me to read everyone else's reviews, suggestions, tips, etc. (And while the book is certainly not focused on quick-and-easy meals, I've found plenty I'd put into that category.)
In the scope and parameters of this NYT project, Amanda Hesser faced a daunting task. I think she's done an amazing job--even without photos--of turning a reader-generated pool of favorite recipes into a fascinating food history, a reader-response genealogy of tastes. It's the overflowing recipe file, w/its cards and clippings, scribblings and notes, all tested, neatly organized, dated, and updated. It has definitely earned the space it takes up on my shelf.

[buttertart]

Perfect summation, ncw.

[buttertart]

Two more things to love about this book - the conversion tables on the front endpapers (may be back, too, didn't look) - includingthe elusive F and C to UK Gas Mark one. Credit given to Jill Norman, I think, on these. Brava AH.
And it's the only encyclopedic book that has cracked me up laughing from time to time.
Maybe I should uncurmudge myself and read Mr Latte after all.

[buttertart]

Just popping in to say that this is the most enjoyable big giant encyclopedic cookbook to read ever - Hesser's breezy, wry style is a delight. 3/4 of the way through and loving every moment.

[The Dairy Queen]

Totally agree on readibility. I, too, am about 3/4's through and have really enjoyed it. I haven't cooked from it as much as I'd hoped this month, but as Ms. Hesser herself said in one of these threads somewhere, "It wasn't meant to be consumed all at once."

Also, I checked Cooking for Mr. Latte out of the library. It was a quick and easy read. I don't think I'd necessarily want that story in my newspaper on a regular basis, but as a way to pass the time while on the exercise bike, I enjoyed it. And got a couple of recipes to try out of it!

~TDQ

[Breadcrumbs]

As February has drawn to an end, I too would like to reflect on this COTM. Sometimes a giant book such as this can be overwhelming. This is typically the type of book I purchase and, because of its heft and, lack of pictures; it ends up sitting on a bookshelf collecting dust. That being the case, I’m delighted that we had an opportunity to cook through this “encyclopedic cookbook” (as buttertart accurately describes it). As a result of the COTM process I now fully appreciate the value of this resource on my bookshelf.

Like buttertart, I have also enjoyed “reading” this book. Hesser’s writing style is engaging, the back stories of the dishes are interesting and the cooking notes and tips are much appreciated. I especially liked reading Hesser’s personal thoughts on the preparation process, recipe or notes on how the decision to include a recipe was made. This context is uncommon in cookbooks and, in my view, enhances the value of the book as it takes it beyond just being a “recipe book” and it has become a reference book and resource I can refer to for food history.

Throughout February I cooked or baked and posted reviews and photos for 30+ recipes. Most of these were great, many were terrific dishes I’d make again, some we’ve now added to our regular rotation. Some favourites include: the Laotian Catfish Soup (p. 154), Fettuccine Alla Romana (p.310), Lasagna (p.342), Hot Red Pepper Shrimp (p.403) and the Rigatoni w White Bolognese (p.344). The only dish I wouldn’t make again is Le Cirque’s Spaghetti Primavera (p.314) because our satisfaction with the dish did not equal the excessive amount of time invested in preparing it.

Having participated in the COTM for 6 months now, I’ve learned that my favourite COTM’s have been “ethnically focused” where we get to take a deeper dive into a particular cuisine and learn new/hone cooking techniques. That said, for all the reasons stated above, I really enjoyed our February w the ENYT.

[LulusMom]

geez you guys! When I read that this had been chosen for Feb., I was fairly happy about it, since I had no interest in the book. But now, reading what you've said, it looks like I'm at the very least going to have to check it out of the library (and lets face it ... that probably means end up buying it). I'm very happy for you all that it was such a hit (my wallet and bookshelf space aren't so happy). It sounds like it is absolutely wonderful.

[buttertart]

I am 100% sure you will like it, I don't see how you couldn't.

[The Dairy Queen]

I really enjoy the book and have liked what I've cooked from it and have a ton more recipes tagged to try. To set expectations, here are a couple of reasons why I the book might not be for everyone. First, it's not for everyday cooking. There are a couple of quick and easy recipes but it's not your 30 Minute Meals kind of book. Also, a lot of the recipes are pretty high in fat. And, depending on where you live, there are a lot of ingredients that might require a stop at a specialty market. As long as you have appropriate expectations in mind, you will not be disappointed. It's a fascinating read with lots of interesting recipes.

~TDQ

[LulusMom]

Thanks for the caveat TDQ. Thats why I'll try it first at the library. But having read along all month, I've been very impressed with the high number of hits. I'll take it out first and see (although probably not until at least April), but I really am impressed by how much people are loving it.

Like you, I don't really have the time for a lot of complicated, time-consuming recipes, and won't until at least mid-summer (I have another lengthy trip coming up in May), but gosh, my mouth has been watering reading these reports!

[The Dairy Queen]

The good news is, by the time mid-summer comes, a huge number of recipes will hopefully have been reported on and you'll be able to know which ones are quick and easy if that's what you have in mind!

I don't think you should be deterred from buying this book. It's going to be a great one to have on your shelves. You just may not find yourself reaching for it every day.

~TDQ

[LulusMom]

I'm not feeling very deterred! I'm having to stop myself from buying it immediately : )

You make an excellent point about all the reports helping me chose which recipes to make. I love reading old COTM threads when trying to decide on something I haven't made from a previous book.

[smtucker]

I must admit that I wasn't convinced by selecting such a large "tome" so quickly after Gourmet and Gourmet Redux. My apprehensions were totally unfounded. Though I became distracted in the second half of the month by ingredients in my kitchen that weren't used in this book, I have a huge number of recipes marked to make in the upcoming months.

It was a good selection indeed.

[buttertart]

That osso buco recipe is definitely kick butt yum by the way.

[Goblin]

i agree: " Miss February COTM " was really rewarding and really fun to cook from! It was my first experience with COTM and I had such a great time trying recipes from a HUGE tome that didn't even have any pictures but somehow, that didn't matter when I had all you other guys to report on the recipes and encourage me to try them. I also really liked Hesser's methodology. During this month I've bought two other copies as gifts (sister and daughter) and they look at me strangely when I say "just dive in! It's worth it! And I have a sheaf of recommendations to prove it!"

[smtucker]

Here is a link to the MASTER thread.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/763224

[ldubois2]

Newish to the forum and wanting to jump in with this book. As a new person, and not wanting to sound foolish, my question is this: Are there any rules, suggested recipes, etc. Or, do we just jump in and start cooking and sharing our experiences?

[blue room]

No rules. In your words, "...just jump in and start cooking and sharing our experiences..."

Just cook a recipe from the book, and post about it. All pertinent facts and details about ingredients and method are welcome, as well as photos if you are so inclined. And of course what you liked, if you liked, if your family and friends liked, etc. Would you make it again?

[Gio]

Welcome, Idubois. Jump in, start cooking - your choice of recipe ,and share your experience vis a vis the recipe. No real set rules per se but adding the page number to the recipe title helps us find it in the book faster. Have Fun...!

[JoanN]

Not really a rule, but something we've all just begun to do because it makes it so much easier to follow the narrative of a single recipe when many people have made it: If you're the first person to review a recipe, reply to the original post. But if someone else reviewed a recipe before you, post your review as a reply to that first one. As I said, it just makes it so much easier, especially months--or even years--later, to have all the reviews for a single recipe follow one right after the other so you can see in one place what everyone had to say about it.

[The Dairy Queen]

Welcome! I was also going to point out that if you make any modifications to the recipe (I do all the time, both intentionally and unintentionally alas), it's helpful if you spell those out that in your report.

Otherwise, just choose whichever recipes(s) appeal to you from the book and dive right in! This is definitely one of those "the more the merrier" occasions!

~TDQ

[ldubois2]

Thank you to all of you. Great etiquettte suggestions...highly appreciated.

[greeneggsnham]

This may be premature, but given the short month, long book and great enthusiasm maybe we should continue ENYTC into march. Just throwing that out there!

[apple342]

Definitely down with that--good suggestion.

[The Dairy Queen]

Well, we certainly wouldn't run out of recipes, that's for sure. Personally, I get bored with most books, even ones I love, after about 3 weeks. But, you never know.

~TDQ

[apple342]

True, TDQ. My guess is people (myself included) will continue to post on this one long after Feb is over, but most will want a change in a few weeks.

[Caitlin McGrath]

The beauty about the COTM threads is that people do keep posting to them over time. The much-loved books keep getting posts even a few years later as people continue to explore.

[buttertart]

The almond-fancying bakers among us must - MUST - make her almond cake. I love it. I almost never eat a lot of what I bake (husb does, over a period of a week or so, depending) but I can't stay away from that sucker. Too too good. Very moreish.

[blue room]

Buttertart, do you mean Hesser's almond cake (page 777 Essential NYT book) ?

I just this morning made a batch of financiers, brown butter and ground almonds, nice.

[buttertart]

Yes ma'am.

[JVHcook]

Made 4 recipes from the book today, butternut squash soup for lunch, and meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans for dinner. All turned out great, can't wait to share in more detail once February starts. I think this will be a good month of cooking.

[Breadcrumbs]

I can't wait to hear your reviews JVH!! I flagged a meatloaf recipe today but will half the ingredients as it called for 3lbs of meat! It sounded scrumptious though!

[apple342]

ditto---Cant wait to hear your reviews/thoughts on those!! This is going to be the BEST month of cooking... so looking forward to reading everyones reviews. I made the gougeres last night and the david eyre pancake over the weekend. Both amazing.

[The Dairy Queen]

The BEST months of COTM tend to be the ones where there is an intersection between solid recipes, many participants, and great enthusiasm. Judging by your enthusiasm alone and the length of this thread, I suspect this will, indeed, be a terrific month!

Can't wait until tomorrow when we go "official". Thank you in advance to smtucker for putting the threads up. It will be her last time as organizer, so very bittersweet, I'm sure!

~TDQ

[Breadcrumbs]

Wow, I'm really looking forward to this COTM, its great to see such enthusiasm for the book!
I've been working my way through it and am thoroughly grateful for Eat Your Books where I've been recording all the recipes I'm interested in making along with notes on recipes that have piqued my interest but I'll wait to see what others think about them first (usually ones that seem more complex or, time-consuming).

I've currently made it to p. 560 and I've already flagged 126 recipes!! Oh, and that number would have been even bigger if I hadn't decided to exclude any off-season recipes!!

Like others, I'm really enjoying Hesser's notes about the recipes and I'm finding some really interesting dishes in addition to the tried and true favourites. No chance of "one cuisine fatigue" for the COTM, there's a lot of variety in the dishes Hesser has selected.

One thing I have noticed in the meat section though is the quantity of servings the recipes yield. I seem to have come across a number of recipes that serve 8 or, 10-12!! I could understand this in a chapter on entertaining but it does seem odd to me that the recipes weren't scaled down. I'm wondering if anyone else noticed this. Not sure if this was the case in earlier chapters, if so, I didn't notice it there. Maybe I'm more sensitive to it today since my freezer is full to the brim!!!

Ok, back to the book!!

[sarahcooks]

I'm not finding much to make in the meat and poultry sections, which could be tricky considering I rarely have the time to make desserts (and the desserts in here look amazing). So many of the recipes seem very expensive, using game and lamb and duck and veal. There aren't that many quick, family recipes. I suppose that's what others meant when they said it had a very "new york" feel to it.

[greeneggsnham]

I feel like there is a pretty good mix of weeknight compatible dishes as well as special occasion dishes or "2 man projects". (don't know about you guys, but I'm holding off on the turducken!) I have already made 2 dinners from the book (both to great reviews) and that's while juggling 3 kids under age 4 including a newborn. So I am making sure to pick the quick and easy stuff! The minimalist is going to be my friend next month!

Its funny, I always read the dining section of the times (online) and have never been moved to make a minimalist dish except for no knead bread. But I've just made two in the last few days and have been very happy with them. I feel like I've b een missing out. makes me sad to great the minimalist is now over as a column.

[The Dairy Queen]

I've never been a big Bittman fan because I haven't had much luck with the recipes I've tried from his books, even though I like the idea of being a minimalist. Nevertheless, now that his column is gone, I am feeling a little sentimental about it. Weird, right? Anyway, I'd love it if you'd consider starting a new thread: "Cooking from Bittman's MInimalist Column." I'd especially love to read about the ones that do work for you and I'd bet you might get some company in that thread from other Minimalist fans.

~TDQ

[greeneggsnham]

Sorry to hear you've not had success with recipes from his books. I wonder if Amanda Hesser just did a good job of only picking the keepers. I must say, I do really love that aspect of this book-- that someone (who is usually not the author of the recipe) went through and tested each one and made sure it made the cut. I also agree with others and really love the headnotes and cooking notes with each recipe. It makes me suspicious of the recipes which are "naked" with no amanda comments.

In terms of a Minimalist thread, you mean for minimalist recipes which are not in the book? I was going to post the ones I cooked in their appropriate threads for the book once they go up. Although my "to cook" list is not nearly as long as Breadcrumbs', I was thinking it would keep me busy for awhile. if I continue to have success with the bittman dishes in the book though, I may have to revisit the minimalist archives and start a minimalist thread.

[The Dairy Queen]

I've got my fingers crossed that for the ENYTC Hesser picked only the keepers. You can see I even have a Minimalist (the paella) on my list of recipes to try.

As for a thread, I meant a separate, non-COTM thread, about Minimalist recipes in general, akin to this "Tried and True Favorites from Epicurious" thread perhaps, but, if course, if you try a minimalist recipe from ENYTC, definitely post about it in the applicable COTM thread! I wasn't trying to diminish COTM in any way, but if you're systematically cooking OTHER non-COTM recipes from Bittman, it would be interesting to see how you fare. In fact, I'm already curious about the two you said you tried and liked.

issue with Bittman in general is that I think his recipes are sloppy and inconsistent. I suspect he just gets an idea and doesn't really test them thoroughly --test, tweak, test, tweak, test, tweak, test, TEST, publish-- and that's how he can grind out these giant tomes, doing book tours, and eating around Europe with celebrities. Nevertheless, even I eventually plan to try his top 25 recipes http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.co..., unless, say, the first two recipes I try are not keepers, then I will abandon the project...

Oh, or by saying, "The minimalist is going to be my friend next month" did you mean you were going to be choosing a lot of minimalist recipes from ENYTC, rather than from his column at large?

~TDQ

[greeneggsnham]

By saying the minimalist was going to be my friend I meant that a lot of the recipes I have flagged in the book seem to be from the minimalist column. Although if I have consistent success, I certainly might check back in the archives. His list of 25 favorites also looks tempting. But, first off, I'm excited to start cooking from the ENYT.

Interesting about the lack of testing. One of the recipes I did modify because I wasn't sure it would totally work as written and so I did change it up some. But I find I am always modifying recipes (usually because of picky family members), so that didn't really bother me. I think your characterization of the recipes as more "ideas"than really thoroughly tested favorites may be apt. But I think some of his ideas are really creative, and the minimalist concept matches my cooking style at this phase of my life. As I keep cooking I'll try to see how many of his are winners for me.

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh, I'm sorry I misunderstood what you meant by the minimalist being your friend for Feb. No need to start a separate thread. The threads our dear smtucker sets up for Feb COTM will surely suffice!

I don't know for a fact he doesn't thoroughly test his recipes, that's just my suspicion based on how inconsistent his recipes seem to be and based on how, um, prolific he is.

If he just wants to throw his ideas out there (and I do like many of his ideas--I agree they are intriguing and creative, as I said before, "I love the idea of the Minimalist") and let his readership do the work of testing them, I suppose that's fine for some people, obviously for many people as he has a huge fan base. And, as you point out, a lot of people don't mind tweaking recipes.

But, for me, putting a delicious and healthy meal in front of my family every night is something I already do on top of a full-time career and 2-3 volunteer gigs. It involves trips to the grocery store and spending money on precious ingredients. I want recipes that work, even if I don't always love them. I'd rather have a book of 200 recipes that work--say one of Ina Garten's books--than have to pick through a book of 2000 recipes (say "How to Cook Everything") trying to find the 200 recipes that really work without having to second guess the author. When I choose a recipe from a book, I want to know exactly what to expect from this recipe.

So, this is why I'm glad HESSER picked through Bittman's recipes and choose the ones she thought worked best. Also, with reader input. I think it would be interesting to compare the recipes Hesser chose with Bittman's top 25, to see if they are in agreement.

Feb should be an interesting month.

~TDQ

[The Dairy Queen]

So, I just took Bittman's list of his 25 favorite Minimalist recipes and plugged recipe names into EYB. I noticed Hesser appears to have changed the names of some of the recipes, so, it's possible that I missed some, but it appears the overlap is 4 recipes:

Spaghetti with Fried Eggs
Watermelon and Tomato Salad
Crisp-Braised Duck Legs with Aromatic Vegetables
And, of course, No-Knead Bread

~TDQ

[Rubee]

Another one: I made the Yucatan Fish with Grisp Garlic in the book last night (E's comment - "absolutely fantastic").

[The Dairy Queen]

Bookmarking now!

~TDQ

[greeneggsnham]

Yes! I made the Yucaton fish with garlic as well. Also very well received!

[The Dairy Queen]

Apologies, with the spaghetti with fried eggs that appears in ENYTC is Hesser's own recipe, not Bittmans. So, of Bittman's "top 25" recipes, only 3 seemed to have made it into Hesser's book.

I wish the index to Hesser's book included page reference by original contributor. I see that "Minimalist's Paella" and "Minimalist's Gravlax" are included in the index, and I think one recipe (can't remember which) listed under Mark Bittman's something. Otherwise, his recipes aren't easy to find without flipping through the recipes one by one.

Anyone found any secrets to navigating Hesser's book by "original contributor"?

~TDQ

[JoanN]

Anyone found any secrets to navigating Hesser's book by "original contributor"?

---------

It seems, annoyingly, that the recipes are indexed under the contributor's first name, so you need to know that Greenspan is Dorie and Brody is Lora. Not very helpful.

[The Dairy Queen]

I think she really blew it on this point, unfortunately. Or, maybe it was going to add 5 pages to the index and the publisher put its foot down.

Oh well.

~TDQ

[Caitlin McGrath]

Some cookbooks are very poorly indexed, and I find it a great annoyance, as indexes are most useful (and may be most used) in cookbooks and the like. Authors generally don't do their own indexing; they or the publisher hire someone to do it, but someone approved what sounds like an awfully silly scheme. (I haven't laid eyes on it yet, as I'm still waiting for my library copy.)

[blue room]

*First* names? I wonder why that decision was made.

[buttertart]

For the pally-wally aspect, I suppose.

[JoanN]

I suspect it's because 's the title of so many of the recipes contain the contributor's name. For instance, if you were to look up sausage, you'd find a listing for "Oliver Clark's Meat Loaf." It would be awkward to try to index that under Clark. It sure would have been nice though to have had a separate Contributor's Index.

[The Dairy Queen]

I was just thinking about this. I guess I'm realizing I'm saying I want it indexed by more than just the original contributor's name. For instance, I DO think if you look in the index, you'll see Ed Giobbi's recipes indexed. (Yes, under "E.") And Dorie's and Flo's and Jim's and so on.

But, I guess I'd also like it indexed by NYT Staffer who wrote about the recipe. Was it Claiborne? Hesser? Bittman? I guess I care more about this for the occasions when the NYT staffer was the source of the recipe. But, maybe that's just too much.

I can't remember. Are recipes indexed by year? I suppose if you remember which staffer was at the paper which years, you might be able to deduce who the writer was.

Am I the only one who cares about this?

~TDQ

[nomadchowwoman]

I think the index in a cookbook and particularly in one this large is one of THE most important features. And while I agree with JoanN that you do need the first name to find some of these recipes, it would be nice to have the staff contributors indexed as well. My guess is that the size/complexity of the index was probably a cost decision.

[The Dairy Queen]

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Who knows if most people would even care to have it indexed by staff contributors?

~TDQ

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh, I just googled around and found this review in the NY Journal of Books which says that there is an index at the front of each chapter that "is organized by category (hot, cold, first course, second course, fall, winter, etc.) The recipes are then presented in chronological order so that you can see food trends for yourself."

So, I supposed if you were looking for a Bittman recipe of a certain type (fish, poultry, etc.) and you knew roughly what year he was with the paper, you could pick those recipes out of the index because they would be towards the end. I still find that cumbersome, but I suppose it's better than nothing!

I also notice in this review the writer says, "with few exceptions, this is not a go-to cookbook for weeknight dinners. Many of the main course selections require time and advance planning to shop for all the ingredients. Nor is this a cookbook for beginners. For the more experienced cook, however, there is enough here to keep you happily cooking for years without ever repeating a menu."

So, for those of you working this book into your everyday menus, brava!

http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/revie...

~TDQ

[blue room]

Hmm -- I see lots of things I'd consider on a Tuesday or Wednesday -- maybe that's because I'm stuck in a different decade, or two..
Actually, I like how much detail this book has -- still a tiny bit worried about the actual recipes though! Just this morning I read here in a post by JoanN that a lasagna in the book didn't fit into the pan called for in the book!
But it *is* really standard and expected and accepted to have people--important official peeps especially--listed by their LAST names, I'm pretty sure. If I ever have a cookbook or an article or a recipe or a crumb published I will insist on first, middle, last. Haha all in caps.

[blue room]

Good point, N!
...er, I mean JoanN.

[LulusMom]

Wait, wait, wait ,wait. I'm not a huge Bittman fan myself, but I DO always check the minimulist column. Is it gone (I'm out of the US) for good??? Sad-making.

[The Dairy Queen]

Well, the Weds column is gone. He says he'll be in the Sunday magazine. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/761987

~TDQ

[LulusMom]

This is really disappointing news. But thank you for letting me know. At least it won't be a shock once I'm home, and expecting all my "home" stuff.

[greeneggsnham]

Yup, no longer a regular column.

[The Dairy Queen]

sarahcooks, funny, I started in with the fish, meat and poultry sections and felt the exact same way...

Then I backtracked to some of the other sections, vegetables, potatoes/corn/legumes, and pasta/rice/grains/stuffings (I haven't gotten to sandwiches and pizza section yet), I started accumulating more recipes to try. The recipes I've marked are a small fraction of the total number of recipes in the book, but it's such a huge book that it is turning out to be a decent number of recipes.

But, yes, a lot of these recipes seem like "special occasion" or Saturday dinner recipes to me, either because of rich and/or expensive ingredients or the amount of time/effort involved.

Here's my list so far. I'd love to see other "everyday" kinds of dishes others have bookmarked, if anyone cares to share.

Barley risotto 

Bulgur salad with pomegranate dressing and toasted nuts 

Ed Giobbi's sweet red pepper sauce for pasta
Gently cooked salmon with mashed potatoes
Grilled hanger steak 

Hot pepper shrimp 

'Ino's tuna with black olive pesto panini 

Nina Simonds's broiled halibut with miso glaze
Pumpkin-black bean soup 

Salmon and tomatoes in foil 

Salted and deviled almonds 

Sautéed red snapper with rhubarb sauce 

Shrimp in green sauce 

Spaghetti with fried eggs and roasted peppers
Steamed fish with thyme and tomato vinaigrette
Sweet-and-salty popcorn with orange blossom honey
The minimalist's paella
~TDQ

[buttertart]

Yay! a Nina Simonds recipe. I love her. Her Classic Chinese Cuisine is one of the best general Chinese cookbooks out there (she studied at Wei-Chuan cooking school and translated their early books).

[The Dairy Queen]

roxlet, I think it was, nominated a Nina Simmonds book "Spices of Life" for Feb COTM and I've been curious ever since!

~TDQ

[buttertart]

I'm not crazy about that one, but the Classic one is very very good.

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh bummer. I think roxlet (if that's who it was!) mentioned she hadn't cooked from it much. Oh well, good to know.

~TDQ

[buttertart]

It has a food as medicine slant that doesn't float my boat. It's interesting to read but I never cooked from it.

[The Dairy Queen]

I'm totally into that, actually. :).

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

I'm the one who nominated Spices of Life. I'm not really into the medical slant. However, the half dozen or so recipes I've made from the book have been really tasty. Of note are the sugar snap peas with mint and the scallop and shrimp hot and sour soup.

[buttertart]

I'll have to take another look at it, thanks for the recommendations.

[The Dairy Queen]

Darn! Sorry to you and roxlet!

~TDQ

[buttertart]

Nah, I have it already. Have most of her books. By the way when we were going to Taiwan she had or had had a Chinese cooking column in Gourmet and I wrote to her through the magazine inquiring about cooking schools, etc over there. She wrote a very nice letter back, very encouraging. So I have a soft spot in my heart for her.

[beetlebug]

NP.

Also, those minty sugar snaps are so delicious in the summer. I have these friends who always request them to be on the dinner menu.

I'm going to have to re-visit that Vietnamese scallop hot and sour soup soon. It's perfect soup weather and I have lemon grass in the freezer. Maybe for new year's dinner.

[The Dairy Queen]

*sigh* So many books, so little time. :) I wouldn't mind acquiring these books so much if I just could keep up with cooking from them!

~TDQ

[LulusMom]

Both of those sound really good.

[Breadcrumbs]

DQ, love your list . . . . did you use EYB to produce it? I can't seem to find a view there w just recipe names.

What a wonderful idea to share plans!!

[The Dairy Queen]

Yes, and no. These are recipes I have bookmarked in EYB as Feb COTM (or whatever.). The "least" amount of information you can show for your bookmarked recipes is, I think, recipe name+book & author name. I cut and pasted that information from EYB to Word, where I quickly deleted the book & author name, then pasted just the recipe names into Chowhound.

~TDQ

[Breadcrumbs]

Ok, got it. Thanks DQ, I'll do same and post here.

[greeneggsnham]

How are you guys using EYB to organize your COTM efforts? I signed up for EYB and it seems like a great idea. But when it comes to actually using it, I am finding it awkward. I have already gone through the ENYTC and have mulitple sticky notes as well as a written sheet with some recipes to try. How are you finding recipes to bookmark on EYB? I don't find it very useful for "browsing" the sections I haven't yet perused because it doesn't have the headnotes, which I find most interesting and helpful in picking recipes. Are you guys picking out recipes in the book and then searching for them on EYB to bookmark? Or is there a better way? Also, is there some way to show the page number of the recipe on EYB? A minor point, I know, but I was using the ingredient search (great feature) but wanted to actually see the recipes and found myself spending a lot of time flipping back and forth to the index. I feel like I'm missing something to make this tool more useful. Thanks!

[The Dairy Queen]

"Are you guys picking out recipes in the book and then searching for them on EYB to bookmark?"

Yes, I browse the book with my computer next to me. I've set up a "bookmark" in EYB called ENYTC. Instead of putting a sticky note, I "bookmark it" in EYB as well as make any other notations in EYB as to why the recipe interested me, etc. I keep meaning to put the page number in, too, so when I go to my bookmark list in EYB to choose a recipe, I will know exactly which page to turn to. I plan to start doing that in the future.

Sometimes I browse the book while I'm on my exercise bike and I do use the sticky note approach for that, then try to transfer my thoughts to EYB as quickly as possible (before I forget what appealed to me about the recipe) later.

Also, there are a lot of recipes I'm running across that are out of season, but that I'd like to try later. I subcribe to a CSA and I'm always looking for recipes that use A LOT of certain things, such as arugula or basil. I've actually set up bookmark for those vegetables, too so that whenever I have a serious over-supply, I can find those recipes quickly. Sure, you can "search" on argula in EYB, but a search will return all recipes that call for arugula, when what I'm really after is recipes that use A LOT of arugula.

~TDQ

[Breadcrumbs]

Hi g, I posted some info on how I'm using EYB a bit further down this thread, here's the link to that post fyi:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7594...

As you likely know you can create bookmarks for individual recipes and for the cookbooks themselves. So, I have the book itself bookmarked and then, as I looked through the book, I bookmarked each of the recipes I wanted to try.

As for some of your questions, let me take a stab:

---"Are you guys picking out recipes in the book and then searching for them on EYB to bookmark? Or is there a better way"-----

I don't search for the recipes, I browse through them at the same time I browse through the book and just bookmark the ones I'm interested in. To do this, I go to "My Bookshelf" then in the "Look In Books" pull-down menu, I select "Hesser" which is the bookmark I created for this book. If you then select "Date Published" from the "Sort By" pull-down menu, the recipes will now be listed in the order they appear in the book. While EYB doesn't include recipe headnotes, this view does include the ingredients. You can bookmark individual recipes directly from this list, without having to connect to the recipe itself.

-----"Also, is there some way to show the page number of the recipe on EYB?"___

Because there are often several editions printed of the same book, EYB does not include pg #s as they may differ from one edition to the next. Whenever I review a recipe, I always add the page number in my notes for future reference. Sometimes, if I've got a bit of time on my hands, I'll go to the recipe notes and include page number info as I bookmark the recipes but, I don't always have time or, remember to do so.

Hopefully this is of some value g. Perhaps Jane EYB has more tips she could add here if she sees this post.

[greeneggsnham]

thanks TDQ and BC! That helps a lot. I do wish for page numbers, but that makes sense with different editions. I will try to put page numbers in my notes.

[smtucker]

And once the threads are up and people are doing reviews, the reviews should have a page number which I find very helpful.

[Breadcrumbs]

Ok, you may be sorry you asked. Here's just a sampling of the dishes I've flagged so far:

Airplane salad 

Anita Sheldon's torta di spinaci
Arugula, pear, and Gorgonzola salad
Avocado and beet salad with citrus vinaigrette 

Black bean soup with salsa and jalapeño corn-bread muffins
Blood orange, date, and Parmesan salad with almond oil from
Bobotie
Boeuf Bourguignon 1
Boeuf Bourguignon 2
Braised Ligurian chicken
Breaded chicken breasts with Parmesan cheese
Breaded veal Milan-style
Bulgur salad with pomegranate dressing and toasted nuts
Caponata
Center-ring strip steak marinated in Scotch whiskey
Chicken paprikash
Chicken roasted with sour cream, lemon juice, and mango chutney
Chickpea, sparerib, and chorizo stew (Cocido)
Chinese pork balls
Clam chowder
Conchiglie al forno with mushrooms and radicchio
Country captain
Crab cakes Baltimore-style 

Crispy chickpeas with ground meat
Croque-monsieur
Crostini Romani
Crostini with eggplant and pine nut puree 

Curried cream of chicken soup (Crème Senegalese)
Dijon and cognac beef stew
Drunken beans
Eggs Eli
Escarole with pan-roasted garlic and lemon
Farfalle with leeks and sausages sauce (Farfalle ai porri e salsicce)
Fennel and blood orange salad
Fennel, orange, watercress, and walnut salad
Fettuccine alla Romana
Flemish beef and onion stew (Carbonnades à la Flamande)
Fresh salmon and lime cakes
Fried eggplant with salmorejo sauce
Georgia pecan turkey salad
Guacamole tostadas
Hanoi beef soup (Pho bo)
Hot pepper shrimp
Hunan beef with cumin
'Ino's tuna with black olive pesto panini
Italian beef stew with rosemary
Janson's temptation
Jasmine tea rice
Judy Rodgers's warm bread salad
Laotian catfish soup
Lee Lum's lemon chicken
Leek and shiitake bread pudding
Leeks vinaigrette
Lidia Bastianich's Swiss chard and scallion frittata
Macaroni with ham and cheese
Maida Heatter's Cuban black beans and rice
Malaysian-inspired pork stew with traditional garnishes
Meatballs in creamy caper sauce (Königsberger klopse)
Mediterranean lentil salad with lemon-thyme vinaigrette
Mrs. Sebastiani's malfatti
Nina Simonds's broiled halibut with miso glaze
Oliver Clark's meat loaf 

Orange-braised short ribs with fennel and oregano
Pan-barbecued shrimp
Pasta with bones
Pasta with fast sausage ragu
Pasta with vodka
Pizza with caramelized onions, figs, bacon, and blue cheese
Pork and squash in coconut milk
Pork burgers
Pork chops with rye bread stuffing
Potato, ham, and piquillo pepper croquetas
Ratatouille Niçoise
Ratatouille with butternut squash
Red lentil soup with lemon
Rice noodles with shrimp, herbs, and fried pork rinds (Mi quang)
Rigatoni with white Bolognese
Roasted carrot and red lentil ragout
Roasted pork with apricots, apples, and prunes (Himmelreich)
Roasted salmon with herb vinaigrette
Roman lamb
Roman-style meatballs (Polpette alla Romana)
Salmon and tomatoes in foil
Saltimbocca
Saucisson soûl
Sausage, bean, and corn stew
Sausages in ale (Arundel)
Sautéed sole with capers and lemons (Sole Grenobloise)
Savory bread pudding
Scallops with pea puree
Scotch eggs
Scotch woodcock
Scrambled eggs with chorizo (Chorizo revueltos)
Shaking beef
Shrimp Creole
Shrimp in green sauce
Smoked mackerel on toasts
Spaghetti with fried eggs and roasted peppers
Spaghettini with vegetables and pepper vodka sauce
Spicy New England pot roast 

Spicy, lemony clams with pasta
Stir-fried chicken with creamed corn
Stuffed green peppers (Poivrons verts farcis)
Stuffed tomatoes
Swiss chard casserole with farfalle and cheeses
Swordfish in green curry-basil sauce
Takeout-style sesame noodles
The best spinach dip, with chipotle and lime
Tibs
Toasted mushroom rolls
Tuna curry
Veal goulash with spaetzle
Warm eggplant salad with sesame and shallots
Wild mushroom quesadillas

[The Dairy Queen]

WOW! That is quite a list. You might need more than a month. ;-)

~TDQ

[JaneEYB]

Thanks Breadcrumbs for making me giggle before I went off to bed. If even a fraction of those recipes turn out to be keepers, the book will have earned its (large) space on your bookshelf.

[greeneggsnham]

Wow! You are going to have quite a busy month! It's so interesting to see what everyone else is planning to make. A lot of recipes I have on my to do list too, but then some that I don't even recognize the names and obviously skipped right over when I skimmed through the book.

I can't wait to start hearing everyone's reviews and experiences.

[Breadcrumbs]

I know, I know. . . .its a loooong list! Not to mention that I left out the breakfast and baking stuff!! LOL!

Its great being able to see a list though. In the past I'd just have a book full of sticky notes!

This time I created a "Hesser-To Try" bookmark in EatYourBooks and as I read through the book I bookmarked all the recipes I was interested in. The great thing about this, aside from being able to produce a recipe list like the one above of course, is that I can now search within that bookmark by ingredient, cuisine, course etc. I find this especially helpful if I only have certain ingredients on hand, I can search within recipes I already know I want to make to see which ones are appropriate. Also, if someone's craving pasta or Asian food, I can search the recipes I've flagged to see which ones will work. I just love EYB!!

For the Jan COTM it was great too because there's a feature that lets you print a shopping list. I also took my i-pad to Chinatown so when I saw an exotic fruit, vegetable or interesting sauce, I could search my EYB database to see if I had any recipes that would use it.

Looking forward to cooking w everyone, I plan to kick things off tomorrow . . . now, to narrow down that list and pick one dish!! ; - )

[The Dairy Queen]

Did you find the EYB shopping list adequate for Young? I've done it with a couple of Dunlop recipes and found it insufficient. For instance, I'd come home with "soy sauce" and discovered when I got home that the recipe called for "dark soy sauce", etc.

I think Dunlop's books wereindexed early on, though, so maybe the've refined their approach.

~TDQ

[Breadcrumbs]

Hi DQ, yes I seemed to make out ok w the lists. I know they've added a lot more ingredients as you suggest. Here's a portion of the list for Kung Pao Chicken from SF for example:

curry powder dried red chiles Szechuan pepper
black soy sauce Chinese black rice vinegar peanut oil sesame oil soy sauce
Shaoxing rice wine

[blue room]

A quick count, it looks like more than 3 per day !

I've always wanted to try Scotch eggs. Vodka pasta, meh. Any lamb any salmon has my full attention :)

[Breadcrumbs]

Say it ain't so br!!! ; - )

I may have to open a restaurant to get through these. . . . seems like I need more mouths to feed!

mr bc LOVES pasta w vodka sauce . . . or any tomato cream sauce for that matter. That dish always reminds me of New York. The first time I had it was at the then just opened Da Nico's on Mulberry St in Little Italy in the early 90's. I was in NY on business and a whole group of folks from the NY office took me there. A good time was had by all that night!!

[greedygirl]

I LOVE Scotch eggs. They're one of my guilty secrets, along with pork pie.

[Breadcrumbs]

Mmm, I love both as well gg. I love using different types of sausage for the Scotch eggs. One of my recent favourites is chorizo! Pork pies and Melton Mowbray's are up there too . . . .so yummy! Oh, and some pickled beets on the side please!

[Katie Nell]

I'm making the bulgur salad tonight, along with the Chicken Roasted With Sour Cream, Lemon Juice And Mango Chutney.

[The Dairy Queen]

Sounds wonderful. Can't wait to hear all about it. I didn't bookmark the chicken recipe because I'm the only fan of mango at my house, but I'd be curious if you think it's a worthwhile recipe without the mango chutney.

Good luck!

~TDQ

[buttertart]

I read through the cake recipes today (looking for one suitable for a birthday cake for a certain furry someone) and found her almond cake, which if the batter is any indication is going to be great (had a hard time restraining myself from eating it with a spoon). The dessert recipes in general are very interesting - there are things I haven't thought about since reading my mom's cookbooks/recipe pamphlets from the 40's or so - including a mention of tapioca cooked in fruit juice rather than as pudding (my mom would very occasionally make a bowl of poached dried fruit with large tapioca pearls in it that she said was a standard of her grandmother's - who was born around 1875). Very fun to see the recipes from the past. And Ms. Hesser's style is much more engaging and wry than it was in the Mr. Latte days (check the intro to the Amazon cake, v amusing).

[buttertart]

The almond cake is beyond delicious, had some last night just a shade warm with frozen sour cherries and have already been at it twice this am (something I almost never do, no matter how good something is).

[greedygirl]

You made a birthday cake for your cat?

[buttertart]

Sad but true, yes. He doesn't eat any, of course. It's a tradition from M's family - they make an angel-food cake in a mini pan for their resident Westie (who eats his or hers, also of course).
Cat or no, make this cake.

[Goblin]

I agree with buttertart; I'm enjoyed just reading this cookbook (ENYT) more than I ever expected to. It's huge but worth the weight. And Amanda Hesser provides very interesting narration. I love the foodie-timeline and historical arrangement WITH the recipes also helpfully indexed by type at the beginning of each section. I made three recipes last night for dinner ; am I correct in assuming that we on COTM will wait till Feb. 1st to begin reporting on them?

[smtucker]

I will post the threads for the COTM on the 1st of the month. Save up your reviews and then post them on the appropriate thread. Will be so much easier to find them again later if they are grouped together.

[Gio]

Good to read your appraisal, Goblin. The COTM reporting threads go up on 1 Feb. and that's when we start reporting on the recipes we make. It's really impossible to start before that because we don't know how the coordinator will divide the book... although it's usually by chapters. Each chapter/section has it's own reporting thread plus there's a master thread where the links to the reporting threads are listed and for discussion or questions as we cook along. Can't wait to get started...!

[buttertart]

I have a snow day today and have big plans for hot and heavy couch + this book action! Very fun.

[Gio]

The entire northeast has a snow day today, I think. It's a great time to sit in front of the fire and plan the forthcoming meals. Yesterday I pored over the poultry and meat chapters. Today it might just be the soups and stews...

[beetlebug]

Yeah, snow day! I can't decide whether to throw the snow shoes on or just go for a run. Unfortunately, I don't have any food in the house since I poo pooed the whole storm. Part of my excursion will be to the grocery store.

[The Dairy Queen]

Without giving your full report, did you like the recipes you tried?

~tdq

[Goblin]

Out of the three I tried last night, the country captain chicken recipe was the best IMHO. I was looking for something easy, savory, and comforting on a snowy night for an informal dinner party of four adults and two kids, aged 5 and 7. (They liked it, too.)
I do have some further comments which I will post at the proper time!

[The Dairy Queen]

Awesome, thanks for the teaser. I look forward to your reports.

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

I had to immediately look up the almond cake and it looks delicious. I glanced over the right hand side of the page and saw Amazon Cake. The little blurb that Hesser wrote was hilarious.

Essentially, the amazon cake (cocoa cake) is one that you make when you forgot you had to make something. Fast and easy. Not the best tasting cake but it will be homemade. "And,it will show that you care, even though you kind of forgot."

[dkennedy]

OK, I am in. My book arrived yesterday, along with Cooking for Mr. Latte. So, far I have only made my way through the introduction but I am enjoying her writing style. Someone higher up in the thread made reference to her cloying tone...but so far, I am not seeing it. I have her other book, The Cook and the Gardener, which I really like and I was never struck by her tone.

I am anxious for February to begin because it sounds like we are going to have an enthusiastic crowd this month. Meanwhile, I will work on my contributions to the One Big Table thread which is also circulating.

[Karen_Schaffer]

I found her tone irritating in The Cook and The Gardener, probably because even though I'm a cook, I'm also a gardener. And frankly, much of the time he was right and she was wrong, but she was too self-involved to understand. Though she did come around somewhat by the end of the book. But the recipes looked great, so I kept the book anyhow. Not sure I've ever made anything from it -- maybe this month!

So I haven't read Mr. Latte and probably won't at this point.

[emily]

I've made the apple tart and plum tart from "The Cook and The Gardener" and they're both excellent.

[nomadchowwoman]

Hesser's a very good writer imo. I also liked reading "The Cook and the Gardener," found that the tension between the (very) young American cook and the old French gardener kept the narrative moving. All that struck me about her tone at the time was her youth, but I didn't find it irritating. She cleary comes to have great reverence for Monsieur. I think there are lots of nice recipes in the book, too.
I didn't even mind "Mr. Latte": I thought the lover's solipsism was to be expected in such a book, the whole premise of which was her being ga-ga for her beau and their courtship. So far, the voice in the new NYT book strikes me as just right. It's at once relaxed, respectful, and enthusiastic--doesn't try to compete with the recipes but is helpful with suggestions for substitutions or variations. I'm very much looking forward February cooking.

[dkennedy]

So, I am now 2/3s of the way through Mr. Latte and I have decided to hold off on reading TENYTCB until I finish it. I am ready to render my opinion about her writing style. I completely disagree with others who have characterized her tone as cloying. I found her enthusiastic, youthful (which, clearly she was a the time she wrote both The Gardener and Mr. Latte), and insightful.

We share a lot of the same training and, it appear, the same taste. I'd like to think that we would be great friends if we ran in the same circles. Now that I know her background, I am anxious to see how it spills over into her editing of the NY book. Though I am not allowing myself to start the NY book, I have taken a few minutes to see if Amanda, (yes, I feel comfortable calling her by first name after spending these past few days with her and Mr. Latte), included her personal favorites in this newest addition. It appears she has.

I think reading the two, one after another, will prove to be useful. Based on her story about the first time she had dinner with her mother-in-law, I can't wait to try the Ginger Duck recipe. I also feel like I have a duty to try the walnut cake recipe which gets more than one plug in her earlier book. The salad dressing recipe she alludes to in Mr. Latte, the one that takes 3-4 pan, is on my menu to start tomorrow night. Two of these three recipes I would have otherwise past by.

[nomadchowwoman]

You just reminded me: the first thing I did when I finished that book was make the ginger duck and the rice that accompanied it, and it was very good. Another recipe, which I've made several times (and which I think I saw in the ENYT) is the carrot-fennel soup.
I'd love to hear how your salad dressing comes out.

[dkennedy]

Nomad,

I made both the salad dressing and the carrot fennel soup and I would heartily recommend both!

[apple342]

Glad that you are holding off until you finish Mr. Latte...definitely gives you a unique perspective. Can't wait to hear how the salad dressing turns out! And I completely concur about her enthusiastic/youthful writing style. Refreshing.

[dkennedy]

Just took the walnut cake out of the oven. I have the first part of the dressing marinating in the fridge (it takes 3 days so...) more to follow.

[LulusMom]

My mother has a cake that sounds a lot like the amazon cake. it's called "sling in the bowl" cake - basically you just mix it right up in the baking pan and stick it in the oven. Just like you said not the best tasting cake, but homemade.

[greedygirl]

I make Nigella's Chocolate Orange cake for those times - in fact I might make it right now for tonight's book club. (It's the Grapes of Wrath, btw. Why have I waited so long to read Steinbeck?)

[greedygirl]

So I changed my mind and made the Amazon cake and it's cooling right now! Will let you know how it tastes after my guinea pigs, I mean friends, have tried it.

[Caitlin McGrath]

There are umpteen recipes around for this (Amazon) cake, also known as wacky or crazy cake. It has Depression-era origins, as something that could be made with pantry ingredients, when eggs, milk, and butter were dear. It's good to have in one's pocket if one is called on to make a cake for an audience that includes someone vegan or unable to eat dairy or eggs for other reasons.

I went through a huge Steinbeck phase as a teenager.

[Karen_Schaffer]

Oh, Wacky Cake! That was a mainstay dessert while I was growing up. Perfectly nice for a family dinner, as I recall. Doll it up with a topping or ice cream for guests.

[greedygirl]

Well, suffice it to say it won't be replacing Nigella's storecupboard cake in my repertoire! I will report fully once the threads are up.

[The Dairy Queen]

HA! Not an overwhelming success, I gather?

I thought I might throw together this cake in the morning to take to the office with me just as a "Isn't it great it's Friday" kind of gesture.

Is it not worth the bother, ingredients or risk to my already shaky reputation as a baker?

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

My friends were relatively enthusiastic, but I wasn't, particularly. I'm used to cakes which contain real chocolate as, despite my enthusiasm for Boardwalk Empire, I have no wish to go back to the Depression Era! The timings were off, as well, for me. After 35 minutes it was still runny in the middle - which I didn't realise until the cake had cooled and sunk in the centre. My oven is fan-assisted, as well, and usually cooks quicker than most American recipes specify.

It was fine, really, for a cake that takes five minutes to put together and doesn't contain real chocolate. But Nigella's storecupboard chocolate-orange cake is just as quick, and tastes much better. I found the Amazon cake a little sweet for my tastes. But my friends liked it, as I said.

[buttertart]

That cake is a bit odd - the first time I made it I really liked it, the texture was very good, but subsequent times I haven't liked it nearly as much and the texture has been not so hot. It is very sweet. I've really gone off cocoa in cakes (the sole exception being Ruth Levy Beranbaum's Valentine's chocolate heart from Beautiful Cakes, which is sooo good. Must try the Nigella one, love chocolate and orange.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Nigella's store cupboard cake looks very good, and I've filed the recipe away. Not really a store cupboard recipe for me, as I do not always have 4 ounces of dark chocolate around (when it's around, it tends to get eaten!), though I generally have some kind of jam, if not marmalade, in store.

When I googled this recipe, I found that Nigella has a chocolate orange cake that is a version of the orange-almond (clementine) cake with the addition of cocoa. May have to try that.

[LulusMom]

That chocolate whiskey cake from Gourmet is another good one for those occasions. Lulu and I threw it together in December ... and she did most of the work. Really so easy, and so good.

Friends who read AND are willing guinea pigs? You have riches!

[Goblin]

Lulu's Mom, is the chocolate whiskey cake you like the recipe from the Gourmet Today Cookbook, called "Chocolate Whiskey Bundt Cake (p. 727)?
'Cause if so, I'm impressed that Lulu put it mostly together!
Thanks--

[LulusMom]

That's the cake! She did have help (she's a nervous wreck when cracking eggs) but she did a lot of it herself. She was so proud. But really, it is such an easy cake to make. And delicious - especially the second day.

[walker]

That book will stay with you. Be sure to rent the movie later.

[buttertart]

Had a lot of fun this afternoon reading the book straight through from the first - the tone really is engaging. Am presently on the soup chapter and there are lots of things I'd like to try.
A tiny quibble - evidently she is more a cook than a gardener, since she quotes someone referring to wistaria and adds (sic) - it was brought back to England by a Mr. Wistar, and wistaria is the proper spelling. (Sorry, it's my favorite flower of all, and things like that jump out at me).
Was also amused at the toasted mushroom rolls attributed to Marian Burros - my mom was making these when I was a kid and said they were bridge-party fare from the late '30's.

[Katie Nell]

Incredibly minor in the grand scheme of things but I was excited to see that there were two recipes that I've really been wanting to try, but didn't necessarily want to buy the books for: Suzanne Goin's Pork Burgers http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/21/dining/211CREX.html and Judy Rodger's Roast Chicken with Bread Salad http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/4401342/ !

[JoanN]

Yes, I noticed that. And it's one of the reasons I'm feeling a lot more positive about this book than I had initially. If other recipes in the book are anywhere near as good, we could all be in for a treat.

I'm getting a head start since I have visitors arriving tonight (assuming planes are landing in the tri-state area). The oven is pre-heating, and I'm just taking a break from prepping the ingredients for Teddie's Apple Cake.

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh, I'm so jealous! I can't wait to hear how Teddie's Apple Cake turns out. Delicious, I'm sure.

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

Planes landing. I hope it works out. My sil was supposed to fly in tonight and her flight was cancelled this am. Hope your visitors make it ok and can't wait to hear about the apple cake.

[apple342]

I have a general question, as this is my first participation in COTM. *So* excited about this one. The recipes I have made are posted on my blog with photos/detail about preparation. Is it ok to provide link to recipe in this forum or is that not usually not done? Do people provide photos or is this just write up about what you did. Thanks! Can't wait!

[Caitlin McGrath]

apple342, people do post photos if they want, and it is always great to see what dishes look like, as well as read what people did and how they liked it. I you look at the threads for the current COTM, you can see how well people have responded to the posts with photos!

I don't have a blog, but I looked up the info in the Posting Etiquette for you, and here is site policy: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3676...

If you are excited about this book, I am really glad you are joining in! It will be fun to read your reports.

[apple342]

Perfect, Caitlin, Thank you!! That was my sense...good to have it confirmed. Will most definitely be joining in for FEB COTM! *So* looking forward to it!

[sarahcooks]

Just got the book from my local library - I was third in line for it and it came in sooner than I expected, so I've got it for three weeks now. I have to say I'm liking it a lot more than I thought I would (though I'm still only in drinks!) I did a masters in history though, and my senior project was about the original Beeton's Book of Household Management, so clearly food history is something I find very interesting! I just love the old recipes and so want to have a party where I serve Delicious Milk Punch! Maybe I will, if I can find some promising 19th century food recipes to go with it :) In fact, any decade themed party sounds really fun. I tend to go for ethnic cookbooks, but this one is proving interesting in terms of "the past as a foreign country."

[The Dairy Queen]

I'm glad you're already liking the book. I suppose you can always start cooking from it now and save up your reports until February! Go for it!

~TDQ

[jsantopietro]

I would love to join you all on this COTM. This will be my first, so I will have to get myself oriented. I remember Amanda raving about the Forget-it Meringue torte and Teddie's Apple cake, so those are two I want to try out. Also her mom's dump-it cake sounds like an easy winner.

[dkennedy]

Today Living Social ran a deal for 50% off a $20.00 amazon gift card. TNYTEC is $23.00 on their site so it will only be $13.00 with this deal. I am attaching a copy of the pertinent info. I couldn't figure out the link but I am sure if you google it today you can still get the deal.

your daily deal
LOS ANGELES presented by

Amazon.com Gift Card*
$20 Amazon.com Gift Card
$ 10
view deal

[Goblin]

Hi--I've never joined a COTM either, but would love to do "Miss February." Just popped for the cookbook. I'm not sure about the process: does one cook any recipes(s) and report on the results, or should it be just ones that are listed above as available from other on-line sources?

[JoanN]

Welcome to COTM. Happy to have you here.

You may cook anything at all that you want to. No restrictions. You need not even make the recipe exactly as written. Just tell us how you changed it and why. We're all here to have fun and share. The rules are pretty loose. Just jump right in and join us.

[Goblin]

Thank you for the welcome! I'm guessing that we don't actually start to post until Feb. 1st, though I'm cooking tomorrow. . . . Looking forward to reading other people's experiences, as well.

[The Dairy Queen]

YAY! The more the merrier. Funnily enough, it seems we have more "rules" about our process for choosing the books than we do about actually cooking from the books and reporting on our results. Jump right in. It's really fun.

~TDQ

[The Dairy Queen]

So, I've been going through ENYT cookbook, with the computer next to me, and tagging any recipes I want to try in EYB as 0211 COTM. I realize I should be putting the page number in the comments while I'm at it, too, but keep forgetting to do that. That way, when I look in EYB at the listing of recipes I've marked, I can choose a recipe and go directly to the page number I've noted instead of having to find it in the book's index first.

I've also noted several recipes to try this summer once CSA is in full swing. We get an absurd amount of basil, for instance, and I've noticed a few recipes that call for a cup or two of basil that I've noted in a special "basil" category I've set up. And so on.

~TDQ

[jsantopietro]

It's cool to see this book on your list for the next COTM. I worked at the NYTimes Magazine with Amanda Hesser from '05-'09, during the bulk of her testing (which happened after work). I've made a few of the recipes, which Hesser and Merrill Stubbs tried at least three times each - David Eyre's Pancake (a Dutch baby) is delicious, so is Lobster Bisque II (though time consuming), and the Gazpacho with Cucumber Granita (from Michael Tusk at Quince Restaurant). There are so many recipes in the book -- I have only touched the surface. I'm so curious to see what you all choose to make and how they go. Have fun with it!
Jill

[smtucker]

Sure hope that you will post some reviews as well when the threads go up on February 1. I certainly would love background on any recipes that we report if you know something special about how that recipe was chosen. Welcome to the group!

[dkennedy]

The David Eyre's pancake is among one of my first and favorite recipes. It is a show stopper right out of the oven, and easy enough to teach kids to make for themselves (except putting it in/out of the oven), and it tastes delectable. Everyone should make this recipe during NYTECB month.

[smtucker]

My favorite pancake recipe is from the original New York Times cookbook. I will have to check and see if they are the same.

[Caitlin McGrath]

David Eyre's Pancake was a standard in my family - my grandfather started making it when first published in the Times, my mother also made it when I was growing up, and I myself have made it from my mother's hand-written recipe card.

[apple342]

Agreed....I just made it again today....what a gem! Truly. This is going to be a great COTM! Can't wait to see what everyone makes!

[The Dairy Queen]

I do hope you join us, Jill in cooking and/or commentary. I was admiring that Gazpacho with Cucumber Granita recipe last night, wistfully longing for summer.

In one of the interviews I linked upthread, Hesser Eyre's pancake was the second-most recommended recipe with 80 votes. The purple plum torte was first with 265 votes!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/mag...

~TDQ

[Caitlin McGrath]

That plum torte gets lots of love on Chowhound.

[The Dairy Queen]

Hmmm...I am unaware of said torte. How did I miss it? Is it the same as galleygirl's pear tart?

~TDQ

[jen kalb]

this is the buttery old warhorse that Marian Burros used to publish every year and that I made in multiples every year. (pulled an old one out of the freezer just last month) Sprinked with cinnamon.. I think galleygirls recipe probably derives from it.

Here is an account she wrote about it, with the recipe - she started publishing it in the times, she says 1981 (that sounds about right http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/...

[twilight goddess]

Just ordered this from the library. Thank you, smtucker! :-0 That is a happy hungry mouth excited to try these recipes.

[sunflwrsdh]

So...I will be getting the book by the end of the week from our local library, and am looking forward to cooking from it with all of you. Sounds like a wonderful, comprehensive book!

[The Dairy Queen]

Awesome. It looks to be a fun month!

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

I caved and my copy has despatched. Something to look forward to as I slog my way through a set of night shifts!

[JVHcook]

Book should be arriving tomorrow, can't wait! First time participating in one of these so it should be fun. Seems like a great book choice.

[Gio]

Welcome... It's great to have more cook-along-cooks participating.

[apple342]

JVHcook--my first time as well! I selected the recipes I will be cooking last night--can't wait!! Love, love, love this book!

[smtucker]

A New Coordinator!

Bayoucook has agreed to assume the duties of COTM starting with the March nomination thread. Thank you so much bayou. Should be a great six months.

[Breadcrumbs]

Thank-you to you smtucker for all you've done w COTM. This is the thread that brought me to Chowhound for the very first time in September last year and I'm completely smitten! I sincerely appreciate the work that goes into coordinating something like this. Thank-you!

bayoucook, thank-you so much for taking on such an important role, Chowhound simply wouldn't be the same without COTM. I promise not to be a pain in the butt w my nominations and to adhere to whatever guidelines you want to set out!!

Thanks again to both of you!

[The Dairy Queen]

Completely agree with breadcrumbs. Thank you to smtucker and all former coordinators for all your hard work keeping COTM vibrant and informative and fun, and thank you in advance to bayoucook!

~TDQ

[bayoucook]

Thank all of you for your kindness. I'll do my best, but please let me know if I screw up!
-Paula

[blue room]

I remember you're one of the people here who (like me) doesn't have a stand mixer.
Unless you got one for Christmas... I didn't !

Glad to read you're enthusiastic about "Essential...".

[bayoucook]

I did get one. I got the 4 1/2 qt. on clearance for 98.00 after rebate!! Still have to download the user's manual since I had to take the display model. Looking forward to using it. Been busy with Mardi Gras and haven't been cooking as much but plan to change that soon. My krewe's Ball is this Saturday, then Mardi Gras is in March; breather between Ball and Parade! Really really really like "Essential" - many recipes I want to try and looking forward to it!

[The Dairy Queen]

Not to worry. Every coordinator has a slightly different style and leaves her own stamp on COTM. I'm sure you'll find your groove, especially with the tips smtucker is kindly passing on. Just remember not to take it personally when people debate passionately about process etc.--it's the nature of chowhounds to be vocal and opinionated. Most of all, COTM should be fun. If you're having fun, we'll have fun.

~TDQ

[MMRuth]

I'm sure you'll do a great job -- if you have any questions along the way, feel free to email me (email in profile).

[JoanN]

Welcome, bayoucook, to the ranks of us who have been honored to serve. And thank you smtucker for having taken the role of coordinator to a new level. Your work has been greatly appreciated.

[Gio]

That was the fastest six months of my life. I echo Breadcrumbs and her acclamation of all your efforts, SMT. Definitely a job well done. Cue thunderous applause.

Thank you, Bayou, for continuing the COTM tradition. I'm looking forward to more good cookin'.

[bayoucook]

Thanks, Gio - been looking through COTM threads and taking notes!

[Gio]

Make sure SMT gives you the whip and chair she used to keep us in line. It's all fun, isn't it, though I can't count all the essential cooking information I've learned by participating in COTMs. This board has just about become my "home board" since I can't get out as often as in the past.

[bayoucook]

She promised to send me tips and notes, so I'm sure she will. She did an outstanding job; a hard act to follow!

[dkennedy]

Thank you to all the past and future COTM coordinators!!! We all are indebted to you for your efforts and all our lives are richer from this great club!

[walker]

I don't know if it's appropriate for me to mention this here; but, I got the book from the library and went over the whole book in one evening, marked a few recipes. But, I noticed a lot of recipes that included beets. Seemed strange. Over all, I'm glad I didn't buy the book. (I'm trying hard not to buy any more cookbooks.)

[The Dairy Queen]

You're referring to the Essential New York Times Cookbook, Walker? What about the book made you glad you didn't buy it?

~TDQ

[walker]

I already have too many cookbooks, it's heavy, on cream, not white paper and no beautiful photographs of the food. (I don't like cookbooks with poor quality photos...they have to be beautiful.)

I like the Hazan book I own even tho there are no photos, just some penned illustrations.

[The Dairy Queen]

Ah, so it's more about aesthetics and practical considerations (all very legitimate of course!) rather than any objections you have to the recipes themselves.

~TDQ

[walker]

I don't know how to put it into words; just I don't feel I MUST have this.

I have the Silver Palate cookbooks and consider them valuable. (I'm ashamed to admit that I have not cooked many of the recipes but I'm happy knowing they are there.) I bought the 25th Anniversary Edition even though I did not NEED it. (gave my original one to a friend) I like the pictures in this one. Also, S.P. is lightweight; I don't even know if it ever came in a hardcover.

[greedygirl]

I just got my copy and I don't love it, atm. This is the problem I have with having to buy COTMs without seeing them first - I may have passed on this one. I guess I find it too similar to other tomes in this genre - specifically "Gourmet" and the "San Francisco Chronicle" cookbooks. I think I prefer COTMs when we get into the heart of a particular cuisine. There are quite a lot of recipes in the NYT book that I have elsewhere, too. But never mind - am looking forward to February anyway! No doubt you'll all be able to change my mind.

[Karen_Schaffer]

I haven't gotten a copy from the library yet, but I expect to feel the same way about it -- ho hum, another compilation, much duplication. But I'll give it a look. I suspect it resonates more with folks who have followed the recipes over the years, bringing back memories and forgotten recipes.

[greedygirl]

I actually got bored of looking through it, it's so huge! From the perspective of someone who's not, I find it very "American", somehow, as well. Not that that's a bad thing, I hasten to add.

[The Dairy Queen]

I know what you mean about getting bored going through it. I have to do a section at a time and I started in the middle of the book since I don't do a lot of cocktails and appetizers in real life.

I haven't been following the recipes over the years, but I'm still finding some interesting ones to flag here and there. I've been flipping through the book while logged in to EYB so I can bookmark recipes I want to try. And, indeed, it is very American. Deliberately so, I think.

Notice the recipe for the bacon explosion?

I think there are a ton of recipes in here I wouldn't consider to be "every day" recipes, which is fine. You need some recipes for entertaining and special occasions, too, of course.

~TDQ

[buttertart]

It is a bit on the "inside baseball" side, very appealing to NYers (of which I still consider myself one, just an exurban one) because of the memories associated with a lot of the recipes and people mentioned. The Times is an icon which is at the moment busy trashing its reputation of having the premier food section of American newspapers with less and much less appealing content in its weekly section and no real voice in the Sunday Magazine food article (it's shared by a few authors, one of which uses it as a platform for the adorableness of his child - at least as he perceives it). It used to be like the Guardian in the Grigson days - the Guardian has kept its side up immeasurably better.

[The Dairy Queen]

The ENYT cookbook is very NY-centric and when I look at the recipes, they feel very remote and rarefied to me, whereas when I read One Big Table and The Sunset Cookbook the recipes and tone feel more comfortable to me, as in, "oh, that's what people in my real life cook and eat." This is not a criticism, but an observation. When I flip through the ENYTC these aren't "my" recipes, same as Dunlop's recipes weren't my recipes". It's a history, style, culture for me to explore through cooking. I suspect there are other COTM'ers who will feel like the recipes in ENYTC are their recipes, but I think it won't be universal, even among the Americans. Of course, there are national trends influencing what ends up in the NYT and vice versa, so a lot of it IS familiar to me.

Funnily enough, that rarefied environment is what drove Molly O'Neall to seek out and explore and write "One Big Table", at least, that's how I interpret her intro to OBT.

~TDQ

[nomadchowwoman]

Oh my, you just pushed my Dexter button. I so detest that particular column. For years, the food pages in the magazine were the first thing I looked at on Sundays. I couldn't wait to see what delights I might find there. Not anymore.

As a long-time NYT reader, I have folders full ofrecipes torn from the Sunday Magazine, which is why one reason this cookbook appealed to me. I also find the food timelines mildly interesting. And I am fascinated by the selection process/what recipes are most popular.

[JoanN]

As a New York Times reader since I was a teenager, and one who discussed with her mother which recipes to clip, I'd say it's not so much that the book brings back my forgotten recipes as that I'm curious to find out what others thought were the best of those recipes. I have quite a few yellowed tearsheets to which I still turn fairly regularly. In fact, I suggested them to Hesser. None of them made the cut. If some recipes that I thought were terrific didn't merit inclusion, I'm curious to find out what did. I'm guessing there are some real gems in there and that having the book as a COTM will be an excellent way of ferreting them out.

[The Dairy Queen]

You would discuss with your mother which to clip? That's so sweet. Can you tell us more about that (if you're comfortable doing so)? Meaning, she would consult you? Or you'd make suggestions?

~TDQ

[JoanN]

Actually, Dad clipped as well. Mom was in charge of getting dinner on the table on a daily basis, but my father really enjoyed cooking, specializing in hearty braises such as boeuf Bourguignon and osso bucco. In those early Craig Claiborne days, there was no separate food section and a lot of the most interesting recipes, if I recall correctly, were printed in the Sunday magazine. So it wasn't at all unusual that as we were all sitting around reading the Sunday paper, whoever got to the magazine first would say something like, "Hey! Here's a recipe for veal marengo. Looks good." If at least one other person concurred, within a couple of weeks it would probably appear on the table and we'd discuss whether or not it was a keeper. Food was pretty important in my house when I was growing up.

[buttertart]

Veal Marengo? That sounds like 1970 appx to me.

[JoanN]

Could be. How about vitello tonnato? I think that may be one one my parents actually made in the late 50s early 60s.

[buttertart]

People really don't credit there having been fancy food until the '80s or so these days. There surely was. Marengo was in Julia so it could easily have been mid-60's if not well before.

[The Dairy Queen]

That is so neat! Very cozy. That's more or less what we do on Sunday mornings, too, especially this time of year.

Vitello tonnato is in the book!
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/443713/vitello-tonnato

Not veal, but chicken a la marengo:
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/443152/chicken-a-la-marengo

Boeuf Bourguignon is in twice!
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/443508/boeuf-bourguignon-1
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/443509/boeuf-bourguignon-2

Osso bucco just once:
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/r...

~TDQ

[Caitlin McGrath]

They actually did not do that diversification of the old Living section until the late '90s, when they starting adding various freestanding sections (apparently as an attraction to national subscribers, of which there were more than regional readers even before it went online). Incidentally, in college in CA, I theoretically bought the NYT for the international coverage (important news for my academic interests), but I made a special point of buying it on Wednesdays for the food coverage, even if I couldn't put it practice living in a residence hall.

[JoanN]

I didn't realize it was that recent. I was going through some of my older notebooks, but didn't find NYTimes tearsheets much before 1970--at least, not pages that still had dates on them. Although most of the recipes I saved were from the Sunday paper--the paper itself as well as the magazine--I see a number of pages from that era that were published on Thursday and some from the same period that were published on a Wednesday. I just don't recall any longer if there was a specific day when one could expect to find recipes. I wish Hesser had more information in her book about how reporting in the paper has changed over the years.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I recall because I know it happened at a point somewhat after I moved to NYC in 1995. Same with the addition of color photos. I do remember that the restaurant reviews appeared on Fridays before the freestanding dining section, and cooking content on other days.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Joan, having finally got my hands on the book, I noticed in the timeline in the front of the book that the separate Dining section debuted in 1997 (with color photos for the first time).

[Karen_Schaffer]

JoanN, I'd love to hear about the recipes you suggested that didn't make the cut. I trust your taste!

[JoanN]

How kind of you. Thank you.

One of them was Pierre Franey's Meat Loaf with Mushrooms which I paraphrased here:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5557...

I like Franey’s even better than Paul Prudhomme’s, which is my second favorite. There are two in the new book, one of which just sounds downright weird. Green peppers in meat loaf? Color me skeptical.

Another was from a Craig Claiborne article titled “When in Connecticut, Get Invited for Carmine Rosa's Lasagne” from July ’69. First you made meatballs. Then you cooked the meatballs in a sauce with sausages and a loin of pork. It used to take me days. I loved it. I had a tiny apartment and would invite a dozen people for dinner. Once a guest asked for the recipe. I typed it out for her. It took up two-and-a-half single-spaced pages. She was still laughing about it thirty years later. She thought I was nuts. When that recipe seemed too time consuming, I’d make Ed Giobbi’s lasagne. That didn’t make the cut either.

The third recipe I recommended was a comparatively recent one, from 2001, for a Sauteéd Apple Pie. Made it for Thanksgiving that first year and have made it every year since. My family wouldn’t let me try any other. It lost out to an Apple Crumb Pie, which has some similar procedures and sounds very good indeed. Perhaps one day.

[buttertart]

Two-and-a-half single spaced pages...great, that's what I call a recipe. It's nice to hear Ed Giobbi's name, remember when he was quite the culinary force in the '70's - '80's? His chicken with cauliflower and olives (from the Family cookbook) has been in our rotation since then.

[JoanN]

Have that book but don't know that recipe. Will have to check it out. Thanks.

[LulusMom]

Mmmm, chicken with cauliflower and olives sounds really great - hits lots of family hot spots. Any chance you could paraphrase the recipe here, or to me in an email?

[buttertart]

I've been winging it for so long that I really should check the recipe, but basically it's cut-up skin-on bone-in chicken (smallish chunks) with s&p browned in olive oil, garlic and oregano added, deglazed with red wine vinegar, cooked covered until almost done, cauli florets and black or green good olives (or a mixture) added, cooked until done (the cauli can go in earlier but we like it quite bitey). It really is great. I'll hunt up the recipe and see if I've led you astray!

[LulusMom]

Thanks so much! Sounds great.

[buttertart]

You're welcome - often have it with his Pizza Caccia Nanza from Beard on Bread (or a variant with whatever bread dough going), which is Italian bread dough made into a flattened pizza-y shape, studded with garlic, s&p, and herbs, drizzled w olive oil, baked. M - m - good. You can make the chicken dish with boneless breasts but it's nowhere near as good.

[LulusMom]

Nah, I'm not a big white meat fan. I love the one pot nature of it. It sounds fantastic.

[buttertart]

I completely forgot!!! You put 3 or so quartered plum tomatoes in with the cauliflower. Sometimes I don't because my husband is not a tomato fan. Sorry!!!

[LulusMom]

So does this mean you normally skip the tomato? I'm going to be back in the hotel with kitchen in a little over a week and am thinking I"ll make this. We could easily do sans tomato if you think that works. Thanks!

[buttertart]

If you like tomato use it, definitely.

[LulusMom]

alrighty! thanks again.

[Karen_Schaffer]

Those are all amazing recipes -- thanks!

[jen kalb]

That Ed Giobbi's lasagna recipe is great. His Italian family Cookbook was my first Italian cookbook and its recipes still measure. up. (but the lasagna recipe isnot in there I dont think.

There are a couple of different versions on line but I think this is the one I remember - with ricotta-egg-parsley pockets in it. in addition to the sausage, mushroom and meat flavored tomato sauce http://classreunionprogram.com/classy...

[JoanN]

Yes, that's basically the one. I have the original tearsheet in front of me and there are some very minor differences. For instances, the tearsheet recipe calls for canned plum tomatoes, your link uses fresh. And the ricotta was optional. But those are just quibbles. That's certainly the essence of the recipe.

[jen kalb]

its really puzzling - because the Giobbi recipe I used to use (and dont have a physical copy of any more) definitely had the ricotta/egg/parsley add-in however I just pulled my crumbling copy of the favorites from 1972 NYT mag article by Ray Sokolov which includes "Ed Giobbi's lasagna" along with a Maida Heatter mousse-torte and Cornell bread and it doesnt. this version has italian plum tomatoes and I am pretty sure the other version I used did too (not fresh tomatoes) ah well.

[The Dairy Queen]

JoanN, on page 342 she says, "Some of you may be disappointed that I didn't include Ed Giobbi's Lasagna from 1973, but I tried it and decided that this one [from October 2001, adapted from Giuliano Bugialli] edged Giobbi's out."

For you Giobbi recipe lovers, several of his recipes made the book--you can find them easily by looking up his name in the index.

~TDQ

[roxlet]

Hey, that's how I (and my family) always make lasagna! (with the meatballs, sausage and piece of pork simmering in the sauce)

[LulusMom]

To be honest, I was happy when I heard it was picked for Feb., because (sight unseen) I have little to no interest in the book. I remember when A.H. was writing in the Sunday Times magazine and something about her annoyed me, and the food never interested me.

[Gio]

Yes, GG, TNYTEC is decidedly American. It defines American cooking and, while I have in the past assiduously stayed away from these sorts of cookery books, lately I'm finding them interesting from the standpoint of historical reference. There are 150 years worth of recipes here, although I realize that in the grand scheme that's not many. But, much has happened here in the US culinarily during those years.

Here's a no-punches-pulled review I found helpful in understanding the work:
http://www.zesterdaily.com/media-a-en...

ETA: Sorry, LLM... meant to respond to greedygirl.

[Karen_Schaffer]

Very interesting review. Though it seems rather unfair to criticize Hesser for failing to include lots of ethnic recipes if they weren't originally covered (or only covered poorly) in the NYT itself. That's more properly a criticism of the newspaper.

[buttertart]

AH is must less ickypoo in this, thank goodness. No fan of her Mr Latte exercise here.

[LulusMom]

Bingo! You saw right through me buttertart. That Mr. Latte stuff drove me nuts.

[beetlebug]

ME too. I read Mr. Latte for a book group and everyone thought I was nuts the way I ranted and raved against Hesser.

[The Dairy Queen]

I didn't really read many of her Mr. Latte columns, but I I'm fear that when my foodoir "Too Short To Stir-Fry" is eventually released, my voice will ring as ickypoo* as Hesser's did in Mr. Latte! Do you think it was just her youth talking? I hate to say this, but I think I might need to read this book just to see if I agree with all of you.

*=technical journalistic term.

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

It could be youth. But, reading the Mr. Latte book, I walked away convinced that she doesn't really enjoy food. It was the way she talked about it. She tried to be too cute and too precious and I just wanted to heave. And, the recipes in the book, seemed to me, like they were missing steps or ingredients. Like she was keeping them as a secret for herself. This was a few years ago, but those impressions are still fairly strong with me.

Overall, I didn't get a positive impression from her from that book. However, when I saw the NYT cookbook on sale at Costco, I grabbed it. Irrational especially given my dislike for Hesser.

ETA: and your voice has no ring of icky poo. I would have gleaned it by now. I'd read your foodoir.

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh, that's the worst. Food writing by someone who doesn't seem to love food! Or, maybe as JoanN suggests below, maybe she was just too in love to care about the food. Still!

~TDQ

[pikawicca]

Hesser was very silly about Mr. Latte, but I certainly never got the impression that she didn't care passionately about the food.

[JoanN]

I think it was just that she was head over heels in love. We've all known people of any age who couldn't speak two sentences without mentioning their enamorata four times. I'm happy for them. But I don't want to listen to it. Didn't want to listen to her, either.

[LulusMom]

I was falling for LulusDad around the same time, and I hope to God I wasn't as insufferable. But yes, one needs to give a little leeway for those in the fog of new love.

[dkennedy]

This is very interesting, I just order Mr. Latte due to some friends' recommendations. I hope I don't find it ickypoo as many of you did - I was looking forward to the read!

[LulusMom]

TDQ, we *know* you through your writing, and you are no AH with her Mr. Latte, believe me. And I mean that in a very, very good way.

[greedygirl]

I hope you give me a mention in your "foodoir", TDQ, as the person who coined the title!

All this Mr Latte stuff is passing me by - anyone care to elucidate?

[JoanN]

This will give you a quick overview of the book:

http://gastronomyblog.com/2008/12/03/...

The problem for most Times readers was that her articles in the paper were, if anything, even more saccharine. The articles were, after all, supposed to be about food, so all the Mr. Latte cooing and fawning was unwelcome and intrusive. All in the Too Much Information category.

[The Dairy Queen]

Or course, my imaginary foodoir has an entire chapter devoted to COTM'ers--that chapter is called: Tall Enough to Stir Fry.

I'm going to need an antagonist in my foodoir. How would you feel about being a villainess, an arch-rival of sorts. I could introduce your character as Perfect Patina? Don't worry, there will be happy ending, with some great reconciliation. :).

About Amanda Hesser--that link JoanN provides makes me certain I don't want to read it. I suppose I was that insufferable once.

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

I would be honored. Actually, Perfect Patina would be a great user name. I might request a name change....

Btw, NY people. I may be coming for a short visit in May....

[JoanN]

No, no! Not May. I'll be out of the country. Not fair!

[greedygirl]

We are destined never to meet!

[The Dairy Queen]

We should have you bring a stack of Slater books and make Slater June COTM~ :).

~TDQ

[MelMM]

Yes. Or we're going to have to have a rogue Slate thread.

[buttertart]

Great news.

[HappyChow]

Very excited to join this COTM, which was one of my New Year's resolutions...just got it from TGC last week and am enjoying browsing the recipes.

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh, the more the merrier. I'm so glad you're joining us. It's a great group. And, it's not too late to join us for January if you can get your hands on one of Grace Young's books...

~TDQ

[apple342]

*So* so excited about FEB selection of ENYTC! This is going to be a great one--my fav cookbook of last year!

[The Dairy Queen]

Apple, I'm so thrilled you'll be joining in. I am looking forward to Feb, too. Have you tried any recipes from ENYTC yet? Any favorites?

~TDQ

[BigSal]

Here are a few more recipes for those that don't have the book.

Maid Heatters Cuban Black Beans and Rice http://tinyurl.com/4co8q6g

Oliver Clark’s Meatloaf http://tinyurl.com/4cclrd7

Shaking Beef http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shaking-Beef-236373

Coda Alla Vaccinara (Oxtail Braised With Tomato and Celery) http://tinyurl.com/4ejcr2z

21 Club Hamburger http://tinyurl.com/4wypb9e

[smtucker]

The 21 Club Hamburger recipe just cracks me up. 8 tbl of butter, 12 oz of meat, two slices of bread, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Yield? 1 hamburger!

[BigSal]

I know, it's crazy...I wonder if it is crazy good? has anyone made this or tried the real thing?

[The Dairy Queen]

Yeah, now that I see what's in the 21 Club Burger, I don't think it will be on my menu anytime soon. I'll bet it's delicious though. I hope one of you tries it and reports back!

~TDQ

[Rubee]

I'm making it tonight. It's actually one tablespoon of butter to each burger, phew!

[The Dairy Queen]

Wow! I can't wait to read about it!

~TDQ

[Rubee]

YUM!!

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7632...

[blue room]

I see Shaking Beef is another one for the wok.

[BigSal]

I hope to sneak in more wok time in February. I look forward to reading about your first adventure with your wok.

P.S. I got a chuckle about your post mentioning you looking for the dessert section in the book. :)

[emily]

I must have made the Blender Eggnog about 10x over the holidays (cut the alcohol in half, though). I thought for sure my SO would intervene each time I said "let's have blender nog tonight," but I guess he liked it as much as I did.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/di...

[The Dairy Queen]

Epicurious interview with Hesser. She says the following recipes from the book will be the most stained in her kitchen: Cucumbers in Cream, Pickled Shrimp, Huguenot Torte, Chicken Canzanese, Delicate Bread Pudding, and Teddie's Apple Cake

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesgui...

~TDQ

[smtucker]

Spent some time with the Essentials book tonight, and have read through the first three chapters. I am finding the mix of recipes to be fairly diverse. Lots of them sound delicious, and the prep time doesn't seem too extreme.

I am particularly pleased to see so many soup recipes. This winter I have craved soup constantly, and am ready to try some new ones.

[wineos]

Me, too! It is a great book!

[nomadchowwoman]

I curled up with it for a while this morning, and I'm sticking with my early impression that this is a terrific book. Clearly, there's a lot to work with here--something for almost everyone. I'm looking forward to February cooking.
And thank you, smtucker, for your service in coordinating these COTMs--and bearing all the slings and arrows of chowhoundish passions!

[bayoucook]

I've been reading it all day, loving it.

[apple342]

Ditto, bayoucook...this is going to be so fun.

[The Dairy Queen]

Here's a story about the ENYTC wherein Hesser lists the five most-recommended recipes from the book (with recipes): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/mag...

~TDQ

[bayoucook]

Sent an email to volunteer; I'll be home and available both of those months. -Paula

[JaneEYB]

Thanks smtucker for sterling work organizing as always. Apologies to everyone if I created an issue with my two nominations. I thought when I joined COTM I read that you could nominate as many times as you wished but only vote once in the voting round (which of course there wasn't this time). The problem with only having one nomination is when you nominate early the whole drift of the thread can change in the following days and other books may dominate, but you can't weigh in. The temptation then is not to nominate at all until right near the end, which would reduce the scope of the conversation.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I don't think multiple nominations by a poster have ever been an issue, except in certain specific instances where the coordinator of the moment laid out some scheme, but those have been extremely limited. If such wasn't mentioned in the coordinator's OP, people have always nominated however (and however many books) they were moved to.

[Rubee]

No worries Jane! The nomination thread is exactly that - nominating whatever books you would like in anticipation of a final run-off. For this month, the run-off vote was skipped, which is why there's some confusion. I didn't take part this month because I wasn't sure I would have time to participate, but I often nominate more than one.

[Rubee]

Ah well, you enablers. Just ordered the book. BTW, I know some were discussing the Good Cook cookbook club. I was able to use bonus points (12) and so paid only $7.99 for it.

[The Dairy Queen]

I only have 11 bonus points. I can't find anything good to buy with it. Well, anything good that I don't already have.

~TDQ

[The Dairy Queen]

I think the first recipe I will try will be "21" Club hamburger because recipe always comes up first on my EYB bookshelf. I just HAVE to know if it's any good.

Funnily enough, Molly O'Neall's version of the same burger from her NY Cookbook (which I think both buttertart and JoanN just recently mentioned in the Feb nominations thread as being less inspiring than they'd hoped) is the recipe that appears first in the entire EYB library.

If Hesser had called her version a "burger" instead of a "hamburger", I think her version would be first.

Anyway, I am tormented by this recipe. I must know.

~TDQ

[smtucker]

I think this is a worthwhile discussion to have- what are the expectations of the 17 people who participated in the nomination thread?

Here is the breakdown:
SLATER APPETITE 3
SLATER THE KITCHEN DIARIES 5
SLATER TENDER 3
SLATER REAL FAST FOOD 2
(THESE VOTES REPRESENT 5 PEOPLE; all of whom coupled different books together)

SIMONDS SPICES OF LIFE 1
SASS WHOLE GRAINS 1
HESSER ESSENTIAL NYTimes 9
ONE BIG TABLE 3

I think it could be helpful for all future to coordinators to know:
1. What books you would have put into a run-off and
2. the logic behind that thought process

I certainly didn't intend to upset anyone and always considered months without a voting thread to be a bonus since I could get on the library list sooner. And when the month's choice included "exotic" ingredients, had more time to locate sources to have my pantry ready at the beginning of the month.

[greedygirl]

As oakjoan has said she wanted Slater but didn't nominate officially and JaneEYB nominated twice, the disparity between Slater and NYT could have been 8-6.

I would have put Slater, NYT and possibly One Big Table in a run-off. I seem to remember we've had months where one book was in front in the nomination thread, and didn't win in the voting. Strange but true. Sometimes there are people who don't nominate because they don't feel strongly enough about any one book, but do vote.

It's hard to generalise, but in this instance I think there should have been a voting thread as there was a lively discussion about three books. So months, there's an obvious front-runner and very little discussion about other books - January was like that for example.

I think NYT may still have won though!

[The Dairy Queen]

Over the years, I have not always agreed with the organizer, but I have relaxed about it quite a bit. I think the organizer has to weigh a lot of factors and exercise some judgment to keep people engaged and keep the process moving along.

Truth be told, the people who post in these COTM threads are the people whose opinions about cookbooks I trust and value more than anyone's. So, even if my favorite book isn't chosen, I usually end up being okay with the outcome anyway.

Personally, I like it when the process works exactly in accordance with the rules, but then, I also recall "rules" that apparently aren't rules, such as, no books released in the past year can be nominated, that sort of thing. I also wish that we could always choose a book that everyone has access to and will be excited about, but I realize that being 100% inclusive sometimes comes at the sacrifice for passion. I've just learned I have to be adaptable and roll with it. I have learned so much from COTM and have rubbed virtual elbows with a lot of amazing cooks.

~TDQ

[smtucker]

I didn't know there were any "rules." Are they posted somewhere?

[The Dairy Queen]

I think these are the only official rules http://www.chow.com/cookbook_of_the_m...
and then whatever guidelines/rules/directions the organizer sets up in any of the official discussion threads.

As I said, the "no new books" rule seems to be observed by no one but me, but I thought it was more or less a consensus that came about in various discussions over the years, driven mostly by library-users. I'm thinking specifically of a long site talk thread where we talked about all kinds of things: how many books should we cook from at a time? Should new books be allowed? Should we switch from monthly to every two months? etc. I don't know if we really reached any conclusions on most of those topics, but lots of opinions were aired. I did think a consensus had developed around "no new books" though.

However, my feeling is if no one is observing the "no new books" rule (or non-rule as the case may be) or objecting to new books being nominated, then either I misinterpreted the rule or opinions have changed, so it's a non-problem. Except for me. :). Had I not felt bound by that non-rule, I would have nominated Around My French Table. It's also (partly) why I didn't second the nominations for OBT or ENYTC.

My point is, I feel personally bound by these kinds of things and have learned I just have to roll with how things sort out. People changes, opinions change, circumstances change: all of these things require judgment on the part of the organizer, upon whom we have to bestow the authority to make judgment calls in order to keep COTM alive and vibrant.

~TDQ

[dkennedy]

I have been participating for a while now and I was never aware of the rule about not nominating new books. It makes sense since new titles would obviously limit the number of participants who couldn't access the recipes through the library if they weren't in a position to buy the book. My rule of thumb is to immediately buy any COTM title that looks like the the type of book I would readily cook from again (for me, that's books like Zuni and Sunday Suppers), but to watch on the sidelines during those months that the cookbooks sound interesting but not my thing, (Sweet Tea, etc.) unless those titles are available at my library. My cookbook shelf space is too precious to squander on titles that I will only cook through for one month!

Maybe we could post a detailed set of rules for the nominating and voting procedure and have it cut and pasted into every month's nomination thread so that way newbies and longtimers who are confused about the rules will all get clear about the expectations.

[The Dairy Queen]

I don't think it's really a rule as much as a strong preference that made an impression on me. But, no one seems to be objecting lately when new books are being nominated (for instance, no one objected to ENYTC or OBT as far as I can tell on the basis that they are both new), so, maybe "my impression" was wrong or maybe people's preferences have changed, or maybe the people who objected to new books are no longer participating. Who knows.

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

I am one of those who prefer to have older books for COTM. But, I only like to object to one set of books and this month I made those objections towards slater. I do object to nyt and obt out of principle, even though, bc of a December cookbook binge, I do own both books.

[The Dairy Queen]

Yeah, you can't object to every book!

~TDQ

[blue room]

First of all, smtucker YOU are an exotic ingredient! Thanks so much.

In past COTMs I too was annoyed by the fact that "nominations" sometimes turned out to be "votes". I think this sentence from the nomination thread could be a problem, a little misleading:
"Please note that nominations are counted and only the top vote getters make it to the voting round. If you want your choice to advance, make sure you participate in the nomination round."

I'm pretty sure that in some months I've seen wording to make it a little clearer that if nominations for BOOK "A" dominate, then the voting will be skipped. (Of course, there's no way to make sure everybody reads the instructions!)
As for me, I'm delighted that my big red book is on the way-- "later, Slater" .

[The Dairy Queen]

HAHA! Later Slater.

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

Poor Nigel. He is a National Treasure.

[The Dairy Queen]

As I said, I hope we do get to cook from a Slater book someday. I'm not sure what to do about the problem of access. People seem to think they need more time to acquire the book, but when I suggested a couple of times in the nominations thread that we try to vote on Slater for an advance month, that went over like a lead balloon.

~TDQ

[oakjoan]

TDQ: I don't understand your statement on "access" to Slater. His books are in all three of my local library systems.

[The Dairy Queen]

Thanks for asking, oakjoan. At least two posters mentioned in the nominations thread that due to the number of holds on Kitchen Diaries at their library that they thought they couldn't acquire the book in time for February. Somewhere in there I threw out a suggestion for planning more than a month ahead for Slater in an attempt to address those concerns. In addition, some of the Slater books are less available than others. If your library doesn't have Appetite, for instance, it might be hard to get your hands on an affordable copy. So, if we are going to do a Slater (which I hope we do!) we might have to be selective about which one we do (Kitchen Diaries would be my pick) or do several.

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

Also, I live in a huge library system. There were very few copies of Kitchen Diaries in the system (I think it was 7) and availability was limited. I share my library system with at least 1 other HC hound. I think I did a count on all the books in the nomination thread. The bottom line was that it was not going to be an easy book to get.

[The Dairy Queen]

Beetlebug, so, are you thinking you would need more time to acquire the book OR are you thinking Kitchen Diaries is not "the" book to do if we were to do a Slater? Or are you thinking "combo" is the way to go for Slater?

~TDQ

[beetlebug]

I don't know what the answer is. KD is probably a better chance because, even in limited library quantities, it seems to be the one that is in most systems. did someone write somewhere that Tender (I probably have the name wrong, maybe it's Vegetables?) is coming out with a US version? Maybe 6-8 months after the US version comes out will be a good time for that book.

I guess the bottom line is, if there is limited availability in libraries and more on the pricey side to buy, and the best access is internet, does that make it a good Cookbook OTM?

[The Dairy Queen]

According to Amazon, Tender is being released April 26. Nothing on it says it's a US version, but the cover art is different.

Yeah, I don't know how to answer your question about does it make a good COTM if there is limited availability in libraries and "pricy" to buy. In general I'd said no, but there are a few outliers. Ottolenghi had limited availability and was pricy to buy and it was a pretty active COTM. I think there was just a lot of passion for that book. But, I know a few people felt excluded from that month, which makes me sad.

The problem with doing Tender 6-8 months after the US version comes out is that puts you in late fall/winter, which isn't really peak time for vegetables and farmers markets etc. if your goal is to cook from Tender, it seems spring/summer/early fall would be the best time, which puts you 4-5 months out. But, we could combine it with KD at that point and maybe enough people would have access to at least one of the books.

Tough call, really. I guess we just keep having the conversation until we settle on something most people can support!

~TDQ

[JoanN]

The minute Slater's name came up in the nominating thread, I went online and put a hold on each of his cookbooks. I don't recall now the exact details, but I wasn't next in line for a single one of them and was third in line for at least one. The chances of my getting hold of any Slater book before the end of February is pretty slim. So the fact that my library system carries the books really doesn't do me much practical good.

[rabaja]

I ran into a similar problem. As soon as there was interest in the Slater's books I requested KD. I got it, but it is due at the end of the month, with another's request already for it, so I cannot re-new.
I will request it again next month, if I think it will be the next COTM, but it's hard to work out the timing. The chance you take when going the library route.
I put in a request for the NYT Essentials, they are seven people in front of me. Who knows if I'll see it during the month of Feb., I am taking my chances again here, as I'm not sure I want to own this one.
I liked the "rule" that we didn't nominate newish books, but hey, I'm only one person.

[smtucker]

Well put rabaja, but there is also the problem of books that are too old so they are no longer available at reasonable retail amounts. ::throwing arms into the air::

:-)

[The Dairy Queen]

In my experience, the ones that are too old to be available at reasonable retail amounts also often have spotty availability from libraries...

~TDQ

[Caitlin McGrath]

As lots of people seem gung-ho for Slater, and Kitchen Diaries seems most available, it's a shame it's not *more* available. It seems libraries have few copies, and they're in demand. It's not new, but I guess still too popular relative to library stocks.

[The Dairy Queen]

Pretty amazing, isn't it, that it's still in that much demand after 4 years? Must be a good book. :)

~TDQ

[Gio]

Oh I'm sure Nigel will have his day. I even think his recipes are better suited to Spring/Summer/Autumn, his Christmas Mincemeat Cheescake and Prune Brownies notwithstanding. I'm dying for him to have his COTM glory.

[jen kalb]

I think there will be at least one chowhound who didnt want slater til march who will be happy he lost here.

Since I think of the nomination thread as a discussion/musing thread not a voting thread I think it would be best to keep it that way unless there is virtual unanimity - or else if a coordinator is going to convert it into a voting thread, he/she might say so to let people readjust their thinking and nomination/vote. There have been times when I have changed my mind over the course as additional ideas were presented- but wouldnt have felt the need to change my "VOTE" unless it was a voting thread. Im cool, whatever, however. and thanks SMT.

[The Dairy Queen]

I thought March is reserved for Jamie Oliver... Doesn't matter to me, though. I want to cook from both Slater and Oliver eventually! :).

~TDQ

[jen kalb]

am I mixing up slater and oliver? probably. Me bad.
I am learning a lot from these threads about how different people have totally different ways of being interested in cooking and recipes and different motivations and perhaps how imbedded I am in my own ways of thinking. Should not be surprised but I am..

[The Dairy Queen]

Hmmm...interesting. I would love for you to elaborate, if you feel comfortable doing so.

~TDQ

[blue room]

TDQ, LulusMom said she'd be glad to vote for Jamie O. from March on,
it's not that March is actually *reserved* for him.

[The Dairy Queen]

Au contraire, my dear, I've cleared the ENTIRE month of March for Mr. Oliver. I will cook from no other books! :) I won't even watch any other cooking shows.

I think you're right though, all LLM really said was (when we were nominating for January), something along the lines of "please wait until at least March to cook from JO", since she knew she couldn't participate in Jan and Feb. But, I got the sense from the nominations thread that people are basically reserving March for Jamie. I'm sure nothing's set in stone, that everything will be open for discussion when it comes time to discuss March.

~TDQ

[LulusMom]

But now maybe I'll get to play too! (looking like an eager cocker spaniel.)

I'm happy to do JO - I WANT to do JO. but it doesn't have to be march. I just hoped that you'd at least not do it while I was away and basically kitchenless. And I REALLY appreciate that people understand.

And a big thanks to smtucker for all her work.

[dkennedy]

FYI, Jaime Oliver has set up camp in L.A. for the next season of his show. He has a kitchen on Westwood Blvd. near UCLA which I am hoping will be offering cooking classes, like last season. If any other L.A.-ians are reading, we should all try to check it out and rally our support!!

[oakjoan]

Wow! He'll be in Westwood? Too bad I moved up to the Bay Area years ago. I haven't been in Westwood since I graduated from UCLA!

Say "hello" to him for me if you meet him. He won't have the slightest idea who I am, but who cares.

[dkennedy]

I'll report in again after I go.

[Endivia]

I also love JO LulusMom! But I almost didn't buy Cook With Jamie because the cover looks so silly. So glad I did. The reicpes are amazing (and easy)! I am looking forward to cooking from the NYTCB in Feb. and hope to see a JO book of the month soon.

[Karen_Schaffer]

Let me preface this by saying I'm fine with the decision you made, and I appreciate the work you're putting in as the volunteer coordinator!

But since you ask for opinions: I would prefer to see a voting thread whenever there has been lively discussion of more than one book. People may nominate one title, but then be swayed by the discussion and vote for a different book than they nominated, so I don't think nominations will always reflect final preference. For instance, in this case, I thought One Big Table was gaining a lot of momentum and might even have come out on top in the voting, despite only having 3 nominations. Plus the Slater nominators might have decided Slater just wasn't going to make it, and might have cast their votes for one of the others.

Also, as others have said, there are certainly folks who are reading the nominations thread, listening to the discussion, but waiting for a voting thread to make up their minds. I've done so myself in months when I wasn't familiar with any of the books under discussion.

Perhaps in the future, if it looks like there's a consensus building, the coordinator could post a note to that effect a day or two before the end. E.g. "It looks like we're arriving at a consensus to choose book X for COTM next month. Shall we agree it will be our choice and bypass voting this time?" That would give people a chance to agree or object.

But all that said, I'm sure NYT will be a fine COTM for February.

[greeneggsnham]

Great! I just ordered the NYT cookbook. Although my library has it, there is a long line of requests!

I have been sitting out January with a newborn (and library doesn't have the books), but everyone's posts have made me hungry! Unfortunately, stir frying is just not something you can do while holding a newborn. But, baby is getting bigger every day and I'm hoping that I'll be cooking more in February. I'm hoping there are some quick and easy recipes included. I figure with 1400 recipes, there should be something I can handle.

Oh-- I hear a baby crying-- back to work!

[dkennedy]

Holding your newborn clearly is the better choice. I remember that time fondly and it was a time I spent constantly reading, whether to myself or out loud. I wish I had known about Chowhound back then, it would have made the reading time that much more enjoyable.

[Endivia]

Really happy about cooking and posting about the NYTEC in February. The nominations thread inspired me to order KITCHEN DIARIES and I am eagerly waiting for it!

[Gio]

There are several instances with past COTMs when we went from suggesting/nominating to winner without passing Go...er, voting. It's clear that TENYTC was the winner for February .

Well done, SMT.

[beetlebug]

In the past, when there is a clearer winner through the nominations thread, the coordinator makes the call and doesn't hold a vote. It's less work and it makes getting the book for the rest of us, much easier. And, it's not like we're running out of months for nominating books.

Thanks smtucker for coordinating COTM.

[The Dairy Queen]

"And, it's not like we're running out of months for nominating books."

Or books to be nominated...

Maybe the next coordinator can just tally up the "What were your last 3 cookbook purchases" thread" and those can be our next COTMs! That should keep us going for awhile.

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

I just don't think there was a particularly clear winner this month but never mind. In the past when we've had that kind of nomination thread, the run-off has thrown up a surprise. But never mind, it's not that big a deal.

[Breadcrumbs]

Chicken Canzanese

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Canzanese-362049

Delicate Bread Pudding

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Delicate-Bread-Pudding-362069

Teddie’s Apple Cake

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Teddies-Apple-Cake-362089

David Eyre’s Dutch Babies Pancake Recipe

http://leitesculinaria.com/57052/recipes-dutch-babies-pancake.html

Boeuf Bourguignon

http://leitesculinaria.com/57202/recipes-boeuf-bourguignon.html

Purple Plum Torte

http://leitesculinaria.com/57048/recipes-plum-torte.html

Sweet Potato Casserole & Cucumbers in Cream

http://mealmakeovermoms.com/kitchen/2010/11/21/sweet-potato-casserole-from-the-essential-new-york-times-cookbook/

JAMES BEARD’S CHICKEN WITH 40 CLOVES OF GARLIC

https://s3.amazonaws.com/nyjb/NYTC+Ja...

[blue room]

Thanks!

[oakjoan]

If a nomination period is going slow, with few people taking part, maybe we should have an all caps warning or nudging post saying something along the lines of "HEY!!! BOZOS!!! What? Are you sitting on your hands? Let's see some nominations you lazy bunch of slackers!!!!!!

I think I voted for Slater. I certainly hope so since it'd be verrrry embarrassing to post this when I hadn't voted. Well, actually that's never stopped me before.

[The Dairy Queen]

YAY! That's just the kick I need to get cooking from this book. Thank you, smtucker!

I hope we can do a Slater someday.

~TDQ

[pikawicca]

What??? I thought this was just the nomination thread. I'm happy with the NYT book, but don't we have to have a vote among the front-runners? Am I missing something?

[smtucker]

The vote wasn't even close. NYT = 9 vs 5 for all the Slater combinations. Consider volunteering to be the next coordinator. I think you would be terrific!

[rabaja]

I agree that there should have been a vote among the front-runners. But, I'm not volunteering here either.
Just seems odd not to have a final vote when the previous thread was for NOMINATIONS.

[greedygirl]

I thought that the discussion showed there was a lot of interest in at least three books. I think we should have had a vote as well.

Looking back at the thread, I see that oakjoan forgot to put her nomination for Slater in capitals, and JaneEYB nominated both Slater and NYT!

[The Dairy Queen]

I don't think there's ever been a prohibition against multiple nominations by one person, especially if you're "seconding" or "thirding" a nomination tossed out by someone else.

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

No, but it will skew the results if we're not having a voting thread.

[The Dairy Queen]

Ah, good point.

~TDQ