The Everlasting Wonder of the Lost (Kitchen) Causes
There are books that changed my life forever in a matter of pages, like Richard Holmes’s The Age of Wonder.1 The history of a time when astronomers and musicians, aeronauts and artists, all were caught up in a frenzy of possibility.
Then there are titles I re-read every few years for the pleasure of the return. (I see you, Lord of the Rings).
The same goes for cookbooks, too. Thomas Keller’s cooking series taught me technique, but I don’t have the energy for his level of perfection. Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone appears on my counter every month or so —still, twenty-six years after its debut.
Someone who both changed my way of thinking, AND whom I re-read for sheer pleasure is, Tamar Adler.
Her 2011 book, An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, worked its way into my heart and my habits.
The language is writerly; chapter titles include “How to Teach an Egg to Fly,” and “How to Find Fortune.”
A serving suggestion may say:
“Serve a whole fish as you would a…