May/June Cook the Books pick: "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge

I hope everyone is enjoying this lovely little fantasy novel. If you are having trouble locating a copy to buy, I can try to help you out (I'm a used bookseller by day, Crispy Cook off-hours) so feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment below. Otherwise, most librarians ought to be able to hunt up a copy of this juvenile fantasy classic through an interlibrary loan.

If you have read the book already, read on, but for others, BEWARE: plot spoilers and book discussion lurk ahead:

J.K. Rowling has noted that this book was one of her childhood favorites, and one can certainly see where the Harry Potter author got inspiration for some of her magical descriptions and mouthwatering images of Wizard food. Goudge conjured up the character of Marmaduke Scarlet, a tiny, temperamental kitchen artist with a "ham frill" of snowy white whiskers and pointy ears, who produces majestic veal pies, picnic hampers overflowing with iced fairy cakes, jam sandwiches, and cream horns, and other hearty spreads for our heroine, Maria, her governess Miss Heliotrope, her cousin/guardian Sir Benjamin and of course, Zachariah the Cat and Wrolf the Dog.  There are so many delightful scenes of feasting, fireside dinners and teatimes that I am sure everyone will easily find something wonderful to create in their own castle kitchens.

I was not familiar with some of the British food terms in the book and enjoyed learning about parkin (a kind of gingerbread), fairy cakes (small cupcakes with decorations), rock cakes (bite-sized cakes studded with currants or other dried fruit) and syllabub (a rich and frothy eggnog-like punch).

Remember, to participate in this round of Cook the Books, all you need to do is read the book, cook up something inspired by your reading and blog about it. Be sure to let me know when your post is up by sending me an email at oldsaratogabooks AT gmail DOT com by the deadline of Friday, June 26, 2009, so I can include you in the roundup.

So what did you think of this book?

Rachel, the Crispy Cook and host of this round of Cook the Books

Announcing Our Next 3 Cook The Books Titles!

As much fun as it is to build suspense and announce the next Cook The Books selections one at a time, we understand that some people are challenged in getting the books in time to read and post them. Therefore, Rachel, Johanna and me, (Deb), have gotten together to announce the next three books. We have a great variety of books lined up; continuing to span the globe, exploring different genres and with a little something fun for everyone!

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Cook The Books Selection: May / June

The next round of Cook the Books will be hosted by Rachel, The Crispy Cook.  She was taken with Foodycat's suggestion here of the young adult classic "The Little White Horse" by English author Elizabeth Goudge. Goudge was best known for her bestselling adult novels in the 1940s-50s, including "Green Dolphin Street", "The Scent of Water" and "The White Witch". "The Little White Horse" is one of Goudge's novels for younger readers, a fantasy about an orphan girl in 1840s London, her governess and her new guardian cousin, the owner of a magical castle.  Rachel says: I found it to be a delightful read with lots of British Victorian food descriptions and a grumpy but talented magical servant cook, so I think that will open up some interesting culinary options for us.

The book won the British Library Association's Carnegie Medal in 1946 and J.K. Rowling says it was her favorite book as a child (Harry Potter fans will see where she got inspiration for her luscious descriptions of Butter Beer, Chocolate Frogs, and lavish Hogwarts feasts that pepper the series).  The always entertaining Tim Curry is featured in a 2008 film version of this novel, called "The Secret of Moonacre" which debuted at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year and was released in the United Kingdom in February, but does not yet have a release date in the U.S., so you'll be very "in the know" when spotted reading this book.

"The Little White Horse" will be our May / June selection, so you should have it read and your dish posted by Friday, June 26th. This is an easy read and will be a fun one to kick off summer!

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Cook The Books Selection:  July/August

Our next book was picked by yours truly, Deb at Kahakai Kitchen. Since we have spent some time in Europe, the Middle East and America, I thought it was time we explored the mysteries of China with "The Last Chinese Chef" by Nicole Mones. In this foodie novel, a recently widowed American food writer finds solace, love and of course incredible food during a visit to China to clear up a paternity claim against her late husband's estate. Her editor gives her an assignment to profile a rising star chef, Sam Liang and she is drawn deep into China's culinary world, learning and being transformed by the cuisine, Sam's colorful family and Sam himself.

This is Mones third book, having authored "Lost in Translation" and "A Cup of Light", both also set in China and she is a frequent contributor to Gourmet Magazine. "The Last Chinese Chef" is a novel about food, family and love, and I can envision the many incredible dishes we will be inspired by it to create.

"The Last Chinese Chef " is our July/August selection, so you should have it read and your dish posted by Friday, August 28th.

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Cook The Books Selection: September / October

We are back with Johanna from Food Junkie Not Junk Food who is taking us to France with Peter Mayle's "French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew", a joyous exploration and celebration of the infinite gastronomic pleasures of France. Mayle (http://www.petermayle.com/) visits France's most exciting foodfestivals, such as the Foire aux Grenouilles (frog thigh festival) in
Vittel, la Foire au Fromages (cheese festival) at Livarot or the Medoc Marathon in Burgundy where runners refresh themselves with bottles of expensive red wines. His tone is funny and relaxed and he makes you feel you're on holiday too!

Mayle loves France and her people. Born in Brighton U.K. he and his wife live in Provence (South of France) . He is the author of  many books, such as "A Year in Provence", "Chasing Cezanne" and "A Good Year" and has has contributed to The Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Independent, GQ, and Esquire.

You should have "French Lessons" , our September/October selection, read and your dish posted by Friday, October 30th.

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There you have it, our selections! We will create an individual post for discussion as we get to each book. Rachel, Johanna and I have loved reading your reviews and comments on the books and especially seeing the amazing and creative dishes inspired by them. We hope you enjoy these next three books just as much and thank you for making Cook The Books such a success.

Have a wonderful week.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL **WINNER**

Hello again!

We have a winner for the Kitchen Confidential book! Below I give you Jenn's email:

That was a TOUGH choice. So tough that I actually had to sleep on it, read passages from the book, and consult others. But I have finally chosen Natashya's Pasta Pomodoro:

I chose her dish, because I really think out of all the entries, it was made just for Tony, and if he had judged this event, this would be the dish he would have chosen, himself. Tony often says how he wishes he had been born Italian American for the culture that is so focused on food and family. Although there are elements in many of the other dishes, I think Tony would have more than appreciated, I think this is the dish he would want to dig into.

CONGRATULATIONS NATASHYA! And of course, thank you Jenn for doing us the honour to be the judge of this round. 

Kitchen Confidential: The roundup

It is time for the Cook the Books roundup and I can only say one thing: Tony really missed out! Because, as you will see for yourselves, our contestants made some really yummy dishes. I would like to thank you all for participating and I wish you good luck!

Heather from Girlichef , bookworm and professional cook, was inspired not only by the book itself and by Tony as a  tongue-and-cheek tv-persona/traveller/I-can-eat-anything kinda guy. She actually remembered a very interesting incident that happened to her during an apprenticeship in an up-scale restaurant: so, she cooked us some  beef  TONGUE!

Foodycat, winner of previous Cook the Books, admits that she loved the book, but would never become a professional chef (I actually sympathize with that). Having a hard time deciding what she should cook, she settled for something wholesome and filling, inspired by Tony's early days and his dealings with the mob. So, she made some mouth-waterng gnocchi.

Maria from Organically Cooked admitted that she didn't know much about Anthony Bourdain, as she has been living in Crete (Greece) for the last twenty years. She was shocked to read that so many professionals in the restaurant business, have no love for food at all and are just misfits that do it for a living, but having to work in her parent's fish and chip shop in New Zeland as an adolescent she understood a lot of the pressure involved. Maria is a traditional cook that believes in locally sourced ingredients, but she mainly cooks with love and has no real interest in "fine dining". So, she was inspired by Tony's interest of non-restaurant food and made us some finger- licking buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing. Yummy!

Natashya from Living in The Kitchen with Puppies made a home-y style dish for Tony: pasta pomodoro. She quotes Bourdain admitting that when he doesn't cook in the restaurant , he needs "clumsy" food made with love by someone at home, a mother or grandmother, as   "all of this is pure exotica to me".

Simone from Briciole decided to make sugo di pomodoro, or fresh tomato sauce, inspired by a paragraph in the book when Tony admits that, although he didn' t like Italian food, he was impressed by Le Madri restaurant, where everything was made fresh from scratch. Simone was herself used to fresh, home-made tomato sauce, and used the sauce to make lasagna.

Joanne from Eats Well with Others, also didn't know anything about Anthony Bourdain before reading the book, despite the fact that she lives in the States. She was inspired by his candour and by his refusal to compromise his beliefs to please others and she would like to become the chef that Tony would admire. Joanne cooked a lighter version of the Coq au Vin and served it with egg pasta.

Judy from Judy's Gross Eats made a very unusual dish, mentioned in the book towards the end of the Mission to Tokyo trip: Mongolian hotpot, a dish very similar to fondue! Kitchen Confodential is not only her favourite book, she owns a first edition signed copy too! Lucky girl!

Suzie from Munch and Nibble read Kitchen Confidential for the second time and loved, most of all, the little details she noticed as well as Tony's tips on what to avoid in restaurants, one of which is mussels. So, she decided to cook them herself, in a traditional way (mariniere) so that she won't have to worry about what she is eating.

Arlene from The Food of Love admits that she likes Bourdain's "raunchy" style, but she could never be able to do this type of job for a living. However, she has had some first-hand experience of this type of thing, as she has workedas a waitress for restaurants that had misfits for "chefs". Using a Bourdain recipe from Les Halles cookbook, she made no-nonsense fried potatoes dedicated to the no-nonsense guy Anthony is. Good choice!

Franchise Me, the only Greek contestant (apart from myself of course), decided to cook something that is in essence traditionally Greek, but gave it a new twist: cabbage rolls stuffed with seafood. He notes that Tony loves these combinations of new and old as well as home-cooked food, and I actually agree!

Deb, from Kahakai Kitchen,and one of the three Cook The Books gals , enjoyed, like all of us, the way Tony talks about "the business". However, she was inspired by something far more sentimental: Tony's first trip to Europe. On board the Queen Mary Bourdain tasted Vichyssoise (the French cold leek and potato soup) for the first time and was so impressed by this dish that it marked him forever. To quote Deb: pretty powerful for a bowl of soup.

Rachel from The Crispy Cook , also a Cook the Books gal, decided to make a Spring Vegetable Navarin, inspired by the complicated vegetables that garnish a lamb navarin mentiones by Bourdain in the book. Her vegetable stew turned out really fragrant and she is convinced that even the meat-lover Tony would like it!

Finally, I (FoodJunkie) made some sourdough bread, inspired by the chapter Adam, last name unknown. Tony really valued good bread at his restaurants and went so far as to hire the weirdest baker in New York, but also the best: Adam. The real reason I made this bread though was the quote: feed the bitch or she will die! It still makes me laugh! Just remember though that my entry will not be judged as I am the host.

Announcements!

Hello everyone! Submissions for this Cook the Books have now closed. If you posted your entry before the 25th of April, but forgot to email me please do so [ jdimopoulosATgmail.com] otherwise I will not be able to include you in the recap, which is scheduled for this coming week.

We were unable to get hold of dear Tony, so we asked sweet, sassy, fun Jenn from Left over Queen to judge the submissions! It was the least we could do, as this Book club actually started in the Royal Foodie Joust organised by her and she has been very supportive of our efforts so far.

The winner will receive a gorgeous Cook the Books Club badge as well as a place in the Hall of Fame Blogroll of this blog.