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Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
Share the unsurpassed pleasures of discovering, cooking, and eating good, simple food with this beloved book. Equal parts cookbook and memoir, Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" combines her insightful, good-humored writing style with her lifelong passion for wonderful cuisine in essays such as "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant," "Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir," and "Stuffed Breast of Veal: A Bad Idea." "Home Cooking" is truly a feast for body and soul.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Laurie Colwin
33 books418 followersLaurie Colwin is the author of five novels: Happy All the Time, Family Happiness, Goodbye Without Leaving, Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object, and A Big Storm Knocked It Over; three collections of short stories: Passion and Affect, Another Marvelous Thing, and The Lone Pilgrim; and two collections of essays: Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. She died in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 872 reviews
April 26, 2024
i love books and food and books about food, and i love laurie colwin.
anyone who can call a terrible dinner one of "the myriad surprises and challenges in this this most interesting and amazing of all possible worlds" is someone i'll read everything by.
i enjoyed so much about this book, especially when i was able to look past the profusion of mayonnaise salads and beef teas and general english foods it foisted upon me.
in other words, good writing is timeless...but good recipes are not.
bottom line: so much fun.
anyone who can call a terrible dinner one of "the myriad surprises and challenges in this this most interesting and amazing of all possible worlds" is someone i'll read everything by.
i enjoyed so much about this book, especially when i was able to look past the profusion of mayonnaise salads and beef teas and general english foods it foisted upon me.
in other words, good writing is timeless...but good recipes are not.
bottom line: so much fun.
March 8, 2021
My good friend Rachel B and her mom have read Laurie Colwin for years. I always noticed a row of her novels in their home outside Cambridge, MA. Never before my visits had I seen her books, but I happened upon Clothilde (sp) from Chocolate and Zucchini mentioning Laurie Colwin's exquisite food writing. So when it came time for me to buy Rachel some presents as a "thank you for hosting me in San Francisco" gift, I knew that one item had to be the collected food writing of Laurie Colwin.
And that I needed this gift, too.
Interestingly, I've been very sparing with these essays. For a number of days, I read just one a night before going to sleep. Then two. And tonight I read the last 75 pages in one sitting. It's almost 1 am and I'm like a kid who desperately needed to eat every last crumb from the brownie pan.
I need to go get the other collection of food essays, read her novels and also use her recipe for gingerbread sometime very soon.
And that I needed this gift, too.
Interestingly, I've been very sparing with these essays. For a number of days, I read just one a night before going to sleep. Then two. And tonight I read the last 75 pages in one sitting. It's almost 1 am and I'm like a kid who desperately needed to eat every last crumb from the brownie pan.
I need to go get the other collection of food essays, read her novels and also use her recipe for gingerbread sometime very soon.
July 4, 2023
“At night some people count sheep and others read mysteries. I lie in bed and think about food.”
Laurie Colwin is an author whom I have developed quite a passion for. I’ve read 3 of her novels over the last year and have enjoyed them all.
This book is about her passion for food and cooking. It is a collection of essays touching on her love of eggplant (me too!), cooking in a tiny apartment with only 2 burners, cooking for friends, hosting a party, experiencing her first English tea. They were amusing at times and somewhat informative. But this book is definitely dated. It was published in 1988. Fried vegetables were considered healthy then!
An interesting glimpse into a favourite author’s most favoured pastime- food and cooking. Read it for a slice of her life and not necessarily the recipes.
Published: 1988
Laurie Colwin is an author whom I have developed quite a passion for. I’ve read 3 of her novels over the last year and have enjoyed them all.
This book is about her passion for food and cooking. It is a collection of essays touching on her love of eggplant (me too!), cooking in a tiny apartment with only 2 burners, cooking for friends, hosting a party, experiencing her first English tea. They were amusing at times and somewhat informative. But this book is definitely dated. It was published in 1988. Fried vegetables were considered healthy then!
An interesting glimpse into a favourite author’s most favoured pastime- food and cooking. Read it for a slice of her life and not necessarily the recipes.
Published: 1988
Read
September 6, 2016I gave my mom a copy of Lucy Knisley's RELISH, and in turn she pointed me to Laurie Colwin, who pioneered the food-and-recipe-driven essay style that Lucy so deftly reinvented in the graphic novel format. I read most of this book on my iphone, in the dark, between the hours of 2 and 5am, awake with a 3-week-old baby. It was exactly what I needed then - comforting and funny and nostalgic, sending me on a pleasant, hazy, remembrance of my own early childhood in Boulder in the 1980s when arugula was an exotic delicacy and many of the staples of today's kitchens could only be found in crunchy-granola health food stores like the Pearl Street Market.
June 10, 2023
4 stars. Written by an under-appreciated & long gone author, this is as much a book of essays & a memoir as it is a cookbook. Reading it took me back to my youth when people had fancy dinner parties & we all ate so, so much better without all the 💩🤮 they put in food these days. Enjoyed the chapters on Black Cake, and “Nursery food” = comfort food, LOL!
Want to read
June 12, 2018I haven't read this author at all -- I just happened to see the cover online and want to track down the book and find out who painted it.
February 1, 2011
I haven't run across much food writing that can make me laugh out loud, but this book did just that. These are chatty, revelatory, often humorous essays on cooking, entertaining, and domestic life in general. Colwin's approach is warm and accessible. You need not be a cook to enjoy the book, but it might make you want to start using your kitchen for more than just the microwave oven. There are informal recipes scattered throughout the book, and some more formal ones at the end of most of the essays. She demystifies daunting tasks such as baking bread, and encourages the reader to "always try everything, even if it turns out to be a dud. We learn by doing."
If you've had your share of kitchen disasters, Colwin is here to commiserate. She shares some of her worst mistakes, as well as a few of the disgusting foods other people have tried to feed her. There's her attempt at Dundee Cake, where her guests were served "a ring of buttered sawdust in which was embedded a series of jujubes." And then there was the peculiarly crunchy tortellini she served to some guests who had been smoking a lot of marijuana, after which one of them said, "Hey, wouldn't it be groovy if we could dump this whatever it is in the garbage and go out for dinner?"
The 33 essays range from basics like fried chicken and potato salad to special cases such as How to Avoid Grilling, How to Disguise Vegetables, and Kitchen Horrors. The variety of topics makes the book especially useful and much more enjoyable to read. I'll be keeping it on hand for kitchen reference, and just for laughs.
If you've had your share of kitchen disasters, Colwin is here to commiserate. She shares some of her worst mistakes, as well as a few of the disgusting foods other people have tried to feed her. There's her attempt at Dundee Cake, where her guests were served "a ring of buttered sawdust in which was embedded a series of jujubes." And then there was the peculiarly crunchy tortellini she served to some guests who had been smoking a lot of marijuana, after which one of them said, "Hey, wouldn't it be groovy if we could dump this whatever it is in the garbage and go out for dinner?"
The 33 essays range from basics like fried chicken and potato salad to special cases such as How to Avoid Grilling, How to Disguise Vegetables, and Kitchen Horrors. The variety of topics makes the book especially useful and much more enjoyable to read. I'll be keeping it on hand for kitchen reference, and just for laughs.
November 8, 2021
How to describe the delight of reading Laurie Colwin's part memoir, part philosophical essays on food and cooking and part recipe book? Written with great warmth and humor, she tells us stories about her life, stories about her friends, about entertaining in her tiny apartment that didn't include a kitchen sink, about her cooking successes and failures, stories that instruct us on how to make the best fried chicken for example, stories that should give anyone confidence to tackle home cooking. If she could do it in that tiny apartment cooking on a hotplate and washing dishes in the bath tub, we can do it too!
I wish I had known Colwin who died way too young at age 48. But I feel I do know Colwin, and that we are kindred spirits! This from the forward says all there is to know about why:
One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for the unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.
R.I.P Laurie Colwin
In my blurb on why I'm reading this, I indicated that this was a reread. I soon realized that in spite of having bought this in 1988 when it was first in bookstores, I had never cracked it open! Everything in its own time. :)
Why I'm reading this: I have loved Laurie Colwin's books from back in the day (late 1970's through 1980's). Her body of work has recently been republished so there's a bit of a buzz, including this great article from this week's New Yorker on her and her writing. It think it's a good time to revisit this book!
I wish I had known Colwin who died way too young at age 48. But I feel I do know Colwin, and that we are kindred spirits! This from the forward says all there is to know about why:
One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for the unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.
R.I.P Laurie Colwin
In my blurb on why I'm reading this, I indicated that this was a reread. I soon realized that in spite of having bought this in 1988 when it was first in bookstores, I had never cracked it open! Everything in its own time. :)
Why I'm reading this: I have loved Laurie Colwin's books from back in the day (late 1970's through 1980's). Her body of work has recently been republished so there's a bit of a buzz, including this great article from this week's New Yorker on her and her writing. It think it's a good time to revisit this book!
February 15, 2016
This was my second read on this book. While I enjoyed it, I also felt like perhaps me, as a cook, has changed. Or me as a reader has changed. Maybe I've read too many incredible food memoirs in the meantime, or my skills have improved. This time I sort of felt like I was getting advice from a 1970s earth mother in a room with a spider plant. This is not to say I didn't identify with her ("Because I am always hungry, I myself eschew hors d'oeuvres. When they come my way, I eat too many and then I am full by the time I reach the table. This does not, however, prevent me from cleaning my plate and then I am angry at myself for eating too much.") Ah, this is me. This is also not to say I didn't take away nuggets of wisdom: "Always try everything even it turns out to be a dud. We learn by doing. If you never stuff a chicken with paté, you will never know that it is an unwise thing to do, and if you never buy zucchini flowers you will never know that you are missing one of the glories of life."
Reading this was like having a friend in the kitchen, talking ever so quietly to you as you cook. Maybe I've been reading too much Melissa Clark, who is a "louder" talker to me in the kitchen, and who is fresh, young, daring, and adventurous. While I enjoyed reading this and didn't give one thought to putting it down, I was a little disappointed it didn't affect me like it did the first time I read it. Sometimes, you CAN'T go home again.
Reading this was like having a friend in the kitchen, talking ever so quietly to you as you cook. Maybe I've been reading too much Melissa Clark, who is a "louder" talker to me in the kitchen, and who is fresh, young, daring, and adventurous. While I enjoyed reading this and didn't give one thought to putting it down, I was a little disappointed it didn't affect me like it did the first time I read it. Sometimes, you CAN'T go home again.
February 6, 2016
I was thinking about "comfort reading" (for #bookstagram purposes) and this is one of the first books that came to mind. It's impossible to even guess how many times I have read this dear, dear friend. In her foreword to this collection of essays on food, Colwin shares this oft-quoted philosophy: "One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends." I would add: one of the delights of my life is drinking tea and eating a thick slice of gingerbread cake whilst rereading this charming, humorous book for the umpteenth time.
This is not a book that I actually cook from all that often, and I will admit that some of the recipes are a bit hinky, but for reading about food, and the pleasures of sharing it, I cannot think of a book that I would recommend more . . . except perhaps for its follow-up, More Home Cooking. Colwin's turn of phrase and delicious sense of humour is entirely to my taste. One of my favourite chapters is actually titled: Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir. I was going to quote some of my favourite lines from it, but then I realised (after rereading it) that they are all my favourites.
Note: I was given my copy of Home Cooking by Martha Smith in 1990. Treasures: both the cookbook and the friend.
This is not a book that I actually cook from all that often, and I will admit that some of the recipes are a bit hinky, but for reading about food, and the pleasures of sharing it, I cannot think of a book that I would recommend more . . . except perhaps for its follow-up, More Home Cooking. Colwin's turn of phrase and delicious sense of humour is entirely to my taste. One of my favourite chapters is actually titled: Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir. I was going to quote some of my favourite lines from it, but then I realised (after rereading it) that they are all my favourites.
Note: I was given my copy of Home Cooking by Martha Smith in 1990. Treasures: both the cookbook and the friend.
February 18, 2016
Reading Laurie Colwin is like sitting in a friend's kitchen sharing a cup of tea. She shares favorite recipes, dining experiences and opinions on food along with stories of notable disasters. This book is the food writer's version of comfort food. The recipes are good and the cooking advice is sound. The creamed spinach with jalapenos is wonderful, the gingerbread delicious, and the potato salad very good. I enjoy rereading it every January while there is snow on the ground and think about it when peppers and eggplant are in season. Like Laurie, I fry them in olive oil for myself when no one else is around.
June 8, 2022
Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking and
More Home Cooking
are two funny, comforting volumes of food writing. Colwin intends to show that cooking is fun and easy to do at home, but sometimes the recipes themselves are a little vague or casual, so I might not recommend actually cooking from them unless you’re already a relatively experienced cook. The real reason to read these books is the writing itself. This new edition contains a lovely introduction by Ruth Reichl, herself a food writer extraordinaire. If you like food writing, these books are for you.
February 7, 2017
Laurie Colwin died very young.
I discovered her when I was in law school - a friend of mine had picked up her last book A Big Storm Knocked It Over: A Novel and pressed it on me with the fervor of an evangelical, telling me that this book, this book was everything to her. I didn't know it then, but Laurie Colwin was already dead of a heart attack.
I read A Big Storm Knocked It Over, and then went on to read Happy All the Time, a book that I still own, that I left out in the rain and has a cover that separated and then dried in wrinkles, and Family Happiness, and then I discovered Laurie Colwin's food writing, and I read this book, and More Home Cooking, both of which I checked out of the public library.
And then I learned that she had died, a year before I had even discovered her and I felt grief because there would be no more books by Laurie Colwin and I hadn't even known it.
Home Cooking is an oddly wonderful book, a collection of stories about food written by someone who told stories about food and friendship and how food is friendship, and sometimes friendship is food. She's funny and self-deprecating and would have been a lovely person to sit down and have a meal with, and I've always wanted to make her gingerbread. Maybe someday I will.
I discovered her when I was in law school - a friend of mine had picked up her last book A Big Storm Knocked It Over: A Novel and pressed it on me with the fervor of an evangelical, telling me that this book, this book was everything to her. I didn't know it then, but Laurie Colwin was already dead of a heart attack.
I read A Big Storm Knocked It Over, and then went on to read Happy All the Time, a book that I still own, that I left out in the rain and has a cover that separated and then dried in wrinkles, and Family Happiness, and then I discovered Laurie Colwin's food writing, and I read this book, and More Home Cooking, both of which I checked out of the public library.
And then I learned that she had died, a year before I had even discovered her and I felt grief because there would be no more books by Laurie Colwin and I hadn't even known it.
Home Cooking is an oddly wonderful book, a collection of stories about food written by someone who told stories about food and friendship and how food is friendship, and sometimes friendship is food. She's funny and self-deprecating and would have been a lovely person to sit down and have a meal with, and I've always wanted to make her gingerbread. Maybe someday I will.
May 9, 2015
For two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I am obsessed with the meal... to brine or not to brine, twice baked or mashed, how many sides, will four pies suffice, etc. Never mind the logistics of fitting everyone around the table or what time dinner should be served.
As I fussed with recipes, shopping, and planning, Laurie Colwin was like an old friend whose quiet presence reassured me it would all turn out just fine. During this time, I was too preoccupied to read much, but her short essays were the perfect diversion. I made time to read a few every evening.
By 21st century standards, the essays in Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen certainly feel dated, but Colwin's warmth and personality shine through, so I didn't mind one bit.
And that's really the point, anyway. We no longer discuss whether stuffing belongs inside the bird, but our feelings behind the stuffing are timeless. Doesn't every family take pride in their special stuffing recipe?
Colwin, a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction, died suddenly in 1992 when she was only 48 years old. Last month Open Road Media released her work in ebook format, making it possible for a new generation of digital readers to discover her talent.
I hope they do.
(I received a copy of this book from Open Road Media via NetGalley for review consideration.)
As I fussed with recipes, shopping, and planning, Laurie Colwin was like an old friend whose quiet presence reassured me it would all turn out just fine. During this time, I was too preoccupied to read much, but her short essays were the perfect diversion. I made time to read a few every evening.
By 21st century standards, the essays in Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen certainly feel dated, but Colwin's warmth and personality shine through, so I didn't mind one bit.
And that's really the point, anyway. We no longer discuss whether stuffing belongs inside the bird, but our feelings behind the stuffing are timeless. Doesn't every family take pride in their special stuffing recipe?
Colwin, a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction, died suddenly in 1992 when she was only 48 years old. Last month Open Road Media released her work in ebook format, making it possible for a new generation of digital readers to discover her talent.
I hope they do.
(I received a copy of this book from Open Road Media via NetGalley for review consideration.)
July 14, 2024
Warm and unassuming with a touch of spice, just like you want a home-cooked meal to be
November 10, 2021
(4.5 Stars)
I have Dorian (at Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau) to thank for introducing me to Laurie Colwin. (You can read more about the background to that intro in my review of Colwin’s 1982 excellent novel, Family Happiness, by clicking on the link.) Alongside fiction, Colwin also wrote about food – specifically, home-cooked food, the kinds of simple yet flavoursome dishes that any good cook needs to have in his or her repertoire.
First published in 1988, and reissued by Fig Tree in this lovely 2012 edition, Home Cooking weaves together Colwin’s recipes, anecdotes and sage words of advice on the joys of cooking and sharing food with friends. In short, it is a delight to read – warm, generous, and completely down-to-earth, just like Colwin herself, I would imagine. In some respects, reading this book feels like having your warmest, smartest, funniest friend over for dinner – someone with a willingness to share their culinary tricks and treats alongside their unmitigated disasters.
There are chapters here on Friday Night Supper, How to Disguise Vegetables and Easy Cooking for Exhausted People. All the recipes seem eminently achievable – tried and trusted versions of Colwin’s family favourites, including Warm Potato Salad with Fried Red Peppers, Orange Ambrosia and Extremely Easy Old-Fashioned Beef Stew (which can be pimped up accordingly once the basics have been mastered). Pot roasts and baked chicken feature heavily, as do eggplants (aubergines) and broccoli, two of Colwin’s favourite vegetables. I will definitely be trying some of her ways with orzo as there’s a packet languishing in my cupboard as we speak.
Orzo with butter and grated cheese is very nice. Orzo with a little ricotta, some chopped parsley and scallion, butter and cheese, is even better. Orzo with chopped broccoli and broccoli di rape is heaven, and it is also a snap. While you cook the orzo, steam the two broccolis—the amounts depend entirely on how many people you are feeding—until tender. Chop and set aside.
Drain the orzo throw in a lump of butter. Stir it in, add the broccoli, some fresh black pepper and some grated cheese, and you have a side dish fit for a visiting dignitary from a country whose politics you admire. (pp. 85-86).
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021...
I have Dorian (at Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau) to thank for introducing me to Laurie Colwin. (You can read more about the background to that intro in my review of Colwin’s 1982 excellent novel, Family Happiness, by clicking on the link.) Alongside fiction, Colwin also wrote about food – specifically, home-cooked food, the kinds of simple yet flavoursome dishes that any good cook needs to have in his or her repertoire.
First published in 1988, and reissued by Fig Tree in this lovely 2012 edition, Home Cooking weaves together Colwin’s recipes, anecdotes and sage words of advice on the joys of cooking and sharing food with friends. In short, it is a delight to read – warm, generous, and completely down-to-earth, just like Colwin herself, I would imagine. In some respects, reading this book feels like having your warmest, smartest, funniest friend over for dinner – someone with a willingness to share their culinary tricks and treats alongside their unmitigated disasters.
There are chapters here on Friday Night Supper, How to Disguise Vegetables and Easy Cooking for Exhausted People. All the recipes seem eminently achievable – tried and trusted versions of Colwin’s family favourites, including Warm Potato Salad with Fried Red Peppers, Orange Ambrosia and Extremely Easy Old-Fashioned Beef Stew (which can be pimped up accordingly once the basics have been mastered). Pot roasts and baked chicken feature heavily, as do eggplants (aubergines) and broccoli, two of Colwin’s favourite vegetables. I will definitely be trying some of her ways with orzo as there’s a packet languishing in my cupboard as we speak.
Orzo with butter and grated cheese is very nice. Orzo with a little ricotta, some chopped parsley and scallion, butter and cheese, is even better. Orzo with chopped broccoli and broccoli di rape is heaven, and it is also a snap. While you cook the orzo, steam the two broccolis—the amounts depend entirely on how many people you are feeding—until tender. Chop and set aside.
Drain the orzo throw in a lump of butter. Stir it in, add the broccoli, some fresh black pepper and some grated cheese, and you have a side dish fit for a visiting dignitary from a country whose politics you admire. (pp. 85-86).
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021...
August 15, 2017
Laurie Colwin is plain winsome. Her (writing) voice is capable, soothing, wry, funny, unassuming. I moseyed my way through her comfort-filled chapters. I'm conflicted about the decision to keep or release this book. It's reassuring reading you could pick up, read a random chapter, and set down again.
I do not believe you have to spend a lot of money to eat well: it is hard to beat a plain old baked potato.
A long time ago it occurred to me that when people are tired and hungry, which in adult life is much of the time, they do not want to be confronted by an intellectually challenging meal: they want to be consoled.
Dishes such as shepherd's pie and chicken soup are a kind of edible therapy.
Vegetarians, for example, are enough to drive anyone crazy. Like Protestants, they come in a number of denominations.
I flagged ten recipes to try. I'm intrigued by the Latvian Birthday Cake, one she calls a saffron-flavored coffee cake. I have precious saffron from the Istanbul Spice Bazaar waiting for worthy recipes!
Really, there are so many things I appreciated, like this list of items worth spending money for: sweet butter, good olive oil, high-quality vinegar, sea salt, fresh pepper, fresh herbs, raw sugar.
So sad: Laurie Colwin didn't wake up one morning when she was 48.
I don't know who put this classic on my radar, but it's been on my TBR list at least ten years. I have her companion book, More Home Cooking on my nightstand.
I do not believe you have to spend a lot of money to eat well: it is hard to beat a plain old baked potato.
A long time ago it occurred to me that when people are tired and hungry, which in adult life is much of the time, they do not want to be confronted by an intellectually challenging meal: they want to be consoled.
Dishes such as shepherd's pie and chicken soup are a kind of edible therapy.
Vegetarians, for example, are enough to drive anyone crazy. Like Protestants, they come in a number of denominations.
I flagged ten recipes to try. I'm intrigued by the Latvian Birthday Cake, one she calls a saffron-flavored coffee cake. I have precious saffron from the Istanbul Spice Bazaar waiting for worthy recipes!
Really, there are so many things I appreciated, like this list of items worth spending money for: sweet butter, good olive oil, high-quality vinegar, sea salt, fresh pepper, fresh herbs, raw sugar.
So sad: Laurie Colwin didn't wake up one morning when she was 48.
I don't know who put this classic on my radar, but it's been on my TBR list at least ten years. I have her companion book, More Home Cooking on my nightstand.
January 8, 2019
A treasure of both essay-type memoirs and recipes! I've not read any of Laurie Colwin before but this was a great one to start with. The "Kitchen Horrors" chapter is laugh out loud funny and there are many amusing moments-some aimed at her and some at others. Her recipes are down-home, tried and true with a hint of gourmet to shake it up! Can't wait to read the second book, More Home Cooking!
May 2, 2023
¿Realmente estoy cocinando la vida que quiero?
Gran libro, da mucha paz. Gran prólogo, grandes recetas y mejores reflexiones.
Gran libro, da mucha paz. Gran prólogo, grandes recetas y mejores reflexiones.
December 28, 2019
After reading so many accolades about Laurie Colwin and her book, "Home Cooking", I wanted to experience it for myself. She holds legendary status in the field of food writing. Sadly, she died in her early forties.
Now I understand why her readers and fellow writers adored her. Colwin's writing is lively, opinionated and fun. Reading her is like talking with a good friend. As she writes of her food adventures, bits of her personal life are shared. I would call "Home Cooking" a food memoir rather than a cook book, although she shares recipes too. Not every recipe sounds that appealing to me.
Stand-out essays for me personally are: Red Peppers, English Food, and Without Salt. I was gratified to learn that my beef stew recipe is the same as Colwin's. I was also interested that she had translated author Isaac B. Singer's book "In My Father's Court" from Yiddish to English, a book I have also read.
It's no wonder why Colwin's writing has so many fans.
Now I understand why her readers and fellow writers adored her. Colwin's writing is lively, opinionated and fun. Reading her is like talking with a good friend. As she writes of her food adventures, bits of her personal life are shared. I would call "Home Cooking" a food memoir rather than a cook book, although she shares recipes too. Not every recipe sounds that appealing to me.
Stand-out essays for me personally are: Red Peppers, English Food, and Without Salt. I was gratified to learn that my beef stew recipe is the same as Colwin's. I was also interested that she had translated author Isaac B. Singer's book "In My Father's Court" from Yiddish to English, a book I have also read.
It's no wonder why Colwin's writing has so many fans.
April 10, 2020
This memoir did not age well, within the first few pages you will find yourself thinking: demanding not salting beef stew is ridiculous, and... guess what? microwaves aren't dangerous. But, I finally figured out why I disliked it: reading Laurie Colwin is exactly like tolerating a conversation with a misogynistic housewife rant about how badly other people (mostly women) cook, using her mentions of a few kitchen failures as a guard. As a baker who is used to guiding many friends through recipes, I am uncomfortable around people who perpetuate the idea you should feel inadequate if you cook badly, and find it counterproductive. Criticizing a dish or a culinary shortcut should not be extended to reflect poorly on the person who made it.
May 1, 2018
There's nothing like a Laurie Colwin book and this is one of the best. She's a lovely and wonderful friend in my head and reading her is just pure comfort and joy. Her outlook on life makes me so happy. Read this! Read everything by her and, when you're done, read it again.
March 29, 2024
Laurie, me encanta todo lo que escribes. Pero, ¿aceite de oliva francés? ¿De verdad?
December 26, 2021
There's Nora Ephron, there's Ruth Reichl, and then there's Laurie Colwin. A huge admirer of the first two, I hadn't dipped my toe into the Colwin pool until recently. I'm glad I did. Whereas Ephron is mostly a humorist, and Reichl mostly a gastronome, Colwin sits right in between: she's obsessed with food, but she's self-deprecating about it, happy to share her own failures as willingly as she does her triumphs. Her tastes will surprise you: she finds a stuffed breast of veal to be meh, but loves a simple baked chicken. She loves a high tea (or more specifically, a low tea) and prefers not to host parties at night. She gladly regales you about her worst cooking experiences and the worst dinner parties she's ever attended. She celebrates the glories of chicken salad in all of its forms; she procures a black cake recipe that leaves her agog when she first tries it from her daughter's babysitter. What shines through in her writing is her humanity and her enthusiasm; the fact that she died at 48 from a heart attack feels like a great injustice, not just to her family, but to her fans. You can now count me among them.
April 21, 2018
From the essay "The Same Old Things:"
This is a really lovely collection about cooking food and feeding it to yourself and others. It's practical, tender and often quite funny. If you are person who likes to cook, I'd very much recommend this book.
Colwin's language is insightful, self-deprecating and encouraging. This is just the thing when you're feeling discouraged in the kitchen or in life.
Many of my closest friends are sick of my baked chicken, and even when I point out that I know a million variations on this theme, they rightly point out that they have had them all, and more than once.
But when the chips are down, the spirit is exhausted and the body hungry, the same old thing is a great consolation. When people who must provide meals are too tired to think of what to cook, those old standbys come to the rescue. These are things a person can cook half asleep.
This is a really lovely collection about cooking food and feeding it to yourself and others. It's practical, tender and often quite funny. If you are person who likes to cook, I'd very much recommend this book.
There is something triumphant about a really disgusting meal. It lingers in the memory with a lurid glow, just as something exalted is remembered with a kind of mellow brilliance. I am not thinking of kitchen disasters - chewy pasta, burnt brownies, curdled sauces: these can happen to anyone. I am thinking about meals that are positively loathsome from soup to nuts, although one is not usually fortunate enough to get either soup or nuts.
Colwin's language is insightful, self-deprecating and encouraging. This is just the thing when you're feeling discouraged in the kitchen or in life.
December 19, 2015
For the first 120 pages, I really detested Colwin. Such smug superiority! I put this down a lot.
This morning I picked her book of essays again in perhaps a more forgiving mood. I reasoned, that even though she comes off quite snobbish, at least she does share her screw-ups in the kitchen. Not many cooks own up to that fact - cooking is a learning process and one makes a few mistakes along the way. Colwin also shares that sometimes, recipes just do not turn out the way you expect. I liked that.
Three stars, although I would have given this two most of the way. I really skipped over most of the recipes, as I'm vegetarian (which Colwin puts down as pretentious and obnoxious). I would like to try the gingerbread cake though... I love ginger cookies and have never had a good gingerbread cake. Colwin says, "Its spicy, embracing taste is the perfect thing for a winter afternoon... Besides, gingerbread made from scratch takes very little time and gives back tenfold what you put into it. Baking gingerbread perfumes a house as nothing else. It is good eaten warm or cool, iced or plain." She suggests chocolate or lemon icing. Mmmm.
This morning I picked her book of essays again in perhaps a more forgiving mood. I reasoned, that even though she comes off quite snobbish, at least she does share her screw-ups in the kitchen. Not many cooks own up to that fact - cooking is a learning process and one makes a few mistakes along the way. Colwin also shares that sometimes, recipes just do not turn out the way you expect. I liked that.
Three stars, although I would have given this two most of the way. I really skipped over most of the recipes, as I'm vegetarian (which Colwin puts down as pretentious and obnoxious). I would like to try the gingerbread cake though... I love ginger cookies and have never had a good gingerbread cake. Colwin says, "Its spicy, embracing taste is the perfect thing for a winter afternoon... Besides, gingerbread made from scratch takes very little time and gives back tenfold what you put into it. Baking gingerbread perfumes a house as nothing else. It is good eaten warm or cool, iced or plain." She suggests chocolate or lemon icing. Mmmm.
February 26, 2013
Laurie Colwin, who passed away unexpectedly in 1992, was a cook for the rest of us. Although she could make gourmet meals, she typically didn't. She was interested in food, the tastes, the smells, the textures, even the visuals - not the plating like a chef would use, but how does it look when it comes together. She's not afraid of her failures and sees them for the amusement value they provide. In other words, she's not full of herself. She's full of life and joy and the pleasures of food. Everything else is incidental. She was a food columnist and a fiction writer. These essays took me into her home and made me feel like we were chatting over tea. I didn't have to dress up. I didn't have to worry about exotic ingredients. I just had to enjoy the moment. Although it is unlikely I will make many of the recipes, what I took away from this book, beyond the basic joy, was how much fun cooking can be even when it is a disaster. After all, there is always pizza.
August 5, 2020
This is a three star cookbook, and five star collection of essays. A friend gave this to me in 2015 with the inscription "Caroline– you don't cook, but when you do, start here". At first I thought this was bad advice, because the recipes are extremely American, the measurements are vague, the ingredients not very easy to find. Some the recipes are dated. There's a heavy preoccupation with stews and casseroles, which – even now, that i can cook – I don't ever make. The reason you read this book before you start cooking is because it psychically places you within the world of food, where meals go wrong, where disasters are frequent, but where the rewards are great. This very slim and chatty book isn't so much about how to cook but how to live a life well.
January 30, 2024
Vaya por delante que me gustan los libros que mezclan recuerdos y cocina, que me gustan los libros de recetas... Tenía muchas ganas de leer este volumen. Y, ciertamente, me ha gustado. He anotado muchas recetas y algunas reflexiones. Es la primera vez que leo a esta autora y no sé si tiene mucho publicado y algo traducido. Me da la impresión de que sus textos literarios o periodísticos tendrá algo de humor seco y cierta acidez, quizá como una buena ensalada. Es un libro para tenerlo en la cocina y consultarlo realmente por que no son recetas elaboradas si no platos para el día a día. Es un libro agradable, como una comida de domingo con sobremesa tranquila.
Me encanta que tenga índice de recetas e ingredientes al final, como un verdadero libro de cocina.
Me encanta que tenga índice de recetas e ingredientes al final, como un verdadero libro de cocina.
March 13, 2024
After seeing "The Taste of Things", I’ve been reflecting on the fact that I have a deep love for books and movies that have food at their centerpiece and narrative as a side character. This reflection coincided with picking up Laurie Colwin for the first time! While Home Cooking will read as just slightly dated, I loved its short essays about food, mostly comfort food and simple home cooking, paired with recipes. This is a person who truly delights in cooking and eating, and I devoured her writing. Would read again!
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