Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin

I suspect as a lover of cooking and cook books I have come to Laurie Colwin rather late in life.  However, in this case it is very much better late than never.  I was bought Home Cooking as a birthday gift, and much like I would have done had I ever eaten any of Laurie’s lovingly prepared food, I devoured it rather quickly.  Let me tell you more.

Laurie Colwin was a food writer and very much a home cook.  This book is a collection of her essays which if you have even the vaguest interest in cooking and eating (and who doesn’t), I commend to you.  Sadly, Laurie died suddenly at the age of 48 from an aortic aneurism.  That was now 25 years ago.  The continued success of this book  and the one that follow it is testimony to the writer that she was.

If you like the writings of Nigel Slater (which I absolutely do) then I feel sure you will enjoy Laurie Colwin.  She writes with the same warmth and passion.  This is more of a diary and a collection of musings around recipes and eating rather than a traditional recipe book.  Food was clearly more than just the end product of preparation.  For Laurie food was about comfort and enjoyment, with a few experiments along the way.  It was about nourishing and joy and bringing people together.

“Unless you live in a cave or hermitage, cooking and eating are social activities: even hermit monks have one communal meal a month.  The sharing of food is the basis of social life, and to many it is the only kind of social life worth participating in”

Although Colwin felt strongly about the right ingredients and would search high and low to get exactly the right coffee or apples her approach to cooking equipment was less particular.  Hers was not a kitchen full of gadgets and fancy equipment.  In fact she had little time for unnecessary kitchen paraphenalia, preferring to be more resourceful in her kitchen, with little time for anything that does only one job in the kitchen.  She appears so lacking in materialism, her approach might be described as frugal, although  creative and inventive!  She rightly says that although its nice to have equipment which will do things quickly, its a fact that you can do anything manually a food processor can do, and you can do it during a power cut!  Although I admire this, I admit to being someone who is rather welded to her food processor.

Some of the chapters are given over to a particular type of food such as fish or chocolate, whilst others are discussions on techniques or ‘how to’s.  However, each is written around Lauries own experiences and memories and is full of stories. She includes a chapter called ‘Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir’.  Not a title you would find in many cookery books.  I loved this chapter not because of the questionable meals she describes but because of the positivity which comes through. For she describes even a largely indigestible meal as something to be thankful for.  Because of it you are “uplifted and ready to face the myriad of surprises and challenges in this most interesting and amazing of all possible worlds.”

Apart from perhaps the aforementioned chapter, I read this book regularly with a watering mouth and soon after reading the section on ‘How to disguise vegetables’ found myself rooting around the fridge for broccoli and garlic to create the ‘sleek, rich pasta sauce’ she describes.  I should perhaps point out here that I have no need to disguise vegetables for myself, I love them and eat most of them, barring beetroot in almost any form.

In the introduction to this book Laurie writes the following:

“These essays are written at a time when it was becoming increasingly clear that many of our fellow citizens are going hungry in the streets of our richest cities.  It is impossible to write about food and not think about that.  I hope those who are lucky to be well fed will find this book useful in feeding family and friends”

Having read Home Cooking and loved it, I feel this is also a very good place to end.

Except to say, do let me know if you have read other works by Laurie Colwin or other food writers you would recommend.