I don't think it's possible to separate my love for cooking from my love for cookbooks. I don't even think it's worth trying.
I think it's worthwhile to spend some time looking at my beloved cookbooks and reflecting on why I love them. Maybe someone else will fall in love with them too.
Let's begin with my elderly, heavily notated Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking.
But first I have to go back to Elicia circa 1993, sophomore in college. I was dating a boy who did a great deal to help develop my palate. He introduced me to Indian cuisine and sushi, homemade baked goods, and the use of real, whole fat butter and milk. He also opened up a world of cookbooks and curiosity about food. His mother was a professional chef, and everyone in the family had what might generously be called an obsession with food. I was surprised to find that I fit in quite well.
World of the East Vegetarian Cooking fell into my hands, probably from his mother's bookshelf. On my first visit to the family home, we made paneer (really? Cheese? Who knew!) and the famous dish, mutter paneer (homemade cheese and peas in a delicious sauce). On subsequent visits, I would sit in her bedroom copying recipes on lined paper and leafing through each cookbook. Of course, I had no idea how to actually cook anything. That would take years to work out.
World of the East was organized by ingredient and course, with lots of suggestions for menu planning, serving, and of course, the stories and history of each dish.
On Aalan Ka Saag (Kahi with Spinach): "I have only had this exceedingly tasty and nutritious dish in my family. It is like a thick soup and is either eaten with Indian breads or with plain rice." Doesn't this make you want to find out what else her family eats? It does for me. I also love that the dishes are given in their native pronounciation. It was from Jaffrey that I learned what saag and masoor dal actually mean. (Spinach and red lentils, if you were wondering).
Most of the recipes give suggestions for reasonable substitutions, but also point out where there are no substitutions available. Many of the cooking techniques are not difficult or require anything special, but aren't dumbed down or require the use of a microwave. I can't even begin to name the number of dishes I have learned from this book, not to mention the history and relationships between the many cuisines she writes about. I should also add that the illustrations are delightful.
My copy is now literally falling apart. I have notes in the back, copied recipes for Spanish food, taken from my college boyfriend's mother's cookbooks. I also have terse notes about recipes. "Add more salt; don't over cook." "Two teaspoons tamarind paste=better." I should probably buy a new copy, as this one requires individual pages to be taken out if I actually want to use it, but I love it just the way it is.
