Pot on the Fire: Further Exploits of a Renegade Cook - Hardcover

Thorne, John; Thorne, Matt Lewis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0865475644 ISBN 13: 9780865475649

Publisher: North Point Pr, 2000

Synopsis

One of the nation's great food writers offers his own uncompromising take on international food and cooking, from the Irish potato famine to the shores of India. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Matt Lewis Thorne and John Thorne currently live in Northampton, Massachusetts. They are the authors of Serious Pig, which was nominated for an IACP/Julia Child Award, and Outlaw Cook, which won it. They also write and publish the Simple Cooking food letter, now in its twentieth year, which was named as one of the Saveur One Hundred in 1999. John Thorne has contributed to Gourmet, Saveur, Down East, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

Reviews

How to come up with yet more laudatory adjectives to describe the continuing excellence and inventiveness of America's premier philosopher of food? If the sustained historical reckonings of Thorne's last book, the ambitious Serious Pig, overwhelmed some readers, this one will gladden the hearts of fans of the looser IACP/Julia Child Award-winning Outlaw Cook. Thorne, who has relocated from the northerly reaches of Maine to Northampton, Mass., here abandons his forages into dour Puritan food culture and throws himself joyfully into the pursuit of, among other things, the perfect pizza, the ideal savory breakfast and the quintessential Vietnamese sandwich. As usual, Thorne's exploratory approach to cooking leads to the debunking of much conventional wisdom. He discovers, for example, that risotto, theoretically a finicky dish, is in fact simple and forgiving; that homemade bread, so often coveted in its fresh-baked state, is perhaps more breadlike two days later. "Knowing Nothing about Wine" reveals more in 17 pages about wine drinking (and wine anxiety) in this country than any number of full-length books. Illuminating disquisitions on pot-cooks vs. knife-cooks, the Irish potato famine and the legacy of Richard Olney divert Thorne from practical experimentation, but he always ends up back in the kitchen. Such is his giftDthe ability to range back and forth from armchair to stove top, inspiring cooks and readers alike. (Nov. 14)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Part memoir, part cookbook, part rambling discourse on why we cook things the way we do, the Thornes' (Serious Pig) new book is a change of pace from many recent cookbooks, which put too much stress on ingredients. The authors also emphasize ingredientsDfresh, seasonal, variedDbut in this book at least, technique is paramount. It is technique, they argue, that validates your cooking, that gives you the right to handle quality ingredients in the first place. Consequently, there are chapters on seemingly simple operations, such as boiling plain rice or making toast. Intriguing, insightful, and wide-ranging, this book can also be overly self-indulgent (offering, for example, a whole chapter on what John Thorne likes to eat for breakfast). This is not for the casual cookbook reader. But for people who like to ponder the deeper meaning of food and explore ever better ways of preparing it, there is much matter here. Recommended for larger public libraries and those with good culinary collections.DTom Cooper, Richmond Heights Memorial Lib., MO
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: North Point Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0865475644
• ISBN 13: 9780865475649
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 390