Chicago Cooks: 25 Years of Chicago Culinary History and Great Recipes from Les Dames d'Escoffier

Women have always played a central role in Chicago’s vast food industry, whether behind a stove, at a journalist’s desk, in front of a camera, or providing publicity services. Several decades ago a group of these women formed an association, Les Dames d’Escoffier, which sought to raise awareness of the importance of women in the city’s culinary life  and to educate and advance their métier. This cookbook recounts the organization’s history, tells of the progress of Chicago cooking, and provides recipes to document this. Besides deep-dish pizza, Chicago has introduced the rest of the world to such dishes as Chicken Vesuvio and Shrimp de Jonghe. Recipes reflect both the wide-ranging tastes of Chicagoans, the immeasurable influence of the ethnic groups that populate the city, and these women’s considerable cooking talents. Color photographs highlight the text and recipes, many of which appeared originally in the Chicago Tribune. For regional collections. --Mark Knoblauch