INDULGENCES: One Cook's Quest for the Delicious Things in Life

by Lora Brody ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 1987

More glutton's-progress memories from the author of Growing Up on the Chocolate Diet (1985). Autobiography part: great fun. Food part: high-intensity glitz. In 36 brief chapters, Brody spins graceful neo-Bombeck yams around such passions as apricots, brandy, butter (sweet, natch), and on through the alphabet to white truffles. Tenderloin, object of an early Beef Wellington contretemps, evokes likable thoughts on how time mellows one's social/gastronomic self-importance. A gorgeous glazed Smithfield ham once belatedly fulfilled part of a childhood daydream, thwarted by parental firmness on some points of Jewish identity, of ""the perfect Christmas I would orchestrate if the opportunity ever presented itself."" Then there are the recipes, which don't rest on understatement. Got a quart of real fraises de bois? Mask them with a white chocolate-cream sauce. There's some let's-DO-something-to-this-food touch in nearly every recipe, from the avocado relish with (or steak sauce on) broiled lamb chops to the cognac in the mayonnaise for carpaccio. Some of it is quite appealing, like matzo balls with jalapeno peppers. But oh, this is busy, busy food. The title says it all as far as the recipes are concerned--if a slug of red wine in the duck stock is nice, how about two cups? Brody's appeal as a writer often outclasses her lively but unsubtle cooking.

Pub Date: Aug. 26, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1987

Categories: NONFICTION