Steingarten sings of his supper, grand cuisine, or Thanksgiving turkey with panache and canny wit.
The vaunted food writer for Vogue, a former lawyer who now practices the equally underappreciated vocation of gastronomy, discusses the world’s first (or at least second) most overwhelming preoccupation: eats.
Steingarten is dubious about allergies to MSG or intolerance to lactose. All food is good at his table. No picky eater, no vegetarian he. He is a true omnivore, ingesting—as long as they’re well prepared—chocolate chip cookies, pig entrails, medium-rare porterhouse, sea urchin gonads, pressed duck, caviar, and coffee, all with gusto and all described here in effusive detail. Steingarten is devoted to food of all kinds, as cosmopolitan as, say, Hannibal Lecter (though with somewhat more restrained tastes, admittedly). Take much of the highfalutin’ stuff with a grain of salt; whether it comes from Trapani, Maldon, or Guerand, it’s still salt, Steingarten concludes. He studies the biochemistry of his viands, giving due attention to flavonols and protein mechanics. He’ll dash off to Paris, Baja California, or Brooklyn at the slightest whiff of gustatory perfection and waggishly report back on how the experts do it—as in his graphic depiction of a pig slaughter in rural France. Aided by electronic thermometer, camera, and compliant assistants (women whose names change from essay to essay), he analyzes and often reproduces the gastronomic achievements of great cooks worldwide. Adepts will learn the right and wrong ways to brine a goose, prepare a pizza, construct a wedding cake, or sauté spleen in lard with ricotta. But even if the detailed recipes strewn throughout like juicy raisins may be more than a casual reader will attempt, the description is great fun and, incidentally, quite educational. Food writers, beware—this guy is out to eat your lunch.
Steingarten sings of his supper, grand cuisine, or Thanksgiving turkey with panache and canny wit.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2002
ISBN: 0-375-41280-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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