In this collection of essays, John Thorne sets out to explore the origins of his identity as a cook, going "here" (the Maine coast, where he'd summered as a child and returned as an adult for a decade's sojourn), "there" (southern Louisiana, where he was captivated by Creole and Cajun cooking), and "everywhere" (where he provides a sympathetic reading of such national culinary icons as the hamburger, white bread, and American cheese, and sits down to a big bowl of Texas red). These intelligent, searching essays are a passionate meditation on food, character, and place.

General directions for making and processing 136 treasured family recipes that turn almost every fruit and vegetable there is into delicious pickles, condiments, bottled sauces, beverages, and syrups.

Forages through New England’s most famous foods for the truth behind the region’s culinary myths Meg Muckenhoupt begins with a simple question: When did Bostonians start making Boston Baked Beans? Storekeepers in Faneuil Hall and Duck Tour guides may tell you that the Pilgrims learned a recipe for beans with maple syrup and bear fat from Native Americans, but in fact, the recipe for Boston Baked Beans is the result of a conscious effort in the late nineteenth century to create New England foods. New England foods were selected and resourcefully reinvented from fanciful stories about what English colonists cooked prior to the American revolution—while pointedly ignoring the foods cooked by contemporary New Englanders, especially the large immigrant populations who were powering industry and taking over farms around the region. The Truth about Baked Beans explores New England’s culinary myths and reality through some of the region’s most famous foods: baked beans, brown bread, clams, cod and lobster, maple syrup, pies, and Yankee pot roast. From 1870 to 1920, the idea of New England food was carefully constructed in magazines, newspapers, and cookbooks, often through fictitious and sometimes bizarre origin stories touted as time-honored American legends. This toothsome volume reveals the effort that went into the creation of these foods, and lets us begin to reclaim the culinary heritage of immigrant New England—the French Canadians, Irish, Italians, Portuguese, Polish, indigenous people, African-Americans, and other New Englanders whose culinary contributions were erased from this version of New England food. Complete with historic and contemporary recipes, The Truth about Baked Beans delves into the surprising history of this curious cuisine, explaining why and how “New England food” actually came to be.

The secret of economizing in the kitchen is knowing how to cook everything, which the author's expertise can teach you. She emphasizes what-to-do-with rather than without; her credo is "use evrything you buy, "with tips for just how to buy. With the recipes in this book, you can muster "meals for down-to-earth budgets" (The Tribune, Scranton, Penna.). Recipes like Borsch, Peapod Soup, Cream of Carrot Soup, Crepes with fascinating fillings, Spaghetti Carbonara, White Bean & Sausage Casserole, Tofu & Zucchini Quiches, Salmon & Scallion Souffle, Chicken & Egg Salad with Tuna Mayonnaise, Provencal Vegetable Casserole, Poached Chicken Breasts with Broccoli & Egg-Lemon Sauce, Blanquette de Veau, Chocolate Raspberry Roll Vanilla Suffle, & Meringuew make it clear that you CAN eat well on a shoestring. A descriminating guide to eating better for less.

An evocative, gorgeous four-season look at cooking in Maine, with 100 recipes No one can bring small-town America to life better than a native. Erin French grew up in Freedom, Maine (population 719), helping her father at the griddle in his diner. An entirely self-taught cook who used cookbooks to form her culinary education, she now helms her restaurant, The Lost Kitchen, in a historic mill in the same town, creating meals that draw locals and visitors from around the world to a dining room that feels like an extension of her home kitchen. The food has been called “brilliant in its simplicity and honesty” by Food & Wine, and it is exactly this pure approach that makes Erin’s cooking so appealing—and so easy to embrace at home. This stunning giftable package features a vellum jacket over a printed cover.