If it doesn't have you dashing into your kitchen, digging through your pantry for those just-right ingredients, nothing will. What doubtless is true, whatever your take, is that An Everlasting Meal: Cooking With Economy and Grace isn’t really a cookbook, as Alice Waters points out in the foreward, who adds that the book “gently reveals Tamar’s [Tamar Adler] philosophy. It doesn't rely on cold butter, which starts to sweat too quickly on my warm, uneven wooden table, and it doesn't toughen up when I roll it "Twenty times! You don't need pictures Tamar Adler builds the images so beautifully pictures would break the spell and spoil it.

In Italy if a vegetable's festival is not on the calendar, it's tacitly observed: there will be picnics when the first wild asparagus arrive.Adler’s conversational tone feels like a friend cheering you on as you rummage through your fridge for dinner. But, I knew I had bell peppers (that had been sitting in there for longer than I'd like), strained tomato frozen in ice trays, shallots, garlic and eggs. Perhaps my opinion is tainted by the fact that I am already familiar with many of her strategies here (using leftovers, using all parts of the ingredient, etc.

Born in the 1880's, both grandmother's knew how to cook before there were such things as degrees on oven dials. Influenced by the first chapters, while I was making one meal I piled the vegetable scraps and skins I would generally toss into the compost into a big pot and covered them with water and the bit of beer I had leftover from the main dish.Adler has won a James Beard Award and an IACP Award, and is the author of An Everlasting Meal and Something Old, Something New. This will not overlap with any cook books you have on the shelf, and more than that it's a brilliant read about culture, feelings, and how food can make you and your friends have a great time sitting, talking, and eating.

There is a sense of joy and pleasure in feeding yourself and others throughout this book that I truly enjoyed and appreciated. Adler immediately states that Fisher is an influence, but in my opinion, she does not add anything new or unique to the dialogue about thoughtful, economical, and graceful cooking. Beginner chefs may balk at not having step by step instructions or exact measurements (Adler tends to suggest rather than dictate, and it can be dizzying at times to attempt to follow all of the uses she finds for one ingredient) but for anyone comfortable at a stove, Adler's book will feel like learning long-lost tricks in grandmother's kitchen. What I think makes this book so special is that it is not about food in isolation ("here are a bunch of things that taste great! salt each egg, grind it with fresh black pepper, drizzle the beans and egg copiously with olive oil, grate them thickly with Parmesan, and dine like a Roman plebian, or a Tuscan pauper, prince, or pope.I already know I will blow through this book in the next day or so, and I already know that I want to read through it again.

Now you can easily transform a leftover burrito into a lunch of fried rice, or stale breakfast donuts into bread pudding. Skip the rest, if you must, but that chapter gives you ways to save money and waste by using so many bits and pieces we normally throw away. If you want to cook with economy (and grace), this book is a wonderful read, and you’ll have plenty of help with traditional categories of food, such as eggs, but it does feel a little old-fashioned; a book for aspiring cooks ‘in the know’ about what makes good eating, and how to do it without stressing.I heartily recommend this book to anybody who used to love to prepare good and sustaining meals but who's lost inspiration in the wake of so many cooking shows, food blogs and Pinterest.