The Old World Kitchen: The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cooking

by Elisabeth Luard

Overview

“The best cookbook no one’s ever heard of.”
—Mark Bittman, former New York Times food columnist

“One of the great cookbooks of all time.”
—The Mail on Sunday

The rediscovered classic cookbook on the essentials of authentic, back-to-basics European cuisine—with over 300 recipes from 25 countries, including France, Spain, Greece, Italy, and more

Award-winning food writer Elisabeth Luard joyously salutes the foundations of modern Western cooking with recipes collected during more than 25 years of travel and research, many of them spent living in rural France, Spain, Greece, Ireland, and Italy. Divided into 14 sections, The Old World Kitchen includes recipes for:
 
• Vegetable Dishes
• Potato Dishes
• Corner Cupboard Dishes
• Noodles and Dough-Based Dishes
• Barnyard and Dairy
• Fish and Seafood
• Poultry
• Small Game
• Pork
• Shepherd’s Meats
• Beef, Reindeer, and Grilled Meats
• Breads and Yeast Pastries
• Sweet Dishes
• The Rustic Kitchen
 
This definitive collection of over 300 time-tested recipes from 25 European countries is an indispensable guide to the simple, delicious, and surprisingly exotic dishes of peasant Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612192697
Publisher:	Melville House Publishing
Publication date:	11/12/2013
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	60,281
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

ELISABETH LUARD is an award-winning food writer, journalist, and broadcaster. She is the author of ten cookbooks, including The Latin American Kitchen, The Food of Spain and Portugal, A Cook's Year in a Welsh Kitchen; three volumes of memoir, Family Life, Still Life, and My Life as a Wife; and two novels. Her thirteen-part television series, The Rich Tradition, was broadcast on BBC2 and SBS Australia. She spent many years living in rural Spain, France, and Italy, and traveling across Europe collecting recipes, many of which are collected in The Old World Kitchen. Her work as a journalist appears regularly in The Daily Mail, The Scotsman, Country Living, Cambria Magazine, The Jewish Chronicle, and The Times Literary Supplement. She is currently Trustee Director of The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, contributes a monthly column to The Oldie Magazine, and is a member of the team at online culinary magazine Zester Daily.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction xiii

A Note to the Reader xxi

1 Vegetable Dishes 1

Hot Vegetable Soups 2

Cold Vegetable Soups 16

Vegetable Stews 19

Fried and Roast Vegetables 30

Boiled Vegetables 35

Stuffed Vegetables 36

Stuffed Leaves 44

Vegetable Salads 51

Mushrooms 65

Olives and Olive Oil Dishes 73

Seaweed 82

2 Potato Dishes 85

3 Corner Cupboard Dishes 105

Beans and Lentils 105

Polenta and Cornmeal 118

Porridge 123

Rice 127

4 Pasta, Noodles, and Other Dough-Based Dishes 135

Pasta 135

Savory Puddings and Dumplings 159

Pastries and Pies 168

5 Barnyard and Dairy 179

Eggs 179

Milk and Dairy Produce 190

Cheeses 200

6 Fish and Food from the Sea 207

Fish Soup 208

White Fish 220

Trout and Salmon 229

Herring and Mackerel 236

Small Fish 240

Eel 245

Shellfish 247

Crustaceans 253

Caviar 262

7 Poultry 265

Chicken 266

Duck and Goose 283

Guineafowl 289

8 Small Game 291

Wild Fowl 292

Hare and Rabbit 298

Country Delicacies 302

9 Pork 307

10 Shepherd's Meats 327

Lamb and Mutton 327

Kid 342

Mincemeat 342

11 Beef, Reindeer, and Grilled Meats 349

Beef 349

Reindeer 379

Grilled Meats 382

12 Breads and Yeast Pastries 389

Yeast Breads 391

Soda-Raised Bread 401

Leftover Bread Dishes 405

Unleavened Breads 407

Sweet Breads and Yeast Pastries 413

13 Sweet Dishes 425

Pies 425

Sweet Puddings and Dumplings 441

Sweet Egg Dishes 449

Pancakes 452

Fritters 454

Fruit Soups 458

Wine and Beer Soups 460

Treats 463

14 The Rustic Kitchen 465

Herbs 466

Mushrooms And Fungi 478

Oils 483

Storehouse Cheeses 485

Preserved Meats 498

Preserved Fish 501

Preserved Vegetables 508

Selected Bibliography 513

Index 515

Editorial Reviews

Stands the test of time . . . . Filled with hard-to-find gems.

Mark Bittman

Exploring the culinary heritage of some 25 European countries, Luard offers 300 recipes that display a generous assortment of styles and flavors, organized here by basic ingredients. Italian risotto, French oatmeal soup and Spanish bean stew are characterized as ``corner cupboard dishes.'' Dough-based fare includes Italian fusilli with chili, Bulgarian milk noodles and British steak-and-kidney pudding. Meat recipes range from small game like rabbit with beer and prunes (Belgium) to roast pork and apple sauce (England), shepherd's stew (Rumania), cottage pie (England), spit-roasted lamb (Greece) and even reindeer stew (Lapland). Seafood is also offered in a number of forms from simple grilled prawns (Spain) to bouillabaisse with sweet-pepper sauce (France). Breads, vegetable and sweet dishes round out the offerings. Cooks will note some recipes not known these days for peasant associations, as, for example, hollandaise sauce. Other recipes, like the potato-laden and entirely authentic Irish stew, may seem more curious than useful to some readers. A professionally trained cook, Luard resides in London and is a columnist of the Field. Illustrations not seen by PW. (October 1)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Luard writes about the cultural and geographic influences upon European peasant cooking, and illustrates her text with appropriate recipes. Peasants usually structured their meals around ``a single dominant ingredient at a single moment.'' The author is clearly knowledgeable about the 25 countries represented, and wants to tell all she knows. ``Corner Cupboard Dishes'' and ``Shepherd's Meats'' are particularly interesting. Instructions are conversational and over-detailed and often digress. For limited purchase. SP

Library Journal

"Through her eloquent writing and delicious recipes, Elizabeth Luard is able to bring us back in touch with the sources of real nourishment. This is a wonderful, inspiring and important book." —ALICE WATERS, founder and owner of Chez Panisse and the author of The Art of Simple Food

"The best at describing 'the cuisine of the necessary' in European peasant life. Filled with ... gems."
—MARK BITTMAN, author of How to Cook Everything

"This book is fascinating. I believe all cooking originates from family or peasant roots and this is a testimony to that belief." —JACQUES PEPIN, author of The Art of Cooking

"Puts other outpourings in the shade, such is its range, passion, erudition and downright deliciousness." —The Guardian

"One of the great cook books of all time." —The Mail on Sunday

"An awesome collection of recipes... Luard writes with authoritative enthusiasm." —New Statesman

From the Publisher