Synopsis:

Introduction

Its Thanksgiving, arguably one of the most family oriented holidays – certainly one where family and friends gather and share food, wine, stories and laughter around the table. At my house this year we had three generations cooking, singing, playing music, telling stories, laughing and eating and eating and eating – sharing food, family, history and future.

But this “bucolic” scene seems to be the anomaly as opposed to the norm in our society. Alice Waters says that 85% of American children don’t sit down to a family meal on a regular basis, a fact that I find frightening as well as personally disheartening. So much of culturalization comes from the lessons we learn around the table. Listening to the stories, hearing the laughter, children asking why why why – but throughout we learn to be social – perhaps learning manners, intellect, a sense of humor and a sense of shared history.

And what brings us all together at the table – food. The smells, flavors, memories, textures and colors – no matter the ethnicity, no matter the “palate” – around the kitchen and around the table is the aura of the flavors. For the most part we grew up (the authors and our contemporaries) eating meals with our families, sharing food and flavors, cherishing the memories. My recipe contribution to this book is my grandmother’s Matzo Cake, unbeknownst to me, its what my mother brought to Thanksgiving this year – and when we all starting eating it (its our favorite family dessert), we instantly started talking about my grandmother and then I told everyone I had included the recipe in the book – my Mom said that both my grandparent’s would have been so proud – but especially my grandfather. I can close my eyes and see my grandfather at the family table with an old-fashioned grinder – fastening it to the table – for his part of the Matzo Cake process – grinding all the nuts and chocolate and tasting the Manichvitz (wine) that was a part of the original recipe.

One of the challenges I’ve come to realize in today’s society, is that we’ve lost many of these cherished moments. We’ve grown a generation of children that believe that sharing a meal means driving by the golden arches – reaching into a white paper bag and trying not to mess up the car seats as the “food” is consumed to the smell of exhaust and the blare of whatever’s on the stereo. It’s sad to imagine what these types of lessons will form our children – and the lessons that they’ll go on to teach their own children in the years and decades to come. In fact we see some of the results of these lessons today, obesity among children has become a pandemic, literacy in many schools borders on horrifyingly low levels and our “fast food” culture continues to pollute the planet, our water and our food.

One of our hopes in writing this book is to share the stories of the 60 plus women cooks and chefs who shared their stories with us – for women have fed the planet for the past 10,000 years – as they continue to do today. These women, whose professions and lives are surrounded by foods, flavors and sharing around the table – have all been either touched by cooking with their mothers and or their children. We hope that their stories are a model for sharing and nuturing around food, around tables, around the relationships that life is built on – for our children and all mothers and children for generations to come.

We believe that through food, families, friends, laughter and stories around the table and around the hearth, that our future and the future of all families and even our planet for all eternity can and will be a better place. “Our planet was not given to us by our parents, but loaned to us by our children,” and perhaps through these stories you’ll be motivated to continue and or begin your own stories around the table that will be your children’s future.

Book Excerpt:

Mothers and Grandmothers Historically and traditionally, women have embodied the spirit of the kitchen, particularly in the home. Virtually every cook or chef attributes a love of food to his or her mother or grandmother. Their passion for food is based on the traditions of family, giving, and nurturing. We have heard scores of stories about women cooking with their mothers and grandmothers or mimicking them as they cooked in their own “Easy Bake Ovens.” Over and over again they expressed their beliefs that food, love, and life are inextricably entwined. As they grew up, they were nurtured with good, wholesome food. In turn, these women have built lives and careers in professional kitchens in an effort to pass on the feelings and lessons learned in the kitchens of their youth. This chapter brings together a diverse group of women who were all strongly influenced by their mother or grandmother’s cooking. Longtein de Montiero shares two of her mother’s Cambodian recipes and Nora Poullion fondly remembers her family’s taste for salads in her simple but sophisticated Accordion Tomatoes. Ana Sortun lovingly recreates her mom’s Crab Melt, which she remembers eating with tomato soup as a child, and Lidia Bastianich recalls a dish straight out of her grandmother’s colorful Italian repertoire. There are, of course, many more, all from a wide range of cultural traditions and they all represent the love of a mother or grandmother to a daughter or granddaughter. Giant Prawns with DaikonLongtein de MontieroElephant Walk, Boston/Cambridge MA

Longtein de Montiero, chef/owner of The Elephant Walk and Carambola restaurants in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, grew up in Cambodia surrounded by flavorful food prepared by her mother’s cooks. She didn’t learn to cook as a child but was always tasting everything—including the servants’ food. She was obsessed with the flavors of her native country. At 18 she married, had two children, and spent a couple more years in Cambodia before she began living abroad with her husband, who was heavily involved in Foreign Affairs at that time. After stints in Yugoslavia, the Philippines, and Taiwan, a final move to France and the fall of Cambodia’s government left her husband out of work. Longtein, who had been supervising the cooking in her family’s kitchens over the years had learned quite a bit about Cambodian cooking and resolved that the only way to survive was to open a restaurant in the south of France. For ten years Longtein was the only cook in her 55 seat restaurant while her husband worked the front of the house. In 1990 the couple moved to the United States and opened the first Elephant Walk serving French-Cambodian food, in 1991. The original restaurant outgrew its space and currently Longtein and her family run three independent establishments.

The following recipes are ones that Longtein fondly remembers learning to cook as a teenager with her mother.

 

8 giant prawns, peeled and deveined

1 Tablespoon mushroom soy sauce

1 1/2teaspoons fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup preserved daikon radish, rinsed

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the soy sauce, fish sauce, and ground black pepper, add the prawns, turn them over, and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, thinly slice the daikon radish on a diagonal and soak it in several cups of water to remove the saltiness, if necessary. Drain.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium high-heat and sauté the garlic the garlic until golden, about 5 to 10 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium, add the sugar and cook, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes as it liquefies, turns brown, and becomes frothy.

3. Add the prawns and stir to coat with garlic and caramelized sugar. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the daikon slices, return to a boil, stirring occasionally, and continue cooking for about 5 minutes until the prawns are opaque. Remove from the heat and serve immediately

Pork With PineappleLongtein de MontieroElephant Walk, Boston/Cambridge MA

This is another recipe Longtein learned to cook with her mother as a teenager.

SERVES FOUR TO SIX

2 pounds spareribs or baby back ribs cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths and split, or 1 1/2 pounds fresh ham cut into 2-inch pieces

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk

2 teaspoons shrimp paste

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons salt

2 cups water

1 small under ripe pineapple (about 1 pound), peeled, cored, and julienned

1/4 cup Asian smoke fish powder (available in Asian groceries stores)

6 kaffir lime leaves, deveined

2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

Fresh basil leaves, for garnish

 

Paste

3 dried New Mexico chilies, soaked, seeded, and deveined

1 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 large shallots, coarsely chopped

10 kaffir lime leaves, deveined

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro stems, chopped

1 Tablespoons galangal, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 cup water

 

1. Make a paste blending New Mexico chilies, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, kaffir leaves, cilantro stems, galangal, turmeric, and water in a blender or food processor and process until smooth—approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup of coconut milk and the reserved paste and cook, stirring constantly, until the aroma of the spices is fully developed, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the pork, sugar, fish sauce, and salt and cook again for 5 minutes. Add the water and the remaining 1 1/2 cups coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add the pineapple and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add the Asian smoke fish powder and kaffir lime leaves and cook until the pork is tender, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove from the heat.

4. Stir in the lime juice, garnish with basil leaves and serve with rice.

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Topics/Categories:

Cookbook, Cooking, Women's Interest

Type of Work:

Book

Publishers:

Rizzoli

Purchase From:

Lunch Lessons
Amazon

Original Publish Date:

2005-05-01

ISBNs:

0-8478-2691-0

Formats:

Hardcover