The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook

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The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook
SubjectCookbook
PublisherContact Editions
Publication date
1961
Pages288 pp.
OCLC1816499

The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook is a 1961 cookbook with 220 recipes and 30 courses provided by famous writers and artists.[1] Editors Beryl Barr and Barbara Turner Sachs asked contributors to submit cooking-related stories or favorite family recipes.[2] The artists and writers responded with varying levels of seriousness, with some "using the cookbook as a canvas for wit and creative deviation".[1] Of the cookbook's 150 contributors, 61 were novelists, 55 were painters, 19 were poets, and 15 were sculptors.[1][3]

The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook was designed by Nicolas Sidjakov. Engravings from the 19th century were used to illustrate the cookbook, as were drawings from various contributors including Alexandre Istrati, Robert Osborn, and Marcel Duchamp.[1]

Contents[edit]

The forward for The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook was provided by Alice B. Toklas, who describes the cookbook as enchanting, asserting that "the writers write as they write. The painters write as they paint."[2] In her introduction, Toklas provides an omelette aurore recipe that was sent by Victor Hugo to George Sand. She also includes recipes for fillet of sole with lobster sauce, gougère, and a Burgundian pastry.[4]

William Styron provided a six-page-long recipe for Southern fried chicken, a dish which he describes as the "most put-upon, abused and generally misunderstood of all indigenous American culinary triumphs".[5] Sculptor Elisabeth Frink contributed a recipe for roast lemon chicken with numerous steps using lemons, including stuffing the bird with lemon pieces and using multiple applications of lemon juice.[6] For his entry, writer John Keats provided an extensive breakfast menu including cider-flavored cauliflower, toasted French bread with garlic butter, and sausage prepared in wine. He encouraged the reader to "breakfast like a peasant, and dine like a viscount."[5] Man Ray's contribution was a "Menu for a Dadaist Day" that includes ball bearings and children's blocks.[2]

The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook influenced subsequent cookbooks and inspired a 2016 cookbook compiled by Natalie Eve Garrett with the same name and concept.[7]

Selected contributors[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Popova, Maria (17 April 2013). "The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook: A Rare 1961 Treasure Trove of Unusual Recipes and Creative Wit". The Marginalian.
  2. ^ a b c d Falkowski, Julia (2012). "The Watkinson Cookbook: My experiences reproducing historic recipes as part of a Watkinson Library Creative Fellowship". Watkinson Student Creative Fellowship Projects. pp. 36–37.
  3. ^ Ralph, Fiona (1 June 2016). "TBT: Cookbooks to Inspire - Culture News". NZ Herald.
  4. ^ "Omelette Aurore Recipe, Alice B. Toklas in Artists' and Writers' Cookbook". Vintage Cookbook. 4 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Reed, Julia (2003). The New Great American Writers Cookbook. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. xiv–xv. ISBN 978-1-60473-686-1.
  6. ^ Hesser, Amanda (2010). The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century (1st ed.). ISBN 9780393247671.
  7. ^ Kinsella, Eileen (13 October 2016). "A New Edition of 'The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook'". Artnet News.
  8. ^ Stein, Sadie (7 March 2014). "Pork Products in the Work of Harper Lee". The Paris Review.
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