Like another book with the same name, James C. Scott���s Against the Grain argues that the “just so” story of humans’ progression from barbarians to civilized agriculturalists is not the success story we might have thought.
Novice cooks will find this book does what it promises: teaches you how to cook well. But as an experienced (if amateur) cook myself, I also found a useful framework for thinking about my own cooking, not to mention a few new best practices.
This has rapidly become my go-to cookbook.
I’ve been a fan of Smitten Kitchen for years, so it’s delightful to see her recipes and photography pulled together into such a lovely package. Perelman’s style is enthusiastic and never fussy; the recipes are simple but attentive to just the right details.
From one of my favorite local restaurants comes a lovely and instructive manual. An entire chapter is devoted to making Sunday sauce, complete with a timeline for the day.
A beautifully designed book that has served me well in the kitchen.
A wonderfully written primer on cooking with whole grains, with excellent recipes as well as guidance on equipment and techniques.
Worth the hype, not because of the widely-hailed subject matter but because of the extraordinary writing.
A revisionist history that argues that we traded away much of our humanity in exchange for the little bit of security that agriculture promised.