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"A book of character, fine food, and tasty human observation."--The New Yorker
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
This title features recipes and reminiscences from Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein's lover a and prominent American expat living in France - and writing about its cuisine - during the first half of the 20th century. Long before Julia Child or M.F.K. Fisher discovered French cooking, Alice B. Toklas was sampling local dishes, collecting recipes, and cooking for the writers, artists, and expats who lived in Paris between the wars. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wilder (Toklas called him Thornie), Matisse, and Picasso shared meals at the home she kept with her lover, Gertrude Stein, who famously memorialised her in "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas". This cook book, however, is Toklas' true memoir, a collection of memories and traditional French recipes that predates Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and recalls the Paris of Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast". M.F.K Fisher calls it a minor masterpiece in the foreword she wrote for Harper's 30th anniversary edition (1984) and which is included here. Toklas supplies familiar recipes such as coq au vin, bouillabaisse, and two for boeuf bourguinon that are accessible to cooks of all skill levels. In chapters titled 'Food in French Homes', 'Dishes for Artists', and 'Murder in the Kitchen', she expounds on everything from the first time she killed a carp to the bass she prepared for Picasso. The book also includes her most famous recipe, haschich fudge, excised from the first American edition, which anyone could whip up on a rainy day. 'Ecstatic reveries and extensions of one's personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected', she writes. Almost anything Saint Teresa did, you can do better.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read this cook book alongside Gertrude Stein's 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.' These books are fascinating to read as a pair and have certainly made me want to learn more about the lives of Stein and Toklas.
Most of the recipes in this book are related to events in the author's life, including dinner parties thrown for famous artists such as Picasso, and dishes prepared by friends and servants. There is a focus on French cuisine (with a famous dish involving 100 frogs' legs) with some Austrian and American dishes included. The book also features a controversial recipe for Hash Fudge. However, unless you are already a very experienced cook, these recipes may be a little hard to follow as they are very short and there is little discussion of technique. The measurements and equipment referred to as well as some of the ingredients are also now quite out of date and may require some re-interpretation.
Though undoubtedly of interest to people with a strong interest in cooking and the origins of recipes, I would suggest this is better read as a work of memoir, particularly in terms of the relationship between food and memory. It gives an insight into life with servants in early 20th Century France, and Toklas' chapter on the comings and goings of her various cooks and housekeepers was one of my favourite parts of the book. I also enjoyed her descriptions of wartime rationing and examples of recipes that were used in times of scarcity.
It is an engaging read and Toklas' style is cheerfully amusing. However, I would suggest it is better to read this with at least some background knowledge of the life and times of Gertrude Stein. If you are already interested in the lives of the great 20th Century artists and the influence of Gertrude Stein, this will give you an interesting insight into their domestic lives.
Most of the recipes in this book are related to events in the author's life, including dinner parties thrown for famous artists such as Picasso, and dishes prepared by friends and servants. There is a focus on French cuisine (with a famous dish involving 100 frogs' legs) with some Austrian and American dishes included. The book also features a controversial recipe for Hash Fudge. However, unless you are already a very experienced cook, these recipes may be a little hard to follow as they are very short and there is little discussion of technique. The measurements and equipment referred to as well as some of the ingredients are also now quite out of date and may require some re-interpretation.
Though undoubtedly of interest to people with a strong interest in cooking and the origins of recipes, I would suggest this is better read as a work of memoir, particularly in terms of the relationship between food and memory. It gives an insight into life with servants in early 20th Century France, and Toklas' chapter on the comings and goings of her various cooks and housekeepers was one of my favourite parts of the book. I also enjoyed her descriptions of wartime rationing and examples of recipes that were used in times of scarcity.
It is an engaging read and Toklas' style is cheerfully amusing. However, I would suggest it is better to read this with at least some background knowledge of the life and times of Gertrude Stein. If you are already interested in the lives of the great 20th Century artists and the influence of Gertrude Stein, this will give you an interesting insight into their domestic lives.
14 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is both a classic, and an original. Original in the sense of a successful hybrid of cookbook and reminiscence. It is literature, and evokes the period of Gertrude Stein and her contemporaries.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
12 reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Exquisite Recipes and Fun to read, too!
14 July 2000
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ive been cooking with _Joy of Cooking_ for a long time now. _Joy_ makes reference to a chapter in this book, "Murder in the Kitchen," as a sort of primer on how to 'murder' a carp in the kitchen before cooking. I decided, on a whim, to buy the book.
I had no idea that having this new cookbook would be so rewarding!
Alice Toklas has some INCREDIBLE recipes in here (Scheherezade Melon being a favorite!), all of which should be tried and enjoyed.
Furthermore, this book contains recipes you simply wont find in other, newer, cookbooks. My girlfriend really summed this book up by suggesting that the recipes in this book are the recipes you know exist -- but are being passed from grandmother to granddaughter; you simply dont get these unless youre in that circle of people.
This cookbook is your way in to exquisite dishes that were prepared for the likes of Gertrude Stein, Hemmingway, Picasso, and Matisse.
That, and where else are you going to find a recipe for Hashish Fudge?
This book has my whole-hearted, overwhelming approval.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
A cook is a cook is a cook!
15 Sep 1998
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This classic of 20th century food lit appears every few years in new editions and rightfully so. First published in 1954 by Alice B. Toklas, the life partner of Gertrude Stein, established Alice as a writer in her own right and made her world-famous(once again) with her "Haschich Fudge" aka Alice B. Toklas brownies! This recipe, which was not included in the first American edition, but was included in the British edition, does appear in this book. It's more than a cookbook, it's an affectionate remembrance by someone who knew and was known by some of the artistic giants of the 20th century.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Highly recommended
28 Jun 2001
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I believe that this is one of the best French cookbooks of all time. Very old, traditional recipes explained in a way that makes even the more advanced ones seem doable. She also includes recipes from her youth in America and tells how she came across the recipe for Haschich Fudge. The stories interwoven are captivating, especially about the society she and Gertrude Stein kept, and their efforts during WWI as volunteers. In this respect it is a fascinating historical document. It is written as if she is speaking to you, and her speech is very blunt, to the point and quietly humorous. Very enjoyable to read.
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