Tender: Volume I: A Cook And His Vegetable Patch (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
I was wooed by the introduction. Enticed by the marriage of gardening book and cook book. But about half way thru I was done. I haven't tried any of the recipes but I do like that they are more like outlines because I will never be able to get the amazing cheeses and other interesting ingredients where I live. And I realized that no matter how beautiful the description, beets will still just taste like dirt to me! This is a perfect book for me, combining gardening and cooking, two of my favorite things. Nigel Slater’s writing must be what the term “food porn” was coined to describe. I was watching a baseball game one evening, leafing through this book, brought home from the library that afternoon, when this paragraph had me craving boiled cabbage. (Boiled cabbage! – of all things!) “The words hang heavy, wretched with disappointment. In reality, few things edible cheer me up more than a plate of cabbage freshly lifted from the steam, the colors clear and bright, the leaves singing with life. I add nothing save lemon and sometimes black pepper, coarse from the grinder. As a rule, my cabbage isn’t boiled or even steamed, only blanched. Dipped briefly into boiling water, the leaves cook more quickly, and seem to stay a livelier color than when they are steamed. The water must be deep and at a rollicking boil. A little salt can go in, though I often forget, and then the leaves. No lid. I leave them for a minute or two. They won’t look ready but they will be by the time you have grabbed the oven mitts with which to lift the pot to sink and drained them. Vibrant, exhilarating even, when placed on a stark white plate.” Each vegetable gets its own section, full of observations Slater has made from growing them in his city garden. (Sometimes, the observations are about why he DOESN’T grow them – lack of space, wrong conditions, etc.) The recipes that follow are simple and basic, but by no means boring. I started a list as I read, noting things I wanted to try before the book has to be returned, but I soon gave that up and added the book to my “want to buy” list instead.
What do You think about Tender: Volume I: A Cook And His Vegetable Patch (2009)?
This book is as delicious to savor as the vegetables & recipes depicted inside. *drool*
—Sam
