From-the-Editors-Desk

The (Book) Art of Great Italian Cooking
October 17, 2010

Three weeks ago as I was driving home I saw the huge sign advertising the annual Planned Parenthood book sale at the local Earl Warren Showgrounds. I hadn’t planned to go as it’s far too easy for me to spend money at used book sales, money I don’t have much of at the moment. However, I had just come from a difficult meeting and was feeling emotionally out of sorts. Looking at thousands of books for sale was just the bandage I needed. So I veered off the freeway, parked in the oversized lot and walked in.

I knew how much I could spend had to be less than I would have liked to have spent, but the idea of seeing used books of every variety and condition felt good. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The large room was set with tables against all the walls and in various rows and columns, each one neatly labeled with its category name or names. People were carrying boxes and bags, others had one armful while the other arm sorted through more books.

I ended up staying for about four hours, gathering up books here and there while my feet grew ever more sore. My first stop was the “specials” tables where they always put the older and/or more valuable books. Unfortunately—fortunately for me?—many of them were in okay-to-terrible condition. And, frankly, not all that interesting to begin with. Once opening night—when those who pay $25 to have first crack at the books—is over it’s as if what’s left, at least on that table, is the nineteenth-century version of a B&N remainder table. Except for the prices, which can run from twenty dollars to upwards of several hundred dollars for stuff that . . . is in not great (that is, collectible) condition and in some cases falling apart.

So while I looked over the specials, I moved on from them rather quickly. I am pleased to say I found some unopened mass market paperbacks at one dollar each that I plan to frame—1984 with a psychedelic sixties cover, a haunting All Quiet on the Western Front, and a stunning two-volume edition of The Brothers Karamazov. These are all books I already own in lovely editions, but these were purchased specifically for the collection of framed books and bookmarks I want to create on one wall in each bedroom.

The two cookbooks tables were still loaded. Open boxes on and below the tables were spilling over. I went through each one, ending up with about a dozen books—not all of which I kept. But what really pleased me was a book I had never seen  before and that was being ignored by everyone else—the large, insanely heavy edition of Luigi Carnacina’s Great Italian Cooking (La Grande Cucina Internatzionale)  published by Abradale Press. Eight hundred and fifty-one pages of recipes, illustrations, and photographs that I would guess—there being no publication date—are from the 1950s or possibly the early 1960s. Both the cover and the book are in excellent condition, and the price was a mere eight dollars. I immediately tucked it in my box.

Thankfully I was, at the end when I was editing my boxes of books down to those that would add up to a reasonable cost, able to satisfy  my literary soul for less than twenty-five dollars. The five hours I ended up spending there did cause me to need to soak my feet in a pan of hot water later while l looked through my purchases, particularly Great Italian Cooking.

What strikes me most is not how delicious much of it looks, though it does, but how much time it assumes the reader has to devote to cooking one dish. For example, Veal Chops with Marsala Sauce [No. 1141], which in itself doesn’t seem difficult . . .

6 loin or veal chops, cut 1 inch thick
Flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic
Salt and freshly ground pepper

also calls for two cups of Marsala Sauce [No.43]—the recipes are labeled by number according to their appearance in the book rather than by page number—and that calls for two cups of Italian Meat Sauce, 1/3 cup dry Marsala wine, and one tablespoon butter. The Italian Meat Sauce [No. 41], in turn, requires a list of ingredients so long and detailed that I am not going to replicate it here. Suffice it to say that twenty-four separate ingredients are needed and you should save the better part of a day for its preparation. All that for approximately one quart—and you’ll use two cups of that in the veal chops recipe alone. This is not going to be a dinner you will prepare after you arrive home from work.

Nevertheless, I adore this book. Not all the recipes are that detailed. And anyway it might be fun, once or twice a year, to actually make something like that, to dine on cuisine that complicated to prepare and that complex in flavor and taste.

I will probably photocopy some of its pages, or buy another copy at some point, because another use I am eyeing it for is book art. Creating book art is another complex and finely detailed process that is so beautiful it almost matters not that a book is destroyed (for reading) in the process. Book Arts Web is a valuable site that connects book artists and those interested in the process. It offers links to various places, online exhibitions, and resources. But it is the images that are so striking such as Fun Forever, Octopus, Dictionary, Pulp, and the Art Crisis. More amazing examples can be seen here. These are not easy to make. They take talent and they take practice. But I would like to try it. My ultimate goal would be to create something like “Dictionary” using the illustrations and images in this book, to have a one-of-a-kind literary art cookbook. It will undoubtedly be a couple of years away, but I think that is what I originally saw in my  mind when I first spied the book, not the opportunity so much to cook from it—though I do plan to try a few things—but a goal to create my own book art.

I think my detour to the fairgrounds was worth it. Don’t you?

Upcoming Book Festivals:
As we move closer to the holiday season it is worth bearing in mind that aside from the sheer wonderfulness of book festivals they also offer prime shopping opportunities for the readers in your life.

Openingon Wednesday, October 20 and running through Saturday, October 23, the Utah Humanities Book Festival, in Salt Lake City, will offera full day of talks, interviews, films, a poetry slam, award readings, children’s and adult bookmaking, paper decorating, a Fairy Tales workshop for children, and more beginning at 11:00 am. Check the program schedule for the events in the other cities.

Westport, Connecticut, is the home of the Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature, which will take place from Thursday, October 21 through Saturday, October 23. This is the tenth anniversay of this particular festival, which this year uses as its theme “Collaboration.” Events include lectures, a Saturday Symposium at which the authors and illustrators will speak about their careers, collaboration, and their work, followed by a book signing. On Friday night the Red Barn restaurant will host Dinner w/the Authors and Illustrators ($35), and on Thursday evening the opening event is with Emma Walter Hamilton.

Friday and Saturday, October 22-23, will see the celebration of the Georgia Literary Festival now being helf in Statesboro at Georgia Southern University. More than twenty authors in both adult and children’s writing will be there. Opening night has several events including Love at First Bite Reception, Downtown Ghost Tours, Dracule & Vampires: Tracing the Bloodlines, and Dearly Departed. On Saturday, the festival, which runs from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm offers lectures, workshops, panel discussions, book siginings, and entertainment and activities as well as vendors and exhibitors.

Celebrate the Book will be hosted on Saturday, October 23 in Carlisle, and is the first book festival in central Pennsylvania. And it seems like a good one too. They are offering an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party to which children are invited to have tea and crumpets at one of three sessions. Then, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, based on the popular game show, will let children try to answer questions based on books; it is an ongoing event. But that’s not all. The day is filled with book- and reading-related activities (in four separate activity booths), and talks and presentations by more than a dozen authors and illustrators. The festival begins at 9:00 am and runs until approximately 4:00 pm.

And Florida will be the site of the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading on Saturday, October 23. More than forty authors and neraly four dozen exhibitors will be at Bayboro Harbor from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, and the panels, presentations, and workshops planned are diverse and interesting!

The Houston Vintage Book, Paper & Postcard Show will take place on the weekend of October 23-24 at the Stafford Centre. Admission is $3.50 for adults and free for children with a paid adult admission. Eighteen rare, collectible, and used book dealers will be presen, and there will be authors (still unannounced) appearing as well. Hours for Saturday are from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm; Sunday hours are 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

San Francisco hosts the wonderful Golden Gate Park Book Fair on Sunday, October 24 at the Hall of Flowers. Used, vintage, rare and collectible books and ephemera will be sold by twenty-seven dealers from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Free appraisals will also be offered. There is no admission charge.

The Pub House:
Yale Press is  a fine example of how university presses are evolving from their focus on academic books and now issuing books that are intended for and interesting enough tom complete in the trade arena. Among their nearly ninety new releases is Demobbed, the story, told through personal letters, diaries, newspapers, reports, novels, and films, of British servicemen who were demobilized after World War II and the practical and psychological problems they faced when reuniting with their families and society at large. The Havana Habit looks at the role of Cuba in American cultural history using books, advertisements, travel guides, films, and music to demonstrates the influence of the island on almost two centuries of American life. And for those readers interested in the intersection of American culture and sports ,Joe Lewis: Hard Times Man is an excellent biography of the heavyweight boxing champion, a black man who in the 1930s got move newspaper column inches than FDR did, and was for many African Americans a symbol of hope and dignity but whose relationships both professional and personal proved far more complex than mere heroics.

Imaging Books & Reading:
Hay-on-Wye is the famous book town in the world. It is loaded with bookshops and books and tourists who love books. I couldn’t choose one picture to represent it, so I chose several. First, an overview of the town and surrounding countryside. Next a few close-ups of the town including this street, this lovely square, this shot of the castle and this one too. Oh, look, more books. Please, Mom, just one two more bookshops. Maybe one more, but we do need to eat, right?

Not everyone can live on books alone, though, so a pretty walk, some local crafts, even a post office to send your books home, as well as plenty of hotels and B&Bs in which to rest those sore feet.

Of Interest:
Slush Pile Hell is a blog that is possibly of more interest to writers than readers. However, I would be willing to bet that readers will enjoy  (or be horrified by) what aspiring authors will send out in hopes of getting a book contract. Anyone who has worked with a slush pile knows the true awfulness of it and can describe it. But the true reality of it must be seen to be “appreciated,” and this blog straight from an anonymous literary agent is your opportunity to see it in all its horrifying glory.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren

 


 

 
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