This week, we’re reading about the cookbook legacy of the late Dr. Maya Angelou, Michael Ruhlman’s picks for the top egg dishes in New York City, “bastardised” versions of spaghetti bolognese, and more.
Eater remembers that the late Dr. Maya Angelou’s legacy included a pair of cookbooks: Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes and Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart, both published by Random House. In Great Food, All Day Long, Angelou wrote, “I have noticed that many people eat long after they are filled. I think they are searching in their plates not for a myth, but for a taste, which seems to elude them. If a person's taste buds are really calling for a prime rib of beef or a crispy brown pork chop, stewed chicken will not satisfy.”
The New York Times enlists the help of Egg author Michael Ruhlman to pick some of New York City’s exemplary egg dishes, with stops at Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, Aldea, Highlands, and Lafayette Grand Cafe and Bakery. “There is no more economical, nutritional, functional ingredient in the kitchen than an egg,” said Ruhlman.
In the NYTBR, brief reviews of a dozen new cookbooks. “The vegetarians continue to conquer vast swaths of the available shelf space in your local bookstore, proving that the meek shall indeed inherit the earth,” writes William Grimes as he looks at Laura B. Russell’s Brassicas, Nina Planck’s The Real Food Cookbook, Jennifer McGruther’s The Nourished Kitchen, David Sterling’s Yucatán, and more.
Mother Jones talks with Adam Rogers, author of Proof: The Science of Booze (at a bar, naturally). Asked whether the craft distillery movement will grow, Rogers said, “Probably the laws have to change. I suspect states are going to realize there’s money to be made, and they’ll start to change those laws so people can distil to sell. It happened with wine, it happened with beer.”
The Oregonian takes a look at The VB6 Cookbook, Mark Bittman’s companion to his bestselling 2013 diet book: “As you’d expect with Bittman’s plan, about two-thirds of the recipes are entirely vegan, but highly inventive, like a breakfast scramble of broccoli, red onions and tofu that's a stand-in for morning eggs, or a lunchtime salad featuring quinoa, mint, tomatoes and corn kernels.”
And from the Guardian, an essay in praise of rebellious takes on the “second-most popular dish served in British homes”: spaghetti bolognese, aka spag bol. “So if you like your bolognese a lurid tomatoey red – good for you! If you like to add chicken livers to your base, knock yourself out,” writes Henry Dimbleby.
