A friend and I have discovered a delightful shared interest in cooking and cookbooks, so we swapped Jamie Olivers for a bit last autumn, she giving me Jamie's America in exchange for my beloved Jamie at Home.
I was curious about this book to begin with, since he was after 'quintessential American food' and, well, I'm an American and what's 'quintessential' to me is about as different as what's 'quintessential' to anyone. I grew up with my surrounded my cultural foods of pork, beer, homemade wine that'll make your teeth melt for the sugar, bratwurst and sauerkraut, barbecue, and a dash of homemade grade jelly in just about everything. My mom makes a killer chicken pot pie and an ugly (but good-tasting) pineapple upside down cake. My inherited family recipes include oatmeal raisin cookies (from mom's side) and a fantastic sausage milk gravy and biscuit breakfast (from dad's. I've had very strong words with a couple of Englishmen who were very, very turned off by the idea of sausage and gravy biscuits for breakfast. It was a weird moment to get patriotic.) My tea is sweet, and generally cold. Pineapple and coca-cola completely acceptable basting ingredients for a ham. Strudel is to die for. Green beans are best in a casserole. If it's not eaten fresh from the garden, can that baby and see it in the winter. Cheese is yellow and comes in a package labelled 'Velveeta.' See what I mean? We are a mixed-up mishmash of peoples, and I can't fathom there being anything like a 'quintessential' American food.
Jamie answered this by breaking up the book into geographic segments. Some were appropriate and awesome - cobblers and killer desserts in the Georgia section; California cuisine with fun Mexican-tinged dishes for California - some were a little confusing to me - like the section of Asian food in New York? A tenuous connection I'm sure, and probably tucked in there since where else would it go?
Since I borrowed this book I didn't have much of a chance to try out too much before I felt obliged to hand it back over. But I have to admit that the ones I did try were a little hit-or-miss. There was a brilliant broccoli salad recipe (in the Wyoming section?) that was great, especially since I'm not a big fan of broccoli and get quite tired of it steamed with cheese, which seems like Jeff's only solution for broccoli. One meal I made entirely from the book though was a part fail: a rustic tortilla soup with cornbread. The soup was great; very fresh-tasting and the avocado on top was delightful.
The cornbread, not so much. Ages ago I tried out another cornbread recipe that was much nicer, if soggy, and between that one and this, that one still trumps. I was really interested in Jamie's recipe since it called for a very goodly amount of fresh vegetable sauteed to put into the cornbread mix. I'm always keen to use some fresh corn in creative ways and since I'm from the semi-south cornbread is always a welcome addition to any meal. However this cornbread was thick and heavy, and not in a particularly good way. The density was incredible and as such didn't cook too well, and despite the veggies, it tasted bland. Bland! I couldn't believe it. It may have possibly been the worst cornbread I've ever had, and was a massive disappointment.
Like I said I didn't have too much of an opportunity to try a lot of these recipes, but overall I didn't get such a great impression (the cornbread was just that much of a fail). I suspect this has to do with simple trial-and-error, though, and there are still more in the book that I'd like to try. Despite my lukewarm experience, this is definitely a book that I'd like to have on my keeper shelf for both the fantastic regional variation it displays as well as the variety of both special and everyday recipes to try. Plus, you know, Jamie. I still love you!
13 comments:
I so enjoyed your post! You are a very good writer, and I'm going to look for Jamie's book. I met him once at a book signing, and he is a very nice guy, gracious to his fans.
I have three of Jamie's books and love his Jamie's Food Revolution, haven't spent enough time with the other's yet.
As for the "Curried squash and Carrot soup", here's the reply I added to the post regarding your questions.
Kate asked how this would turn out without pureeing it. I did it in the blender and it did leave some chunks. They didn't bother us a bit. If you were not going to puree, I would cut the chunks smaller, I left them rather large. I would definitely dice the onion and probably cook that part in the soup pot along with the garlic and only roast the squash and carrots. As for cutting the squash. I slice it into 3/4 to 1 inch rings. Lay them flat then slice off the skin. You can't do it safely as a huge vegetable. Once the peel is off, I chop it into pieces and then remove the stringy insides.
Fun post. I have to admit, I enjoy looking at Jamie Oliver's cookbooks more than I actually cook from them. Although, he was the one that got me brave enough to make risotto.
I enjoy most of his recipes that I've tried. Too bad about the cornbread. The soup sounds great. Fun idea to trade books!
yes, there can be too much corn in cornbread as that picture shows. I find Jamie entertaining but I am not totally sold on his skill as a chef.
This is one of those cookbooks that I think I would read more than cook from, so i will look for it at the library; I am interested in seeing what foods he assigns to what regions.
Funny story about the Brit's aversion to the idea of sausage and gravy for breakfast. Must be bangers, My Dear, or nothing at all. Brits love sausages for breakfast, but variation from the true British form sounds disgusting to them, I guess.
I enjoyed your post. I'm in agreement with you and most of the other commenters. I like reading Oliver's books but hardly ever cook from them.
Thanks, Diane! My closest encounter with JO was seeing him at a restaurant in Chicago, where he was with his wife and a friend, and he seemed to be a really amiable bloke - plus the wait staff all told me how nice he was, and that means a lot!
Thanks, Heather! We currently don't have a blender either so I'd probably go for the soup as a chunky one instead of pureed or even blended. It seems like a perfect soup for right now.
Joy, I have to admit that I've never attempted risotto though I have a friend who swears by the therapeutic value of making it.
Carol, it's definitely nice to be able to trade books with someone! Saves on costs for certain.
Caite, I usually have good luck with a lot of his recipes to be honest. The cornbread was a total fail but that's also not accounting for how I could have screwed it up as well! In any case, there are still a lot of recipes from the book I'd like to try out.
BookGirl, the production on his cookbooks are always impeccable - they're such fun just to look at even if you don't intend on cooking a thing.
Readramble, we had a heated discussion about what a 'biscuit' was (UK = cookie-type thing, flat and crunchy and not always sweet) and the concept of gravy being something white and creamy was just anethema. It was a really interesting conversation! We didn't even get into the whole sausage/banger conversation, though they were also disgusted at the idea of having both sweet and savoury (a la pancakes and bacon) at breakfast. We definitely had some strong cultural moments there.
Margot, his books usually have several recipes that I like to try, and are generally keepers for me. I've had the best luck with Jamie at Home if you're ever interested in trying anything out. Good luck!
I only tried this 30 minute meals book. But I am looking to try more of Jamie's Books :)
I've watched Jamie on tv, but never checked out any of his cookbooks.
Sorry the cornbread was a bust!
Here's Mine
This is a fun post. I've made my fair share of bad cornbread, and finally found one that works. Let me know if you'd like it... but that soup looks good! I've never tried any of Jamie's recipes...
I enjoyed reading this blog post.
I will meet you at the BC thingy tomorrow...
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