Cookbook Q & A: Home Port Cookbook

Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

COOKBOOK Q & A: HOME PORT COOKBOOK

Posted by Maggie Brooks on 6/21/2011 at 8:00AM | No Comments

Will Holtham’s career has landed him in some of the best restaurants in New England, like the waterfront institution Anthony’s Pier 4. In 1977, he took over as chef and owner of the ultimate neighborhood restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard, Home Port, making him a hometown celebrity is his own right. Last month, he released his first cookbook, Home Port Cookbook, giving us personal stories and a taste of seafood recipes straight from the kitchen of one of the Vineyard’s most iconic restaurants.

You were around Home Port for 40 years. Why do a cookbook now?
I had thought about it awhile ago, but I’m always so busy in the summer with work, and winter was for relaxing and recharging. When I retired two years ago, I knew I would need a project. Here it is.

Chet Cummins (the previous owner of Home Port) was obviously a huge influence in your life. Who are your other inspirations as a chef and business owners?
I worked with Donald Valle, of Valle’s Steak House, and Anthony [Athanas] at Pier 4. Both were huge influences on how I run a restaurant.

Home Port is such an established place. What have you done to update the food or experience?
When Chet asked me to take over in 1977, he knew that I would keep it going just as it was. Basically, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I did add the catch of the day so I could have some flexible creativity everyday, and I super-sized the seafood platters.

You give a lot of good technique advice for prepping seafood. Is there anything you suggest leaving to the professionals?
Anything you aren’t comfortable doing. Shucking oysters and clams can be dangerous, so either have the fishmonger do it or get some instruction.

How close are these recipes to the ones you used in the restaurant?
I actually spent about a year writing my own recipes and simplifying the ones that we used in the restaurant. Home Port relies on fresh seafood, so there are only so many recipes to go around. A lot of the variations are my personal recipes.

What are the can’t miss recipes in your book?
The chowder is awesome. Several publications have given it awards, and it’s really great. Stuffed quahogs is also a good one. Everything is simple and doable and there’s something for everyone.

What is everything better with?
Butter. Julia Child and Paula Deen have it right. Luckily in New England, the seafood is so fresh that you don’t need much more to make it better.

Will Holtham retired in 2008 after 31 years at Home Port. He splits his time between Maine, South Carolina, and the Cape. This is his first book, available at amazon.com.

FIVE MINUTES WITH: FOOD JOURNALIST JOHN MARIANI

Posted by Erin Byers Murray on 6/9/2011 at 1:00PM | No Comments

Journalist John Mariani tackles the broad-reaching topic of Italian food and its influence over the modern dining world in his recently released book, How Italian Food Conquered The World. The Esquire restaurant feature writer and blogger visits Boston on Monday June 13th for a book signing – we caught up with him in advance to get a few thoughts on the book, Boston’s Italian food scene, and where he’ll eat when he’s here.

Chowder: What prompted this particular book? Why now?

John Mariani: The title itself tells the tale that I could not have written this book ten years ago and made any such statement and five years ago I might have said “Italian food conquered America.” But now I can, on the basis of research of the book, say that whether we’re in Mumbai or … Shanghai or anyplace: Italian restaurants have become the most popular and stylish restaurants.

Chowder: What’s happened in the last five or ten years that makes this the case? READ MORE

FOOD NETWORK: A PEEK INTO AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN

Posted by Erin Byers Murray on 5/27/2011 at 10:00AM | No Comments

photo by Steve Klise, America's Test Kitchen

Boston chefs have been popping up on reality TV in droves lately: Ken Oringer guest judging on Chopped; Mary Dumont making a run on The Next Iron Chef. Yes, we watch these episodes breathlessly waiting to see whether our local heroes will sink or swim. But sometimes, all we really want is a reality check. No confessionals. No spiky haired hosts. No fancy sound effects. Just some solid cooking advice.

America’s Test Kitchen has been producing this kind of kitchen geek content for the past 12 years right in our own backyard. Located in Brookline Village, the ATK offices take up several floors of an old warehouse; the entire television studio is housed here, behind a library of about 4,000 cookbooks in a completely unassuming corner of the city. From that studio, the television production team shoots 26 episodes in just 13 days, often putting in at least 15 hours per day to get every last segment taped in their short time frame. (They also shoot a show called Cook’s Country, which will tape its fifth season at a studio in Vermont later this fall.)

Last week, ATK invited us in to check out a taping of an episode that will air during the upcoming 12th season (look for it starting January 2012). We watched as the show’s host, Christopher Kimball, clad in bowtie and suspenders, grilled test cook Adam Ried on how to pick out the perfect measuring cup. It was sandwiched between segments on baking chocolate and buying pork.

Like the magazines and books these shows are based on, ATK episodes (some of the most watched on public television) are for the home cooking fanatics, folks who really, really want to know which of the many canned tuna options they should buy or why certain household ice cream makers work better than others. It’s straight forward and instructive without being droll — Kimball and the test cooks that appear on the show don’t work from a script so their banter is genuine and, oftentimes, quite funny.

At the end of a long stretch of filming, the staff blows off steam not with a wrap party or bottles of champagne but with a highly contentious Rice Crispy treat bake-off during which the test cooks show off their most delicious and often wacky versions of mom’s easiest dessert.

It may be nerdy and educational stuff but at the end of the day, that’s what cooking at home requires. No sound effects. No spiky-haired hosts. Just a good measuring cup, the right type of chocolate, and a reliable recipe. That it comes from a few local heroes surely doesn’t hurt.

The Emmy-nominated series, America’s Test Kitchen, airs locally on WGBH.

COOKBOOK Q&A: SEAR, SAUCE, AND SERVE

Posted by Maggie Brooks on 5/3/2011 at 9:00AM | No Comments

Tony Rosenfeld, a local chef, food writer, and restaurateur (he’s one of the the masterminds behind B. Good, a healthy and local alternative to fast food), releases his latest cookbook, Sear, Sauce, and Serve today. In it, he teaches the methods of high heat cooking (broiling, grilling, sauteing, and stir-frying) plus offers recipes for sauces, marinades, and finishing touches that make for a quick and simple weeknight meal.

Why a “high heat” cookbook?
I noticed that this is how I end up cooking at home. It’s a really great way to make it through the week because it’s simple and looks like a lot more.

READ MORE

TABLE TALK ONLINE + THIS WEEK’S EDIBLE EVENTS

Posted by Erin Byers Murray on 4/25/2011 at 9:00AM | No Comments

Zagat‘s 2011/2012 Boston Restaurant survey dropped last week and with it some interesting news about the Boston dining scene. We were interested to hear that the average price of a meal in Boston went down very slightly. (Ok, it was only about eight cents… but still.) Tim Zagat pointed out that fact during an award’s breakfast last week before handing out plaques to this year’s most highly rated restaurants (more on those below). He said the average check decrease was “likely due to the number of new restaurants opening with lower menu prices. They’re holding down the price on average around town.” Do we have affordable spots like Citizen Public House and American Craft to thank for that? Whatever the reason, we’re big fans of scoring great dining deals (see our May issue on stands this week) so we welcomed the news.

He also noted that service is still Boston’s number one pet peeve with about 65% of customers here complaining about it when they dine out. His recommendation? The industry needs to follow the lead of the culinary school trend and start creating more professional front-of-house training programs. While service training programs do currently exist, he says there aren’t nearly enough to produce or match the talent that is currently coming out of culinary schools.

But back to those well-rated restaurants.
READ MORE

BOOK CLUB: MING TSAI’S ONE-POT RECIPES

Posted by A. J. Downey on 9/15/2010 at 9:40AM | 2 Comments

By Aviva Shen

Chef Ming Tsai wears a lot of hats. He’s executive chef and owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, the host and creator of the cooking show, “Simply Ming” — and now, with his upcoming cookbook, Simply Ming One-Pot Meals, he’s taking on a new role as the Rachael Ray of Asian cooking.

One-Pot Meals is all about simplicity: it’s chock full of “quick, healthy and affordable recipes” that, as you may have guessed, only require one pot (or wok, or pan). “The reality is that this is the way most people, most chefs, cook at home.” Ming says. “These are products I would bring home — I’m not going to get kobe beef for the kids when I can just get a couple of nice hanger steaks.”

Ming says that lots of other people do this, like Rachael Ray, but “I don’t think anyone’s done it with Asian-style food.”

Ming has featured one-pot cooking on “Simply Ming” for several years now, and approximately fifty recipes from the show made it into the book. And the new recipes? They were based on flavor and/or technique (i.e. braising, roasting, wokking, and stir-fry) and tested out many, many times. “I think we do such a disservice to people who buy cookbooks if the recipe isn’t perfect,” says Ming. READ MORE

WHAT’S THE DISH?

Posted by admin on 12/19/2008 at 1:03PM | No Comments

Your Chowder hounds have sniffed down the best culinary events in town. Check back every Friday for your weekly prix-fixe of foodie festivals, cooking classes, wine tastings, and more.

$40 Stimulus Menu
Tuesday-Sunday, dinner hours
Pigalle
Tuesday through Sunday evenings, chef Marc Orfaly will prepare your choice of three courses for just $40, including selections like French onion soup with braised short rib, tuna martini with seaweed salad, pâté de porc with mustard aïoli, cornichons and Armagnac soaked prunes, and many others.

Prix Pixe Dinner
Through Feb. 28, every evening
Olives
Todd English‘s Olives has unveiled a new, three-course menu for $35 that is available every night through the end of February. The menu will change monthly, and for December, they’re offering first course choices of steamed P.E.I. mussels, tender salad of Boston Bibb & Mache, or ricotta ravioli. For the second course, choose from pan roasted chicken breast, winter flounder, or petite filet mignon. And for dessert, there’s the option of chocolate & butterscotch pudding or tarte tatin.

MIXOLOGIST DALE DEGROFF’S HOLIDAY DRINK SUGGESTION

Posted by Amy Derjue on 11/18/2008 at 12:10PM | No Comments

1227019448 Last night, bartenders and imbibers from around Boston gathered at Drink to celebrate renowned cocktail maker Dale DeGroff’s latest book, The Essential Cocktail. Small samples of Manhattans (made with rye whiskey or bourbon) and Cosmopolitans flowed freely as DeGroff worked the room.

Before we sampled one to many of his libations, we talked to DeGroff about what he recommends you serve guests this holiday season.

YET ANOTHER HELPING OF AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN

Posted by Jenn Johnson on 9/4/2008 at 12:47PM | No Comments

1220546806 The latest recipe collections from cooking-technique juggernaut America’s Test Kitchen—headed by Boston’s own Christopher Kimball—arrived in the mail with a thud this week. Heavy as my sad attempts at Christmas fruit bread but far more digestible, The Cook’s Country Cookbook and The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book come packed with a collective 1,200 recipes guaranteed to keep spatula fiends busy for years.

Which may be alarming for those still working their way through any of the 50-odd books listed on the America’s Test Kitchen website: America’s Best Lost Recipes, Behind the Scenes with America’s Test Kitchen, Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2008, plus books devoted to casseroles, side dishes, American classics, Italian classics, restaurant favorites, and so on. For those who prefer taking a micro, rather than macro, approach, there’s How to Cook Chicken Breasts and How to Cook Simple Fruit Desserts. READ MORE

READ LOCALLY

Posted by Jenn Johnson on 7/25/2008 at 11:06AM | 1 Comment

1216999435 Full of tasty recipes with New England flair and abundant color photos of island life—with not a single Black Dog to be spotted—the new cookbook from Edgartown’s Carol McManus, Table Talk (Vineyard Stories, $22.95, 114 pages), is about as gift-basket ready as it gets. Due out in mid-August, the vibrant paperback is just the sort of thing a host can send home with summering out-of-towners, with no fear of perpetuating Bay State tourist kitsch.

McManus, longtime owner of Espresso Love Cafe, teamed up with island-based Vineyard Stories, which boasts an impressive pedigree for a small custom publisher: Husband-and-wife team Jan Pogue and John Walter are veteran journalists with a combined resume that includes the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and USA Today.

They also have strong ties to the Vineyard, with Walter having served as editor and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette. Table Talk is their eighth book, and their second cookbook (the first being the charming Delish!, a collection of recipes inspired by local author Philip R. Craig’s fictional Vineyard detective, J. W. Jackson).

No surprise, then, that Table Talk comes off as warmly authentic. READ MORE

Archive for the ‘Books’ Category