New Claudia Fleming Cookbook; Long-Lost Recipes Found Online

Plus a note from your editor.

Mar 13, 2020

Howdy cookbook fans!

I have to be honest, I debated whether or not to send a newsletter today. Things at my house are bananas: the cat’s at the vet, the car has a flat tire, the baby oak trees planted in the fall are full of f*cking caterpillars, and that’s before I even begin to think about… *waves hands at the news*

But a lot of us are going to be cooking at home for the foreseeable future. And so we turn to cookbooks. For that reason, I will be sending the typically paid-subscriber-only Friday issues to the entire list for the duration of the crisis. That means everyone will get two issues per week until there’s…some sort of all-clear. Whatever that looks like.

To my paid subscribers: You mean the world to me. It’s because of you I can even afford to write this newsletter at all, and I am so honored that you would put money towards that cause. We’ll go back to exclusive Friday issues soon, but I hope you support this step for the time being.

To the cookbook authors and recipe developers out there: if you have recipes from a cookbook you’ve written, new or old or whatever, that would be good for pantry cooking etc., please reach out. I’m happy to link to them wherever they live online or include the text in the body of the email (with link to your preferred method book sales, of course).

Sending good thoughts to all. Social distancing can’t mess with email newsletters!!!

Claudia Fleming to Write Follow-Up to The Last Course

It’s not all bad news out there, folks. From the inbox: JBFA-winning pastry chef Claudia Fleming is working on her first cookbook in 15 years. Details are slim right now, but according to a Random House release, the book will be “focused on baking and featuring recipes for the enticing wonders she has been pulling from her oven over the last fifteen years. Each sweet and savory reflects her signature style and skilled approach to pastry.”

This is a big deal because her last cookbook, The Last Course, is a cult favorite among pastry chefs and avid home bakers, who love it for its innovative and creative seasonal pastry recipes. Long out of print, The Last Course was reissued last fall (thankfully, for those of us who didn’t want to spend $$$$ on a used first edition). No word on when the new book comes out as yet, but it is safe to say you can get extremely excited.

UK Chef and Cookbook Author Michel Roux Dies at 78

Chef Michel Roux, who first became famous in London in the 1960s with his restaurant Le Gavroche, has died due to a long-term lung condition. Roux was the author of many cookbooks covering French cuisine, many of them single subject: Sauces, Pastry, Eggs, and more. Additionally, some of London’s most famous chefs/cookbook authors passed through his kitchen, including Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, and Pierre Koffmann. Roux was 78. Rest in peace, chef.

Long-Lost Recipes Found on University Server

University of Victoria’s Fine Arts Building.

Apologies in advance, this one’s a bit of a tearjerker. In the 1990s, then-University of Victoria student Eric Jordan digitized 174 of his mother’s recipes on the Canadian' univeristy’s Fine Arts website. Jordan had attempted to find them several times after his mother’s passing in 1999, but never succeeded. The recipes were seemingly lost to time.

Until recently, when a reporter at the Martlet, the university’s independent newspaper, found an orphaned website declaring itself a “directory for the favorite recipes of the faculty, staff and students of UVic.” They were Jordan’s mom’s recipes, which somehow survived “30 years of server migrations and at least three domain name changes.”

As Jordan told the Martlet, “My mother always loved to cook and so I try my best to faithfully recreate her food using [her] recipes in order to share my memories of her with my children.” Head over for the full story, and Jordan’s mom’s Yorkshire Curd Tea Tart recipe.

Check this out!

This is cool: Death & Co. is producing a cocktail journal, where you can record all your booze tinkerings. I’ve seen journals like this for barbecue but this is the first I’ve seen for bartenders.
A preview of Maine’s bicentennial cookbook. [Penobscot Bay Pilot]
An interview with Drag Queen Brunch author Poppy Tooker. [Tennessean]
All of It with Alison Stewart talks about the Phoenica Diner Cookbook. [WNYC]
An update of the fried chicken recipe from America’s oldest in-print Junior League cookbook, Charleston Receipts. [The Apopka Chief]
Famous women’s recipes everyone should know. [Chowhound]
Filipino food gets the Instant Pot cookbook treatment. [Signal Tribune]
An interview with the women behind Dimes: Emotional Eating. [W]
Cookbook review: Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry. [AJC]
Okay that’s it for today! Remember that we are all in this together, separately! And that you can check out cookbook ebooks from the library digitally! I’ll see everyone on Wednesday. WASH YOUR HANDS!!! And have a good weekend.