"Christine Dabney" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 00:22:45 -0700, "Kent" > wrote:
>
>>Christine, we have almost all of them, or at least 23-24 or so. The
>>original
>>Time Life series with the cookbook and the recipe book published
>>separately
>>were edited by the late Michael Field. He is one of the greatest cookbook
>>writers ever, and his Michael Field's Cooking School still sits in the
>>middle of the bookshelf, along with Culinary Classics and Improvisations,
>>and All Manner of Food. Very sadly, he died at a young age. The series is,
>>by today's standards, just as good as it was then. I chase something in
>>them
>>fairly often, especially if it is from a cuisine one chases rarely.
>>The second Time Life series was edited by Richard Olney, another great
>>cookbook author. I find his rhetoric, however, more difficult to follow.
>>The
>>content, however, is excellent. I chase in them frequently as well.
>>Both can be found in used bookstores, frequently at low prices. I would
>>heartily recommend snatching issues up from either series.
>>Kent
>
> Kent,
>
> I have the whole Foods of The World series already... I started
> getting it when I was in high school.. It came every other month..and
> I was ecstatic when a new volume was delivered. I poured through
> it..and drooled over the recipes and the pictures.
>
> I have almost the whole series of the Good Cook too..maybe missing one
> or two volumes of that series.
>
> But the Foods of the World series..has such a special place in my
> heart. I learned to cook "gourmet" from that series...things like
> risotto...and osso buco... And chocolate mousse. To this day, I
> think the chocolate mousse recipe from the volume, The Cooking of
> Provincial France is the best ever. And I have been exposed to some
> great chocolate desserts, and cookbooks.
>
> I am soon getting all these volumes out of storage. As I mentioned,
> several of us in the chat channel were talking about these
> volumes..and the idea has come up (at least from me) to explore these
> volumes again, and try cooking from them. There are some good recipes
> there.
>
> Those of you who have these volumes..interested in joining in on
> trying some of the recipes? Either for the first time, or again?
>
> Christine

Christine, if you are starting a chat group on the internet I'd be very
interested in participating. Of my huge mass of cookbooks, I reach for these
often, usually when I can't find what I am looking for elsewhere. I should
probably start with this series and go from there.
Recently I barbecued bone in leg of lamb[The American West]. Virtually all
recipes are for boneless leg, which makes no sense to me. The lamb gets
drier and loses flavor. In addition if it's butterflied it also loses its
visual appeal. You don't need a recipe for barbecued leg of lamb, though
it's always fun to look back. Another great recipe I hadn't thought of, now
made for awhile is Bigos[Quintet of Cuisines]
Just for us to share I cooked "this" or "that" would send you digging
through the volumes again. In the Good Cook, when I want to braise pork loin
I head right to Richard Olney's recipe.
The original series is also fun to read in bed. You can look at the
pictures.
Kent