9 Nasty Truths About Your Favorite Foods
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Just like last year at this time, I'm out in Portland, OR, visiting my parents for the holidays. One of my favorite Portland activities is to hit a variety of thrift stores, searching out interesting old cookbooks (for some reason, Philadelphia thrift stores don't seem to have the same wealth of cookbooks). Today I picked an assortment of cookbooks from the sixties and seventies, including The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet, by Pierre Franey. Franey was a New York Times food writer during Craig Claiborne's reign and wrote a column entitled The 60-Minute Gourmet for the paper. He was a highly trained French chef who once ran the kitchen at Le Pavillon, which during its day, was considered the best restaurant in all of New York City. This book was originally published in the fall of 1979 and while it has been revised over the years, the copy I have is from the initial printing run.
I've spent a bit of time reading through this volume and it seems to be quite ahead of its time, as far as the attitude towards fresh herbs, good cheeses and oils go. Franey recommends keeping a hunk of Parmesan in the fridge, saying that it is best when freshly grated (and this was in the days when the green canister of shaking cheese was the preferred Parm). I've already marked several pages with appealing recipes, including Poached Chicken with Bourbon Sauce (page 42), Asparagus with Nutmeg Butter (page 81) and Cannellini Beans with Tuna (page 312).
