Nunn - The preppy cookbook : classic recipes for the modern prep

This book is dedicated to the memory of my mom, Carol Anderton Nunn, a class act whose love of food and cooking made me who I am today. And to my dad, Richard C. Nunn, a successful gentleman who was passionate about his garden, enjoyed a good round of golf, and was the kindest soul around.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

I read The Official Preppy Handbook when it came out in 1980 and chuckled along with everyone else, pretending that that lifestyle had nothing to do with me. In fact, a full decade before the books publication, this rebellious child of the sixties had shed almost all of the obvious affectations that marked her as a prep. On the lunch line during my first week at the University of Michigan in 1970, I made the mistake of asking for a bacon-lettuce-and- toMAHto sandwich. The entire cafeteria, students and servers alike, stopped dead and looked at me as if Id dropped into their midst from another planet. From then on I pronounced that word like everyone around me.

But, hey, those are my roots. Although I grew up in New York City, my parents and all their kin are from solid New England stock, and their forebears from Olde England and Scotland and France. As a kid, I attended private schools, played tennis, attempted to sail, attempted to learn how to ride a horse, visited coastal Maine, summered at my parents country home in Massachusetts, and traveled throughout Europe after graduating from college. As an adult, I have always been ready for a glass of wine at the stroke of six oclock.

Like Lisa Birnbach and yours truly, my friend Christine Nunn grew up in the wonderful world of prep. And like Lisa, she writes about that world with deep knowledge and humor. But with The Preppy Cookbook , Christine takes The Official Preppy Handbook several steps further, deep into the preppy kitchen. It is a place where mayonnaise is The Condiment, gin and tonic is The Drink, a Bloody Mary is The Cure, condensed soup in a can is a mother sauce, Jell-O molds are elegant, and caviar and Champagne are de rigueur on holidays (although only two brands are considered acceptable). It is a cozy, noncombative, well-lubricated world, very reminiscent of Jeeves and Wooster.

I first met Christine in 2006 on a charity cruise in New York Harbor to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. I was the featured chef and Christine and her catering crew had donated food to the event. We hit it off immediately, especially after we discovered that both of us were alums of the Culinary Institute of America.

Several months later, Christine reached out to ask if I would work with her on an event to raise money for a little girl with a terrible heart condition. All I had to do was show up early enough to check on the preparation of my recipes and then attend the dinner. When I arrived at the venue, Christines first question was, What would you like for a cocktail? Hmmmm, I thought. It is within spitting distance of 6 p.m. I like this woman.

The next year the James Beard Foundation asked me to prepare salad for three hundred for one of their annual awards dinners. Lacking the resources of a restaurant, including a battalion of sous chefs, I couldnt have done it on my own. Happily, Christine rode to the rescue. She brought her crew and most of the ingredients as well. Everything went swimmingly. Christine is always bailing people out.

But she is a very talented chef, too, as anyone lucky enough to have dined at Picnic, her restaurant in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, can attest. Its occasionally tongue-in-cheek text aside, this cookbook boasts a raft of seriously good recipes and an equal number of great ideas for their presentation. (Watch your back, Martha S.!)

The book is organized to reflect the stations of the Preppy Life Cycle, including The Formative Years, Summer and the Living Is Easy (featuring a Lobster Bake worthy of Julia Child), Brunch as a Verb (hooray for seven varieties of Eggs Benedict!), Luncheons and Showers (including a dozen renditions of the dreaded but ever-popular tea sandwich), and, of course, Home for the Holidays.

The thoughtful and mannerly Ms. Nunn also dispenses prep etiquette at every step. Handwritten thank-you notes are a must. Brunch should begin at 12:15. A shower should never be held at the home of the mother of the bride or of the expectant mother. Do not cheapen your Christmas tree with tinsel or garlands.

Even if you dont smile your way through this book (although I did), and even if you arent a preppy or preppy wannabe, Im sure youll want to prepare many of these dishesand their accompanying cocktailsfor friends and family. All kidding aside, preps are a famously sociable tribe, a tribe that loves to entertain. Welcome to the party.

Sara Moulton,
host of Saras Weeknight Meals

INTRODUCTION

A s I sit on the porch of my little lake house on this late summer day, awaiting the arrival of my weekend guests, I cant help but contemplate how the world has changed to the detriment of gracious living. What happened, I wonder, to the days of a handwritten invitation where the invitee would actually write back? It was a polite world, not too long ago.

The weekend party I am planning is small but fun. Well start with drinks outside. Im all set with the makings of martinis, which of course means gin. (Rule one: Vodka is not in a martini unless it is called a vodka martini, which really is not a martini at all. And dont even think that a French martini is French or a martini. It is simply a vodka drink.) Well move on to some snacks, cheese, crackers, olives (Ive got those anyway for the above drink).