Shepard - More food of my friends: their favorite recipes

More Food of My Friends Their Favorite Recipes Judith Shepard New York Contents Thanks To all cooks everywhere and especially to those who contributed so enthusiastically to this book. To Karen Sukoneck, who again designed such a nice cover. To Mary Cummings, who again edited for me. To my husband, Marty, who somehow gets it all together and who loves to test the recipes. Foreword In 1981, I wrote a cookbook called Food Of My Friends-The Best Meals in Town. It came about because of a remark my husband Marty made. He said that he was spoiled.

He didnt like to eat in restaurants anymore because our home and the homes of our friends served the best meals in town. My book was, as the title implies, a collection of recipes from my friends as well as some of my own. When I decided to write a second cookbook, I thought it would be a little more difficult and would take much longer to gather a sufficient number of dishes. I felt I might have exhausted my own supply and I would have to find more friends, relatives and even strangers who would be willing to share their favorite recipes. I was wrong. People were so willing to make contributions and were so helpful and supportive that this became the easiest part of the book.

I had a grand time. It was quite exciting to be given a recipe and then test it out on my family, definitely another bonus for writing a book like this. It made mealtime a bit of an adventure. And the recipes came from all over. Some of my friends invented new ones especially for this book and I was inspired to create some myselfI who usually consider myself a recipe follower. Even my husband joined in by creating his own pasta sauce.

Other people dug up old family recipes. I found some of mine that were written on paper so old and yellow that it practically disintegrated before my eyes. My mother gave me one that had been my grandmothers. It became a favorite of mine. I passed it on to my daughter, Liza, and now there will have been three generations of us preparing Quilting Bees. Everyone seemed to be on the lookout for me.

Gay Tarlo came back from a party in New York City and called to tell me about a chicken salad she had enjoyed so much that she jotted down the ingredients so I could include it here. An acquaintance who lives on a commune sent me a whole sheaf of recipes telling me to use whatever I wanted. Franklin Heller wrote a P.S. on the bottom of a business letter asking if I would like an old family recipe for Liptaur Cheese which I eagerly accepted. I think I am the most partial to family recipes, the ones that have been handed down. It may be only an illusion, of course, but it speaks of a kind of continuity that is very appealing to me.

And if they werent family recipes, I liked the idea that people were so eager to share. After all, it doesnt cost anything and it contributes to a whole culinary networka cultural menu of our times, if you will. So, I consider this book first of all a collaborative effort and an indication of the essential willingness of people to share something that gives us all pleasure. Judith Shepard Sag Harbor, N.Y. Introduction About 19 years ago, I picked up a book by Gaylord Hauser which changed my ideas about food and nutrition and set me upon a path that I am still trying to follow. Mr.

Hauser talked about being attentive to what you eat and how you prepare it, and about the benefits this can bring for your health and general well being. It made a lot of sense to me then and does even more so now that my knowledge and experience in this subject has increased. At the time, my ex-husband and I were traveling across country in a play called Whos Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? The tour was ten months long; we had our three children, Aaron, Liza, and Caleb with us, all of whom were under five, and anything that I could do to make this venture easier and less fatiguing was very welcome. After reading Mr. Hausers book, I became excited by the idea that I might have some measure of control over my familys health and, of course, my own. I began changing some of my cooking concepts and trying Mr.

Hausers recipes. When I began to notice a definite change in our physical and mental state, I became a true convert. At that time, people were not nearly as health and diet-conscious as they are now. In fact, certain ideas that are quite germaine to sound nutrition now might have been denounced as fads then. I find the whole emphasis and investigation into the importance of eating wisely, by both laymen and the medical community, a welcome sign of progress. I also find that I continue to change and refine my thinking on this subject as I become older.

I have watched my friends change as they modify their diets. Its not unusual to be invited to a dinner party and have the hostess announce that she has been cooking without much salt and that there is a salt shaker on the table for those who might want to add more. More and more people either dont allow smoking in their homes or set aside a separate room for smokers. And, while this is not an exercise book, I would point out that, for many of us, diet has gone hand-in-hand with exercise. Just as people have become more aware of good nutrition, they have also realized the importance of keeping their bodies in good shape. I continue to be appalled at the way food is manipulated for a longer shelf life and more profit.

The preservatives, additives, bleaches, emulsifiers, mono and diglycerides, other chemicals, and vast amounts of sugar and salt are not for me. I feel it is up to us, the consumers, to show that we will not be force fed these inferior foods and we should refuse to buy such products. If enough people boycott these items, maybe those who are responsible for producing them will be re-educated. It is our health that counts, not their profits. I do have a fair number of recipes in my book calling for meat. I also have some rich and luscious desserts and recipes that do not adhere to strict dietary rules.

Since many of these contributions are very tasty, I have included them. What I do strive for, however, is some kind of balance. I dont make them too often. I try to stick to main courses of vegetables, poultry or fish, salads, fruits, and simple desserts. However, I do eat meat and rich dishes and desserts occasionally. As I said in first cookbook, Everything in moderation, including moderation.

One of the newer things I am working on these days is improving the appearance of the food when it reaches the table. One only has to think about Japanese dishes or look through some of the cookbooks that have expensive, glossy pictures to see what I mean. They practically make your mouth water. I am convinced that to see a beautifully laid table with balanced colors and textures must do something for ones psyche. Since I like the ritual of dining with all that it impliesthe sharing of ideas, the coming together at a certain time of day or eveningsetting an attractive table seems like a necessary component. I am also trying to strike a balance between rich and lean, piquant and bland, solid and liquid when preparing menus.

Of course, weather plays a part too. A chilled fruit soup is superb during a hot summer evening, but is not so desirable in December. Hearty stews and black bread are great during blizzards, but not during a muggy July evening. So its worthwhile and rather intriguing to let the weather help you plan your menu and to see where your creativity might lead you. One last thing concerns the people who have contributed these recipes. Half the fun of writing my first book was that I could write a little bit about my friends.