Nicole Alper - Wild Women in the Kitchen: 101 Rambunctious Recipes & 99 Tasty Tales

Copyright1996 by The Wild Women Association

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews. For information, contact Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC; 665 Third Street, Suite 400; San Francisco, CA 94107.

Cover Design: Brenda Duke, Suzanne Albertson

Interior Design: Suzanne Albertson

Cover photo: Kelly Povo, Minneapolis, MN

ISBN: 978-1-57324-030-7

Acknowledgment of permission to reprint previously published material can be found on page 227, which constitutes an extension of the copyright page.

Kind permission was granted by Archive Photo for reproduction of all interior images with the exception of those on pages 10 and 37.

Images of Betty Crocker are reprinted with the generous permission of General Mills, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wild women in the kitchen: 101 rambunctious recipes and 99 tasty tales / the Wild Women Association; introduction by Autumn Stephens; foreword by Nicole Alper.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57324-030-3 (trade paper)

1. Cookery. 2. WomenAnecdotes. 3. Celebrities. I. Wild Women Association.

TX714.W522 1996

641.5dc20 96-4937

Printed in the United States of America

20 19 18 17 16 15

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Other Books in the Wild and ever so Uppity Women series:

Wild Women

Crusaders, Curmudgeons and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era
by Autumn Stephens

Wild Words from Wild Women

An Unbridled Collection of Candid Observations & Extremely Opinionated Bon Mots
by Autumn Stephens

Uppity Women of Ancient Times

by Vicki Len

This book was born through the labor of many wild women, including:

Brenda Knight, the generation of the idea and marketing

Vicki Len, research

Lynette Rohrer and Nicole Alper, recipe testing and donation of original recipes

Autumn Stephens, inspiration and introduction

Barbara Quick, stories and recipes from M.F.K. Fisher and Jessica Mitford

Joan Hemm and The Shady Ladies of the Central City Motherlode, quotes

Claudia Schaab, research

Emily Miles, research and publicity

Ame Beanland, research, design, and production

Amity Stauffer, typing

Chandrika Madhavan, typing

Eileen Swanson, typing

Susan Stafford, research

Suzanne Albertson, interior design, layout, and cover design

Erin McCune, publicity

Barbara Parmet, recipe

Marie-Jeanne and Dominique Delanghe, croissant recipe

Diane Clement of The Tomato Fresh Food Cafe, recipes

Brenda Duke, cover design

Judy July and Generic Type, cover work

M. J. Ryan, research, recipes, and editing

omen of all generations and ages have shared one very special and constant loverfood. This sweet-talking seducer lures women out of bed for many a late-night rendezvous, causing us to bask in the unforgiving light of the refrigerator as we eagerly devour leftovers. This tempter offers itself in ever-changing and enthusiastic formsthe sensuousness of a chocolate torte, the boldness of a ripe strawberry, or the inventiveness of a white corn souffland, through its metamorphosis, succeeds in keeping us faithful, our affections unwavering, even sometimes bordering on obsession.

My obsession began very early. My mother Jeanne-Berenice is French, and though she was orphaned in World War II and never had anyone to teach her how to cook, one could say she was genetically predisposed to being a great chef. The scent of Boeuf Bourguignonne would waft through our house on a regular basis. When other children were bringing bologna sandwiches to school, my mother supplied me with a Tupperware container of Coq au Vin and a slice of Quatre Quart (a French pound cake, the recipe for which you will find later in the book).

I suppose the cooking gene was passed on, and in my early twenties, I temporarily left school to pursue my interest in cooking. I went to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Lynette Rohrer, now the Executive Pastry Chef of Star's, in Palo Alto. Though Lynette never finished the Academy, she went on to work in the most distinguished restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area: Postrio, Chez Panisse, Bisou, Masa's, and now Star's. We lived together during cooking school, and my fondest memory of Lynette displaying her skills was when she, during a fairly wild party, approached me and several friends in the hot tub to offer up a fine display of caramelized Spam triangles, elegantly nestled in a silver serving dish.

That is undoubtedly a charming quality in a chef: though one's skills in the kitchen may be extraordinary, there is no reason to be a food snob. In fact, one evening she and I were dining at Masa's (her employee discount made the meal only exorbitantly, not unconscionably, expensive), and after a meal that could only be described as a religious experience, dessert arrived. The chef, knowing Lynette's predilection for junk food, put together a phenomenal array of twinkies sliced on the bias, ho-ho's swimming in crme anglaise, red zingers resting on a pool of red raspberry puree, all beautifully garnished with a brunoise of red and black licorice, gracefully scattered on the plate. She eagerly gobbled it up.

Until all too recently women's love affair with food was considered illicit if it dared to cross the boundary into the professional kitchen. Thanks to many dedicated wild women, our gender now openly displays and profits from this liaison. From being head chefs in some of the finest restaurants, to hosting and producing gourmet cooking shows, to even the tyrannical homemaking of Martha Stewart, women have dared to take what we were once expected to do at home, and turn these daily tasks of food preparation into an extraordinary and often lucrative art form.

Wild Women in the Kitchen looks at some of these pioneers, as well as at women who were trendsetters in food fads and food production, and those who were famous gourmands. It takes you on a journey, an unpredictable exploration, of famous women and their relationships to food. Some have made a life of cooking; others (of different notoriety) simply have an unexpected favorite recipe. What they all have in common is a fervent love of food.

Wild Women in the Kitchen offers recipes that can service the gourmet and the scavenger; elegant foods that require preparation and thought, and others that can satisfy an instant hunger. You can host a romantic dinner for two with a Passion Fruit Lobster Appetizer, Artichoke Heart Timbale, and Chocolate Fondue, or you can gather a group of friends for a night of Penne Pesto Pasta Salad and homebrewed beer.