Book Review: The Silver Palate Cookbook, 25th Anniversary edition

 The time was 1994. I was pinch hitting for a chef friend, cooking for monks in a small and beautiful monastery. To raise money, they had opened their doors to the public, renting rooms and serving meals to small numbers of the devoted. The head monk had taken me down to the vast basement and proudly showed me the five freezers filled with - flash frozen prepared "gourmet" food. I was horrified. As a former cook in a French bistro in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I only knew how to cook from scratch. I looked at the huge bags and boxes in the freezers - and quietly closed the freezer doors. I never went back to those freezers again, except to grab a box of whole grain rolls.

 As I stood in the monastery kitchen, I wondered what I was going to cook, day after day, for the monks and guests until the regular cook came back. I walked into the larder and saw this book. That was the only cookbook in the kitchen.  I thumbed through it with a huge sigh of relief - here were recipes for EVERYTHING, from soup to desserts, from brunch to elegant dinners. 

 The Silver Palate was first published in 1979 - a time when cooking, at least in Cambridge, was leaping off from the wildly successful French Chef television shows and Julia Child's meticulous cookbooks into a new American style of cooking. This new cooking was heady with fresh herbs, fresh ingredients, and a more casual presentation than the traditional French platters, and it was delicious. 

The Silver Palate Cookbook is a book for everyone and anyone, from the beginner to the expert. Never served brunch before? Thumb to "The Brunch Bunch" for how to make an omelet, crepes, elegant fruit salads, coffee cakes, and drinks. Look up sausages, and there's a whole PAGE of descriptions, from Abruzzi to Toscano. Have a bunch of asparagus and don't know how to serve it? There's a whole vegetable section, where you'll find  directions for cooking, dressings, dipping sauces and vinaigrettes, an asparagus strudel, a soup, a souffle. The new COLOR photographs ( the original Silver Palate Cookbooks were illustrated with only line drawings) are enticing and helpful with presentation.

 Silver Palate cookbooks have always been helpful and instructive, without a trace of snobbery. You never feel embarressed that you don't know what, say, fennel greens are. Or how to bake garlic. How to make a pot roast.  14 ways to use pesto! Pages and pages on cheeses - buying, storing, descriptions, and lots of recipes. How to make puff pastry. Making your own Creme Fraiche or mayonnaise. 

The beloved Cookie section shines with tried and true and delicious Oatmeal Cookies, the famous Chocolate Chip cookies, Macaroons, Toffee bars, Linzer Hearts. I've made nearly every one for my family so I can tell you, the recipes are foolproof. And the desserts from Cream Puffs to the Glazed Lemon Cake are simply divine.