An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

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If it doesn't have you dashing into your kitchen, digging through your pantry for those just-right ingredients, nothing will.

I loved the concept, and really wanted inspiration to be more of an intuitive cook and less reliant on recipes all the time, but I was wary when some reviews pointed to the pretentious prose used throughout. Inspired by the book, I sauteed up the shallot, bell pepper and garlic, added the tomato and let that cook down. Instead of feeling intimidating or boring or terribly utilitarian, Adler’s recipes and guiding principles for reinvigorating leftovers are warm and enticing. What I think makes this book so special is that it is not about food in isolation ("here are a bunch of things that taste great!Skip the rest, if you must, but that chapter gives you ways to save money and waste by using so many bits and pieces we normally throw away. Even though there haven't been any revolutionary tips so far, it has really inspired me to let go of recipes.

That said, this was a mildly successful book, in that it did teach me some things, while also boring me through some chapters of stuff I already know. This will not overlap with any cook books you have on the shelf, and more than that it's a brilliant read about culture, feelings, and how food can make you and your friends have a great time sitting, talking, and eating. This sort of vegetable is impractical if you're trying to look ahead, but is very good at making you stop and look around. In an age when every recipe seems to come with a list of ingredients as long as my arm, Tamar Adler's approach to food is disarmingly simple, refreshingly intuitive, and utterly sensible.

It's an invaluable resource for home cooks looking to eat more mindfully and deliciously while throwing away less. But while the word ‘economy’ is in the title, the author uses it to mean ‘not wasting things’, rather than ‘eating cheaply’.

It has a brief season and is probably laborious, needing to be shelled or shucked or peeled, then leaving you a tiny pile of its edible self.That’s where Tamar Adler can help—her area of culinary expertise is finding delicious destinies for leftovers. Her way of thinking of course owes a lot to MFKF, and is also pretty close in style to Robert Farrar Capon's "ferial" cooking from "The Supper of the Lamb. p.95 Remoulade: A piquant cold sauce made with mayonnaise, chopped pickles, capers, anchovies, and herbs. I’d prefer to see most things prepared without much salt, if any, and those who need it can add it at the table.

While I also enjoyed the MFKF book, TA's book has had much more of an actual impact on my life with food. I would much rather read Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinson, Fergus Henderson, Melissa Clark, Mark Bittman, Deborah Madison, or even Alice Waters, who gives a glowing review of Adler's book, but oddly enough, I find less offensive.If you want to cook with economy (and grace), this book is a wonderful read, and you’ll have plenty of help with traditional categories of food, such as eggs, but it does feel a little old-fashioned; a book for aspiring cooks ‘in the know’ about what makes good eating, and how to do it without stressing. Cooking for me (when not in emergency mode with my tiny children) is meant to be cathartic, and a creative process as much as a scientific one. The night I finished the book, I found myself confronted with rather bare cupboards and, armed with Adler's injunctions and encouragement, managed to whip up a delicious soup of old potatoes, wilted green onions, and bacon bits that quite literally may have changed my entire outlook on cooking.