The Cookbook Experiment

I'm temporarily living with my mom, which has given me access to her library of cookbooks, a small selection of which you can see in the picture below. She has been collecting cookbooks since her own young adulthood, and even has a few from my grandmother's generation. It's an astounding collection of recipes, tips, and other food-related wisdom.


In an effort to get to know these books better, I'm starting a semi-Julie/Julia inspired project to make one recipe from each of these books. Along the way, I'll rate the recipe on various factors (ease of preparation, availability of ingredients, tastiness of results, etc.)

First up, Paris Home Cooking, by Michael Roberts. I was wanting to make vichyssoise, never having had it but thinking leeks and potatoes would make a good midwinter soup, for an unusually cold and wet Austin February. Well, apparently the soup isn't French in origin, but I did find a hot potato and leek soup (not pureed).


It turned out well - even without the bacon the recipe called for. I had to make some substitutions for other ingredients: didn't use the exact type of wine called for; improvised an herb bag - not having cheesecloth - with a tea strainer; green onions rather than chives. Otherwise the recipe was fairly simple and ingredients not unreasonably exotic.

Ease of preparation: A- | Availability of ingredients: B+ | Taste: A