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The Kitchen Whisperers

Cooking with the Wisdom of Our Friends

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A beautifully written tribute to the people who teach us to cook and guide our hands in the kitchen, by a founding editor of Saveur.


The cooking lessons that stick with us are rarely the ones we read in books or learn through blog posts or YouTube videos (depending on your generation); they’re the ones we pick up as we spend time with good cooks in the kitchen. Dorothy Kalins, founding editor of Savuer magazine, calls the people who pass on their cooking wisdom her Kitchen Whisperers. Consciously or not, they help make us the cooks we are—and help show the way to the kind of cooks we have the potential to become.

Dorothy’s prolific career in food media means many of her Kitchen Whisperers are some of the best chefs around (though the lessons she’s learned from fellow home cooks are just as important). For Dorothy, a lifetime of exposure to incredible cooks and chefs means that she can’t enter her kitchen without hearing the voices of mentors and friends with whom she cooked over the years as they reveal their favorite techniques. Marcella Hazan warns her against valuing look over flavor. Christopher Hirsheimer advises that sometimes water is the best liquid to add to a dish rather than stock or wine. Her onetime Southern mother-in-law wisely knows that not everyone who asks for a biscuit is food hungry. Woven through the text are dozens of narrative recipes, from her mother’s meat loaf to David Tanis’s Swiss Chard Gratin.

The Kitchen Whisperers will prompt older readers to identify and cherish the food mentors in their own lives, just as it will inspire younger readers to seek them out. Stories and recipes from Dorothy’s notable connections will inspire the creative food journeys of all.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 16, 2021
      Kalins (The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook), founding editor of Saveur magazine, reflects on the cooks and chefs whose “generous lessons” enriched her love of food in this meditative memoir. Though she offers a smattering of recipes and menus, Kalins’s focus is on culinary moments that made a lasting impact on her. Given her stature in the food world, her “kitchen whisperers” include notable chefs such as French Laundry’s onetime owner, Sally Schmitt—whose apple peeling method is superior to all others—Canal House’s Christopher Hirsheimer (“my culinary North Star”), and Michael Anthony, the Michelin-starred chef who “encouraged me to pickle practically anything.” But Kalins isn’t about name-dropping: she remembers a family friend from her childhood days who taught her that food should not only taste good but look good; gives a loving nod to her son, Lincoln, whose voice is in her head every time she juices a lemon; and cherishes the chipped slotted spoon from her late mother-in-law, a sentimental reminder that “the things we cook with matter.” While each memory is a pleasure to savor, what resonates most is the how these stories will inspire readers to take stock and appreciate their own whisperers. Food lovers will want to devour this one slowly. Agent: David Black, David Black Literary.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from August 1, 2021
      The founding editor of Metropolitan Home and Saveur and an avowed foodie, Kalins digs deep into memories and sessions with internationally known chefs (e.g., the late Marcella Hazan) to uncover the answers to "what, exactly, are the secrets of great kitchen work?" Her whisperers are many of the gurus she's featured in magazine pages as well as the authors she's worked with on book concepts and production. That kind of access to top kitchen talent is invaluable, and Kalins shares her learnings with readers. Some findings are tactical in nature, like don't overknead or overwork biscuits and let apricots stew overnight. Others are more cerebral and often encased in a quotable quote: "Preserving captures the essence of a place in a jar." Or the theory of implied endorsement, "If a known cook takes a workaround, I can too." Recipes are somewhat helter skelter, embedded into the narrative. The ultimate reward is when Kalins acts as whisperer to her stepdaughter Sandrine and sees her wisdom passed on. Beautifully written, thoughtful content that mirrors our current mindfulness movement.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      October 1, 2021

      In this well-written culinary memoir, Kalins (founding editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine; author of V is for Vegetable) discusses her so-called "kitchen whisperers": the chefs whose culinary guidance she often calls on while cooking or shopping for ingredients. Danny Meyer, a longtime friend, wrote the book's introduction, where he talks about his own kitchen whisperers, including his father and Kalins. Kalins's memoir mentions a number of personal mentors, including Marcella Hazen and David Tanis, and describes how they have influenced her throughout her culinary career. There is also a chapter about traveling to Israel with chef Michael Solomonov to film the documentary In Search of Israeli Cuisine (directed by Kalins's husband Roger Sherman). In addition to these recollections, the memoir includes a handful of recipes--some based on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, others influenced by Kalins's Southern mother-in-law. VERDICT Kalins has written a timeless culinary memoir that allows readers to experience her life in food. Recommended for foodies and cooks of all ages.--Holly Skir, Broward Cty. Lib., FL

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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