The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book

by Alice B. Toklas, M. F. K. Fisher (Introduction)

Overview

“A book of character, fine food and tasty human observation."
—The New Yorker

 

Featuring the recipes and memories of Alice B. Toklas—a prominent American expat who lived in France and was Gertrude Stein’s lover—The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book is a precursor to the classic works of famed French chefs Julia Child and M.F.K. Fisher , and stands alongside Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas as a celebration of the fascinating life and times of the woman James Beard called, “one of the really great cooks of all time.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061995361
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/10/2010
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	362,206
Product dimensions:	8.28(w) x 11.22(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude Stein's "secretary-companion." For many years they lived together in France, Toklas cooking while Stein was writing. She is memorialized in Stein's most famous book, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

Table of Contents

Publisher's Note to the 30th Anniversary Edition (1984) vii

Foreword M. F. K. Fisher ix

Introduction Ruth Reichl xix

A Word with the Cook xxxi

I The French Tradition 1

II Food in French Homes 9

III Dishes for Artists 29

IV Murder in the Kitchen 39

V "Beautiful Soup" 53

VI Food to Which Aunt Pauline and Lady Godiva Led Us 61

VII Treasures 109

VIII Food in the United States in 1934 and 1935 139

IX Little-known French Dishes Suitable for American and British Kitchens 157

X Servants in France 193

XI Food in the Bugey During the Occupation 231

XII Recipes from Friends 259

XIII The Vegetable Gardens at Bilignin 301

Index of Recipes 323

What People are Saying About This

James Beard

“Alice was one of the really great cooks of all time.... The secret of her talent was great pains and a remarkable palate.”

Editorial Reviews

A cookbook that is delightful by way of its fine food has been made doubly pleasurable by the addition of shrewd worldly comment, by reminiscences, personalities, anecdotes, by the strong characters of the Misses Stein and Toklas.

New York Herald Tribune

More than a cookbook and memoir, it could almost be called a work of literary modernism, a sort of pendant to Stein’s tour de force, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.” 

Janet Malcolm

Alice was one of the really great cooks of all time.... The secret of her talent was great pains and a remarkable palate.

James Beard

A book of character, fine food, and tasty human observation.

The New Yorker

It will be the fiercest Francophobe who can read Alice’s recipes and not hanker for a taste, the dullest cook who will not want to get to the kitchen and try them out.

Time

It will be the fiercest Francophobe who can read Alice’s recipes and not hanker for a taste, the dullest cook who will not want to get to the kitchen and try them out.

Time

A book of character, fine food, and tasty human observation.

The New Yorker

"It will be the fiercest Francophobe who can read Alice’s recipes and not hanker for a taste, the dullest cook who will not want to get to the kitchen and try them out."

Time Magazine

Carol Monda narrates this cookbook by Alice B. Toklas, writer Gertrude Stein’s partner, with the humility and respect that her words inspire. Forewords and a publisher’s note, narrated by Romy Nordlinger and Mark Bramhall set the listener up for a story peppered with recipes by a woman who saw and noted all the details and rewards life brought her way. Monda portrays Toklas at a comfortable pace in a sensible tone, illuminating moments in Alice and Gertrude Stein's life in France, told through the lens of food. This is not a compilation of Toklas's creations but more a collection of her best-loved recipes and how they came to be in her repertoire. S.K.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile

Carol Monda narrates this cookbook by Alice B. Toklas, writer Gertrude Stein’s partner, with the humility and respect that her words inspire. Forewords and a publisher’s note, narrated by Romy Nordlinger and Mark Bramhall set the listener up for a story peppered with recipes by a woman who saw and noted all the details and rewards life brought her way. Monda portrays Toklas at a comfortable pace in a sensible tone, illuminating moments in Alice and Gertrude Stein's life in France, told through the lens of food. This is not a compilation of Toklas's creations but more a collection of her best-loved recipes and how they came to be in her repertoire. S.K.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile