Ungarnished Truth: A Memoir of the Pillsbury Bake-Off
Author: Ellie Mathews
A woman, a chicken, and a million-dollar adventure in the heartland of America's competitive cooking culture.
When Ellie Mathews entered her recipe for Salsa Couscous Chicken-eight chicken thighs cooked in Old El Paso salsa-in the grandma of all cooking contests, the Pillsbury Bake-Off, she never imagined she'd win the grand prize. Immediately after Alex Trebek announced that her dish had won a million dollars, this amateur cook was thrown into the limelight. She soon found herself booked on Oprah-and even photographed for the New York Times in a vest made of ostrich feathers-as the reigning queen of chickendom, the Pillsbury "It Girl" of the moment.
With a dash of self-deprecating humor and a pinch of biting social commentary, Ellie Mathews takes readers with her on her roller coaster ride to the top of the food chain as the Pillsbury prizewinner. As a cooking contest insider, she goes behind the counter and beyond the aprons and oven mitts to reveal a fascinating slice of Americana.
Publishers Weekly
In this blasé memoir, Seattle author Mathews (Ambassador to the Penguins) recounts her journey from kitchen amateur to winner of the million-dollar 1998 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Mathews, a married graphic designer, had been halfheartedly entering and winning recipe contests since 1980, such as one for REI recreational equipment, in which she had to combine packets of freeze-dried food into a semblance of a meal, or the state Beef Cook-Off, where she placed second for Siberian Beef. However, the Pillsbury Bake-Off is the mother of all recipe competitions, and Mathews cannily reworked a tried-and-true halibut recipe using the company's Old El Paso salsa and some chicken thighs and came up with the reliable Salsa Couscous Chicken. Summoned to Orlando, Fla., where the finalists are royally and publicly pampered, Mathews dutifully re-created her "30-Minute Main Dish" and was stunned to be singled out by host Alex Trebek as the winner of $1 million. Her memoir has a curiously unimpassioned quality, padded with details about visiting Disney World with the other contestants, choosing presentable outfits and becoming a grandmother. (Mar.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationKirkus Reviews
How a few pounds of chicken and a jar of Old El Paso salsa changed one family's life. Writer/software designer Mathews (The Linden Tree, 2007) and husband Carl work together, travel together and, most importantly, eat together. When Mathews was bitten by the cooking bug, rather than go off half-cocked and open a restaurant, she entered a cooking contest. One competition led to another, and she soon was in the thick of the Pillsbury Bake-Off, at which she took first prize with her recipe for Salsa Couscous Chicken. Not only did the victory earn Mathews a million-dollar prize, but she briefly became a minor celebrity, appearing on Oprah, The Rosie O'Donnell Show and in the New York Times. Thanks to this small, unprepossessing book, her 15 minutes of fame isn't up quite yet. Enthusiastic and sharp but grounded in reality (unlike some competitive cookers), the author comes off here as a less-than-gourmet version of Julie Powell (Julie & Julia, 2005). Like Powell, Mathews is sweet and self-deprecating-at one point, she notes, "When I present something I've cooked, I tend to apologize"-but her demeanor masks true seriousness of purpose. Look past the casual attitude and the cutesy one-liners, and you realize that she was genuinely proud of her victory, so much so that she spends much of the book's first half explaining the history and extolling the virtues of the Bake-Off. Readers seeking useful recipes or food-industry dirt would be better served checking out something by Mario Batali or Anthony Bourdain, but those looking for a nice little story about how eight chicken thighs can earn you seven figures, look no further. The Rachael Ray set will eat up Mathews's pleasantly fluffy tale ofculinary triumph.
Books about: Against Us or Beyond the Body Farm
From the Earth to the Table: John Ash's Wine Country Cuisine
Author: John Ash
This beloved cookbook is now available in a handsome paperback edition. Completely revised and updated with 45 all-new recipes, each delicious dish reflects acclaimed chef John Ash's commitment to sustainable agriculture and his love of fresh fruits and vegetables. More than 300 recipes, inspired by the California Wine Country featuring soups, salads, pastas, pizza, risottos, poultry, fish, meats, vegetarian courses, desserts, breads, and more include wine recommendations and abundant tips on how to incorporate everything from chipotle chiles to persimmons into delectable meals. This is a time-honored classic, sure to continue enticing cooks for years to come.
Publishers Weekly
Ash, a noted Northern California restaurateur (his Santa Rosa restaurant bears his name) and author (he collaborated with Goldstein on American Game Cooking) is immersed in the wine-country gestalt, according to which dinner-and what we drink with it-is a way of life. A passionate advocate of cooks knowing where, when and how their food is grown and raised, he urges readers to eat ``seasonally and locally.'' Instead of using tasteless tomatoes in a salad in December, he suggests the likes of Warm Red Cabbage Salad with Pancetta and California Goat Cheese. Along with imaginative salads (Fresh Corn, Orzo, and Smoked Chicken Salad with Pine Nuts), Ash offers a bountiful array of soups (Roasted Eggplant Soup with Sweet Peppers), pastas (Fusilli with Collards, Bacon, and Garlic) and desserts (Peach-Mint Granita). Fish (Seared Ahi Tuna with a Lavender-Pepper Crust), poultry, meat (Pork and Pepper Stew with Oranges) and vegetable dishes are innovative and tempting. For each salad and main dish, he suggests a wine (``Gewrztraminer is a showstopper'' with Crab Wontons with Orange-Chipotle Sauce), and his cooking tips (e.g., ``never throw away shrimp shells,'' which can be frozen and counted on to save a fish stock or soup) are jewels. This is a cookbook for those who truly want to live with their food. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)
Library Journal
Here are lots of beautifully fresh recipes from the authors of American Game Cooking (LJ 10/15/91). Ash is the culinary director of Fetzer Vineyards' Wine Center, which happens to have a huge organic culinary garden. With that as well as the produce and other ingredients available in abundance in California's wine country, he creates dishes like Orecchiette with Red Wine-Braised Chicken, Fresh Cherry Flan, and other delicious combinations. There are lots of sidebars on ingredients, and Ash suggests substitutions for seasonal or hard-to-find ingredients. Most recipes are accompanied by informative wine notes that explain the particular food-wine match. Highly recommended.
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