Get To Know The New James Beard Hall Of Famer

The James Beard 2015 Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards have just been awarded, and the Cookbook Hall of Fame award went to Barbara Kafka. If her name isn’t familiar to you, you’re not alone. Many cooks have never heard of her.

Kafka is a cookbook author, journalist and teacher. She has taught with James Beard, consulted for many fine restaurants, written for The New York Times, and contributed to Gourmet magazine with her regular column “The Opinionated Palate.” And that’s just a sampling of her professional accomplishments.

Her award, however, was not for teaching or restaurant consulting or columns. It was for her cookbooks, which according to the James Beard Foundation website are “a series of remarkable books.” In each she starts from scratch, coming up with interesting questions and then figuring out answers, never working from received wisdom. The result is a body of work that, book by book, has transformed the culinary landscape.

Kafka’s first best-seller was the 1987 “Microwave Gourmet.” She was the first major food writer to dedicate a cookbook to microwave cooking. The book is not just a recipe book. It also includes a dictionary of foods and techniques that explains how different foods react in the microwave. Kafka introduced a high-temperature roasting technique in the 1995 “Roasting: A Simple Art” that “completely changed the way we think about that subject,” according to Naomi Duguid who wrote the biography for Kafka on the James Beard site. Other books include 1992’s “Party Food,” 1998’s “Soup, A Way of Life,” and 2005’s “Vegetable Love.” Kafka published her latest cookbook, “The Intolerant Gourmet” in 2011 with recipes for those with food intolerances including gluten.

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The James Beard Cookbook Award Winners Just Announced

THE JAMES BEARD COOKBOOK AWARD WINNERS JUST ANNOUNCED

Here’s a list of winners in all delicious categories:
Cookbook Hall of Fame: Barbara Kafka
Cookbook of the Year: “Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition” by David Sterling
American Cooking: “Heritage” by Sean Brock
Baking and Dessert: “Flavor Flours: A New Way to Bake with Teff, Buckwheat, Sorghum, Other Whole & Ancient Grains, Nuts & Non-Wheat Flours” by Alice Medrich
Beverage: “Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail” by Dave Arnold
Cooking from a Professional Point of View: “Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes” by Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns
Focus on Health: “Cooking Light Mad Delicious: The Science of Making Healthy Food Taste Amazing” by
Keith Schroeder
General Cooking: “The Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes, Kitchens & Tips to Inspire Your Cooking” by Faith Durand and Sara Kate Gillingham
Photography: “In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World” by Gabriele Galimberti

Mystery Writers Cooking Up New Recipes

MYSTERY WRITERS COOKING UP NEW RECIPES

In two new books, mystery writers have come together to provide recipes from their lives, and the lives of their characters.

The first book, The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For was released in March. Edited by Kate White, author of the “Bailey Weggins” series of mystery books, the work brings together recipes from Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, Charlaine Harris, James Patterson, Louise Penny and Scott Turow, among others.

White, a member of Mystery Writers of America, was approached by the organization to see if she would be open to editing a cookbook featuring recipes from other members. Because of her editing chops — (White is the former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine) — the group figured she would know how to pull a collection together. “But what amused me is that one of the committee members had read my “Bailey Weggins” mysteries and pointed out that I had a lot of food mentions in the series and thus was probably a foodie,” added White. “I don’t think I realized until then how much Bailey ate!”

The book includes Mary Higgins Clark’s recipe for Celebratory Game Night Chili, a dish she and her family eat while watching the Giants. And Sandra Brown’s “Mystery Crackers” are from a recipe given to her by Mary Lynn Baxter, an indie bookstore owner in Texas, who read her first manuscript years ago and sent it to an editor who bought it. Other recipes are for dishes mentioned in actual mysteries—Sara Paretsky’s “Chicken Gabriella” is cherished by her detective V.I. Warshawski (whose mother’s name is Gabriella).

But one of White’s favorite recipes is Nelson DeMille’s Male Chauvinist Pigs in the Blanket. “It’s not from a book, but it’s hilarious and you get such a sense of Nelson from just reading it,” said White. “It makes you want to go out and buy all his books.”

White approached some of the biggest authors directly, but all Mystery Writers of America members were asked to submit recipes. She then worked with the editors to make the final selections. “We wanted to be sure we had a great cross section,” added White.

“Food can play a big role in mysteries,” said White. “In certain instances, like in the classic story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, food is an actual murder weapon.” Food, according to White, also works to “brilliantly define” character. “For instance, we can’t think of Miss Marple without her scones and tea—she reportedly drank 143 cups of tea over the course of all those novels and short stories,” said White. “And where would Lee Child’s Jack Reacher be without his coffee?”

In The Cozy Cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from Today’s Bestselling Mystery Authors, editors at Berkley Prime Crime culled together dishes featured in the imprint’s many culinary-series, like Avery James’s “Cheese Shop” mysteries, Laura Childs “Tea Shop” mysteries, and Victoria Hamilton’s “Vintage Kitchen” mysteries.

“So many of our Prime Crime mysteries contain fun extras like crafting tips or recipes,” said Berkley editor Michelle Vega. “It seemed like a natural fit for our audience and also seemed like something that would potentially engage food lovers who may not be familiar with our books.”

Listen to The Book Report at your convenience. Go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-book-report/id540205917?mt=2, or at bookreportradio.com, click on Archived Shows