Laurie Colwin died far too young in 1992, aged 48 and this re-packaged book, packed with recipes was the first of her food writing to be published in the USA where she is far better known, although her status among food writers and cooks is cemented- Nigella Lawson adores her. I first read it in my mid twenties when I had my own grown up kitchen and an American friend sent it to me as encouragement to cook. Suffused with love for her little daughter and a source of friendly advice with a familiar tone for the rest of us, this is, for me, the book to read when you feel in need of something other than a list of ingredients and what to do with them.

“I love to eat out, but even more, I love to eat in.” said Colwin who published a few novels before beginning her (more) successful career in food writing that did not then have the status or respect it now does. Colwin excels in keeping the kitchen at the heart of the home whilst never slipping into a sub feminist subtext of ‘this is where you always belonged, you know’. An arch intelligence and wry, often self deprecating humour pervades her writing. You so want to be at her dinner parties whether they be plate on lap on a bed in a miniscule New York City apartment or something more formal. We can laugh at our culinary disasters because Colwin does at hers and lets us learn from them.

Never focused inwards, Colwin writes of the people she meets and the food they bring into her life- we meet her daughters babysitter from St Vincent who inducts her into the pleasures of Black Cake: “There was only a tiny scrap of the slice left and I was forced to share it with my child who said ‘More!’ in a loud voice” and also inducted me. Her Black Cake has been our Christmas cake ever since. From dates and bosses to her husband and family, Colwin gives credit where credit is due and intersperses recipes and cooking tips with funny stories and winsome encounters against the backdrop of New York City.

Chapters are titled ‘How to fry Chicken’, ‘Bread Baking Without Agony’ and ‘Repulsive Dinners: a Memoir’. In the latter, Colwin talks of the triumph of a truly repellent meal and rejects her mothers advice that appalling cooks should live on filet mignon and have an excellent bakery on speed dial because “the rich complicated tapestry that is the human experience would be the poorer for it.” and she is right. She goes on to describe a casserole without fragrance as the lid is lifted to reveal partially cooked sausages, rice and pineapple rings in a sea of unidentifiable liquid. Beginner cooks are comforted by the fact that it is probably impossible to be that bad.

Yes the book is of its time and some of her advice shows that. We can now source good free range chickens and we don’t see the fondue as anything other than a retro delight. BUT the emotions that underpin her writing are timeless and universal. I love her.

It's a little unfair for me to review this book because I own one of the original copies of it and it is one of the books to survive the great book purge at my house. It's hard to explain how much I love this book but I'll try. When I first read it, I was on vacation with my family and I drove them insane reading passages out loud to them (although when they begged me to stop I did, but I'd start laughing so hard, they'd make me start again). I've bought copies of this book as wedding gifts for every person I care about. Laurie Colwin's writing about food is like having a really great friend you can trust right next to you. After 20 years, her recipe for gingerbread is still my go-to recipe. This book is one EVERYONE needs to read.

Laurie Colwin is an utter delight--I discovered her writing 25 years ago and gobbled up everything I could. "Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object is in my all-time Top 20 novels! I sent her a fan-letter after reading it, to which she replied most kindly (on a fancy MOMA postcard which I thought at the time was pretty great).I have that postcard up on my library wall still. So glad to see her work being re-discovered. Fans of Cathleen Schine and Jami Attenberg would surely enjoy Laurie Colwin. I wish more of her old Gourmet Magazine columns were anthologized--maybe one day?????

Such a fantastic book. Wonderful, crisp, unpretentious food writing.

A classic that belongs on any food-lover's bookshelf.