Cooks’ Books
Published 7:00 am Monday, October 9, 2006
Caprial and John’s Kitchen, Recipes for Cooking Together (TenSpeed Press, $35)
I like Caprial Pence. She was a terrific chef when she worked in Seattle, and by all accounts, the place she runs in Portland with her husband John is one of the city’s culinary hot spots. Her first cooking show was terrific—warm, inviting, and inventive. I haven’t seen an episode of the companion show for this new cookbook, but the book itself is warm, inviting, and inventive. And intoxicating . . . really intoxicating. When it comes to liquids, Caprial’s passion for pouring on the spirits threatens to overwhelm the food. Consider the following: black-eyed pea and wild mushroom soup: 1 cup madeira and ½ cup brandy; Savannah’s clam chowder: 1 cup sherry; tomato soup with wild rice: 1 cup wine, 1 cup madeira; pea soup: 1 cup sherry; chanterelle mushroom salad: 1 cup sherry; chicken braised with oranges, tomatoes, and tarragon: 1 cup madeira; fish chowder: ½ cup sherry, ½ cup madeira; crab stew: 1 cup sherry; dried fruit and hazelnut stuffing: 1 cup brandy, ½ cup red wine. Otherwise, the cookbook is lovely, with recipes for salads, fish, side dishes, and desserts that you’re sure to want to make. Just use a light hand with the wine and you might actually taste the food. Lucilla
