The Joy of Old Cookbooks

The best places to find them. Also, a hot pepper you probably haven't heard of, a legendary wine event and a vintage menu.

Know someone who’s a cookbook lover? You cannot come up with a better gift than an old or unusual cookbook.

Here are some suggestions of where to find find them.

New York's great cookbook store, Kitchen Arts and Letters, stocks every current cookbook and food magazine, along with a fine array of food history and out of print books. They also scour the world for unusual foreign cookbooks which are available nowhere else in the country.

I'm very taken with this series on the food of Singapore, which they import directly. There’s one on the Hokkien recipes of the Fujianese people who came to Singapore from southeastern China. The book contains a number of fascinating recipes, including one for kong pak bau - braised pork belly buns with lettuce..

The series includes a book of Peranakan recipes, from the descendants of the early Chinese migrants who settled in Singapore and intermarried, creating an original (and utterly delicious) cuisine with names like otak otak and gado gado. There’s another on South Indian recipes containing dishes like vinegar chicken, stuffed squid in black ink gravy and tomatoes in yogurt. The book also includes a great recipe for vaduvam, the exotic spice that swept Paris a few years ago.

A little jar of vadauvan, come to think of it, would also make a terrific gift.

Bonnie Slotnik began her career at Kitchen Arts and Letters, but after a few years she moved downtown and opened her own shop. Unlike the other shops on this list, Bonnie has not spent much time creating a website, but if you’re in New York and you love cookbooks, you should stop into this remarkable shop. I have bought far too many books there, including the one above. (Hannah Goldfield wrote a wonderful article about Bonnie here.)

Rabelais Books in Maine is pretty much the opposite of Bonnie Slotnik: they closed their brick and mortar store in Biddeford and moved to a tiny space in Portland and now sell most of their books on line. But with one of the largest collections of rare books on food and wine in the country, the website is awesome. Current offerings includes a signed first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and this 1909 pamphlet on reindeer cuisine.

Kitchen Lingo books in Long Beach California is both tiny and remarkable. Owner Matt Miller has created more than a bookstore; he’s created a community. In addition to selling books, Matt hosts cooking classes, lectures, events, trips… If you love food and live anywhere near Long Beach, you should definitely stop in.

Lizzy Young’s website is beautifully organized, filled with wonderful offerings…. and very dangerous. If you don’t want to disappear down a rabbit hole, stay away. On the other hand, if you love old cookbooks you will happily spend hours here - and very likely find perfect presents for all your friends. I’ve been seriously considering this special gift edition of the iconic Moosewood Cookbook from 1981.

Another dangerous website? Omnivore books, a store I never leave without armfuls of treasures. At the moment there are 91 pages of vintage cookbooks on the website, among them this adorable little book. There are also fantastic vintage menus, including a trove of vintage Chez Panisse menus owner Celia Sack purchased a few years ago. Most have been scooped up, but a few, like this one, remain.

One more extraordinary site for cookbook lovers: The Cook’s Bookcase where you will find hundreds of vintage books (many, like this classic from James Beard, inscribed), along with a fantastic collection of menus from great restaurants.

Dangerous.

Bring the Heat
Who doesn’t have a friend who’s addicted to chile peppers? In this heat-obsessed moment, finding the perfect present for them can be a challenge.

Here’s this year’s answer: tiny charapita peppers pickled in vinegar. Occasionally called “pepper caviar” because of their diminutive size (about the diameter of boba balls), and hefty price (they are reputed to be the most expensive peppers in the world), they have an almost addictive quality. I find myself popping them into my mouth and simply eating them plain.

The folks at Springs Fireplace grow 16 varieties of exotic peppers on eastern Long Island. They’re the only people on the East Coast growing tesuque peppers - and their Tesuque Hot sauce sauce is slightly sweet, with a deliciously slow burn. A passionate pepper person would be pleased.

The Wonder of Wine
“It is a testament to the world’s passion for Burgundy that our Paulée has evolved from a simple dinner at restaurant Montrachet in Tribeca to the multi-day, multi-city festival that it is today.”

So begins the introduction to this year’s La Paulée, which celebrates its 25th year of over-the-top Burgundy wine events. (The photograph has nothing to do with La Paulee; it’s a memento from my long-ago visit to the late great winemaker, Hubert de Montille whose children continue to make one of Burgundy’s great wines. That’s Kermit Lynch by his side.)

Tickets to La Paulée are expensive, but any winelover would be thrilled with a chance to attend one of the many events.

While we’re on the subject of wine…

Here’s a menu from Narsai’s, which had one of the finest finest wine lists in America.

The late Narsai David opened his restaurant in 1972, a few months and a few blocks from Chez Panisse just north of Berkeley. Unlike Alice’s restaurant, it was Continental and rather formal with an astonishingly long wine list. Here are a few gems from the 1984 list:

1953 La Tache, $490
1960 Latour, $145
1953 Margaux, $285
1961 Pape Clement, $140
1971 Gruaud Larose, $41
1978 Stag’s Leap, $35
1970 Heitz, $88
1961 Y’Quem, $35