From Our Grandmothers Kitchens

A collection of heirloom recipes from Cook’s Country readers. Whether it was a one-of-a-kind, soul-warming meal your grandmother used to make especially for you or a slice of deliciously spiced bread you tasted somewhere halfway around the globe, food has always been so much more than the food itself-it's a memory. What we ate, and when and where we ate it, becomes interwoven with who we are and where we came from: our family, our heritage, our friends. In an effort to preserve these heirloom recipes, Cook's Country Magazine asked its readers to submit their favorite recipes and the stories behind them. Family favorites for cookies and pies, casseroles and special-occasion suppers, old-fashioned breads and even preserves and pickles all came pouring in. From the more than one thousand submissions, our team tested and perfected the best to present here, in From Our Grandmothers' Kitchens.

A collection of recipes and stories rooted deep within the bends and curves of the Mississippi River.

In a gorgeous keepsake volume based on the slideshow that captured the world’s attention, Gabriele Galimberti’s beautiful portraits of grandmothers from all over the world with their signature dishes stunningly illustrates the international language of food and family. On the eve of a photography trip around the world, Gabriele Galimberti sat down to dinner with his grandmother Marisa. As she had done so many times before, she prepared his favorite ravioli—a gesture of love and an expression of the traditions by which he had come to know her as a child. The care with which she prepared this meal, and the evident pride she took in her dish, led Gabriele to seek out grandmothers and their signature dishes in the sixty countries he visited. The kitchens he photographed illustrate both the diversity of world cuisine and the universal nature of a dish served up with generosity and love. At each woman’s table, Gabriele became a curious and hungry grandson, exploring new ingredients and gathering stories. These vibrant and intimate profiles and photographs pay homage to grandmothers and their cooking everywhere. From a Swedish housewife and her homemade lox and vegetables to a Zambian villager and her Roasted Spiced Chicken, this collection features a global palate: included are hand-stuffed empanadas from Argentina, twice-fried pork and vegetables from China, slow-roasted ratatouille from France, and a decadent toffee trifle from the United States. Taken together or bite by bite, In Her Kitchen taps into our collective affection for these cherished family members and the ways they return that affection. In Her Kitchen is an evocative, loving portrait of the power of food and family, no matter where in the world you sit down for dinner.

Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance.

An affectionate and informative look at women on the Home Front in the 1940s, Grandma's Wartime Kitchen presents more than 150 classic recipes (updated for today's kitchens) along with anecdotes, advertisements, advice, and archival recipes from a unique and defining period in America's history. With details and personal voices that make the material come to life, the book covers: * The U.S. government's food rules and ration books * Substitutes for rationed sugar, and the delicious dessert recipes they inspired * Stretching butter, meat, coffee, and other staples * Cooking and baking for the troops abroad * Wartime entertaining including Defense Parties, progressive parties, and a traditional Thanksgiving dinner using wartime commodities * Monday Meatloaf, Mother's Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Apple Dumplings, Vermont Johnny Cake, Honey Apple Pie, and many other recipes. At a time when America is saluting the soldiers who fought in World War II, this one-of-a-kind collection offers a portrait of the courageous (and delicious) contributions of the women who stayed behind.

Beautiful, hardback cookbook charting the life stories, wisdom and secret family recipes of 19 grandmothers from different cultural backgrounds. Beautifully photographed portraits of the grandmothers cooking in their kitchens with their grandchildren. A range of delicious multicultural recipes, each beautifully photographed.

Award-winning cookbook author and celebrated food expert Eileen Yin-Fei Lo learned how to cook from her talented grandmother. This inspiring and instructive book collects 100 recipes the author learned in her grandmother's kitchen, along with the life lessons, observations, and other gifts she hopes to pass on to readers and future generations. Cherished holiday recipes include steamed buns and fish congees for birthdays, vegetables prepared during the Lunar New Year, and rice dumplings made for the Dragon Boat Festival. All the essential techniques of the Chinese kitchen are represented, including stir-frying, steaming, roasting, stewing, braising, and more. A volume to cook from, to share, and to read as a memoir in its own right, My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen celebrates a great culinary tradition by sharing family wisdom and timeless recipes.

A gorgeous, full-color illustrated cookbook and personal cultural history, filled with 100 mouthwatering recipes from around the world, that celebrates the culinary traditions of strong, empowering immigrant women and the remarkable diversity that is American food. As a child of Italian immigrants, Anna Francese Gass grew up eating her mother’s Calabrian cooking. But when this professional cook realized she had no clue how to make her family’s beloved meatballs—a recipe that existed only in her mother’s memory—Anna embarked on a project to record and preserve her mother’s recipes for generations to come. In addition to her recipes, Anna’s mother shared stories from her time in Italy that her daughter had never heard before, intriguing tales that whetted Anna’s appetite to learn more. Reaching out to her friends whose mothers were also immigrants, Anna began cooking with dozens of women who were eager to share their unique memories and the foods of their homelands. In Heirloom Kitchen, Anna brings together the stories and dishes of forty-five strong, exceptional women, all immigrants to the United States, whose heirloom recipes have helped shape the landscape of American food. Organized by region, the 100 tantalizing recipes include: Magda’s Pork Adobo from the Phillippines Shari’s Fersenjoon, a walnut and pomegranate stew, from Iran Tina’s dumplings from Northern China Anna’s mother’s Calabrian Meatballs from Southern Italy In addition to the dishes, these women share their recollections of coming to America, stories of hardship and happiness that illuminate the power of food—how cooking became a comfort and a respite in a new land for these women, as well as a tether to their native cultural identities. Accented with 175 photographs, including food shots, old family photographs, and ephemera of the cooks’ first years in America—such as Soon Sun’s recipe book pristinely handwritten in Korean or Bea’s cherished silver pitcher, a final gift from her own mother before leaving Serbia—Heirloom Kitchen is a testament to empowerment and strength, perseverance and inclusivity, and a warm and inspiring reminder that the story of immigrant food is, at its core, a story of American food.