More than any other cookbook author, Paula Wolfert has inspired me since childhood with her books on authentic regional cooking.
In The Cooking of South-West France: A Collection of Traditional and New Recipes From France's Magnificent Rustic Cuisine, originally published in 1983, Wolfert gives an account of the history and culture of a nugget of France steeped in culinary tradition. She defines her political scope, including places which we all know in reference to their most famous exports. She lists Bordeaux, Perigord, Armagnac, Bayonne, Cahors, andToulouse, among others, boasting a long lineage of both written and familial tradition. In her stories, she includes a small population of devious cooks, who have broken long spells of sometimes ignorant techniques, and injected new, thoughtful approaches to great cooking.
My take from the book, after many years of perusing, is that great cooking is not easy. Above all, she champions the idea that a logical approach to cooking ultimately produces the most deliciously nourishing meals.
Modern food culture in the U.S. seems to be fueled largely by t.v. shows and book sales promoting fast and easy, 30-minute dinners, and how anyone can do it. Social media has tied us, possibly forever, to food that photographs well and often has a clever little trick to it that may set it apart from the thousands of other pornographic foodstagrams.
Wolfert explores the polar opposite. To cook well, you need an education in food, and you need to be mentally and emotionally present. There's also a tone of fearlessness behind her prose that deals with exploration and failure: key traits of a great cook.
In short, this book is totally for real. It's a departure from modern life into a completely possible world of authenticity and elegance. Her brilliant recipes are written for the American cook. I've been reading this book for personal inspiration and professional reference for as long as I've been cooking. Each year it shows me something new. My one critique, common to all cookbooks published in the U.S., is that measurements should be given in metric. But that's another story.
