Elizabeth David

March 7, 2011 10:12 AM

At Elizabeth David's Table: Classic Recipes and Timeless Kitchen Wisdom "When I go back and read her books now, I feel I plagiarized them. All of it seeped in so much, it's embarrassing to read them now." Alice Waters

Chicken with Tarragon

Tarte à l'oignon

Lettuce Soup

Ratatouille

more

posted by puny human (11 comments total)

David is a giant in the field, no question.

But before anyone rushes out to buy her books, be aware that they do not present recipes with ingredient lists the way these links do.

They are presented as prose paragraphs. Which is probably truer to the styles of cooking she discusses. But I've always found them a block to appreciating her work.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:18 AM on March 7, 2011

Soon enough, you could even find zucchini in English supermarkets.

But I'm sure she did enough good things that I'd still be willing to check her book out.
posted by DU at 10:40 AM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

A friend made Gratin Daupinois for a dinner party a year or two ago, and those first few bites are seared into my memory. For something with such simple ingredients it is staggeringly delicious and so delicate at the same time.

I'm just not sure it's worth the amount of effort in slicing, rinsing and drying all the potatoes.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 10:50 AM on March 7, 2011

I love David. An Omelette and a Glass of Wine contains some of the finest food writing it's ever been my privilege to read.
posted by dersins at 11:30 AM on March 7, 2011

I'm just not sure it's worth the amount of effort in slicing, rinsing and drying all the potatoes.

Hardly any effort is required if you use a mandolin or a food-processor and skip the rinsing and drying - the surface-starch helps the sauce to thicken.
posted by GeorgeBickham at 12:36 PM on March 7, 2011

My collection of Elizabeth David books is so worn, I've had to buy new issues of some of them for daily use. My grandmother introduced me to them, and to the saucy stories, which she knew from London's Special Forces Club where both ladies were members. As I understood it, David's life was interesting enough to be talked of, but not at all scandalous. Elegant lady, good food, very patriotic. What can be wrong with that?
We had the Dauphinois often at my grandparents', and I've discovered a function on my food processor that can do the slicing, so we get them a couple of times a year now.
posted by mumimor at 12:37 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Is that meant to be "ground beef" in the Spaghetti Bolognese recipe, or is 'group beef' something about which I am just ignorant?
posted by bardophile at 12:49 PM on March 7, 2011

What I want to know is how I can get a hold of this from the BBC....
posted by madred at 1:06 PM on March 7, 2011

bardophile, group beef is just another term for ground beef. I think it's a British-ism.
posted by LN at 1:17 PM on March 7, 2011

Don't think so - this Britisher's never heard of it. Probably a misprint for ground beef as said before.
posted by treblekicker at 1:37 PM on March 7, 2011

Group beef is British for class action. /hamburger

Lunch with Elizabeth David (hebephilia on the side).

Elizabeth David is like the grandmother of Jamie Oliver, Keith Floyd, Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray and Nigel Slater.
posted by asok at 2:29 AM on March 8, 2011