Food Book Fair Authors Share Their Favorite Cookbooks
Emily Elsen, Co-Owner of Four & Twenty Blackbirds
Co-Author of The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, Uncommon Recipes From the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop
Tell us about your favorite new classic cookbook or food-related book and how it transformed your relationship with food or informed your style of cooking.
The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters has been a great resource to me as I’ve grown as a home cook . Recipes you know will work and that are simple and approachable usually get my attention when cooking at home. As for pie books, Easy As Pie by Susan G. Purdy is an excellent resource filled with tried and true techniques and inspiration for pie makers, along with bits of historical information and simple illustrations.
Tell us about your favorite modern cookbook and like above, how it transformed your relationship with food or informed your style of cooking.
Saltie by Caroline Fidanza is a stand out for me, personally. I really enjoy reading Caroline’s recipes, the stories behind them and how she came to her approach and grew through the community she and her team were working in. The thoughtfulness put into preparing a humble sandwich appeals to my sensibilities–they are all delicious.
Favorite Brooklyn-based restaurant and why.
These days I almost exclusively eat in Brooklyn. The number of good restaurants here has grown exponentially since I moved here in 1999. My go-to on my side of town for a good meal, drink and excellent service is Prime Meats on Court Street. I have been a customer from the time they opened (which was not long before we opened the pie shop) and I have enjoyed seeing the restaurant grow and change while maintaining an enviable level of quality and execution.
Emily will be at the Food Book Fair panel: Food + The Midwest on Friday, April 25 at 12 p.m.