NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Los Angeles Times • NPR • Men’s Journal • BookPage • Booklist • Publishers WeeklyIn the fall of 2009, the food world was rocked when Gourmet magazine was abruptly shuttered by its parent company. No one was more stunned by this unexpected turn of events than its beloved editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, who suddenly faced an … beloved editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, who suddenly faced an uncertain professional future. As she struggled to process what had seemed unthinkable, Reichl turned to the one place that had always provided sanctuary. “I did what I always do when I’m confused, lonely, or frightened,” she writes. “I disappeared into the kitchen.”
My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons—and Reichl’s emotions—as she slowly heals through the simple pleasures of cooking. While working 24/7, Reichl would “throw quick meals together” for her family and friends. Now she has the time to rediscover what cooking meant to her. Imagine kale, leaves dark and inviting, sautéed with chiles and garlic; summer peaches baked into a simple cobbler; fresh oysters chilling in a box of snow; plump chickens and earthy mushrooms, fricasseed with cream. Over the course of this challenging year, each dish Reichl prepares becomes a kind of stepping stone to finding joy again in ordinary things.
The 136 recipes collected here represent a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring. Here, too, is Reichl’s enlivening dialogue with her Twitter followers, who become her culinary supporters and lively confidants.
Part cookbook, part memoir, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Year may be Ruth Reichl’s most stirring book yet—one that reveals a refreshingly vulnerable side of the world’s most famous food editor as she shares treasured recipes to be returned to again and again and again.
Praise for My Kitchen Year
“Ruth is one of our greatest storytellers today, which you will feel from the moment you open this book and begin to read: No one writes as warmly and engagingly about the all-important intersection of food, life, love, and loss. This book is a lyrical and deeply intimate journey told through recipes, as only Ruth can do.”—Alice Waters
“What will send this book to the top of bestseller lists is the lovely way Reichl describes how dishes come together, like the Greek chicken soup with lemon and egg known as avgolemono, and her talent for assembling a collection of recipes her legions of former Gourmet fans will want to make themselves.”—The Washington Post
“The recipes make for lovely reading, full of Reichl’s elemental wisdom. . . . In the best way possible, My Kitchen Year is cozy, the reading equivalent of curling up next to a fire with a glass of red wine and perhaps the scent of bread in the oven wafting over.”—Vogue
“If anyone can convince us that a dessert, plus two more fabulous dishes, can turn a crummy day around, it’s culinary writer Ruth Reichl, who knows firsthand just how powerful food can be.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“The voice is pure Reichl in a way that makes the reader yearn for a house in the country with a pantry full of staples. . . . And as she finds solace through cooking, we find comfort too.”—Eater (Fall 2015’s Best Cookbooks)
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When Ruth Reichl learned the magazine she edited, Gourmet, was ending, she wasn’t quite sure what do do next. Rather than fall into depression, she turned to what she knew, cooking and food, to cheer herself up. This entertaining and informative memoir/cookbook is the result. I enjoyed her stories and her recipes. It’s the one cookbook I have read cover to cover.
The realistic and inspiring story of Reichl’s first year after Condé Nast pulled the plug on Gourmet Magazine, which she had edited with such skill and love. I believe in the redemptive power of lovingly prepared food more than ever.
Would you believe I listened to this “cookbook” as an audiobook? And it was absolutely perfect. Ruth Reichl is, next to MFK Fisher, my favorite food writer. She captures the joy of cooking, the tragedy and joy of life, and this book in particular has stayed with me ever since I first listened it. Her descriptive language brings you right into her kitchen. Highly recommended.
love ruth’s books and this one was also very enjoyable.
I love anything by Ruth Reichl!
I had read a previous book and enjoyed. This book is also a good read. It is basically stories with recipes. I marked several that I want to try. It is a month by month record about finding her way after Gourmet Magazine went under and she was out of a job. She found herself through cooking, since I am a California girl and never lived on the east coast, the winter chapters were very interesting.
Good recipes from a very original person.
FUN-TO-READ COOKBOOPK
the writing is crisp and clean, the recipes are mouthwatering, the photos are stunning. Go start cooking!
Good
A couple of good recipes. The rest s predictable Reichl.
This is my favorite Ruth Reichl book so far. I found myself wishing I were her neighbor in upstate New York. I read it on a road trip to Lake Placid and thought of it often as we were gazing at beautiful vistas or picking out apple varieties we never see in Texas. I haven’t made any of the recipes yet so I can’t rate it as a cookbook, but it was a cozy melange of reminicences and a great depiction of coping with loss through friends, food and simple appreciation.
Great stories, great recipes.
For a cookbook, this is a good one that allows you to cook recipes that are easy to follow and ingredients are not hard to find.
If you love to cook, if you love to eat, and if you love to read about cooking, you will adore this gem from Ruth after. She is both an excellent writer and informed cook. In this delightful tale she shares many of her favorite recipes in this memoir about how she spent her time after she lost her job when Gourmet magazine stopped publishing.
About half way through, I started a revolution in my kitchen. I stepped boldly to the stove, oven and refrigerator and had some wonderful moments of trying flavors and spices that I’m usually timid to pour on. Hubby has a super palate but didn’t complain, just didn’t eat as much. I, on the other hand, loved every bite.
I would rather have more content between each recipe. Each bit between was only a page or two, hardly enough to build up a narrative and sustain the book. That said, I love Reichl’s writing, and I love how she writes about food. Even the recipes are enjoyable to read, since she uses language like this: “add the vegetables, and let them tumble into tenderness.”
Anyone who loves food and cooking should really like this book. Mouthwatering and inspirational.
Wonderful recipes, but also very relatable as to the grieving process when you lose a job that was so much of your life and identity.
I like everything that Ruth Reichl writes and this was no exception!