Book Challenge #5: Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, by Ruth Reichl

I told you I'd eventually do a book I didn't care for!

I've been reading a lot of food writing, in the same way that (I assume) poker players read poker theory, or knitters read about knitting -- because right now cooking is one of my primary hobbies. And there's a lot of great food writing out there. In doing my food reading, the name "Ruth Reichl" came up many times, so I finally picked up her three memoir-esque food books (Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and this one -- I didn't blog the first two separately because I read them last year, but I'll go ahead and discuss them all together, though with focus on the last.) And sure enough, they do have a ton of interesting and often good writing about food, about becoming a cook, and about reviewing good restaurants. (Garlic and Sapphires is about her tenure as the New York Times food critic, during which time she went to restaurants in disguise -- to prevent them from treating her differently because she was the critic. Reprints of the reviews themselves are scattered through the book.)

The problem was that, as I read, I increasingly found that I just didn't like Ruth Reichl very much. In fact, by the end, I pendulum-swung between feeling apathetic toward her, and actually disliking her. I feel weird saying that, because I feel like I ought to critique the book and not the author... but when the book is a memoir, that's a really fuzzy line, isn't it? So I'll give you the caveat that I'm willing to believe that Ruth Reichl-the-character-in-her-own-memoir is not quite the same person as Ruth Reichl-the-author, and that my criticisms below are about the former, without claim about the latter. And if you through some chance happen to be a close personal friend of Reichl, it might be better for us both if you just skip over this one. Okay? Okay.

Spoilers ahoy, for all three books.

( My problems would be less, well, problematic if the books weren't so very much All About Ruth. )

moment of cultural cross-pollination

Today I was feeling iffy, so I decided to make chicken soup with rice for dinner.

(Cora's standard chicken soup recipe for two: finely mince half an onion (or a couple of shallots, if you have shallots) and a couple of cloves of garlic. Thinly slice three carrots and two sticks of celery. (It's okay if the carrots and celery are beginning to look long in the metaphorical tooth, since you're going to cook the hell out of them anyway.) In a heavy-bottomed soup pot that has a lid, heat up a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, or schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) if you have it.* Gently sweat (that is, cook at a low enough temperature that it doesn't quite sizzle) the vegetables in the fat (with about a teaspoon of salt) until they're soft and fragrant, 10-15 minutes. Pour in about a quart of chicken stock (homemade if you have it, low-sodium canned works too, boullion is probably too salty for this). If you're feeling ambitious, you can reduce a cup of white wine to 1/2 cup in a separate pan and add it; if you aren't, just the chicken stock is fine. Add a bay leaf, some ground black pepper, and more salt if the broth seems too flat. Then add two skinless chicken thighs on the bone to the liquid and bring to a boil. When it hits a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer and put the lid on. Cook until the chicken is cooked through (30-ish minutes, but make sure its juices are clear when you stab it with a knife; if they aren't, put it back and simmer longer). When the chicken is cook through, remove to a plate, and let cool until you can handle it, then shred it to bite-size pieces. Meanwhile, add rice or noodles and cook through. When the starch is cooked, return the shredded chicken to the pot, along with fresh sage or thyme or rosemary or parsley, whatever herbs you like,** and heat through. Ladle up and serve.)

Only -- I got to the point where I was simmering, and I asked jmpava to give it a taste, to see if it needed more salt, or pepper, or whatever. (Sometimes when I'm tasting the soup frequently, I sort of lose my ability to judge whether it needs salt, for instance.)

Me: How was it?
Him: Fine. Maybe could use some... hm.
Me: What?
Him: ...Some herbs or something? Maybe?
Me: Yeah, I'm adding sage later.
Him: Yeah, that'd be good.
Him: ...
Him: ...
Him: You know what it tastes like?
Me: What?
Him: It tastes like it needs matzoh balls.
Me: Yeah?
Me: I can do matzoh balls.
Him: Really?
Me: Sure.
Him: That'd be yummy.

I hadn't realized until just now that matzoh ball soup (his childhood comfort food) and chicken soup with rice (my childhood comfort food) differed really only by starch. But there you go! That's kinda cool, really.

Me: It probably doesn't hurt that I started it with schmaltz.
Him: Heh.

* - Part of the reason that I buy whole chickens and cut them up is so that I can always arrange to have schmaltz, because omg, yum. Also, that ensures a steady supply of homemade chicken broth.
** - If you're looking for recommendations, I like thyme or sage best for chicken soup.

(no subject)

Also -- I'm all kinds of posty tonight! -- also, whenever I make chicken soup with rice (or almost make it, as today), I think of the Chicken Soup with Rice book. Did any of the rest of you read this one when you were little? With a chicken soup rhyme for each month?

For example, this month it's:

In January it's so nice
While slipping on the sliding ice
To sip hot chicken soup with rice
Sipping once
Sipping twice
Sipping chicken soup with rice

Although my favorite was always, always September:

In September, for a while
I will ride a crocodile
Down the chicken soup-y Nile
Paddle once
Paddle twice
Paddle chicken soup with rice

(I actually had to go look this book up to make sure I wasn't inventing it. But I wasn't!

Paddle chicken soup with rice!)