OP: Beard on Pasta
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Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1983. Hardcover. Very Good. First printing.
It can be deeply refreshing to turn to a cookbook which manages to present seemingly complex dishes in wholly unfussy ways. James Beard (1903–1985) is an author who reliably uncomplicates recipes that might otherwise intimidate and discourage. He’s not offering tricks and shortcuts so much as paring each concept down to the basics without getting caught up in the hows and whys.
Beard on Pasta (1983), a handsomely designed companion to Beard on Bread (1973), is a full-service pasta book that meets the reader where they are, allowing room to grow. Make your own doughs with instructions for everything from a basic egg pasta and udon to Barbara Kafka’s yeasted beer and buckwheat noodles; or buy dried pasta from the store. You’ll find no proselytizing for or against either option, just sound coaching for whichever path you choose.
The applications of pasta doughs are equally inviting of all abilities and levels of adventurousness. There’s a baked mac and cheese, orzo salad, an uncommon avocado pasta with parmesan and pimiento, a chicken Tetrazzini, pork with sauerkraut and noodles, frogs’ legs tortelloni, kreplach, sweetbread ravioli, and broiled duck with rice noodles and stir-fried vegetables.
Our copy is a Very Good first printing with its dust jacket, lightly worn. Cover design and black and white illustrations by Karl W. Stuecklen (1940–2005).
