OP: Old Fashioned Desserts
Irena Chalmers cookbooks, Inc., 1983. Paperback. Very Good.
Richard Sax (1949–1995) was truly one of the greats. He had a prolific, award-winning career. As a writer, he contributed to the likes of Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine, where he was also the founding director of the test kitchen, and produced eight cookbooks, both from the savory and sweet side of the kitchen. He taught cooking class out of his SoHo loft and was beloved and highly regarded, which made his untimely death all the more deeply felt among chefs and home cooks alike.
The slim, paperback Old Fashioned Desserts (1983), was his debut cookbook. While this theme is easily gimmick-ized to mock passing fads and unusual or unappetizing trends, Sax’s approach is one of reverence for a time when home cooking with fresh and natural ingredients offered the best possible outcome—better than any packaged or mass-produced “modern” baked goods.
His sophisticated tack reveals glorious potential to bring nostalgic dishes to the fore:
- Italian rice and ricotta pie—a variation on torta di riso
- Lime syllabub—a light dessert of cream whipped with lime juice and zest, sherry, brandy, and sugar
- Blueberry grunt—a cobbler-like dessert which is simmered stovetop, rather than baked
- Jewish honey cake—a dark, rich cake flavored with, besides honey, coffee, cocoa, whiskey, orange, raisins, and walnuts
The headnotes offer personal anecdotes and historical background—welcome context and good reading.
Our copy is a very minimally shelfworn but unused later printing. Wonderful for any baking collection but an especially lovely addition for those familiar with his more widely known Classic Home Desserts (1994).
