America, you had me at “cookbook.” As a longtime fan of collections that celebrate the amazing diversity that is American cooking, I flipped through this latest by Gabrielle Langholtz eagerly.
The book is organized somewhat oddly — but at 711 pages, its organization would inevitably be difficult. We start with a large section called “Recipes from 50 States” that’s divided into starters, main courses, side dishes and so forth. The geographic origin of the recipe is indicated by an icon shaped like the state or sometimes, when a recipe is too difficult to pin down, an indication like “Midwest” (other icons indicate considerations like vegetarian, gluten-free, one-pot, less than 30 minutes to make, etc.). Langholtz traveled far and wide to collect the recipes, and also read deeply in previous cookbooks focused on regional cuisines.
If you want to skip to only recipes from a certain state (say, Wisconsin, which is represented well with kringle, beer cheese soup, Door County fish boil and deep fried cheese curds, among others) you have to head to the index.
The second half of the book, “Essays and recipes by state,” provides context and is more interesting from a readerly point of view. Fifty essays, each written by a cook or food writer involved with the cuisine of the area, cover the foodways of each state. Each essay is followed by guest recipes from a famous chef. Christine Muhlke, a cookbook writer and editor at Bon Appetit, pens Wisconsin’s essay; recipes are from Dave Swanson of Milwaukee’s Braise.
Recipes from guest chefs tend to be more forward-looking, while the recipes in the first half of the book are the more traditional dishes we tend to associate with regions of the country. But there are lesser-known gems, too, like Maryland’s hot milk cake, or a recipe for “American goulash” that squares 100 percent with a recipe my mom used to make in steady weekly rotation when I was a kid.
Christine Muhlke and Ari Weinzweig, who wrote the essay for our neighbor, Michigan, will be appearing along with Langholtz on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. in the Central Library Community Rooms 301 and 302.
