Extra Helpings: Jane Snow Cooks

[Ed. Note: While I consider myself to be a relatively recent friend of Jane Snow, I bought my own copy of her new book, Jane Snow Cooks. Neither Jane nor her publishing company have asked me to talk about her new book here on the blog.]

Jane Snow, food editor for the Akron Beacon Journal for twenty-eight years and two-time James Beard award winner for food writing, recently undertook a project that has occupied her for the better part of 2009. She spent the first several months of this year combing over the enormous number of articles that she wrote and even more numerous recipes submitted to her during her tenure at the Beacon selecting recipes and anecdotes to include in her newly released book, Jane Snow Cooks.

Tonight I had the chance to attend a talk and book signing at the Akron Public Library. After a brief introduction, Jane took the stage and kept the audience captivated for nearly an hour, regaling us with stories, both funny and serious, that she was fortunate enough to experience during her career. She started out the talk by reading us the short essay she wrote to introduce the fifth chapter of the book, On The Road.


After the short reading, Jane took a somewhat structured approach to the remainder of her talk, but veered off every now and again to talk about some of the crazier antics she was privy to over the years. One of my favorite stories was about her experience winning her first James Beard award. It seems that her work regarding salmonella tainted raspberries from South America was worthy enough to get her not only nominated, but also included in the group of three finalists who were flown to New York City for the announcement of the winner. Of course, before they announced the winner, a lavishly thrown dinner with the creme de la creme of the New York Food Illuminati was held in honor of the finalists. Not thinking she had actually won, Jane fully took advantage of the free-flowing champagne.

When the announcement was finally made, a wholly-unprepared Jane Snow was introduced and essentially thrust onto the stage to make some witty remarks. With that deer-in-headlights look, she looked over the crowd, opened her mouth, and quipped, "Food poisoning has been very good to me." Fortunately, this opening line tickled the crowd and relieved the palpable tension in the room.

Ironically, when Jane was attending the reception for her second James Beard award, she happened to be casually talking with someone connected with the James Beard association and in a more serious tone asked what one should say in their acceptance speech. The woman replied that while most acceptance speeches were pretty forgettable, the most memorable speech she could remember happened several years ago. Apparently the winner had gotten up onto the podium and thanked food poisoning for her win, clearly unaware of the irony of her answer.

After the bulk of Jane's talk concluded, she did a brief Q & A session with members of the audience. We then all adjourned to the hallway outside the auditorium where a table was set up to sell copies of her new book:


Having already picked one up earlier in the day, I simply got in line to have my copy signed. While I stood in line, bite-sized samples of Lou & Hy's cheesecake (or at least, cheesecake made from the Lou & Hy's recipe) were passed out:


Samples were either plain or topped with cherries or pineapple. A quintessential New York style cheesecake, these were every bit as good as I remember from the original Akron deli. I tried both the cherry (which I've had before) and the pineapple (which I hadn't). I have to say that the candied pineapple version was quite delicious.

My copy now signed, I hopped back into my car and drove home, eager to devour the contents of her new book. Here was a shot of the cover:


I think what I like the most about this book, and Jane alluded to this in her talk, is that the contents represent a specific time and a specific location, essentially Akron over the last thirty-plus years. Many of the recipes you'll find inside her book detail flavors and experiences you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the country. While all of the recipes come from Jane's impressive nearly three decades as food writer and editor at the Beacon, they form a very diverse culinary tapestry of local traditions, local cooks, non-local cooks and a bit of kitchen wizardry Jane herself threw together in her own kitchen.

Each chapter opens with a witty essay detailing what you will find in the following pages. The first three chapters focus mainly on local traditions and cooks: Local Favorites, Ten Most Wanted, and Winners. After that, the remainder of the book is broken down into various categories of food: Appetizers, Soups & Salads, Vegetables, Entrees, and Desserts. In addition to two chapters devoted to her all-time favorite personal recipes and the recipes of chefs and home cooks outside of Akron, she also thoughtfully included a final chapter called "How To . . .", detailing steps required to roast the perfect turkey or cook the perfect chicken breast.

With over one hundred fifty recipes covering local, regional, national and international cuisines, you are certain to find many tasty dishes in Jane Snow Cooks that will please you, your family and impress your friends. Personally, as a food writer living in Akron, I am happy to use the book as a epicurean guidepost in helping me to demystify and properly evaluate the food traditions I find when I eat out in Akron restaurants. That it is chock full of tried-and-tested recipes simply makes it that much better. If you enjoyed the work that Jane Snow did during her tenure at the Akron Beacon Journal, then I am sure you will enjoy this book, too.

Jane Snow Cooks: Spirited Recipes & Stories
Written by Jane Snow
Published by Ringtaw Books
ISBN: 978-1-931968-65-2
List price is $19.95

The book is available locally (I purchased mine at the Barnes and Noble in Montrose, Ohio) or on-line at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Book Review: Cleveland Ethnic Eats

While I didn't originally set up this blog with the intent of doing book reviews (or actually, to be fair, restaurant reviews), since December 2008 I have sort of let the blog grow organically in order to see where it would lead me. Besides the obvious restaurants write-ups that I've done, I've also done two recipe posts, a write-up of my friend Nancy's awesome Seder meal this year for Passover, and a smidgen of commentaries. So, why not include a book review in there as well?

I was contacted several weeks ago by Cleveland author Laura Taxel. Her publishing company had set up a website to coincide with the latest edition (8th) of her book, Cleveland Ethnic Eats. Laura had come across my blog and read several of my posts on various ethnic restaurants that I had gone to and posted about. Considering that ethnic restaurants are her forte, she wrote and asked if we could link to each other's blogs. Now, whenever I get unsolicited email from anyone, the first thing I do is to spend a little time vetting their credentials. After several Google and Amazon searches, it became clear that she was the real deal and not someone I should dismiss right away. Even before I received a copy of her book, it was clear that Laura's writing style was friendly, approachable, and designed to get more people into our locally owned ethnic restaurants. This is completely in-line with my own personal goals.

She also mentioned in her e-mail that she would be happy to arrange for her publisher to send me a copy if I wanted to mention it in one of my blogs. So, full disclosure being what it is, I contacted her publisher and they sent me a copy free of charge. Feel free to take my review with a grain of salt if that bothers you. I was never asked to do a review, much less a favorable one. I am also not a professional book reviewer, so I am looking at this book purely from my own perception of what makes a good book.

First and foremost, Laura takes several pages to explain the methodology she uses in her book: how the restaurants were chosen for inclusion, a description of the terminology she uses within her reviews, and how to use the book most effectively. I found the following point from her Introduction completely appropriate when describing her writing angle:

"I didn't pass judgments on the restaurants I've included, or rate them with stars. That's for you to do, though I have to admit that many times I decided that there really was no reason for me to ever cook again. I wanted to offer information, not evaluations, and encourage readers to investigate and experiment."

And based on the number of restaurant write-ups I've perused in her book, this is exactly what she does. Every now and again a write-up will contain a little bit of commentary along with the rest of the information, but it's never mean-spirited or meant to keep you from trying out the establishment. Laura's write-ups are meant to give you a general feeling for the restaurant as a whole. In contrast, my blog posts are meant to tell the story of my experience at a restaurant, good or bad.

The book is cleverly organized first by cuisine geography and then divided into restaurants and markets. Examples of geography include Pacific Rim; Middle East, Africa, India, and Turkey; Mediterranean; Europe East of the Danube; Europe West of the Danube; Latin America; American Regional; and International. Within each restaurant and market category, they are further subdivided into specific cuisines such as Greek, Italian, Spanish, British, Slovenain, etc. This makes it very easy to locate a specific restaurant or market if you know what type of cuisine you are after.

But sometimes you don't know what kind of cuisine you are after. Sometimes you are out in a particular part of town and want to know what is available. Maybe you want to try a new restaurant. Laura has you covered. As one of the many indexes in the back of the book, she has a listing of restaurants in various Cleveland, Akron, and Canton suburbs. Each listing then has a page number associated with it so you can quickly flip to the write-up for more information.

Not enough cross-referencing for you? She also lists the write-ups by Country, Region, or Ethnicity; Ideas; and Street Eats. The Idea index suggests write-ups by such categories as Around Midnight, Cheap Eats, and Great Choice for Vegetarians. The Street Eats index is designed to showcase groups of restaurants and markets that are geographically close to each other, such as on the same street. Plus, there is always the plain old Alphabetical index if you already know the name of the restaurant or market.

This is clearly a book that will be constantly living in my glove box (and it's about the right size for a glove box, too). What would be incredibly helpful is if all of this wonderful information could be put online so that it was accessible by the many mobile devices that seem to dominate our lives. Clearly the publisher would have to ensure that people using the online service had either purchased an actual copy of the book or perhaps just purchased a license to use the site. But this is a desire that I have of many of my culinary reference books, about which I consider Cleveland Ethnic Eats to be just as important as any book on cooking technique.

With 356 entries, you could try a new place almost every day of the year without repeating. If you are looking to truly discover what the Northeast Ohio area has to offer in terms of locally owned, authentic ethnic cuisine, recipes that have been handed from generation to generation, I would suggest you find yourself a copy of Cleveland Ethnic Eats by Laura Taxel. And, oh yeah, check out her blog, too. I know that I do on a regular basis.


















(Image courtesy of Gray & Company, all rights reserved.)

Cleveland Ethnic Eats, 8th Edition
Written by Laura Taxel
Published by Gray & Company
ISBN: 978-1-59851-053-9
List price is US $14.95.

From the letter that was included with the book, Cleveland Ethnic Eats is available at Northeast Ohio bookstores and online from Amazon.com. You can also contact Gray & Company at 800-915-3609 or online at their website if you want more information.