The Poetry of Cooking

Click Cover for Amazon

The Poetry of Cooking is a beautiful new cookbook from John Ross. Ross is a long-time chef and a food columnist. He is also a poetry lover. In this wonderful cookbook, he combines his various talents for food and words—and also displays his talent for photography.

The book is organized into chapters going from January to December. Each chapter begins with a poem about food. The twelve poets include Anne-Marie Macari, Marge Piercy, George Bilgere, Jake Adam York, and Li-Young Lee. I’m delighted to have my poem “Linguini” leading off the month of February.

The book is hard cover, 10 x 8, with a laminated wipeable coating, and contains more than 200 mouth-watering recipes and 80 stunning color photos. The text is comfortably readable. Ingredients for each recipe are listed on the left side of the page. The recipes then are enumerated in an easy to follow step-by-step fashion.

Recipes that might tempt you include Summer Lobster Stew, Potato Leek Soup, Bouillabaisse, Shredded Zucchini with Pesto, and Caponata. To his credit, Ross has not neglected desserts. He offers such dishes as Peach-Blueberry-Blackberry Cobbler, Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, Raspberry Trifle, and Black Forest Cherry Cake.

This cookbook would make a perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves poetry and good food and is happy cooking in the kitchen. Happy diners will soon follow.

Black Forest Cherry Cake