The joys of an eclectic cookbook collection

This article first appeared in the April 10, 2024 edition of the Barron News-Shield.

By Ryan Urban

There’s a three-foot space between cabinets in my kitchen filled with cookbooks.
While browsing this collection the other night I was amused by how eclectic it is. 
It had been a cold, wet day on the borderline of winter and spring—soup weather.
I turned to “The Secrets of Jesuit Soupmaking” for garlic soup. 
It’s hard to know where each cookbook came from. I am not Catholic, so I have to
assume the soupmaking book—and probably the majority of our collection—came
with her when we moved in together. 
One of mine is “Down Home with the Neeleys,” but I don’t remember how I
acquired it. Patrick and Gina Neeley once had a show on the Food Network, but
I’ve never watched it. 
I hadn’t even used the cookbook until recently. I wanted to make lasagna, and I
figured that’s just the kind of “down home” dish I’d find in the book. 
Reading the intro to the book I was charmed by Neeleys’ wholesome story and
how they expressed such affection for each other in their words. Of course, when I
Googled them I discovered that they divorced in 2014. Oh well, I’ll keep the
book—I found a really good pot roast recipe in it the other night. 
The cookbooks I use the most are from “The River Cottage” series by English chef
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal. 
I bought “River Cottage Veg” about 10 years ago in hopes of finding motivation to
eat more veggies. It worked, and now I have the page numbers memorized for my
favorite recipes. I like it so well, that I bought the “River Cottage Meat Book” as
well. 
Another favorite is “Milk Street: Tuesday Nights” by Christopher Kimball. The
premise is quick, delicious meals for busy weeknights. With Tuesday being
deadline night at the News-Shield, the cookbook is perfect for me. 
As diverse as our cookbook collection is, a good portion of it is traditionally
midwestern. We have “The Little House Cookbook,” “Dishing up Minnesota,”
and the “Wisconsin Supper Club Cookbook,” which includes a recipe for local
favorite Lehman’s BLT soup. 
We have cookbooks specifically for cooking with mushrooms, cooking with beer,
cooking with maple syrup. We even had one simply titled “Squash,” with 50
recipes for all things gourd. 
A couple weeks ago venison was on the menu for dinner that evening. Where else
could I turn but “The Hunting in the Nude Cookbook.”
The author, Bruce Carlson, is of the belief that the most fearsome predators in the
world—sharks, large cats, etc.—hunt in the nude, so it must be the best way. This
takes the cake for being the most unusual and the funniest cookbook I’ve ever
read. The foreword, written by Phil Hey, kind of says it all: “Bruce Carlson asked
me to say something nice about this book back here. I will, too, if I can think of

something. Meanwhile my personal opinion is that he’s been sleeping with his
head too close to the campfire. But, if you want to learn anything about hunting in
the nude, this book is one of the best on the subject. And if you want some knock-
your-socks-off wild game cookin’, look no further.”

It features recipes like “flat out good marinated bear steak,” “Coon what’s been
baked,” “Antelope what’s been braised,” “Stewed stew,” “Stewed turtle,” “More
stewed turtle” and “And yet still more turtle stew.” I opted for the ‘Stewed
Bambi.”
I took a cooking class once titled Noodles, Strudels and Pierogis at North House
Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota. 
The thing I remember most was gathering before the class. Besides my wife and I,
it was mostly older ladies, but also a surprising number of burly looking men.
Turns out there were two classes happening that day. The other was German
Timber Framing. It was just me and one other guy making dough that day. The
others were making sawdust. 
My class was taught by Kim Ode, a retired reporter and columnist for the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Afterward I was inspired to buy her book “Baking With
The St. Paul Bread Club.”
I didn’t make noodles, strudels or pierogies for a long time after the class. That
changed last fall thanks to a surplus of apples. I decided to make strudel, with
some help from the Czech foreign exchange student we were hosting, Adéla. I
asked her what she thought of the recipe, and she was a bit taken aback by the
amount of sugar—welcome to America. Adéla said that when she makes strudel
“the sweetness of the apples is enough.” She was right. 
Of course, there are very few recipes I make “by the book.” Much of cooking is
improvisation. Baking less so. 
Adéla made a lot of bread while living with us because American bread is pretty
lackluster compared to what she was used to. I learned a bit from helping her. It
didn’t seem that hard. But now when I make it myself it is not as good. I will keep
practicing, with some help from “Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club,” “The Hot
Bread Kitchen Cookbook,” “Crust,” “Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking” and maybe a
couple other titles from the collection.

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