I was just about to log off for the day, when I saw this terribly sad news on the Chicago Tribune. Sheila Lukins, co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook is dead. A true pioneer of good food in the United States, Lukins helped cultivate New York City foodies when many Americans still believed that the best food came out of a box and was boiled until tender. She was 66 years old.
Last fall, I had the chance to interview her about her book, Ten. It was one of the most enjoyable conversations I have ever had about food. Lukins had a biting wit and clear understanding of her own significance. But she was also genuinely interested in what I, an unknown freelance food writer working on a piece for a weekly in suburban Chicago, had to say. She wanted to know if I'd converted to smoked paprika. She wondered what it was like to grow-up never wanting for white button mushrooms. She wanted me to know the importance of what I was doing, because, well, here in the Chicago suburbs there were thousands of palates curious about the wonderfulness of food.
There are many kids of people in the world of food. Many, many brilliant people, many pioneers, many artists whose creations dazzle. But Sheila Lukins was a rarity. She had warmth. She was interested in the human side of the culinary experience, how simple ingredients could be combined in new ways to make people want to share them with other people. I know this not only from the few minutes she spent talking with me, but from the outpouring of adoration for her shown by great chefs and grand moms who followed her Parade recipes. Time will reflect her greatness.
Below is the story that came from my interview. It originally appeared in The Pioneer Press on November 8, 2008. Cook something wonderful tonight, for Sheila Lukins.
BY DAVID JAKUBIAK
Sheila Lukins recently called in to Tom Ashbrook’s “On Point” radio show on National Public radio to talk about her latest cookbook Ten: All the Foods We Love and 10 Perfect Recipes for Each.
Towards the end of her interview, a woman called in and held back tears as she described making Sunday dinners for her children for 25 years out of the book Lukins co-wrote with Julee Rosso in 1982, The Silver Palate Cookbook.
Lukins said it has happened before. She’s written seven books, for a quarter century she’s been the food editor of PARADE, and all along her goal has been making gourmet food accessible, no “weird recipes,” Lukins said.
“They feed their children these foods, like pork chops and potato gratin, and they say they love these recipes because they always work, they can find the ingredients in the supermarket and they taste delicious.”
Her latest work will likely entwine her even more deeply into the souls of cooks. It goes after the foods that are so deep in our subconscious that we can always count on them to call us.
“We all love and crave foods. We all love steaks, we all love lobsters, we all love pasta. Certainly during these depressing times we all love roast chicken, we all love mashed potatoes, especially with lobsters in them. It’s just a time when we all crave certain foods,” she explained.
And so, Lukins set out to write a book of foods we crave and to provide 10 recipes for each. She began, much as she did above – steaks, lobsters, and roast chickens.
Then she thought of seasonal cravings.
“In certain seasons we can’t wait to bite into a fresh slice of tomato, we can’t wait to gobble down some silver queen corn.”
Then she thought of passions “we love chocolate, we adore spare ribs, baby backs, and we all adore ice cream, or most of us do.”
And then there were those special occasion cravings, the “large important roasts.”
By the time Lukins was done thinking of types of foods we crave she had 32 chapters. When you add the recipes for additional sauces, like “tomato-honey jam,” she had nearly 400 recipes. “I make them all right here in my kitchen,” she said.
It was a lot of work, she said, but was totally worth it.
“You go into a bookstore and you want to poke your eyes out because there are so many cookbooks, and I have written seven cookbooks, so coming up with an idea is very difficult.”
Things have changed since the first publication of The Silver Palate, in this book Lukins dives into international flavors.
“I have always done familiar ingredients in unusual
combinations. So, I have a lot of flavors going on in this book, but I have
today’s kind of flavors. I have Asian-style ingredients, I have Indian-style
ingredients, I have southern-style ingredients, and I have flavors from around
the world, which is really what
America
is today.”
But she stresses they are all standard ingredients.
“They’re just my recipes, it’s not weird food. It’s not weird food to do 10 roast chickens. To do a brined roasted chicken or an Asian roasted chicken or an herbed roasted chicken is not odd, or a tandoori style with Indian spices is not weird. I don’t do weird recipes.”
A lot has changed since Lukins and Rosso opened their
gourmet shop The Silver Palate in
New York City
back in 1977.
“When we first opened The Silver Palate in 1977 we used to go to the grocer and say, ‘will you please order arugula for us,’ to the person in charge of the produce section. ‘Will you please get arugula in this produce section?’ and they would. There was no arugula. We would say, ‘could you please order button mushrooms?’ There weren’t any in 1977.”
Now, she says, shoppers can step into a supermarket and “you would find chipotle chili powder and you will find Ancho chili powder, and you will find smoked paprika, and that’s because McCormick makes it, and you will find black sesame seeds, you will.”
But just to be sure, Lukins explains all of her ingredients in the book, and even offers tips on where to find them.
“In the beginning I used to get calls asking where to buy lemon zest, and then I realized that’s not funny, they need to know exactly what lemon zest is so they don’t have to worry about where to buy it.”
Calls? Yes, she said, “People have no qualms of calling me at home, because they do that, screaming or happy or whatever.”
As she talks it becomes and clearer why pork chops and potato gratin could, after all these years, bring a caller to tears.
Lukins has opened pantries and filled them with deliciousness, helped to raise children with flavor, empowered at the range, and sparked dreams of cook tops.
“People are saying thank you for making our life in the kitchen easier,” she offered. “Our life in the kitchen was a drudge, thanks for making it fun, thanks for helping us with recipes our kids like, thanks for making our life in the kitchen a lot more fun, and thanks for making it easier.”
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