Paula Peck in the Media

Even 50 years after her last book was published, Paula Peck and her books are still mentioned occasionally in various cooking articles and blogs. Here are some of the most recent:

Mark Bittman on Fried Chicken and his appreciation for Paula Peck’s cooking. Megan Peck and this site is also mentioned:

The New York Times Magazine | Fear of Frying

Unless you’re a routine visitor to KFC, fried chicken is probably not in your weekly diet. Which is fine: it is, after all, a treat. But even though you can get fried chicken that’s way better than the fast-food variety all over the place, it remains a specialty of home cooking, and one that anyone can handle. To me, the best has a simple, flavored coating of flour or the like, rather than thick, ultracrusty preparations or spongy batters. More…

Mark Bittman tells Publishers Weekly that ”The Art of Good Cooking” is one of his 3 essential cookbooks:

Publisher’s Weekly | Mark Bittman’s 3 Essential Cookbooks

Paula Peck’s Art of Good Cooking: An inspiration to me when I was young and learning how to cook, and still incredibly sensible. James Beard’s Theory and Practice of Good Cooking: Still an amazingly useful basic cookbook (and something I lived with while writing How to Cook Everything), with wonderful (and literate) explanations about technique. More…

Huffington Post interviews Mark Bittman and Florence Fabricant of The New York Times. This time Florence Fabricant answers “anything Paula Peck” when asked what cookbooks she uses the most:

The Hufftington Post | Mark Bittman and Florence Fabricant on Cookbooks, Food Blogs, Apps and Foodies

Yesterday, a panel hosted by NYU debated why books and benchmarks matter to introduce the release of 101 Classic Cookbooks, 501 Classic Recipes. I had the opportunity to discuss the future of cookbooks, food blogs and apps, and the term “foodie” with Mark Bittman, bestselling cookbook author and New York Times Op-ed and The Magazine’s food columnist, and Florence Fabricant, New York Times food and wine columnist, contributor to 101 Classic Cookbooks, and the mother of the woman who designed the cookbook. More…

Mark Bittman discusses the use of herbs, specifically parsley and Paula Peck’s influence:

The New York Times Magazine | The Ungarnished Truth

Before pesto reached the shores of America, every “fancy” dish in this country carried a sprig of parsley, and for all but a very few of us, that was the extent of our acquaintance with herbs. It was Paula Peck, author of the once-invaluable and now-quaint “The Art of Good Cooking,” who brought to my attention the notion that parsley could play a better, more varied role in cooking if you used it by the handful. More…

An NPR interview with Mark Bittman on his Vegetarian cookbook where he discusses his favorite cookbook, The Art of Good Cooking, and why:

NPR Books | Mark Bittman Explains ‘How To Cook Everything’

Mark Bittman is the king of tweaking recipes. His long-running “Minimalist” column in The New York Times explained to people how to adjust simple recipes to their liking — with minimal time, effort and ingredients. His best-selling cookbooks How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian demonstrate how a few simple rules can be applied to most ingredients you have in the pantry. More…

A post about her cookbook by a passionate cookbook collector:

The Culinary Cellar: The Art that is Paula Peck

Google Paula Peck and you will find endless comments of admiration for her cookbooks, this one included. Many are more familiar with Paula’s book, “The Art of Fine Baking,” which is considered one of the best cookbooks of all time, and will be included in a future blog. More…

I like the tag line for this blog: Paula Peck…the Martha Stewart of days gone by

Cookies in Heaven | Paula Peck….The Martha Stewart of days gone by

I found my copy at a local library book sale. The cover is well loved, but from what I understand, the recipes found in the book are also well loved. I haven’t made anything from it yet, but I plan to…..soon. More…

An article about an adaptation of her Ricotta Pudding:

NYTimes.com – The Minimalist – Pudding for Purists

THE first cookbook I used was Craig Claiborne’s ”New York Times Cookbook”; the first cookbook I bought was ”Joy of Cooking.” But the first one I fell in love with was Paula Peck’s ”Art of Good Cooking.” Ms. Peck, who wrote in the 60′s — I bought her book in 1970 — was a self-described modernist: ”tradition should not hamper us if we find a better way of doing things.” More…

8 thoughts on “Paula Peck in the Media”

Sheila Michaels on December 16, 2011 at 4:00 am said:

Read your post on the Boerum Hill list.
You’re Jim Peck’s granddaughter!
I was in CORE & have done a number of oral histories with people who knew your grandfather well (longer than I did, surely). I have his _Freedom Ride_, as well as your grandmother’s books.
Nothing more to reveal, nothing further to add.

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Sheila Michaels on December 16, 2011 at 4:08 am said:

Hmmm. Not Boerum Hill, looks like I’m getting e-mails from “Cookies In Heaven” & don’t remember hearing of them, previously.

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meganpeck on December 17, 2011 at 1:03 am said:

Sheila – Thank you for the comment. I’m very proud of the work my grandfather did so it’s great to hear from those who remember him and worked with him. I hope you had a chance to see the Freedom Riders: American Experience on PBS this past May. It had a lot of footage of the freedom rides as well as many photos of my grandfather I had never seen before.

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Anna Merton on June 6, 2012 at 12:03 pm said:

Hi there: wanted to let you know that I am about to make my first grandchild’s first birthday cake with your grandmother’s inimitable genoese. I am a 59-year-old English woman who was given the book for my 12th birthday in Cambridge (UK) in1965. It has been in constant use ever since. So nice that you are keeping her memory and recipes alive, Megan. (From soon after that birthday I became politically active, by the way. Perhaps some of your father’s influence filtered through the recipes!)

Anna

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Megan on June 6, 2012 at 10:37 pm said:

Wow! Thanks Anna – so great to know that my grandmothers books are favorites in the UK and still in constant use. I hope your grandchild enjoys the genoise. What a great history! Thanks so much for commenting.

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Carolyn Worthing on November 6, 2012 at 4:53 pm said:

p. 212 AofFB…Scandinavian Christmas Cookies…my go to recipe for rolled cookies. Discovered this recipe in the 60′s when my kids were young, and calling on it now for my granddaughter. It’s the best! Dough rolls nice and thin and easy to cut, not too sweet, not too spicy yet flavorful…and no need for decoration unless you want to keep the kids busy a bit longer!

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- Megan on November 7, 2012 at 9:48 pm said:
  
  Thanks Carolyn! I will have to give those a try this season.
  
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Rick Skinner on December 23, 2012 at 7:30 pm said:

Megan–great work on your website and honoring both your grandmother and grandfather. I had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner with your grandfather Jim at one of his favorite Chinese restaurants about 20 or so years ago with a chance to discuss his days of protest and rabble rousing and to discuss his book about ‘upper dogs and under dogs.’ Keep up the good work! Would like to sample your cooking some time!–Rick

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Megan Peck Cooks

Recreating the Works of Grandmother Paula Peck.