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Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal by Jennifer McLagan

Book description:

In a world of costly prime cuts–stately crown roasts, plump pork chops, and regal racks of lamb–it's easy to forget about (and steer clear of) the more economical, but less lovable parts of the beast–bellies, brains, cheeks, combs, gizzards, hearts, hocks, kidneys, lungs, marrow, necks, shanks, spleens, tongues, trotters, and, oh yes, testicles.

Historically, these so-called odd bits have had a regular place on our plates and in our culinary repertoires. In fact, many are considered delicacies and routinely appear in regional specialties. So why do we eschew and waste valuable protein? When have our sensibilities become so squeamish? In short–when did we decide offal had become awful?

Jennifer McLagan, award-winning author of Bones and Fat, is on a crusade to bring the nose-to-tail style of cooking and eating out of the closet and back onto to our dining tables. Her mission: restoring our respect for the whole animal, developing a taste for its lesser known parts, and learning how to approach them in the kitchen as confidently as we would a steak or a burger.

Serious food lovers will delight in the sheer variety of the dishes that await, ranging from simple to challenging:

Headcheese for the Unconvinced

Veal Cheeks with Swiss Chard and Olives

Cheese and Just a Little Brain Fritters

Lamb Neck with Quince and Turnip

Brisket Braised with Caramelized Onions and Chile

Sweetbreads with Morels and Fresh Fava Beans

Moroccan-Style Braised Heart

Minted Tripe and Pea Salad

Wild Boar Shanks with Cranberries and Chocolate

Bone Marrow and Mushroom Custard

–amazon.com

Hardcover, amazon.com

Hardcover, amazon.co.uk

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“Offal is back in vogue,” says John Walsh at the Independent.

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After the death of author Michael Crichton, the novel Pirate Latitudes was found on one of his computers. He had been working on it, possibly over a period of years, while also working on other books, books that were published. One can assume that Crichton would have done more work on Pirate Latitudes before having it published.

The book, set in the seventeenth century, tells of a fictional Harvard-educated privateer who, at the request of the governor of Jamaica, leads a raid on a Spanish island fortress in the eastern Caribbean. I bought the book from the limited selection available late at night in Pennsylvania Station, New York. The book, though not really very good, is good enough to while away the time in a waiting room or on a long train ride. But it is more like a good preliminary draft than a finished work.

Wait for Me!: Memoirs by Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, is a pleasant book to read to pass the time. Deborah, née Freeman-Mitford. devotes part of the book to telling of her childhood with her parents, one brother, and five sisters. Readers familiar with the works of one of the sisters, Nancy Mitford, will already have some knowledge of the family. Nancy went on to write novels and biographies. Jessica, somewhat left-wing for a member of that family, went on to live in California and wrote a famous book about the American funeral business. Unity, a follower of Hitler, lived in Germany until she shot herself, not fatally, when war between Britain and Germany was declared. Another sister, Diana, married Sir Oswald Moseley, the leader of fascists in England.

Deborah married Lord Andrew Cavendish, the second son of the Duke of Devonshire. The elder son, who married Kathleen Kennedy, died during World War II, and Deborah’s husband Andrew eventually inherited the dukedom in 1950 upon his father’s death. Large amounts were due in estate taxes, but Andrew and Deborah managed to preserve the family seat, Chatsworth, and had success in having it open to the public with various shops and other money-making features. The most interesting chapters in the book describe the Duchess’s involvement in the management of Chatsworth. She has little to say about her own children, perhaps out of respect for their privacy, perhaps out of an awareness that they are not people who have made themselves celebrities of general interest.

The Guest List: How Manhattan Defined American Sophistication–from the Algonquin Round Table to Truman Capote's Ball by Ethan Mordden has interesting moments but I did not find the book entirely satisfactory. If the word “when” were substituted for “how” in the title, the title would be less misleading. If the book tells how Manhattan defined American sophistication, I missed it, perhaps through careless reading, since there were many pages that I skimmed over quickly because I did not think I would find them interesting. The book covers the period from the 1920's to the 1960's in twelve chapters that tell about people such as Dorothy Parker, Charles Lindbergh, Fiorello La Guardia, Ethel Waters, Cole Porter, and Truman Capote. The book is not very much more than a series of more or less interesting anecdotes. The presentation is similar to that of Mr. Mordden’s books about various decades of the Broadway musical, but represents a movement away from the author's field of expertise. I have the impression that Mr. Mordden wrote the book for the sake of writing another book, since writing books is what he does, but it demonstrates more competence than inspiration. The book is worth borrowing from the public library for summer reading, but I would not recommend buying it.

“A 2010 book entitled DSK: Les secrets d’un présidentiable (DSK:Secrets of a presidential contender) by an anonymous French author who goes by the pseudonym ‘Cassandre’, alleges that IMF head and accused rapist Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped a maid in a hotel in Mexico while on a business trip.”–guanabee.com

Mexicana, entre víctimas de agresión sexual de Strauss-Kahn — eluniversal.com.mx

I finished skimming through the book Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter by Antonia Fraser. Famed biographer Lady Antonia Fraser has put together a book about her relationship with playwright Harold Pinter from 1975 (when they met) until 2008 (when Pinter died). Most of the book consists of diary entries.

Both were married to others when they met. After divorcing their spouses, they eventually married, in a civil ceremony. When several years later both ex-spouses had died, the couple solemnized their marriage in a Catholic ceremony. The book is not especially interesting, but it it is worth borrowing from a public library to read some of the pages and to skim over others. I would not recommend buying the book. Not much substance. Not much explanation. A certain amount of name-dropping. These people don’t have lunch or dinner with just anybody! But if the other diners are untitled, that’s OK. Lady Antonia will expect the best seat as an earl’s daughter.