Tuesday, July 17, 2018

The Way to the Sea(food)


The Provincetown Seafood Cookbook – Howard Mitcham – (Introduction) Anthony Bourdain – (Seven Stories Press)

With so many online food outlets, cookbooks find themselves at a crossroads; they can’t just be a list of recipes and ingredients, those are over the web. Pretty pictures of delicious looking food aren’t going to make the difference either, for the same reason. I am sorry, but cookbooks by alleged super-models with chipmunk cheeks and butter faces just aren’t believable; I am not buying what you’re selling.

So maybe aspiring cookbook authors or chefs should take note of the newly re-release of the classic The Provincetown Seafood Cookbook by artist, storyteller and chef Howard Mitcham. A perfectly tasty mix of history, fisherman’s tales and seafood is served up with some original drawings courtesy of the author, with just a nip of salty sea air permeating this wonderful tome.


You can find original copies of this book for sale online for hundreds of dollars or settle in to this retro upgrade complete with a new introduction from late chef and raconteur Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain relishes his early days in the food industry when someone gifted him a copy of the original. I think the thing that separates the true culinary masters from the super-model pretenders is the fact that these folks immerse themselves in not only the food, but the stories that go into the recipes they create.

Mitcham was one such character; he not only gives you the tasty victuals, he also steeps you into the history and the details of how he acquired the recipe or the fish tale that goes with it. This one is as much fun to read as it is to cook from. It’s easy to understand why for Bourdain, and so many others this became the go to way finder when the goal was to achieve a delicious seafood feast.

No comments: