Be an Artist at the Gas Range

Drew Friedman is one of the great portrait artists of our (or any) time. That he has focused much of his attention on also-ran celebrities has only sharpened the irony that stipples out of his pen. (Check such books as Warts and All, Too Soon?, and the Old Jewish Comedians series (1, 2, and 3)). But I've asked him here today to share his cookbook collection, which tells us far too much about our culture's history of persuading people back into the kitchen. What, for example, is that alien thing atop the angry-looking salmon in Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book? Why has my wife never husband-tested a recipe? And how can you not admire Kate Smith for allowing (we assume) her phys to share a cover with a huge chocolate cake?


Drew Friedman's Cookbook Collection.