Wrestling with Gravy: A Life, with Food
Author: Jonathan Reynolds
In this inviting feast of a memoir, former New York Times food columnist Jonathan Reynolds dishes up a life that is by turns hilarious and tender–and seasoned with the zest of cooking, family, eating, and lounging around various tables in tryptophanic stupors.
Growing up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a child of material privilege and emotionally distant parents, young Jonathan discovers that food serves as a catalyst for adventure, a respite from loneliness, and a fail-safe way to navigate his often eccentric surroundings. When Jonathan is thirteen, his uncle Bus, a surrogate father of sorts, treats him to his first fine dining experience, at the old Westbury Hotel on Madison Avenue. The suspicious teen orders pheasant under glass–and from the moment the glass dome is lifted, Reynolds’s culinary curiosity takes off.
Always absorbing, often hilarious, and surprisingly affecting, Wrestling with Gravy is full of wonderful characters and anecdotes. With droll self-effacement and a sharp eye for detail, Reynolds relives the time that his own father made a move on his girlfriend during a meal at Maxim’s in Paris; extols the surprising virtues of baseball stadium cuisine (with the exception of New York); and recounts how he once whipped up a seductive meal for a woman, only to have her excuse herself after dessert because she had another date lined up, buffet-style, later in the evening. Even on a glum Christmas day in New York City, or at the deathbed of his dear cousin the actress Lee Remick, food offers solace and a cathartic sense of home.
Rare among culinary memoirs, Wrestling with Gravy speaks eloquentlyabout food without affectation, while striking a note of cosmic comedy and honest regret. And of course, the recipes are all here, too–from a perfect water-smoked Thanksgiving turkey to a barbecued Chinese duck, from an old-fashioned malted to Flaming Babas au Armagnac. Like a truly great meal, Wrestling with Gravy will entertain and satisfy any reader’s appetite.
For five years, Jonathan Reynolds brought oxygen to the food page of The New York Times Magazine. He was smart and buoyant as he rummaged around in memory's trunk for food-worthy anecdotes to chew upon. The pieces were highly personal, showcasing his quirks and irreverence as much as any foodstuff. His theatrics (fittingly –- Reynolds is a seasoned actor and playwright) were endearing; no surprise, then, when readers took personal interest in his passage, with its hints of darkness lurking amid the drollery.
Reynolds' memoir, "Wrestling With Gravy," is as consistently entertaining, in a grim way, as his columns, unveiling the many familial, romantic and professional land mines he discovered –- too late! –- under nearly every step he took, each fitted with emblematic recipes, balms for his wounds: "Food is controllable, while most of life isn't."
His father was absent, off performing "entrepreneurial calisthenics"; his mother was lost to depression. There were boarding school expulsions, and a jail stay prompted by his youthful infatuation with actress Kim Novak. Hollywood was a bitter pill –- "The stars sip their strawsful of sugarless broth fumes and vapor of fetal watercress leaf helicoptered to their trailers" –- part and parcel of his "insanely and unrealistically ambitious" screenwriting career. Friends and family died; his marriage went south.
The gloom is beveled, thankfully, by his children, a guiding-star uncle, a second marriage, sweet playwriting success, all artfully etched with a hand as graceful as his progress clubfooted. (Said clubfoot precedes him during an ill-advised, weirdly nescient chapter analyzing American politics, but then half of Reynolds' charm is his flaws.)
Not to forget the associative, heartening foods, like Kubbervik Scallops, Undocumented Tamales and Stargazy Pie, with sardine snouts poking through the puff pastry. If hunger is the best sauce, a spoonful of agony worked wonders for Reynolds. –The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
The New York Times - John T. Edge
Reynolds is at his best when purposefully entangling libido and linguine. He relishes a Paris dinner during which his father makes a move on his girlfriend. (Ditto his time in the Philippines, working on a book about the filming of "Apocalypse Now" while rooming with a former Playboy Playmate of the Year.) And he preens when recounting the response of his first wife to a dish of truffles poached in Champagne and sherry, describing her response as "so appreciative and sexual that the afternoon was gone completely, and I knew this match would work." He even manages to declare his unrequited love for Dolly Parton in the midst of a discursive exploration of malted milk.
Publishers Weekly
Reynolds, a self-described "artistic entrepreneur," has been an actor, a screenwriter, a playwright, a television producer, as well as a food columnist for the New York Times Magazine. As a boy, he first discovered fine dining with his indulgent Uncle Bus, who not only let him order pheasant under glass in a ritzy Madison Avenue restaurant but rescued him from having to eat it by quietly offering to trade plates. Some years later, when his wealthy divorced father gave him a transatlantic first-class ticket on the SS France, the food was so exquisite Reynolds found himself "beginning to wonder if there was anything in life worth doing between meals." While he ultimately found much to do campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, studying at various acting schools, working with great Hollywood directors there was always some dish that made each episode memorable. From the "gruesome oatmeal" he's served after a night in jail for trying to crash Kim Novak's private home to the Cinderella truffles he made to seduce his first wife, Reynolds tells the tale as well as sharing the recipe. Even if we don't actually make his pissaladi re au confit de canard or the simpler sea urchin ceviche, to read through the intricate steps in these preparations reminds readers of the drama and delight of great eating. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Former New York Times Magazine food columnist and award-winning playwright Reynolds has penned an entertaining coming-of-age memoir. In a self-effacing style, he recounts humorous and bittersweet passages of a life that revolves around food, ranging over his parents, his loves, his writing career, current events, his cousin actress Lee Remick (among other celebrities), and his passion for all things culinary. Recipes, encompassing the simple and the exotic, are adapted from cookbooks and notable restaurant chefs. Reynolds even offers up his own creations. It would have been a treat to see a recipe index, but that's only a quibble. Sure to delight readers; recommended for public libraries.-Christine Holmes, San Jose State Univ. Lib., CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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This richly descriptive book includes recipes and folklore about the preparation of food by Southwest Indian people. A best-selling favorite that delights the palate and the eye, this cookbook ventures beyond mere recipes into the hearts and souls of the Pueblo and Navajo Indians. In these Native cultures, growing food and its preparation are intimately tied to religious ceremony.
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This book combines recipes and text with sensitive color photographs. The photo book is a gourmet treat for jaded appetites.
New York Times Book Review
Striking color photographs and an informative and beguiling text and recipes on the food and folklore.... [A] loving and poetic presentation of both the cuisines and the people behind them.
New England Review of Books
An amazing mix of history, folklore, photography and recipes from the American Southwest.... The recipes are direct and easy. An excellent addition to any cook's library.
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