Brick

Every sum­mer grow­ing up in Fort Smith, Mom would make Sum­mer Soup a few times. The recipe was from her best friend Isabel, and when we ate at her house, she’d also have Sum­mer Soup. (Isabel also served her own dill pick­les, the world’s best.) That recipe, at bot­tom, will take you back to the …

Or baba ganoush or baba ghanoush. Baba ganouj is a first cousin to hum­mus dip (mashed spicy chick­peas), but with egg­plant as the base. For shmear­ing on pita wedges or veg­etable sticks. Mol­lie Katzen in Still Life With Menu likes it as a pasta sauce. Any kind of egg­plant works; the com­mon jumbo globe has the …

Using two cook­books for one oft-used recipe, mainly the pen­ciled notes in each, finally got old. It’s time to write it out. Is it mine, or theirs (see foot­note)? A now-retired news­pa­per food edi­tor once told me not to worry: “At con­fer­ences, we all agree, if you change more than the amounts of salt and …