Inside Jacket

What is it about competitive cooking? Even Michelle Obama appears bewitched. She recently hosted an episode of “Iron Chef” in the White House garden (airs January 3rd). And yet, as Michael Pollan has pointed out, televised cooking contests are turning cooking into something of a spectator sport. Enter The Piglet, a tournament of cookbooks hosted by the new online recipe forum Food52. This tournament, inspired by The Morning News’s Tournament of Books, pits sixteen of 2009’s best cookbooks against each other. Each match is judged by a different food writer or chef, who tests out recipes from two books and reports back with a winner.

So if you’re waffling between the “Momofuku” cookbook, by David Chang and Peter Meehan, and “Simply Fresh Southern,” by Matt and Ted Lee, you might want to consult the play-by-play (Momofuku wins!). This week, Grant Achatz (of Alinea fame) will choose between “Canal House Cooking” and “Real Cajun.” Or, if you’re only interested in the best cookbook of the year, the one that emerges unscathed from several rounds of rigorous competition, look out for the final selection, which will be made by Nora Ephron and announced in a public trophy ceremony at the Astor Center, in New York City, on Monday, November 9th.

Two New York cookbooks for the fall, tested in my kitchen.

David Chang is a chef well known for his expletives. Not much has changed with his new cookbook, “Momofuku,” named after the four East Village eateries that bear the name. Expressions like “It’ll be banging” and “A great fucking dish” are scattered through pages like Sichuan peppercorns. My friends and I settled on recreating Chang’s spicy pork sausage with chewy rice cakes. His version at Ssäm bar is delicious. It’s oily and spicy with chewy rice cakes that help sop up the heat. Chang likens it to a combination of Ma po tofu and pork Bolognese sauce. “The result isn’t Sichuan or Korean or Bolognese or anything,” he adds. “But it is very Momofuku. And banging.” Though for an amateur chef, “very Momofuku” translates to “very difficult.” I found myself in Han Ah Reum, a Korean Grocery store, hunting down ssämjang (jarred Korean fermented bean and chili sauce), rice cakes, silken tofu, and kochukaru. Other ingredients, like packaged Chinese fried shallots and Sichuan peppercorns had to be substituted with regular peppercorns and French’s French Fried Onions. One pot, two large pans, and three messy burners later, we had cooked up something delicious. The peppercorns gave it a distinctly Western whiff, which meant it didn’t taste exactly like Chang’s, but still mouthwatering. And that’s the Momofuku spirit anyway, right?

Over on the Upper East Side, we enter the dining rooms of the ladies who lunch where Florence Fabricant has organized the second book in her “Park Avenue Potluck” series. “Celebrations” is culled from the files of society dames who are charitably involved with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (partial proceeds will go to fighting cancer). Here you’ll find what to cook for your Easter luncheon and what to serve at your holiday cocktail party. I tried the Beef Stragonoff in a New York Minute on a Tuesday night, hoping for an easy meal. It was. And cheap: the bill at the grocery store totaled no more than twenty bucks. The flavors were old-fashioned—the sauce is a mixture of beef stock and sour cream, thickened with flour and garnished with dill—but tasty. It made me realize that, as the book notes, “thoughtful touches make all the difference.” Rachael Ray’s infuriating “Thirty Minute Meals,” debased by her yelps of “EVOO” and “Yum-Oh” are probably not too different in timing, cost, and taste. But presentation matters. “A New York minute” just sounds so much better.