Rabbit kidneys, roasted marrowbones, and monkfish liver do not necessarily evoke the images of comfort food for many. But for some reason this term has always been used to describe the cuisine chef Gabrielle Hamilton prepares in her East Village restaurant, Prune. “They have to attach these words to anything that a woman is doing no matter how challenging,” she said in an interview on Makers, a video collection of women’s stories featured on PBS this past September.
With a love for cooking that has grown slow and steady throughout her years as a chef, her first connection was to writing. Now that her 2011 New York Times bestselling memoir Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef (published by Random House) has become a staple among bookshelves, Hamilton has compiled a new extensive collection of very specific recipes all served at Prune, appropriately titled, Prune.
So specific, some have even found them “occasionally maddening” as described in the New York Times review of the cookbook. Some recipes, for example, call for those clutching Prune in one hand and stirring a bowl full of who knows what with the other, to go and find Hamilton herself in order to have her finish the dish so you won’t ruin it. Or to fetch a specific fork off of her desk that will be imperative for the success of the dish. However tongue in cheek it may be, there’s no doubt that there is strength behind her whole operation, and a fierce self-reliance Hamilton is proud of.
If you are one of the Prune cookbook owners who want to recreate every recipe in the book as perfect as her restaurant or want to see the brains behind the operation, join Housing Works on Wednesday December 17th at 7:00pm for a free discussion with Hamilton and to hear about her journey with food.
Images from Heather Sperling for Bloomberg.com
