Tonight is Cookbook Club Night

RIGHT PHOTO: SUSAN BERKLEY

The first thing I notice when walking into Susan Berkley’s home in Highland Lakes is a feeling of warmth and camaraderie, followed immediately by waves of mouthwatering aromas. People introduce themselves with hugs instead of handshakes and instantly make this newcomer feel welcome.

Tonight is cookbook club night and—in a world growing ever more impersonal, where you can photograph the contents of your refrigerator and ask ChatGPT to give you a recipe—this gathering feels genuine, like coming home.

It’s the fifth anniversary party of this cookbook club, and many of the founding members and some significant others have come to celebrate. A cookbook club is a mix of the time-honored tradition of a potluck party plus a book club, only the book is always a cookbook. The person who hosts chooses the book and assigns the recipes to each individual cook. Susan Berkley founded the club five years ago and so she is the appropriate host for tonight’s party. Her selected book, The Milk Street Cookbook (5th Anniversary Edition): The Definitive Guide to the New Home Cooking—with Every Recipe from the TV Show by Christopher Kimball, is an equally fitting choice since it was the first edition of The Milk Street Cookbook (from the popular PBS television show) that was the club’s inaugural book five years ago.

The night’s smorgasbord of delights ranges from Tuscan Beef and Black Pepper Stew to a North African Salmon Chraimeh and Garlicky Spiced Chicken & Potato Tray Bake with Pomegranate Molasses. Decadent desserts include Salted Butter Caramel Chocolate Mousse and Danish Dream Cake.

By day, Berkley is senior vice president at a medical communications agency. Very impressive, but her work has nothing to do with cooking or cookbooks. However, she grew up around her mother’s large collection of recipe books and, as an adult, cooking and cookbooks became a passion. Susan’s own culinary library grew almost instantaneously and very serendipitously.

The club, she says, “all started a little over five years ago. The magazine Bon Appétit released a story about a cookbook club. The editors share a book and people all over the world make the recipes and share their thoughts with the magazine.” Susan liked the idea and then discovered that a friend she commuted with was a cookbook buyer for a national chain. “We were on the train, and I was, like, ‘Oh my God, give me some books. There’s no way you could keep them all!’ He sent me the most gorgeous box full of cookbooks, including Milk Street. But then I thought, ‘How am I ever going to cook my way through all these books?’”

So Susan posted on her Facebook page asking for friends to join her in an endeavor to cook from a different book every few months. The response was positive. “That first time we had 14 people at my house, each with a different dish. We had so much food!” Since then the group has grown to 24 members. “We learned to bring Tupperware for leftovers!”

People choose books and recipes that are intriguing and that touch them on a personal level. “Everybody does something different,” Susan explains. “We had somebody who’s a cantor and she chose Feed the Resistance: Recipes + Ideas for Getting Involved by food activist Julia Turshen, where every recipe has a story about when it was made and why. At the dinner everyone explained the history behind their dish.”

Choosing the individual recipes is fun but also challenging. “Usually, the host looks at how many people are coming and they pick a few appetizers, main courses, and desserts accordingly.” Susan laughs, “To be honest, this time I picked 38 recipes and I have 10 cooks coming! So, I had to whittle it down. I said to myself, ‘OK, what’s realistic?’”

Once the host chooses the recipes, she assigns and emails pictures of each recipe to the cooks, so no one has to buy the book unless they like the food. More often than not, everyone ends up purchasing the book. The local bookstore, Words in Maplewood (where the club is primarily based), gives a “club” discount. 

SUSAN POSTED ON HER FACEBOOK PAGE ASKING FOR FRIENDS TO JOIN HER IN AN ENDEAVOR TO COOK FROM A DIFFERENT BOOK EVERY FEW MONTHS.

Sometimes new members are intimidated. “I once assigned someone a tart, and she responded, ‘What’s a tart?’” Susan chuckles. “So I gave her a salad.”

Throughout the years the same friend’s confidence grew and recently she requested the most difficult recipe in the book. Susan also recounts how some members were taken aback when they found out that Julie Pauly—owner of the popular Maple-wood bakery The Able Baker—would be part of the group. “I told them I won’t [assign] you a dessert when Julie comes.” Julie, on the other hand, tells me even though she is in a kitchen all day she enjoys the club’s festive atmosphere and discovering new dishes.

Back at the meeting, as they help themselves to the array of prepared recipes, original members talk of the most exotic dish they have had over the years (Lamb Barbacoa in Adobo from Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich, about their favorite dessert (Chocolate Espresso Pie Bars from Feed the Resistance), and how some of them love the intricate recipes. Other members commented that they prefer Ina Garten’s cookbooks because they “are gorgeous” and the instructions are simple. However, even if they are cooks who choose simplicity or improvisation in their own kitchens, club members try to follow all the steps and get every required ingredient for cookbook club.

Sometimes the ingredients are challenging, but that’s part of the fun. Some of the trickiest ingredients to find have been elk meat, fresh curry leaves, tamarind concentrate paste, and fresh bay leaves. “After a long hunt, Kalustyan’s [a specialty spice store] in Manhattan had the bay leaves,” Susan says.

Members also tell me how cookbook club has been their backbone through divorces, other life changes, and a pandemic. During Covid lockdowns they all transitioned to taking cooking lessons together on Zoom. Original member Paige Ascher stopped cooking regularly when her grown kids moved out, adding “but my son moved back and now with him and the club in full swing there is a reason to cook again!”

As the cooks share their stories, I notice Susan pop her head in from the kitchen, to check if everyone is OK. Her face lights up as she spies people conversing and laughing. She walks over to me. “The best part is that my friends who didn’t know each other before became friends [with each other].”

Certainly, for the past five years, for this group of cooks, the comfort of food—and cookbook club—have been their solace in an ever-changing world. 

IN A WORLD GROWING EVER MORE IMPERSONAL, WHERE YOU CAN TAKE A PICTURE OF THE CONTENTS OF YOUR REFRIGERATOR AND ASK CHATGPT TO GIVE YOU A RECIPE, THIS GATHERING FEELS GENUINE, LIKE COMING HOME.

TIPS FOR STARTING YOUR OWN COOKBOOK CLUB

from Susan Berkley

• Cast a wide net to all your friends.
• Be open minded about the types of food and cookbooks. Try new things!
• Allow people to give feedback about your choices. They might be enthusiastic, and they might be intimidated; adjust accordingly.
• Don’t be a perfectionist, embrace the mistakes.
• Have fun!

SOME FAVORITE COOKBOOKS & DISHES FROM THE COOKBOOK CLUB
 

• Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi (Random House, 2010). Quinoa Salad with Dried Persian Lime
• Feed the Resistance: Recipes + Ideas for Getting Involved by Julia Turshen (Chronicle Books, 2017). Chocolate Espresso Pie Bars
• Go to Dinners by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, 2022). Salmon with Broccolini
• Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet (Ten Speed Press, 2022). Urmila chicken
• The Picnic: Recipes and Inspiration from Basket to Blanket by Marnie Hanel, Andrea Slonecker, and Jen Stevenson (Artisan, 2015). Sweet Potatoes with Lime, Pomegranate, and Yogurt
• Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street 2017 by Christopher Kimball (CPK Media, LLC, 2017). Turkish Beans with Pickled Tomatoes
• The Milk Street Cookbook (5th Anniversary Edition): The Definitive Guide to the New Home Cooking—with Every Recipe from the TV Show by Christopher Kimball (Voracious, Special Edition, 2021). Turkish Tomato and Onion Salad with Olive Oil and Pomegranate Molasses