A Tribute to Sheila Lukins Guest Post from Katie Workman of Cookstr

Julia Child is rightly given credit for rapping us on the knuckles with a ladle with Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961. Cooks all across the country set about making potages, coq au vin, and pâte brisée with delight and purpose.

But The SIlver Palate, co-authored with Julee Rosso, took us by the shoulders and shook us out of culinary complacency. Sheila didn't discover balsamic vinegar, or sundried tomatoes or phyllo dough. But Sheila did take us firmly by the hand, introduce us to these exciting and as of yet unfamilar ingredients, and offer them space in our pantries. And showed us how to work with these new ingredients in fun and exciting ways. Within moments, we were all making our own gravlax and carrot and orange soups.

I don't remember meeting Sheila Lukins, though I must have been around 9 or 10 at the time. My father published The Silver Palate in 1979, and remains her publisher then all the way up until today. In person, she was gracious, generous, loving, prickly, stubborn, loyal, and protective, both of herself and those she loved.

For many of us, she really was our Julia Child. We taught ourselves to cook from her books, we felt like she showed us the way, she gave us confidence in the kitchen. Julia Child made us fall in love with French food; Sheila made us fall in love with American food, and made us realize that the definition of American food was in fact a welcoming and evolving one. Julia said of Sauce Brune, "Its preliminaries are somewhat exactly, and it requires at least two hours of simmering." Sheila said of Tapanade Dip, "It seems barely tamed by civilization and still full of secrets." Respectful of other cuisines, but determined to blaze a different path, Sheila and Julee weren't bound to any traditions, and so were free to create their own, which became the springboard for much of what we think of as American food today. And Sheila also gave us the courage to entertain in a different way. I remember my college roommate's father asking me why dinner was taking so long, and I felt a little bit sorry for him for not understanding that Chicken Monterey couldn't be rushed.

The genius of Julia Child actually frames Sheila Lukins' life and death and a very poignant way. This is of course is true of all generations of the best artists, who couldn't exist without one another, but carve out very different areas of brilliance. But by the way, Sheila's coq au vin is pretty damn good, too.

Katie Workman is Editor in Chief of Cookstr.com. Click here for her blog.

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I grew up reading 'The Silver Palate' cookbook and fell in love with the story of these two women (and their recipes, of course). Never realized how far-reaching their influence was until I read this post.

I'll make sure to try one of their recipes soon in Sheila's honor.

posted by highsociety on September 11th 2009 at 10:46am
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I purchased for my daughter her own copy of Silver Palate and it's the one I recommend constantly. The lamb recipes work and do the apps. Will pull it out and make something this weekend in tribute to that wonderful woman.

posted by lawoman on September 11th 2009 at 10:53am
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What sad news... I used to live just a few blocks from the Silver palate and many years later, in France where I live now I found their first book (translated!!) I use it constantly, it's my favourite cookbook, and recently for a big party I was hosting I got extra compliments for the recipe that came from this book!!!

I show this book to my students so that they can see that American cooking is not McDonalds and that Americans do know how to eat well!!!!!

Sheila will be with us for a long time to come through her recipes. I will cherish my Silver palate cookbook for years to come still!!!

posted by Potiron on September 11th 2009 at 10:56am
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I bought this book in the early 80s in the UK and loved it from the moment I saw it. The presentation, the tone, the recipes and the enjoyment of cooking with ingredients of that season.

I still get it out when I want inspiration or a good read all these years later. I never knew who Sheila was or the story of her life but it's a testament to her cooking and her spirit that this book made it across the seas and found a home here. As Autumn draws nearer its time to get that book out again, cook a meal and raise a glass.

posted by MarkF on September 11th 2009 at 11:23am
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I had no idea she had died, and I too "learned" to cook from Silver Palate. I have enormous respect for Julia and the pedestal upon which she has been placed, but I've never been interested in mastering the art of French cooking. But Lukins and Rosso made me unafraid to try making garlic mayo (OK, aioli) and encouraged experimentation. Until Silver Palate, I was a slave to my mother's Thanksgiving turkey dressing, never quite getting it right. The first year I made L&R's dressing with apples, pecans, sausage and three kinds of bread, I got raves and never looked back. When I lost all my cookbooks in Hurricane Katrina, Silver Palate was the first one I replaced. RIP Sheila.

posted by 39520expat on September 11th 2009 at 11:57am
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Great that you recognized the Silver Palate Cookbook.
The Chicken Pot Pie recipe is the absolute best and this book has been a staple of mine for years.

posted by vermontcook on September 11th 2009 at 2:21pm
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An(other) English lover of the Silver Palate. I inherited my nana's copy and was with her when she bought it in London in 80's. Sorry to hear this news, RIP.

posted by Lesley - London on September 13th 2009 at 7:45am
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Do you remember when pesto and tapenade were crazy, foreign words in the 1980s? My mom has always been an adventurous cook and loved entertaining as well when I was growing up--The Silver Palate was one of the centerpieces of her cooking. I still steal a lot of the tricks I learned in there (how to make a gorgeous crudite platter, putting your dips in bell peppers with the tops cut off, how to make interesting flower arrangements that incorporate fruit or are arranged in hollow vegetables). Neither my mother or myself cook from either of these books now all the time, but we have our favs dog-eared. Lukins make cooking exciting, exotic, and a lot more fresh during a time when many American home cooks were still working with the awful processed food ingredients that prevailed in the 50s and 60s, and basic things like fresh herbs weren't yet available in the grocery.

posted by lotusmoss on September 14th 2009 at 10:29am
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