The Pot and how to order It

   

Presenting my new cookbook:

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An Introduction to the Pot
(from the Roger Ebert's Journal post that started the whole thing, November 1, 2009):

First, get the Pot. You need the simplest rice cooker made. It comes with two speeds: Cook, and Warm. Not expensive. Now you're all set to cook meals for the rest of your life on two square feet of counter space, plus a chopping block. No, I am not putting you on the Rice Diet. Eat what you like. I am thinking of you, student in your dorm room. You, solitary writer, artist, musician, potter, plumber, builder, hermit. You, parents with kids. You, night watchman. You, obsessed computer programmer or weary web-worker. You, lovers who like to cook together but don't want to put anything in the oven. You, in the witness protection program. You, nutritional wingnut. You, in a wheelchair.

And you, serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. You, person on a small budget who wants healthy food. You, shut-in. You, recovering campaign worker. You, movie critic at Sundance. You, sex worker waiting for the phone to ring. You, factory worker sick of frozen meals. You, people in Werner Herzog's documentary about life at the South Pole. You, early riser skipping breakfast. You, teenager home alone. You, rabbi, pastor, priest,, nun, waitress, community organizer, monk, nurse, starving actor, taxi driver, long-haul driver. Yes, you, reader of the second-best best-written blog on the internet....

I am not a French gourmet. I am a practical cook. An American, Urbana-born, and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make a cookbook in my own way. When I cook, I want to eat in the immediate future. I can cook for my wife or the whole family as easily as for me. And, as Travis Bickle says, "anytime, anywhere." To be sure, health problems now prevent me from eating. That has not discouraged my cooking. Now cooking is an exercise more pure, freed of biological compulsion.

Visit the Publisher's Page for more reviews, recipes, and information about personal appearances.

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The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker, is not intended for an expert cook. Its ideal user is a person who qualifies in ways like these:

☑ You are a Soloist.
☑ You are a student and fast food grease is saturating you.
☑ You work a weird shift.
☑ You can't cook. Period. Not anything. And you never do.
☑ You cook for your family and want to feed your precious ones healthy, filling food on a budget.
☑ You're out of town and have packed a 3-cup Pot.
☑ You work at home and want to cook but your time is limited.
☑ You want to start every day with oatmeal or another grain and and maybe cook some nice fruit with it, and have 30 seconds of preparation time.
 

Sample recipe:

Anything and Everything Pork or Something Else (above)

This is the basic recipe I made with the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times. Like many recipes for The Pot, this one invites improvisation. If you know and trust The Pot, you can add what you like and leave out what you don't like. The Pot Knows.

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice, Soo Foo✽ or grain of your choice.

2 cups water, or bouillon, or half and half.

Nice-sized lean boneless pork chop, cutlet or tenderloin (or chicken, shrimp or tofu), cut into small pieces.

A nice Vidalia onion. Or any onion.

Chopped garlic to taste. Don't be shy.

One diced pepper, yellow or red for color.

One diced peach, fresh, canned or frozen. Or spicy peach salsa.

Vegetables of choice (diced broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, whole snow peas, etc., any or others).

Spices to taste: Crushed hot red peppers, basil, some dashes of garam masala. Or use your own favorite spices. Salt optional.

Frozen peas or corn.

Preparation

Into The Pot put a scant amount of peanut oil, the meat, chopped onions, diced peppers and garlic. Stir a little. Wait until onions are barely browned.

Add grain and water or bouillon, and spices. Stir. Add peaches and vegetables of choice. If using tofu, add it now. Stir.

Close lid and allow The Pot to have its way until it clicks over to "Hold" or "Warm." Time will depend on what grain you use. The Pot Knows.

Peek inside. If grain is undercooked for your taste, add a little more liquid, close lid again.

At last moment, throw in frozen peas and/or frozen corn, to keep them crunchy.

✽ Where to order Soo Foo. Or, find it in a local market. No, I do not own stock in Soo Foo.
 

Interviews:

Chicago Sun-Times food editor Janet Fuller cooks with Ebert..

The New York Times' Kim Severson cooks with Ebert.

I answer questions in the New York Times Diner's Journal.

Google Preview -- look inside the book..

Order from Barnes & Noble.

Orer through an Independent Bookstore.

Order from Amazon.