Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate has died.

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Obituary

The New Basics was one of the first cookbooks that I actually used and appreciated. I still think I need to go back and make some of my old-time favorites - I especially remember a mushroom soup with Madeira.

Darren72 wrote:The New Basics was one of the first cookbooks that I actually used and appreciated. I still think I need to go back and make some of my old-time favorites - I especially remember a mushroom soup with Madeira.

The Wife and I used to have Chicken Marabella all the time at her mom's house -- I still like the sound of it, though there is something very 80s about it.

I was just wondering what to make for dinner, I think I'll pull out my copy of the New Basics this evening. It was my most used cookbook for a few years, time to dust it off again and revisit some old favorites.

Sad news. I met her at a book signing/luncheon last winter while she was promoting her last cook book Ten. She and I had a few things in common-both art education majors who didn't teach and did catering out of our houses for a time. I think I'll make Brooklyn Brownies tonight in her honor.

Hi,

There is only one recipe I make from the Basic's Book: Bobbie's Chicken. By the time it is finished, it is wonderful messy meal of over tender chicken, onions and broth. A homey, slurpy meal not suitable for company. Often made in winter to warm and fill the house with cooking odors.

Only recently did she and her co-author begin speaking again. From diagnosis to death, she only had three months. Too bad.

Regards,

what a shame. i remember the original Silver Palate in new york. the shop was tiny and the kitchen was next door. i remember the staff walking in and out with platters of food. justjoan

I too used to cook a lot from the Silver Palate and New Basics cookbooks. I remember years ago pushing my cart behind a woman in the produce department at Treasure Island on Clybourn who had one of the SP books open inside her cart as she shopped. I spoke to her about what she was planning to cook--it was an early food connection with a stranger (way long before these interwebs things came into being). I make the salmon patties from the New Basics cookbook, especially for my daughter, who loves them. As so often is the case with foods kids eat as they are growing up, I'm not allowed to make too many changes to that recipe. Luckily, they're very tasty.

It really is too bad that Lukins and Russo didn't speak for so many years.

New Basics was probably my bible in my early cooking days. And the Cornbread Sausage & Apple stuffing from the Silver Palate book made many a Thanksgiving a lot porkier.

I have another cookbook of hers called Celebrate which basically offers up menus and recipes for every occasion you could come up with -- it's chock filled with good ideas and tasty recipes.

Too damn young.

"The New Basics" never made it quite to the very center of my rotation the way the original SP book did. I consult it frequently, often use it for a jumping off point, or a reference, more than doing a specific recipe.
The original is very 80s, but in a good way, I think. Overall that book seems to me a triumph of distilling the most useful information and organizing it in the most usable way---all the right things are in the right places, whether an appendix or a table or chart, or sidebar. The overall tone is so friendly and encouraging, I think it's an absolutely timeless book.

New Basics was my first cookbook. It helped to teach me how to cook. I still recommend it. Kinda 80s but the dishes still hold up. I used it again a few weeks ago making a cauliflower gratin.

I'm a little sad.

We have both books and use them occasionally. The market street meatloaf is our standard meatloaf recipe. Sad news.

I used NB all the time, still refer to it moderately regularly. Very sad news...enjoy every sandwich as they say.