Nora Ephron: Remembering a Film & Foodie

Nora Ephron had many passions, most publicly her writing and
filmmaking. But the author, screenwriter and director, who died Tuesday at age 71, also had great enthusiasm in her largely private work in her Manhattan kitchen. And she left behind a self-published cookbook, by turns droll and earnest, memorializing the zeal.

Simply titled “Nora’s Cookbook” and bound with white spiral wire, the recipe collection runs 174 pages and blends Ephron’s wry observations about throwing a great dinner party and using clarified butter with relatively simple recipes for dishes like
chicken salad, monkey bread and pot roast.

“I have the book and use it all the time,” said producer Scott Rudin, who collaborated with Ephron on “Julie & Julia.”

In the book (which Ephron compiled for friends several years ago
and is not for sale), the “Sleepless in Seattle” filmmaker apologizes for several inclusions that bring to mind dishes from Peg Bracken’s “The I Hate to Cook Book.” Introducing a recipe for cherry cola mold, Ephron writes, “There is no excuse for serving this, unless you are obsessed with jello.” She insists that homemade pastry dough is a waste of time: “Don’t ever make piecrust. Just buy it.” Other recipes call for B&M
canned beans, Heinz chili sauce and way too much mayonnaise.

Some introductions read like legal disclaimers, revealing the author’s ambitions (or lack thereof). For a complicated recipe for chocolate buttercream icing, Ephron writes: “I have never made it and I never will. But I have eaten it and it’s great.” – By John Horn LA Times