“CookFight” authors Kim Severson and Julia Moskin will discuss Thanksgiving dinner, offer recipes, serve up tastings and sign books 7-9 p.m. Mon., Nov. 5, at the Midtown Cook’s Warehouse, 1544 Piedmont Road, in Ansley Mall; seating limited to 30; tickets $40; 404-815-4993; www.cookswarehouse.com/
“CookFight,” the handsome collection of recipes and food chat by the current and former food writers at the New York Times, seems to promise hair-pulling and other reality show hijinks. But don’t count on it, said co-author Kim Severson, now the Times’ bureau chief based in Atlanta.
“It’s hard to do this book and not succumb to the pressure to have Jell-O wrestling,” Severson adds, “but no one wants to see that.”
What onlookers will see, both in the book and in a cooking demonstration Monday at the Midtown Cook’s Warehouse, is a lively debate between Severson and Times food writer Julia Moskin that began when they sat one cubicle apart in the Times newsroom and continues now, though the miles have come between.
There was competition, yes, but “each of us made the other a better cook, and we kind of adore each other,” said Severson. Said Moskin, who still works in Manhattan, “we needed each other… We each had someone else that wanted to talk about food all the time.”
The idea for the book, subtitled “An Epic Battle For Kitchen Dominance,” grew out of a Times story in which each was presented with the challenge of cooking a dinner for six with a budget of $50 — not counting the staples in the pantry. Restaurant critic Frank Bruni would judge the performance.
Severson’s reaction: “Bring it, Moskin!” She created home-made tortillas and a plethora of starters. Moskin went with a more elegant but subdued pasta-and-soup combo.
Of the results, Moskin writes, “Her fifth appetizer was like a knife in my heart.”
Predictably, Bruni folded and declared a tie. After all, he had to sit between these women. “Everybody said I won that one,” brags Severson.
Maybe. But whose version of macaroni and cheese become the most emailed recipe in New York Times history? “I can claim that,” said Moskin. “Oh did she bring that up again?” asked Severson. “Blah, blah, blah.”
The book offers similar point-counterpoint, highlighting the disparate backgrounds of the two — Moskin an Upper West Side epicurean and Severson a Midwestern gal with a hands-on attitude. Moskin arrived at the Times in 2004 knowing food but not the news business. Severson had trained covering courts and cops but knew little about New York City’s culinary scene. They helped each other.
“She is technically a better cook than I am,” said Moskin, graciously.
“She knows the history of every dish back to when they came over on the Mayflower,” riposted Severson.
In the book the two offer separate approaches to a series of challenges — cooking for children, hosting a fancy dinner party, tackling Thanksgiving — and their contrary styles comment each on the other.
Moskin is particularly amused that Severson has turned into a benne-wafer-baking, born again Southerner since her move to Atlanta in 2010. For her part, Severson is delighted to be in the middle of the Southern food renaissance.
“The rest of the country is in the middle of Southern food fever,” she said. “I feel truly grateful that I landed here at the best time.”
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