Simmering: A Kitchen Memoir

by Rebecca Orchant

In this wry memoir - filled with searing insights, cutting commentary, and heated eroticism - restauranter and food writer Rebecca Orchant (Huffington Post, Saveur) takes readers behind the scenes of the personal and professional kitchens that have shaped her life and its hard-won lessons.

With Simmering: A Kitchen Memoir, Orchant revisits the places and people influencing her love of food and the role food plays in her love - for others and for herself. From childhood culinary intrigue in Albuquerque to a kitchen table marriage proposal in Brooklyn to a hearthside BDSM scene on Cape Cod, Orchant examines the full epicurean breadth of her life. She recalls first loves and lasting losses, favorite meals and failed friendships. And she unblinkingly looks at the complexities of her deeply meaningful polyamorous connections while also bravely rendering earlier sexual awakenings, betrayals, and assaults: as a curious child, a vulnerable teenager, and an adult pushing away a renowned celebrity chef.

Throughout, Orchant finds comfort and belonging in kitchens, the common spaces where so much comes together, often with joy, sometimes with pain, always with the spice of life. Across Simmering: A Kitchen Memoir, she sprinkles in memorable dinner parties, visits to standout restaurants, beloved shared cooking rituals, and a few reliable recipes. In the end, Rebecca Orchant proves that simmering itself is required to let the hardest moments of life blend together with the best ones to become something far richer than the raw ingredients one might have to work with.

Genres: Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful blend of essays about sex, love, food and loss. A thoroughly modern writer who gently weaves together a wonderful tapestry of essays. She does MFK Fisher and Joan Didion proud.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author and her family many years ago when I came to Albuquerque to be the cantor at Temple Albert, where Orchant grew up. I happily worked with the temple educator, Rebecca’s grandmother Glenda, who made it splendidly into the book, and whose chapter is hands-down my favorite. That’s no slouch on the other chapters: RO writes of appetites so keen, flavors so potent, they leap to the palate in a virtual, fiery celebration of gustatory life at its lustiest. I not only could taste each bite, I savored it even if it were something I wouldn’t choose on my own, e.g. spicy food. If you eat, if you love, if you’ve known loss, read *Simmering.* You’ll never be the same person cooking your next egg as you were cooking the last one.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

How refreshing to read a memoir by a queer poly woman. Also I love books about food and found family and this one has it in spades. I admit that the narrative meanders quite a bit and I feel like it takes a while to settle into storytelling, but I enjoyed it and I think some of these stories will stay with me for a while. Almost feels more like a collection of essays than a full memoir, but it shines with love and offers an interesting window into Orchant's life.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.

[Allison Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read that took me through a journey of a lot of emotions. Rebecca guides her readers through parties, friendship, love, sex, grief, and loss, all while nurturing them with food and comfort. It truly feels like you’re around her kitchen table, delighted by food and story. She also includes interesting recipes! Give this book a try— you’ll eat it up!

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Funny. Sad. Yummy. I want to eat and drink all the things. Maybe I can convince RO to make them for me some day. 😁😋