Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [123]
Writing is a solitary task, so the help and encouragement of friends is invaluable. Pat Holtz, who always encourages me and even manages to write wonderful words about me; Miriam Rubin, who tested, read, edited, and explained American idiosyncrasies; and Heather Trim, who gave valuable advice and tested my recipes. Thank you.
Many people volunteered to taste my cooking and they deserve thanks. It is not always an enjoyable task or easy pinpointing why you like or dislike a recipe. I have many friends with fine palates, who, even more important, are not afraid to criticize. Those who know me well realize just how brave these individuals are. Thank you to Karen Lim and Vincent Wong, François and Caroline Gerard, Val and Ilze Lapsa, Eric and Marie-line Incarbona, Nancy Shanoff and Peter Weis, David Field, Jacques Fortier, and Oksana Slavyutch, who all happily ate anything I put in front of them and told me exactly what they thought of it.
Other friends discovered unusual bone facts, researched information, and passed on recipes. Francois Gerard; Hiroko Sugiyama; David Field; Laura de Turckheim; Melinda Leong, her colleagues at the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation), and her mother Ruby Leong; James Tse; Sally Coles; Robyn McAlister; and Uta Taylor, to all of you I am grateful.
You meet lots generous people in food writing and I would like to express my gratitude to my editors, Amy Albert, Jody Dunn, and Pat Holtz, and to authors Jeffery Alford, Naomi Duguid, and Rosie Schwartz. All of them supported me and provided good sound advice.
I am grateful to those who didn’t know me but sent information and answered my questions after we met via the Internet: Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, Andrew Smith, and Bruce Aidells.
Merci beaucoup Laura Calder. Laura and I both began writing book proposals at the same time. Laura finished her proposal and book long before me, however, and then shared with me much useful insider information. She cheered me on throughout and even introduced me to Harriet Bell before my agent had a chance to do so.
As I have no platform or a line of cookware to my name I would not have had a chance to write this book without the foresight and risk-taking of my agent, Rebecca Staffel of the Doe Coover Agency. Thank you Rebecca and Doe, who took up the torch from Rebecca partway along.
Perhaps even braver was Harriet Bell, editor at William Morrow. Right from that first breakfast in Montréal she was enthusiastic about this project. As time passed we discovered friends and interests we shared, especially a love of France. Without Harriet’s support, honesty, and patience, I would never have arrived here, and for that I am very grateful. All the team at HarperCollins deserves praise, especially Lucy Baker, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, and Carrie Bachman and Judith Sutton.
The visuals of this book were extremely important to me. Luckily, over the years I have met and become friends with many very talented designers, photographers, and stylists who have become my friends. Thank you to Lim Graphics, especially Karen Lim and Paola Beltrame, for helping to clarify my ideas. I was thrilled when photographers Rob Fiocca and Colin Faulkner agreed to work on Bones. To them and their coworkers, Jim Norton, Irene Hullah, Daniela Fiocca, and Julia Francisco, without whom neither of them could function, a sincere thank-you. The prop stylist is the unsung hero of a photography shoot, especially when working with a small budget. The artistic, resourceful Catherine