“ From today’s vantage point, Wolfert’s early books are striking in their prescience. In 1983, when the nation’s fat-phobic era was just setting in, Wolfert was singing the praises of poultry fats, lard, butter, and cream for their role in healthy cooking—today, hotshot chefs garnish hot dogs with deep-fried pork skins and finish the meal with lard-shortbread cookies. Foods like foie gras, preserved lemons, and truffles weren’t well known in this country when Wolfert first wrote about them in the 1970s and early ’80s. Now, they’re staples on Bay Area menus. Along with classic dishes and unheard-of ingredients, Wolfert also introduced a generation to new ways of preparing familiar foods. As Daniel Patterson, the chef-owner of Coi, points out, “Slow-cooked salmon? Everyone does it now, but Paula was the only one talking about it in 1982.
Cooking under her influence | San Francisco online