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He churns out simultaneously traditional and inventive recipes each week like butter. His photos are top-notch -- and by "top-notch", we mean so good that even us jaded food media vets are left awestruck. Ex-restaurant chef, father of two, self-proclaimed "hobby farmer" and home cook extraordinaire -- in short, a Renaissance man for today's food world.
On food52, you know him as thirschfeld -- he's answering foodpickles, dropping thought-provoking essays into his recipe headnotes, and generally inspiring the lot of us. Tom Hirschfeld seems to pack 25 hours into a day and still wear the calm smile of the idyllic farmer. But, as Hirschfeld himself points out, there really is no such thing: "If you have ever spent much time around a farm, then you know first hand the romantic notions people project onto rural life are often dreamy and unrealistic." And so, Hirschfeld documents real life on the farm on his blog Bona Fide Farm Food, yet another fruit of this jack-of-all-trade's labors.
Hirschfeld's aim is to get back to the land and cook "the way our grandmothers and great-grandmothers may have on the farm. That farm may be in India, Mexico or France but the food there is made with just as much love as your grandmother's." Friends, this is bona fide food made with great ingredients (Hirschfeld grows and raises practically everything he cooks himself) prepared using good recipes and a healthy dose of integrity.
With photographs to rival, well, just about anybody, a visit to Bona Fide Farm Food's homepage feels a bit like a trip to the homestead itself. From Living High on the Hog (where this Charcutepaloozier documents his meaty progress) to the leafier spoils of The Garden Basket, the site is a direct reflection of its founder's personality and aesthetic that we've come to know and love on food52.
The recipes are the real deal too -- with precise and instructive directions, historical tidbits, and photographs that leave you jonesing for, say, Pan-fried Trout with Prosciutto, Pine Nuts and Crispy Sage, Pancetta-Wrapped Dove with Baby Turnips, and even the Southeastern Pennsylvania heart-stopper, Scrapple (see below, left, for the prettiest specimen we've ever seen).
We can't wait for more Contemplations from this world-class recipe wrangler and are duly inspired by his Chef du Jour section -- in fact, we'd posit that if David Chang and Alice Waters (two of his credited sources of inspiration) had a love child, it would be thirschfeld himself.
47 Comments on Bona Fide Farm Food:
For any interested I finally have a subscription button I am happy with. So if you want to subscribe here is the link to my site http://tinyurl.com/43ausno
Done! Thanks.
Nice and well deserved shout out!
btw, with Chris making more batches of albumen, I'm gonna need a staple recipe that calls for 18 egg yolks so they don't go to waste... any ideas?? ;-)
I have been looking for you in the spotlight. Glad to see it shining here. Your blog is great. Your food is even better. Thanks for sharing and teaching me so much.
A well deserved spotlight!!!
So great to see your blog! If we ever do get serious about a Food52 road trip to the west, you know we will be a key highlight!
.....meant to write you know you will be a key highlight...long day.
Well, well deserved spotlight, and congrats on the blog shout-out too -- wonderful recipes, wonderful photography, wonderful writing. And that recipe for the Guinness whole wheat quick bread? I make that EVERY Saturday morning; my son thinks it's the finest thing in the world! Congrats, and keep churning out those glorious recipes!
zomg! that picture of the girls together with the bunny ears on? oh, my heart! and the recipes ain't bad either!
Yes, this is great stuff. bona fide is the perfect name.
This just made me think of the movie, "O Brother Where Art Thou." Holly Hunter was comparing the 2 men in her life & she said, "You're no account. He's bona fide." It was a great movie & Tom is definitely the latter.
Congrats on this shout-out, it is absolutely well deserved and (if I dare say) long overdue...you rock, man! Love your blog and your gorgeous food, keep it all coming! - S
You're awesome thirschfeld...so nice to see your blog featured here!
Thirschfeld, you're like the Yoda to my Food52 world. When I create recipes now, I often find myself thinking WWTD? (what would thirschfeld do?)
T Rex, you the man!
Tom, would you consider adding a feed to your website? I'd love to add your blog to my Google Reader.
I am getting ready to change a few things that being one. I use a mac and use iWeb but once you get a host server many of the things on iWeb don't work, rss feed being one, comments being the other so hopefully soon you will see some changes
When the feed's up & running, would you leave a comment here? That way, we'll all get notified. Thanks!
we are so lucky to have you here at food52, but I'm also so glad to find you elsewhere as well! your new blog is gorgeous. thank you for all the inspiration!
Just one reason or recipe why I'm such a fan... Sunday salad with apples. I open the recipe and there sits the most stunning photo. Speechless, I realize after staring at it for a minute that it must have been captured in the fleeting morning light. Beautiful! I wonder if it had been taken that same morning? When I go on to read the story, I feel like we've had a conversation, confirmation! Thank you thirschfeld for this and so much more!
Well deserved shout out. You're an inspiration to all of us on Food52!
As I look at your ALWAYS amazing photos and ever so yummy food I count myself lucky to actually get to taste it from time to time. I marvel at your journey and how you have used your life experiences and turned them in to a thing of beauty.
What else to say except YOU ROCK, Hirsch!
Excellent choice. I like the setting, the story, and (of course) the food. Oh and those lovely photographs of young foodies.
You already know I am a huge fan and it's great to see you getting some glory for your work!
A wonderful, inspiring blog, thirschfeld!
”He is happiest who finds peace in his home.” ~Goethe
Congratulations on the well-deserved mentioned, thirschfeld. It's been a pleasure meeting you on Food52 and following your inspirational blog.
Does anyone here know who is in charge of original programming on the Food Network? Or can someone bend Gordon Elliott's ear and get Tom his own TV show modeled after Jamie Oliver's show? I'd sure watch it. It'd beat "Worst Cooks" any day.
great idea!
Thank you food52 and everyone for the exceptionally kind words. I was awe struck to see this this evening and it is so, so appreciated. I usually get a chance to check in on food52 several times a day to get all the latest but today I have been so busy trying to catch up on things I had not had the chance. Really though, the inspiration that food52 and the food52 community has given me is truly unbelievable and so appreciated.
I have been admiring your blog for quite a while. Having just launched my own blog yesterday, I have a new appreciation for all the work that goes into a blog! (and I want mine to be just like yours!!!) Yours is really the complete package...a nice story, a point of view, great recipes and fabulous photography.
Well-deserved! Your blog is beautiful...
I remember your first posts on the site, when I looked at your blog, and thought, "This guy is something else!" And so you are!!
I just recently started following your blog and love it--everything about it. And now glad everyone on food52 can share in its down home, but yet aspirational pictures, writing and recipes! more, more, more!
Hooray thirschfield! You are the classiest of the classy and your talent is a continual inspiration. Rock on!
The recognition is well deserved...I have a pretty good idea why your pictures are so good (Go IU!)
and your creativity and recipe headnotes are always a delight. Keep up the great work! You are doing it right.
I had been enjoying your blog for a while, but for some reason it hasn't been coming up on my feed lately (which I'm now realizing thanks to food52!). I'll have to take care of that!
thirschfeld, you are a rock star!!
So nice to see you spotlighted here. I always love your mouth-watering recipes and wonderfully written headnotes on Food52. I have visited your blog several times, and I think that it's fantastic -- it always inspires me.
Cheers thirschfeld! I love your blog.
A beautiful (and beautifully written) tribute to an extremely talented and generous man. Congratulations, thirschfeld! You can count me among your (many) groupies.
Ooh, me too. :)
Excellent blog!
Great to see you! I've visited your blog multiple times, and it really is lovely.
Wow - a man of many talents - beautiful blog!!!
Great to see you in the spotlight Thirsch. I too LOVE David Chang!
Dang, that scrapple looks tasty. Love your blog thirschfeld!
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