What were your favorite foods growing up?
My father was a college professor, didn't make much money, and it being World War II, my mother cooked a lot of bony, sinewy cuts of meat, there being fewer "red points" on them, she explained. Choicer cuts of meat (steaks, chops, tender roasts) were strictly rationed and required the most "red points." And of course, they cost a lot more, too. So my childhood was full of economical but richly flavored soups and stews, Swiss steaks and pot roasts and meat loaves, and to this day I prefer them to pricey steaks and chops and prime ribs because they're tastier, more, succulent, and of course, much cheaper. They still are and these are the reasons I decided to write Falling Off the Bone. But back to my childhood. As a special treat-- whenever I'd had a good piano lesson or gotten all A's on my report card-- Mother would buy a chunk of blue cheese (which I dearly adored) or cook an artichoke just for me.

When did you decide you wanted to start food writing?
Early, early. I began cooking before I could read and as soon as I could read and write, I began making notes about the recipes I'd prepared. My mother's favorite cookbook was Joy of Cooking and an early aim of mine was to write a big, basic cookbook. And I did: The Doubleday Cookbook, co-authored by food colleague, Elaine Hanna. It was printed in 1975 and swept the Tastemaker Awards being named both Best Basic Cookbook and then Cookbook of the Year. I was thrilled to pieces. The Doubleday Cookbook has now gone through several editions and many printings and sold more than a million copies.

Where and when did your career in food begin?
Right out of Cornell, where I earned a B.S. in Food & Nutrition (with an emphasis on food chemistry and research). My first job? Assistant Home Demonstration Agent in Iredell County, NC (I was born and brought up in Raleigh) and my responsibilities included teaching 4-H Club girls (and their mothers) better (more healthful, more imaginative) ways to cook, can, and freeze food. But to be honest, those farm women and girls taught me a thing or two.

If you didn't become a cookbook author, what would you be?
Well, I would have loved to be a successful novelist but haven't the gift. I am, however, a travel writer/photographer as well as a food writer and cookbook author and my travels (all continents except Australia and Antarctica) have broadened my knowledge of food more than I can say. Many of the recipes I first tasted on my travels are included in Falling Off the Bone. Europeans, I find, South Americans, Africans, Middle Easterners, East Indians are all wizards at turning the tough (i.e. cheaper) cuts of meat into glorious soups and stews and more. These overseas trips have taught me so much about turning slim pickins' into a delicious, nutritious meal for six or more.

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
My mother, first of all. She had an inquiring mind, was constantly trying new recipes and constantly swapping recipes with friends and neighbors. Pivotal in her own life was spending her young married years in Vienna, where my father taught at the university. Among my mother's favorite recipes were several from her Austrian landlady including a luscious Wiener Goulash-- a hearty beef stew with mushrooms, paprika, and Falling Off the Bone. The second person who influenced my cooking was Dr. Faith Fenton at Cornell-- I learned so much from her experimental cookery courses (hard-core food chemistry). Finally, I'd say all the cooks and chefs I've met at home and abroad while on article assignment for Bon Appetit, Family Circle, Food & Wine, and Gourmet.

How would you describe your cuisine?
I think of chefs as having "a cuisine." Because I am constantly searching for new flavors, new textures and techniques, I don't have an identifiable cuisine like "French" or "German" or "Portuguese" though I know these cuisines well and often prepare French, German, and Portuguese recipes. If I had to give my cooking a name, I'd have to say "experimental" or "evolving" because I am forever experimenting.

What influences your cooking style?
Travel, travel, travel and the good cooks I meet wherever I go.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
The food processor! When I was a recipe developer at The Ladies' Home Journal in New York, we had wonderful maids to do the slicing, mincing, and chopping for us. I'd holler across the test kitchen and say, "Bridie, I need a cup of finely chopped onion," or "Gracie, I need 2 cups of thickly sliced carrots," or "Mary, I need a pound of mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced." And they would magically appear. I now keep three food processors at-the-ready and call them "Bridie," "Gracie," and "Mary." The time and energy food processors save is amazing. I could not cook without them and truth be known, might not attempt recipes that call for mountains of chopped this or sliced that let alone those calling for fruit or vegetable purees.

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
I think maybe fresh ginger with lemongrass running a close second.

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
A suckling pig for Christmas. Why? I'd never roasted a suckling pig and was not sure whether those invited might flee at the sight of a crouching piglet on a platter with an apple in its mouth. When I invited guests to the big Christmas feast, I told them what I was serving. Not a single one declined. I stuffed the pig with a wild-rice/chestnut dressing spiked with brandy, and had the devil's own time getting the pig into the oven. The lesson here: measure the oven before buying a suckling pig.

What was your worst kitchen disaster?
A chocolate birthday cake with a fudge filling and snowy boiled icing. In a hurry, I didn't cool the cake layers long enough, filled and frosted them warm, then on standing back to admire my handiwork, watched the cake fall apart. What to do? I buzzed up frosting and crumbs, mixed with whipped cream, and served as "Chocolate Birthday Cake Ice Cream" I'd frozen in a fancy mold. It drew raves and I was asked for the recipe, which began, "First you bake a chocolate layer cake..."

What is your least favorite food?
Oysters, because I am deathly allergic to them.

What is your beverage of choice?
A fine red or white table wine that partners perfectly with the meal I'm serving. I am particularly impressed with the excellent table wines now coming out of Portugal-- from the Douro, in particular (some wonderfully smooth and well balanced reds) and more recently, some amazing tintos (dry reds) coming out of the Alentejo (Portugal's vast bread basket east of Lisbon). Among those that impressed me: Quinta do Mouro, Malhadinha Nova (also a lovely white), Quinta do Carmo, and Esporão (a lovely white as well) . There's also a lightly spritzy vinho verde coming out of the northerly Minho Province called Arca Nova that's far mellower than the more acidic vinho verdes.

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
Intense interest in the food of developing countries-- cooks here, more than anywhere else, know how to cook the sinewy, bony, cheap cuts of meat so that they emerge from the pot deeply flavorful and supremely tender. I'd guess that a third of the recipes in Falling Off the Bone come from developing nations, where I've spent considerable time on article assignment. .

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
I guess I would have to say Portugal. I made my 89th trip there last fall on assignment for the late, lamented Gourmet. No one does pork or lamb "more proud," as we say down South. You'll find some superlative Portuguese stews in my cookbook.

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
A dinner at Tantris in Munich. Chef Hans Winkler had made a spectacular potato broth-- crystal-clear and deeply amber that tasted of baked potato. It was brought to table in a broad-brimmed soup plate, steaming hot. The waiter then opened a small wooden box, lifted out a white truffle, and began shaving it into the soup. To be honest, this one soup eclipsed everything else I ate that night. And I am still trying to figure out how such an intensely flavored potato soup could be as sparkling and clear as glass. A chef friend in New York thought the chef had made a concentrate of baked potato skins. One day I will try it.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Read the recipe you intend to prepare-- twice. Then measure and prep everything before you start so there's no need to pause mid-recipe to track something down or chop an onion or two. Finally, do not substitute one ingredient for another unless the recipe suggests options, and never, ever double, triple, or halve recipes. That's when you get into trouble.

What do you eat when you are home?
Depends on my mood. I'm usually cooking for one, so I may toss up a huge salad of bitter greens, sprinkle in some Gorgonzola Dolce, and make a meal of it. Or I made rustle up an omelet or fritatta. Of course, if I've been testing recipes all day, I'll invite a few friends over to eat up the tests-- and pass judgment. That's what I did when I was testing recipes for Falling Off the Bone because I had big pots of soup and slow cookers full of stew. No complaints! But plenty of requests for recipes.