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Joined: December 21st, 2009


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October 17th, 2022

Pasta e Fagioli from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

An easy and delicious soup. I used lardons for the meat. We were thinking that chicken sausages would be good, saucisse de volaille or merguez de volaille, cut in quarters lenghtwise, then into little... read more >


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Cookbook Reviews

64 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Rating | Title

A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen: Easy Seasonal Dishes for Family and Friends

By Jack Bishop
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2004

June 22nd, 2020 (edited 21st August 2020)

This book has been on my shelf for quite a while. I recently chose it for a thorough read and was surprised how many recipes I had made, mostly quite a while go, athough I'm planning on using it more now.

It's vegetarian, and the recipes are aimed for a family. They are realistic in that nothing takes more than hour to make or uses really exotic ingredients. (Ignore the zucchini blossoms on the cover. They're pretty, but not very available where I am, except in-season, in the potager.)

The book is arranged seasonally, which is good and bad.

Vegetarian Times

By
-

January 27th, 2013

VT is now publishing recipes from their magazine in DigiMag format, which seems to be some kind of a poor substitute for a real copy of the magazine. Searching via google turns this up, with several recipes on a single page, badly formated. Searching on the VT site itself turns up nothing. VT has never had an especially good site, but it looks like they are working hard to get worse.

Vegetarian Planet

By Didi Emmons
Harvard Common Press - 1997

January 7th, 2019 (edited 7th January 2019)

I've had this book for quite a while, but not used it all that much. Recently it was my cookbook-of-the-month, meaning I cooked from it at least once a week for a month.

This is almost an excellent vegetarian cookbook. There are lots of interesting ideas and unusual combinations, most of which work quite well. As a whole recipes tend to be under spiced/flavored. We frequently used various hot sauces to liven things up at table.

The Banana-Ginger Chutney was an enormous hit. It went well not only with the excellent Jamaican Burgers, but also with boudin noir and foie gras. (Not exactly vegetarian, but there you go.)

The vegetarian feast

By Martha Rose Shulman
Harper & Row - 1979

May 12th, 2018 (edited 12th May 2018)

There are some good recipes here. I've used it a bit, but not extensively, although I frequently refer to it when I'm looking for something. The biggest problem to me when I was working is that most of the recipes take quite a bit of time, making them suitable only for weekends. (She answered this criticism with her Fast Vegetarian Feasts. Still, lots of good tastes.

Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate

By Patricia Wells
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2007

July 30th, 2019

Somehow this book didn't have much appeal to me. It's been several years on the shelf, barely used. Thinking that it might be a candidate for recycling, I've been using it as my cookbook-of-the-month for July. Wherein we discovered that is *not* a candidate for recyling.

There are lots of new favorite and already standards here. There are several versions of steamed fish, which is a new technique to me (except in East Asian food). The grilled artichokes and the zucchini carpaccio have already been made several times. (DH doesn't like raw zuke, but loves this carpaccio.)

Some of the recipes barely contain vegetables -- fish steamed on rosemary twigs, for instance. Still the emphasis is on lots of fresh veg, and everything is simply prepared and presented. And tasty.

I do have a bottle of pistachio oil to use up now.

Under The Lime Tree.Cook!

By Nikki Emmerton
Pyjama Press - 2011

January 18th, 2012 (edited 18th January 2012)

I bought this book because I'd tried and very much liked one of the recipes that appeared in a local expat magazine. It's a thin, square, paperback, quite attractive, with the lovely, cluttered look of a self-produced book. I'm finding several more recipes I'd like to try. All the recipes are vegetarian and many are vegan or give vegan substitutions.

However, the typographical style of the recipe ingredient lists is extraordinarily annoying. I've never seen anything like this and hope never to see it again. The numbers in the quantities (except for fractions) and some of the punctuation marks are ... superscripted! Readability plunges.

Cookbooker's limited formatting for reviews does not allow me to demonstrate, but imagine "75g soft margarine (chilled)" with the 75 and the two parenthesis made smaller and raised from the baseline. The first time I saw "1 onion, peeled & chopped", I was looking for a footnote numbered "1" (odd to put a footnote at the start of the line, I though) and thought the comma (,) was a speck midway up the "n". This conceit appears only in the ingredients lists, thank goodness!

Totally Picnic Cookbook (Totally Cookbooks)

By Helene Siegel, Carolyn Vibbert
Celestial Arts - 1996

June 28th, 2010

This is a very nice little cookbook, with interesting recipes for, yes, taking on a picnic. They work equally well, of course, if you're just eating them at home.

The instructions can be a bit weak or presume some knowedge of cooking, e.g., an ingredient might be "1 bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced" with no information about how one might roast a bell pepper. No problem for an experienced cook, but if you've never done this, you might like more of a clue.

Tofu Cookery

By Louise Hagler
Book Publishing Company (TN) - 1991

July 29th, 2010 (edited 29th July 2010)

This is the best tofu cookbook, with a big variety of very good recipes. There are even instructions for making tofu at home, which I haven't tried yet, but may need to since tofu is not generally available where I live.

Although my copy has the same ISBN as the one shown here, there is a banner in the upper right cover corner that says it's a Revised Edition.

Southern Herb Growing

By Madalene Hill & Gwen Barclay
Shearer Publishing - 1987

March 24th, 2019

Yes, it's about herb growing, but it's filled with recipes using herbs, including some old favorites from Hilltop Herb Farm.
Haven't cooked from it yet, but it's a very good read.

Soups (Good Cook)

By Richard Olney
Time Life UK - 1979

February 28th, 2019

Picked this up at a charity shop. Had a read through, but didn't find that much that appealed. Interesting classification of soups that didn't work for me. This book has decided me against collecting the rest of the Good Cook series. Recycling.

Something Old, Something New: Oysters Rockefeller, Walnut Souffle, and Other Classic Recipes Revisited

By Tamar Adler
Scribner - 2019

January 7th, 2021

As a read, not as good as An Everlasting Meal, which is one of my favorite foodlit/cookbooks.
Haven't cooked from it yet.

Recipes: The Cooking of Spain and Portugal

By
TIme-Life - 1970

April 30th, 2014 (edited 30th April 2014)

The hardback is a much better read than Quintet. It provides a region by region review of the foods of Spain and Portugal by someone who actually lived there.

The recipes are I tried were pretty good, but a bit on the oily side. Also a bit blander than I expected.

Recipes: Chinese Cooking (Foods of the World)

By Time-Life
Time-Life - 1973

June 6th, 2014

The associated book is a pretty good read, but not too inspiring cooking-wise. Many recipes look to be fairly bland. Instructions are sometimes very poorly written.

Recipes: A Quintet Of Cuisines

By Editors of Time-Life Books
Time-Life Books - 1970

April 30th, 2014 (edited 30th April 2014)

Reviewing both the hardback and the recipe book ...

My recipes book is marked as published in 1970, revised in 197, and reprinted in 1975.

This is a bit the odd book out in the series, covering five different cuisines. At least for the Dutch part (actually the Low Countries, including Belgium and Luxembourg), the survey seemed to me very shallow. North African cooking (Tunisia, Algerian, and Morocco) has been trendy lately and the food is especially delicious, so it's a shame to see that area slighted; it could have used a book of its own imho.

Most of the writing read like magazine articles from the old Gourmet magazine, travelogs very author-centric. As a whole, I enjoyed the food I made, but didn't especially enjoy the read.

The Pure and simple: Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine: The Art of Mughal Cuisine

By Vidhu Mittal
Roli Books Pvt Ltd - 2008

March 27th, 2017

No index!

Haven't really used this book, but it's made hard to use by the lack of an index. Grrr...

A candidate for recyling just because of this.

Polenta

By Brigit Legere Binns, Debroah Denker
Chronicle Books - 1996

December 26th, 2017

We've really enjoyed this book, having had several holiday meals from it. I've not used the non-dinner recipes, but will try to correct this omission.

The recipes are generally well written, often with helpful instructive photographs. Most of the dishes also have photos of the final product.

The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accessories

By David Lebovitz
Ten Speed Press,U.S. - 2007

August 24th, 2015

This is a much-used cookbook, with lots of interesting recipes and many more still to do.
I don't like the emphasis on egg-custard ice creams which are good, but rich, and too much bother for every day.
The recipes tend to be too sweet. I cut the sugar back by about 1/3 and we find them great like that.

The Pasta Machine Cookbook (A Nitty Gritty Cookbook) (Nitty Gritty Cookbooks)

By Donna Rathmell German
Bristol Publishing Enterprises - 1993

February 12th, 2017 (edited 12th February 2017)

Not sure why I haven't reviewed this book, since it's one of my go-to books when I want fresh pasta. There are some interesting pasta recipes (although I must say I mostly use Marcella Hazan's two eggs+1cup flour recipe) and lots of good sauces.

There's a section on gluten-free pastas. I haven't tried any of these.

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

By Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi
Ebury Press - 2010

April 6th, 2013

Have dashed through the book and marked many, many recipes to try. First impressions ...
- Lots of wasted space. Pages and pages lost to photographs, full page pics of dishes (of minor use) and other food-related stuff (of no use at all). I have the feeling that something like 1/4 of the pages are photographs. No wonder the book is so expensive!
- Way too many recipes for sweets in relation to real food.
- This is clearly not a book aimed at beginning cooks, but there are overly detailed instructions for things like peeling tomatoes which you probably already know how to do. Weird.
- Font is difficult to read.
Will update comments after cooking from this a bit.

Oriental Cook Book (Kitchen Library)

By Lorna Turpin
Hamlyn - 1994

November 16th, 2020 (edited 14th December 2020)

I haven't really cooked from this book, but find it very annoying.
- It's without page numbers. The recipes are numbered, and that's it.
- At least one recipe has you *make* coconut milk from a fresh coconut rather than opening a can or carton. Why bother? This isn't a heavy-duty authentic food experience cookbook.

Nothing Fancy: Recipes and Recollections of Soul-Satisfying Food

By Diana Kennedy
North Point Pr - 1989

February 28th, 2011

I really have enjoyed this book. Diana Kennedy, author of the classic books on Mexican cuisine, has written a lovely book about recipes she grew up with and enjoys making.

The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet

By Pierre Franey
Ballantine Books - 1985

January 24th, 2020

This books is a really good read. The recipe headnotes could almost be published as a separate book.

Each main course recipes is accompanied by a recipe of a side dish, and all can be prepared within an hour. The one main dish I've made so far was delicious.

A recipe for Pommes Vapeur appears a half dozen times, the same but different each time.

Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals

By Moosewood Collective
Clarkson Potter - 1996

October 7th, 2010 (edited 7th October 2010)

I've never been a fan of the low-fat fad, but do believe in careful eating. This book has a number of household favorites, and there a still lots of stickies for recipes I mean to try.

The fish section is especially good.

Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day

By Moosewood Collective
Simon & Schuster - 1994

February 4th, 2010

This is definitely one of my Desert Island Cookbooks. It probably has more used and repeated recipes than any other cookbook I have (and I have a lot). This is the book where Moosewood realized that people cooking at home have a limited amount of time. Recipes are fast, easy, and tasty.

Mediterranean Hot: Spicy Recipes from Southern Italy, Greece, Turkey & North Africa

By Aglaia Kremezi
Artisan - 1996

February 18th, 2011

I picked this book up on a remainder table for a amazingly low price, making it a really good buy. We've really enjoyed all the recipes I've tried. A few have minor problems that should have been caught in the editing, but nothing insurmountable.

Marcella Cucina

By Marcella Hazan
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1997

September 13th, 2011 (edited 13th September 2011)

This was my first Hazan book (from either of them), and one of my favorites. The layout and lovely photos make it more approachable then Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It's still a cookbook I go to when I'm looking for something interesting for dinner.

Recipes include Ahead-of-Time notes which are very handy. In the Pasta chapter, each recipe has a Suggested Pasta section, very useful for learning what kinds of sauce go best with what kinds of pasta.

Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

By Madhur Jaffrey, Philip Salaverry
Chronicle Books - 1996

December 22nd, 2009

One of my favorite cookbooks, Indian recipes that you can make on the spur of the moment. There are some errors in the book, although it's fairly easy to work around them. There's a newer edition now, and I'm curious to see it, but don't think I'd replace my well-used old one.

Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking

By Madhur Jaffrey
Barron's Educational Series - 1983

December 21st, 2009

Probably my first Indian cookbook, bought after I saw bits of the series on the BBC. Much used, with many favorites. Sometimes tending to be too oily or salty, but this is easily remedied. Quick list of favorites (noted in front of book):
Gujarati-style green beans, p102
Raita, p162
Lentils with garlic & onion, p124
Spicy baked chicken, p71
Rice with peas, p149
Simple buttery rice with onions, p145
Seviyan ki kheer, p192
Spicy green beans, p103
Aromatic yellow rice, p153
Onion relish, p174
Yogurt with eggplant, p164
Lemony chicken with fresh coriander, p73
Carrot & onion salad, p171

LITTLE VEGETARIAN FEASTS: MAIN-DISH SALA

By Martha Rose Shulman
Bantam - 1992

March 23rd, 2011

Of course, the real title of this book is Main-Dish Salads.

A small book, but full of really good recipes for exactly what the title says - vegetarian main-dish salad.

Some of the portions seem to be a bit on the small side, or else we eat more that we should.

Kitchen Scraps

By Pierre Lamielle
Whitecap Books Ltd. - 2009

February 14th, 2010

A new book for me. I've made only one recipe so far, and it was a hit. The book is a great read, very funny with clever illustrations. There are lots of laugh-out-loud bits you'll want read aloud to your partner, annoying him/her to no end.

The Kitchen Congregation: A Daughter's Story of Wives and Women Friends

By Nora Seton
Picador - 2001

April 9th, 2010

This is more kitchen literature than a cookbook, but I have marked a number of recipes to try. It's a memoir of a daughter and her mother and friends, their lives certering around their kitchens. I loved it and my husband loved it. I've pulled it down to read again, and might even try a recipe.

Ken Hom's Hot Wok : Over 150 one-pan Wonders

By Ken Hom
BBC Books - 1996

January 6th, 2010 (edited 2nd March 2010)

Loved the series and love the book. Lots of stickies and notes from recipes I've made. The recipes tend to be a bit salty; now I never add any extra salt Hom may prescribe.

Jump up and Kiss Me: Spicy Vegetarian Cooking

By Jennifer T. Thompson
Ten Speed Press - 1996

May 31st, 2010

Spicy Vegetarian Cooking — sounds like a good idea, but somehow the book doesn't click with me. I've tried a few things, with varying levels of success, but they seem a bit iffy. Not recommended for beginning cooks.

Jeannette's secrets of everyday good cooking

By Jeannette Seaver
Knopf : distributed by Random House - 1975

March 17th, 2010 (edited 13th September 2013)

This is another of my Desert Island Cookbooks. I love this book! Seaver is a working French worman, married to an American, striving to maintain her French standards for meals and the preparation of food. We must have 3-course, family meals. The food is great. I don't think I've made one recipe we didn't like. The chapter on leftovers is wonderful.

There are chapters on
- The basics (doughs, sauces, salads, etc.)
- Family dinners (menus)
- Small dinner parties (up to 8)
- Large parties
- Things to do with leftovers

The Italian Slow Cooker

By Michele Scicolone
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2010

March 4th, 2018

There are a number of really good recipes in this book, things I will make again, no doubt. But quite a few, e.g., Calamari Soup and Tomato and Red Wine Sauce, I just don't see why you'd bother with the crockpot.

How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart

By Pam Anderson
Broadway - 2000

January 31st, 2010 (edited 31st January 2010)

I find this a very useful book. Aimed at week-night cooking, it provides formulas (supported by little "poems" :-) for various bits of the dinner, a master recipe with variations following the same technique. Nothing really new, but the organization makes it very useful. The section on pan sauces is worth the book. I'd never really looked at a sauce like this as a technique, but now I find they quickly dress up a simply sauteed bit of meat.

The serving sizes are generally very generous.

The Greens Cookbook: Extraordinary Vegetarian Cuisine From The Celebrated Restaurant

By Deborah Madison, Edward Espe Brown
Bantam - 1987

June 22nd, 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jun/21/ofms-classic-cookbook-the-greens-cookbook-by-deborah-madison

Good and Cheap

By Leanne Brown
http://www.leannebrown.ca/ - 2014

August 7th, 2014

This is a book written by a food studies student aimed at helping folks using food stamps to eat well. My first impression is very good.

Like many good cookbooks, the recipes are are guides, lots of variations are suggested.

A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here:
http://www.leannebrown.ca/

Flavors of the Southwest: Vegetarian Style (Healthy World Cuisine)

By Robert Oser
Book Publishing Company (TN) - 1998

February 28th, 2019

Picked this up as a candidate for my cookbook-of-the-month project. Couldn't find much I wanted to cook and was attracted to it in any way. Into the recycle box with it.

Favorite Bread Machine Recipes (Magnetic Book)

By Donna R. German
Bristol Publishing Enterprises - 1997

September 19th, 2011

This tiny thing one was of my first ABM books, and the most used until I got German's The Big Book of Bread Machine Recipes. All the recipes here (supposedly, I haven't checked thoroughly) are included in that book, along with the recipes from four(?) other tiny books in this magnetic series.

Fast Vegetarian Feasts

By Martha Rose Shulman
Main Street Books - 1986

October 28th, 2010

This is a very good vegetarian cookbook. I would certainly consider it for my Desert Island cookbook shelf. The pressed tofu recipe is worth the price of the book.

Shulman defines "fast" as recipes that can be made in 45 minutes or less. My working definition was usually 30 minutes, since I know kitchen time often expands beyond the time planned. There are quite a few recipes here that will take more than 45 minutes, including a chapter on "Recipes for the Sunday cook".

Nevertheless there are a lot of tasty recipes and good menu suggestions here.

An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

By Tamar Adler, Alice Waters, Alice Waters
Scribner - 2012

August 4th, 2013

One of the very best food-lit books I've read, really a treat. Elegant and thoughtful writing, as well as some good recipe ideas along the way. I think this book will stay out, to be dipped into occasionally.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

By Marcella Hazan
Knopf - 1992

May 25th, 2010 (edited 25th May 2010)

If you have to have only one Italian cookbook, this would be it. It's not a fancy book with lots of glossy photos, but it is full of good, solid recipes. I've been using it for years and am now using it even more recently since I joined the Cooking Italy group at Spinach Tiger where Angela is leading us in cooking with this book.
A few recipes have had problems, but these have been 1) sweets (so not so interesting to me) and 2) easily recognized so you can correct the problem.
Hazan does seem to have problems with the portions, so you should use you common sense and experience when looking at the recipes.

The Eating Well Rush Hour Cookbook: Healthy Meals for Busy Cooks

By Magazine of Food and Health, Elizabeth Hiser, Eating Well Magazine
Eating Well Book - 1995

December 2nd, 2013

This book has 15 menus per season, meals that can be prepared in one hour. When I was working, my definition of a fast meal was only 30 minutes, so I'd have to think about using this book on weeknights.

Each menu comes with a timetable to see you through the preparation. In the one menu I've made so far, this was very helpful for keeping on track. And the food was excellent.

I'll definitely be using this book more often.

Eating Together: Recipes and Recollections

By Lillian Hellman, Peter Feibleman
Little, Brown and Company - 1984

January 25th, 2016

A fun read, with his and hers sections—first reminiscences and recipes from Lillian Hellman; then the same from Peter Feibleman (who wrote a couple of the Time-Life Foods of the World books). They were both from New Orleans and apparently close friends. She died as this book was being readied to print.

I haven't cooked from this yet, but have marked quite a few recipes, more in Feibleman's section.

Dutch Delight

By Sylvia Pessireron, Jurjen Drenth
N & L Publishing - 2005

July 5th, 2012

This book has a cute concept, fun photos and looks at Dutch traditions and food. It's aimed at tourists and was sold for a while in museums, etc. (One hopes it's gone now.) I tried to write the publisher, hoping they'd fix some of the more egregious errors, but couldn't find an address for them in the book or online. Don't think they want to know. E.g. there is one word in Dutch for protein and egg white (eiwit); you have to know by context what you're talking about. You'd think that professional food writers would know of this difficulty--not. To be admired for the pics and the cute look at Dutch life. Not for recipes.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse

By John Stage, Nancy Radke, James Scherzi
Ten Speed Press - 2001

May 29th, 2015

Most of the recipes in this book used their Mutha Sauce, which may indeed be good, but requires tomato sauce and ketchup, neither of which are used in this tomato allergy house.
I've copied a couple of non-Muthat recipes and will pass the book on, freeing up a skinny bit of shelf space.

Dinners for Two, Menus and Music: Vol IV

By Sharon Oconnor
Menus Music - 1991

December 26th, 2014

Review based on the single menu that I've tried.

This was a gift, an interesting idea for a book (and three before before it). There are complete menus for two from "romantic country inns" with a cassette of music from the San Francisco String Quartet.

For our xmas dinner I made an interesting menu from the Hotel Hana-Maui. While we enjoyed everything we ate, the recipes themselves were rather weak.

The starter recipe was probably originally for six (or more) and was very badly/incompletely cut back for two. The dessert recipe may also have been meant for more than two, or else it was for two gluttons.

The instructions are not especially well written or edited. E.g., one ingredient list calls for lamb stock or chicken broth, while the instructions call for lamb or beef.

The menu I made was relatively easy to make and serve. Other menus seem to me like you'd need someone to help with the cooking (who wasn't eating) to be able to get them on the table in a reasonable time.

It would be very nice to have a time line for the preparation with each menu.

Desperation Dinners

By Beverly Mills, Alicia Ross
Workman Publishing Company - 1997

March 22nd, 2011 (edited 29th August 2019)

In spite of the rather cutesy name, this book is actually quite good. It's full of interesting and tasty recipes that can be prepared quickly.

Cover & Bake (Best Recipe)

By John Burgoyne, Daniel J. Van Ackere, Carl Tremblay, Editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine, Cook's Illustrated Magazine, Cook's Illustrated Magazine, John Burgoyne, Daniel J. Van Ackere, John Burgoyne, Carl Tremblay, Daniel J. Van Ackere, Cook's Illustrat
America's Test Kitchen - 2004

January 28th, 2019 (edited 28th January 2019)

This book is going in the recycle box. We weren't happy with the one recipe I've made from it. I thought I would use it as my "cookbook-of-the-month" for next month, so today I found some recipes and put them on my meal plan. Then I sat back and thought, I really don't want to make any of those. Vindaloo with a whole 1/4 tsp of cayenne, where the usually amount is multiples of whole teaspoons. And with tomato sauce. Never. Nope. Removed my stickies, found another book, and replan. Away with this one. I expect more from Cook's Illustrated.