kaye16's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
64 books reviewed. Showing 51 to 64Sort by: Rating | Title 
Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco
By Paula Wolfert
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1987
I have the same title, same ISBN, but different cover and different publisher. ???
The Cooking of Spain and Portugal, plus accompanying Recipes: The Cooking of Spain and Portugal (Time-Life Foods of the World)
By Peter S. Feibleman, The Editors of Time-Life Books, Dmitri Kessel, Brian Seed
Time-Life Books - 1977
The hardback was a much better read than Quintet. Recipes I tried were pretty good, but a bit on the oily side. Also a bit blander than I expected.
Bread Machine Baker
By Elizabeth Harbison
Gramercy - 2001
It surprises me I'm the only one who has this book. It's full of good recipes, most of which I haven't reviewed. Being back in bread-making mode for the duration of the pandemic, I've been baking a lot. Picked this up today. Had forgotten how much I liked it. The only problem is that the breads are all small loaves.
The Bold Vegetarian
By Bharti Kirchner
HarperCollins,Australia - 1995
This book was highly recommended to me at some point, although I can't remember whose idea it was. It lingered on my Want list for a long time before I finally found myself a copy.
After a read through, it seemed to me that I would have saved quite a few stickies by marking the recipes that weren't especially interesting vs marking the ones I'd like to make.
Certainly a good read cookbook-wise with a very appealing selection of recipes that are high on flavor.
Now to the cooking ...
Big Flavors of the Hot Sun: Recipes and Techniques from the Spice Zone
By Chris Schlesinger, John Willoughby, Alan Witschonke
William Morrow & Co - 1994
I love this book and have used it lots. Rarely has there been any kind of disappointment.
The introduction starts with one of my favorite food quotes: "Subtlety in food does not impress me. I like big, loud flavors—sweet, sour, hot, salty, aromatic, pungent, tingling—preferably all in the same bite."
What I *don't* like about this book is that I coughed up money for a hardback and it fell apart almost immediately. This wasn't from abuse, but from poor manufacturing quality. My copy of The Thrill of the Grill (S&W's earlier book) has done the same thing. Shame on the publishers, William Morrow and Company, Inc!
The Best Ever French Cooking Course
By Carole Clements, Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen
Hermes House - 2002
This is one of my favorite cookbooks. I don't understand why it's not better known and more popular. It's full of classic French recipes, well explained and well illustrated. Many favorite recipes here.
24aug12: I have been given (and will pass along to a friend) a book called French Food and Cooking by the same authors, same publisher, new ISBN (1846814154). I've turned the pages and they are the same book inside. A search for the ISBN leads to Simple French Cooking by Clements only, which may or may not be the same book yet again.
Inside French Food and Cooking, it says the book was previously published as The French Recipe Cookbook, which is not the title I own and first saw. Ah, but I now see that mine has the same statement.
A search for French Food and Cooking by title at amazon.co.uk turns up a book with the same title and cover, but another ISBN altogether!
What on earth is going on with this?
8dec17: Have seen this book with yet another title. Bizarre.
Beard on Pasta
By James Beard
Random House Value Publishing - 1994
I think this may be one of the first serious books on pasta aimed at the general cooking public published in the US (1983). It's a good read (it is James Beard after all). There are lots of "standard" pasta recipes, and lots of new-to-me variations. I haven't cooked from it yet, but looking forward to it.
Fresh pasta: Barbara Kafka's Buckwheat Noodles, Avocado Pasta, several versions of ravioli
Dry pasta: Chêvre-Tomato Spaghetti, Orzo Soufflé.
A keeper.
Asian Vegetarian Feast: Tempting Vegetable And Pasta Recipes From The East
By Ken Hom
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1997
Despite the title, this is *not* a vegetarian cookbook. One of the mainstay ingredients is chicken stock, which Hom says is necessary because of the added taste. Last time I looked chicken was not a vegetable. Not that there aren't some good recipes here, but the title is a lie.
The Art of Cooking for Two
By Coralie Castle, Astrid Newton
101 Productions - 1976
This is one of my Desert Island cookbooks. Lots of useful recipes and good directions. It's really an old-fashioned cookbook, rather than a recipe book. My copy is held together with a rubber band and still used frequently. Lots of favorites here. Good ideas/suggestions for vegetables.
American Wholefoods Cuisine: Over 1300 Meatless, Wholesome Recipes from Short Order to Gourmet (Plume)
By Nikki Goldbeck, David Goldbeck
Plume - 1984
This book was never very popular, but I find it one of the best vegetarian cookbooks around. I've met vegetarians who swear by it. Yet it never appears on anyone's favorite cookbooks lists. Very puzzling.
It's a very plain book, no photos, no drawings, no fancy layout, kind of a Joy of Cooking for vegetarians. Nothing very exotic, but good, interesting food.
365 Ways to Cook Pasta
By Marie Simmons
Harpercollins - 1996
Yeah, yeah, 365 ways to cook anything, a bit of a silly gimmick. But this is actually quite a good collection of a variety of pasta recipes. It doesn't address making fresh pasta, not surprisingly. Full of good recipes, though.
30 Minute Indian: Cook Modern Indian Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less. (30 Minute Cooking)
By Sunil Vijayakar, William Reavell
Laurel Glen Publishing - 2000
(The cover showing here is not the cover on my book. ???)
Random thoughts as I'm reading/using this book:
- There are lots of pictures, unlabelled, and often with little or nothing to do with the recipe on whose page they sit. A pile of turmeric tells me what?
- The glossary of ingredients differentiates between brown (yellow?) and black mustard seeds and gives no info if they are interchangeable. Recipes call for "mustard seeds" with no further clue.
- I do not like the way that the page numbers are at the top on the left-hand page only, looking like a chapter number.
- There are some editing errors.
200 Budget Meals (Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook)
By Sunil Vijayakar
Hamlyn - 2008
This is not a cookbook anyone would choose based on the title alone. I found it when, after having a good time cooking from Vijayakar's 30 Minute Indian, I went looking for other books he had written and found this one very well reviewed at Amazon UK and at a budget price.
Not sure about the budget-ness of recipes using shrimp, calamari, pomegranate, and other vaguely exotic bits of food, but the dishes I've made have been uniformly tasty, easy, and fast to prepare.
100 Essential Curries. Madhur Jaffrey (My Kitchen)
By Madhur Jaffrey
Ebury - 2011
Yes, another of those books with numbers in the tile. From a series of books by well-known chefs. What I don't like about this book is that it looks like there's nothing new here -- all the recipes are repeats from other Jaffrey books. Which would be OK if the source were indicated on each recipe. Even a list of source books in the back would be better than nothing.
There are *only* recipes. None of the extra information about ingredients or techniques that you might like to have is there.
But it seems to be a good selection of recipes, at least I recognize a number of favorites from my other Jaffrey books. I feel a bit cheated, but if you had to have only one Indian cookbook, this might be a good choice. Maybe.