wester's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
74 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Rating | Title 
The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant
By Judy Rodgers, Gerald Asher
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2002
Not really a book for beginners, but if you have been cooking for a few years and want practical and inspirational tips to cook better, this is the one for you.
Lots of advice on the details that matter - such as when to salt your food (early), what salt to use (it depends) and why. She tells you when to taste and what to look for when you do. She will also tell you which things are not that important. It also is unintimidating. She will tell you not to try recipes that are too unfamiliar, she helps you with tasting your food.
And it's fun to just read it, even the recipes themselves.
What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes
By Deborah Madison, Patrick McFarlin
Gibbs Smith - 2009
This is a book you get for the stories at least as much as for the recipes, good as they may sometimes be.
The elation mixed with fear of moving out and being able to eat what you want - if you first cook it yourself. The relief of an occasional single meal with hardworking family men/women. And of course, the systematic single meals of the single, divorced or widowed. Sometimes inspiring, sometimes awful, sometimes just plain weird. It'll make you remember those weird concoctions you used to consume yourself - I suddenly wanted to make my "penne with purple sauce" again.
And there are recipes in there too. Sometimes little more than ideas, sometimes quite elaborate, always easy, usually tasty. And it will explain some basics as well.
All in all, a lovely book that I keep browsing in.
A Veggie Venture
June 10th, 2010Some lovely recipes, but a bit much geared towards 'healthy', esp. low-fat, for my taste.
The Vegetable Bible
By Christian Teubner
Chartwell Books - 2009
This more a reference for different vegetables than a cookbook. Of course you can use wikipedia instead, but it is nice to browse in. There are some recipes in here as well, but no indispensable ones.
Thirst
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate - 2006
Smooth and creamy, or fresh and invigorating, or hearty and clean: there's a drink for every mood here, and I find myself using this book almost daily.
Uncomplicated but good suggestions for juices and smoothies. There are a couple of coffee/chocolate type drinks as well, and one alcoholic drink: a Bloody Mary. He will also help you find the right ripeness for juicing as opposed to for eating, from "obscenely ripe" for a mango to "quite a way from perfect ripeness" for a pear.
You will need a juicer and/or a blender for most of the recipes - it actually made me buy a secondhand juicer. It numbers the recipes instead of the pages. Some of the recipes are essentially doubles.
Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, Recipes
By Sur La Table, Marie Simmons
Andrews McMeel Publishing - 2008
This book looks great, with full color photos of different kinds of cookware. It also gives good descriptions of all of them, including alternatives if you don't happen to own this particular pan - it does not try to "sell" you more cookware than you need. It also gives a few recipes for every piece of cookware - good ones but not indispensable.
A good book if you are thinking about getting more pans, or less of them - it will help you decide what you really want.
The index is not good - for several recipes neither first word or main ingredient of the recipe gave a result. E.g. Apple-and-ginger-spiced Sweet Potatoes was not found with apple, sweet potato or ginger, only with potato.
Tassajara Cooking : A vegetarian cooking book
By Edward Espe Brown
Shambhala - 1973
These are usually not really recipes but more like suggestions to help your own imagination. As you'd expect in a Buddhist vegetarian cookbook, it is a bit brown-rice style, and heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian cuisines.
Spices of Life: Piquant Recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western Kitchens
By Troth Wells
New Internationalist Publications Ltd - 1996
The (non)organization of the book makes it almost impossible to find recipes.
The index only lists the main ingredients (such as potatoes) or the sort of dish (such as soup), not the spices, and the original names only behind the main ingredient, not alphabetically. The order of the book is first the course, then within that the country, so Asian starters are in a completely different part of the book than Asian main courses.
So if you are looking for a particular recipe, or if you want to use a particular spice, or even want to try the kitchen of a particular country, it's near impossible to find it.
I'll review the recipes if I find any.
Sophie Grigson's Sunshine Food
By Sophie Grigson
BBC Books - 2000
Lovely original mediterranean recipes. They are easy to make, and do not need very weird ingredients.
I especially love the socca, and the Moroccan fruit salads.
Sophie Grigson's Feasts for a Fiver
By Sophie Grigson
BBC Books - 1999
There are some wonderful original ideas here, great twists on everyday ingredients. Or would you combine rhubarb and mackerel? She does, and it tastes great.
There are also a couple of recipes that you won't make that easily (anybody want to learn how to skin a pheasant?).
Smitten Kitchen
March 23rd, 2010 (edited 29th March 2010)There is no other website that makes me go "yes! I'll make this tonight!" as often as this one. And when I do just that, I am usually very happy I did.
The recipes are always well-tested and she'll tell you what details to watch especially, or give suggestions for variations. And there is always a personal story with it as well. It's like having your best friend who happens to be a great cook in the kitchen with you.
Simply delicious cookies
By Family Living
Riverwood press - 2008
If you have children, it's good to have a good variation of cookie recipes for rainy afternoons. This book is fine for that. There is enough variation and some nice decoration ideas. Some of the recipes are not really recipes but ideas for pimping ready-made cookies, and some others depend on ingredients that I can't easily get in Europe, but that's just a few. The recipes I've made so far have all turned out well.
(The captions of the photos on the cover should be reversed: the cookies in the basket are the springerle, the cookies with the tree design are the white chocolate cookies.)
The Seafood Cookbook: Classic to Contemporary
By Pierre Franey, Bryan Miller, Lauren Jarrett
Times Books, a division of Random House Inc. - 1986
I made two recipes from this cookbook, both disappointing. It's getting one more chance, but three strikes and it's going out.
Roasting-A Simple Art
By Barbara Kafka, Maria Robledo
William Morrow & Co. - 1995
Every recipe I've made from this book so far has turned out great. The recipes are quite simple, and all the details that you should pay attention to are worked out. I am very happy with this book.
Roast Chicken and Other Stories (Ebury Paperback Cookery)
By Simon Hopkinson, Lindsey Bareham
Ebury Press - 1999
I want to like this book - it looks so nice, I usually like stories with my recipes, and I like the thematic organization by ingredient. Even if there are quite a few ingredients that are difficult to get hold of, there should be enough good recipes. But I just can't seem to get into it.
The River Cottage Fish Book
By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Nick Fisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC - 2007
This is much more than a good fish cookbook. It tells you all about all stages of getting a fish and cooking it. It tells you how to kill a fish, or how to buy it, how to clean it, how to cook it, what to do with the leftovers.
The book is in three parts - Understanding fish (how fish live, sustainability issues, how to buy a fish, basic fish skills), Fish cookery (raw fish, smoked, barbecued, baked, soups, frying, cold fish, and fish thrift and standbys), and British fish (a complete list of all fish that swim around Great Britain).
These guys love fish, and it shows everywhere. They love cooking and eating fish. They are willing to go to great lengths occasionally (not just catching your own fish, but also building your own smoker, etc.) but they are also comfortable with really simple recipes - even a few with canned fish. All the recipes are there to let the fish shine, not to let the cook show off. They also feel they have a large responsibility towards fish, and they will educate you, and you will probably enjoy that too.
If you love fish, you need this book.
Real Food
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2000
A pretty typical Nigel Slater book: Bold, non-fussy food, packed with flavor. This one is sorted according to the main ingredient (or the result): potato, chicken, bread, ice-cream... Some of it is healthy, all of it is good, some of it is great.
Real Fast Vegetarian Food
By Ursula Ferrigno
Metro Books,London - 1996
Lovely vegetarian recipes, often Italian. Many of them make good use of cheese.
Real Fast Puddings: Over 200 Desserts, Savouries and Sweet Snacks in Under 30 Minutes
By Nigel Slater
Penguin Books Ltd - 1994
A good list of suggestions, but only a few in here I would call a recipe. Lots of things that you can think of yourself if you spend any time in the kitchen at all, as well, but enough original ones. And I usually don't feel like really cooking something for dessert, so it's good to have a lot of easy and tasty suggestions.
Pretend Soup: And Other Real Recipes
By Mollie Katzen, Ann Henderson
Ten Speed Press - 1994
What makes this book so wonderful is not the recipes themselves, which are good but not that surprising. It is the way it helps you to let your child cook, starting as young an age as three years.
All recipes have four pages. Two adult pages, which tell you as an adult what your task is in this recipe (everything involving sharp knives or heat), the tools you need, handy hints on how to let a really young kid break an egg or pour milk without getting it all over the kitchen, etc... And two kids pages, which tell your kids, in pictograms, what they should do to make the recipe. These pictograms do make it much easier for kids to follow the recipe.
Cooking from this book is fun, and it really can change your frame of mind about what children can do in the kitchen.
The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accessories
By David Lebovitz
Ten Speed Press,U.S. - 2007
If you have an ice cream maker and you want to have some good suggestions on what to do with it, this is THE book to get. It's as simple as that. Ice cream, sorbets, mix-ins - it even shows you how to bake your own cones.
On Rice: 60 Fast and Easy Toppings That Make the Meal
By Rick Rodgers, Frankie Frankeny
Chronicle Books - 1997
60 fast easy recipes in many different styles, to make your everyday cooking more interesting.
New Food Fast
By Donna Hay
Murdoch Books - 1999
There are some lovely ideas here, but the layout is a bit too fancy for my taste.
The Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Kosmos-Z&K Uitgevers Utrecht - 2000
Some great basic recipes that I keep coming back to, some good ideas to vary them. This is the kind of cookbook you use more than you think you do.
More Vegetables, Please: Delicious Vegetable Side Dishes for Everyday Meals
By Janet Kessel Fletcher
Harlow & Ratner - 1992
Like the title says: Some suggestions for simple but interesting things to do with your everyday vegetables. Many recipes are so simple they are more like suggestions for combinations, but they are still very nice.
Moosewood Restaurant New Classics
By Moosewood Collective
Clarkson Potter - 2001
A good selection of everyday vegetarian recipes (and just a few fish recipes). Not too complicated and tasty enough.
Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
I definitely wish I had had this book when I was a vegetarian student who was just learning to cook. It would have improved the quality of my food no end.
But now I am over forty and on a low-carb diet, and especially now I know so much more about cooking, it just does not have that much to offer that I don't know yet.
I will probably give it to my vegetarian sister - she will probably enjoy it.
MOLLIE KATZEN'S VEGETABLE HEAVEN: OVER 200 RECIPES FOR UNCOMMON SOUPS, TASTY BITES, SIDE-BY-SIDE DISHES, AND TOO MANY DESSERTS
By Mollie Katzen
Hyperion - 2000
I've only made one recipe of this book yet since I got it yesterday, but I think it's my new favorite cookbook.
It's a book about enhancing vegetables (instead of hiding them as so often happens). The recipes are original without being over the top, and I just want to make them all. It's vegetarian in a nondogmatic way, almost accidental. The recipes just happen to be all meatless, but that is because meat does not belong in them, not because it was left out.
The details do matter in this cookbook, so I suggest not tampering too much with the recipes, especially the first time you make them.
And you do need a well-stocked cupboard for this book.
Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven: Over 200 Recipes for Uncommon Soups, Tasty Bites, Side Dishes, and Too Many Desserts
By Mollie Katzen
Hyperion - 1997
Vegetable recipes designed for great taste, and if they happen to healthy that's a nice side effect.
This is the kind of cookbook where it's best to follow the recipe exactly, at least the first time you make them, as often it's not completely visible from the recipe why it is designed as it is, and changes can easily upset the balance.
Mesa Mexicana
By Mary S. Milliken
William Morrow Cookbooks - 1994
I have not found many recipes in here that look inspiring, and the one recipe I made was not much good. Maybe I'll have better luck with the next recipes.
Masterchef 1996
By Loyd Grossman
Ebury Press - 1996
Some Ok ideas, but often overly elaborate.
Madhur Jaffrey's Spice Kitchen: Fifty Recipes Introducing Indian Spices and Aromatic Seeds
By Madhur Jaffrey
Clarkson Potter - 1994
If you are going to have only one Indian cookbook, have this one!
It is small, it contains only 50 recipes, but all are very different and all that I have tried are very nice. I tried 10 of them in the first two weeks I had this book, and I usually don't cook Indian that much. The recipes are all very aromatic and need not be hot.
What I really like most about this book is the explanations of how and why to use Indian spices. She will tell you why one spice is added at the very beginning and another at the end, and what effect this should have. This also gives a good idea of what the finished dish will be like.
Masterly.
Lyndey Milans Fabulous Food
By Lyndey Milan, Michael Cook
New Holland Publishers Ltd - 1999
The book looks good (nice photos etc.), but so far I haven't been inspired to actually make any of the recipes.
Kohinoor of Rice and Spice
By Rocky Mohan
Roli Books - 2003
The recipes look interesting and authentic. There are some good ideas here, such as the rice with steamed gram flour rolls.
On the downside, some ingredients will be hard to find (khoya, poppyseed paste - and I'm not even counting that you need a really well-stocked spice cupboard). I would also have liked to have the English names/descriptions in the index as well.
Klary Koopmans : Alles over eten
November 19th, 2010In Dutch.
Focusing mainly on vegetables and grains, but the health aspect is subordinate to the taste.
Keeping it Simple
By Gary Rhodes
Michael Joseph - 2005
Not really my style of recipes. A bit too much "meat and two veg".
Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book
By Jane Grigson
Penguin - 1998
If you've ever not known what to do with a vegetable, you need this book. If you have a CSA box or anything similar, it's indispensable.
Not only will it tell you what you can do with a cardoon or hop shoots, but it will also give you 17 ways to prepare cauliflower. The recipes are not spectacular but usually very nice.
Feel free to ignore all serving suggestions - they tend to be overly complicated.
Jane Grigson's Fruit Book (Penguin Cookery Library)
By Jane Grigson
Penguin - 2000
Not as indispensable as the vegetable book, but still nice if you are at a loss as to what to do with a particular fruit.
Jamie's Kitchen
By Jamie Oliver
Penguin Books Ltd - 2004
Some interesting recipes, but a bit too restaurant-like, overcomplicated, not really home cooking. I'm not going to fill pasta on a regular basis if I have other things to do as well.
I also would have liked page numbers on more pages - sometimes you have to move six pages to find a page number.
Jamie's Dinners
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2004
English home cooking, only slightly 'culinarized'.
The recipes I've tried so far were nice, but not more than that. But there are still more recipes in there that do look interesting.
Indian (What's Cooking)
By Shehzad Husain
Thunder Bay Press (CA) - 1998
I almost didn't get this book. I already have a cookbook from the same author that I don't cook from. I already have a cookbook from the same series that I don't cook from. And I certainly have no shortage of Indian cookbooks.
Still, I did get it, and found myself cooking from it. The recipes are simple and they taste good. The book is well illustrated - all recipes have several photos. Not an essential book, but a good one for everyday cooking.
Indian cooking;: With useful hints on good housekeeping
By Kala Primlani
Pearl Publications; sole distributors: India Book House - 1968
Authentic Indian cookbook, good everyday food.
Het grote vegetarische kookboek
By Susan Tomnay
Könemann - 1996
A good book for starting vegetarians, or vegetarians in need of inspiration. A great choice of recipes. Most are easy to make, and if not, they will warn you.
Happy Days with the Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2001
There are some very good recipes in here that I make on a regular basis.
Great Good Food: Luscious Lower-Fat Cooking
By Julee Rosso
Three Rivers Press - 1993
If you really want to lower your fat intake, you can do worse than this book. The recipes are still reasonably tasty and quite easy to make with normal ingredients - all the dairy is nonfat but you won't have to fill your pantry with diet food.
If you are not interested in your fat intake, don't bother.
Great Food Without Fuss: Simple Recipes from the Best Cooks
By Frances McCullough, Barbara Witt
Henry Holt & Co - 1992
There are some lovely recipes in here, by good cooks as well. There are very many variations to the recipes, and basic recipes, and more elaborate ones, and altogether it is not always easy to find the recipe you want.
Fresh Start: Great Low-fat Recipes, Day-by-day Menus - The Savvy Way to Cook, Eat and Live! (The great good food series)
By Julee Rosso
Random House Value Publications - 1996
I don't like diet cookbooks, but sometimes they're necessary. And this one isn't too bad. At least it talks about flavor and not about the "naughtiness" of eating too fat. The book is very American, as far as the eating style is concerned.
Fresh at Home
By Ruth Brown
Penguin Global - 2005
A bit too vegetarian for my taste, as in: all tofu/beans/grains, and more attention paid to healthiness than to taste. Also, a lot of difficult ingredients (wheat grass, spirulina, protein powder).
Food & Wine Magazine's 2001 Cookbook: An Entire Year's Recipes
By Food & Wine Magazine
American Express Publishing - 2001
Loads of interesting recipes by many well-known cooks. Nice photos, too.
Favourite Biscuit Recipes
April 19th, 2010 (edited 15th May 2010)Very small booklet with a good selection of classic English cookies/shortbread/biscuits etc. They are usually not complicated to make and they work well. When I want to bake cookies, I regularily reach for this one.