friederike's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
121 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Rating | Title 
100 15-Minute Fuss-Free Recipes: Time-Saving Techniques And Shortcuts To Superb Meals In Minutes, Including Breakfasts, Snacks, Main Course Meat, Fish ... Dishes, Plus Dazzlingly Simple Desserts
By Jenni Fleetwood
Southwater - 2007
For a large part, this book is somewhat of a cheat - about half of it is filled by sections on basic equipment, a 'Breakfast and Brunch' section with recipes for fruit juices, fruit salads and french toast (come on!), an one on 'Light Bites and Appetizers' - it's no magic to prepare those in 15 minutes or less! That leaves me with a smallish section on main dishes (I never consult it for side dishes or desserts, see above), but I must admit that the main dishes do look interesting and that there are few of the usual suspects you would otherwise find in a comparable book.
100 Great Breads
By Paul Hollywood
Cassell Illustrated - 2004
I'm slightly disappointed at this book. The recipes look very interesting and vary from simple, straight-forward breads to more out-of-the-range recipes like Chocolate and Sour Cherry Bread - but what about sour-dough? There's not a single recipe that includes sour-dough, even the 'German-based Cereal Rye' is based on yeast - seriously, it shouldn't. Such a pity.
100 Grillrezepte
April 9th, 2011This was one of those cheap 5 Euro books I picked up at a train station kiosk, and it's remarkably good and contains very diverse recipes! Very happy with my find...
101 Healthy Eats ("Good Food")
By Jane Hornby
BBC Books - 2008
These series of BBC cookbooks contain normally good, reliable recipes that have previously been published in the BBC Good Food Magazine (Olive Magazine for some of the other books) and often on the BBC Good Food website, too. What makes them extremely practical is that you can easily put them in your bag (even your handbag!) on a busy day, and then just choose a recipe when you're actually in the supermarket, or perhaps during lunch break, or whenever.
I have found this specific book to be the less useful one of the four books of the series I own (Olive 101 Quick Fix Dishes, 101 One-pot Dishes, 101 Store-cupboard Suppers and this one), although I believe that I eat quite healthy - possibly for the simple reason that I'll just grab the others quicker.
101 One-pot Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101)
By B.B.C. "Good Food Magazine"
BBC Books - 2006
These series of BBC cookbooks contain normally good, reliable recipes that have previously been published in the BBC Good Food Magazine (Olive Magazine for some of the other books) and often on the BBC Good Food website, too. What makes them extremely practical is that you can easily put them in your bag (even your handbag!) on a busy day, and then just choose a recipe when you're actually in the supermarket, or perhaps during lunch break, or whenever.
This specific book is quite nice, although most of the recipes I have made until now weren't exactly mind-blowing.
101 Store-cupboard Suppers ("Good Food")
By Barney Desmazery
BBC Books - 2008
These series of BBC cookbooks contain normally good, reliable recipes that have previously been published in the BBC Good Food Magazine (Olive Magazine for some of the other books) and often on the BBC Good Food website, too. What makes them extremely practical is that you can easily put them in your bag (even your handbag!) on a busy day, and then just choose a recipe when you're actually in the supermarket, or perhaps during lunch break, or whenever.
This specific book is quite nice, though of course I never have all the ingredients in stock (prawns, anyone?)...
Ad Hoc at Home
By Thomas Keller
Artisan - 2009
I actually only bought this book around the end of the cookbooker challenge (or maybe even after?), because I read all those raving reviews and figured it must be worth it. And yes, it is a very good book. I love all the step-by-step instructions he provides for several recipes/techniques, and the feeling that you can trust his vast knowledge and experience.
And yet I find the book quite intimidating. It's really not quite the book for normal day-to-day cooking, though it probably could be, if you take the time to get acquainted with it (and preferably stick to some of the simpler recipes).
All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking
By Molly Stevens
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2004
This book really taught me a lot about braising - how it works, what the difference is with other techniques, what you need to do to prevent the meat from turning dry, etc. Additionally, it features a lot of great recipes. Granted, few of them would be your typical working-day dinner, but if you have time to make one of them, they're always worth it. Plus, they are great to make in advance, and will fill your house with the most incredible smell!
All in One
By Parragon
Parragon Inc - 2007
One of those cheap 5-euro cookbooks you can pick up at kiosks and the like. Not too bad given the price, but you won't find anything special either.
The All New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook: Over 1,250 of Our Best Recipes (Southern Living (Hardcover Oxmoor))
By Editors of Southern Living Magazine
Oxmoor House - 2006
5 reviews, all of them with a 4-star rating - it seems obvious that this is a very reliable cookbook. Also, it's huge, and you can find recipes for nearly every topic.
Personally, I do skip quite a few of them as many seem to contain pre-manufactured ingredients such as sauces and salad dressings. In fact, I've seen a recipe for a salad that contained a salad dressing - doesn't that defeat the purpose of cooking? I also check on things like sugar and fat content, as these sometimes are higher than I'm comfortable with. Both of these issues might be just cultural differences.
Appeltaart
By Janneke Philippi
Karakter Uitgevers - 2011
A beautiful book focused on a single dish - I'm actually amazed how many different recipes she found! However, not all of them are equally good, it has it's fair share of hits and misses.
The Art of Pasta
By Lucio Galletto
Lantern - 2011
This book is a joy to look at, with a beautiful mix of ink drawings and photos throughout the book. Many recipes are work-intensive, or feature expensive ingredients, or both - but the results can to be stunning and well worth the effort.
Aufläufe, Gratins und Souffles.
By Cornelia Adam
Gräfe und Unzer Verlag - 1991
One of these typical small cookbooks that is part of a publisher's series and may typically fill a whole wall. It's okay; it includes a few adventurous combinations, but all in all, neither the book nor recipes are particularly exciting.
Aufläufe & Gratins
May 5th, 2011I bought this book (and actually all books of this series I own) because the recipes looked attractive and innovative, the dishes are beautifully presented and they just looked like a good deal (5 Euro a piece, 128 pages, ca. 70 recipes) - and they won the World Cookbook Award for best series, right?
Turns out the dishes look good, but taste bland and just don't work well, and are usually a lot of work. And there are at least ten series a year that win the World Cookbook Award for best series. Seriously.
I guess I'll continue to try a few recipes, there must be some good ideas in there. If not...
The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy
By Gill Rapley, Tracey Murkett
Vermilion - 2010
I haven't used it a lot yet, but so far it looks both interesting and useful.
One thing I would have hoped for would have been a chapter on 'first foods' - it seems easier to stick to single ingredients for the first few weeks (or at least days), plus I've read somewhere that it's beneficial as the baby will learn to differentiate individual ingredients. But most importantly I find it difficult to find foods I can give him that are soft enough to let him chew them, but not at the same time too slippery to make it hard to grasp them.
Another thing I'm missing is more information on and more guidance regarding the possibility of an iron deficit. Granted, there is a chapter on nutrition in the beginning of the book that states that most breads and cereals in the UK are fortified with iron - but that alone is not enough. For one point, the book is also sold outside of the UK (and as far as I know, breads and cereals aren't fortified in the NL). Even then, fortified breads and cereals count for nothing if your child doesn't eat them (cereals at least are really difficult for a baby on baby-led weaning; I really don't expect a baby of less than nine months to eat a lot of them, definitely not as much as a spoon-fed one). And last, milk inhibits the intake of iron, and yet there are so many recipes that contain milk (even the few recipes with oatmeal) while Vitamin C, which is necessary for the absorption of non-haem iron, is often is not part of the dish.
I might attempt to review every single recipe in this book; forgive me, then, for reviewing even silly recipes like French Toast and the like.
Beef!
February 27th, 2011 (edited 27th February 2011)This is the website of Beef! Magazine, a culinary magazine directed specifically to guys - and they're having a lot of fun with it. Usual topics are meats (especially in large chunks), alcohol, knives, and any other kind of tool, especially if they're huge / cool / ridiculously expensive / all of the above; but other topics will feature too. I love their creative ideas (eg. they won't just take a picture of ice cream in a bowl or glass, they'll restyle the ice to make it look like icebergs floating around), and the way they poke fun at all kinds of clishés concerning men and their culinary interests.
Brigitte - Unsere besten Menüs
By Burgunde Uhlig
Mosaik - 2002
This cookbook is the result of a cooking contest organised by the popular women's magazine Brigitte. Approximately 25 three-course menus with self-created dishes made it into the book. Many of them look or sound very interesting (Curryparfait with Red Wine Figs, anyone?) and I could definitely see them as part of a party.The section on the recipes is followed by a section with suggested menus, including a time schedule and tips on decoration.
Café Fernando
February 27th, 2011This is a blog by a well-connected Turkish guy who lives in Istanbul and had spent a few years in San Francisco and has created an incredibly interesting mix of dishes from East and West - and he's been asked to create a dish for D&G's luxury magazine Swide - how cool is that?
Chinese Cuisine: Cantonese Style
By Wei-Chuan Publishing, Lee-Hwa Lin
Wei-Chuan Publishing - 1998
Great Chinese cookbook! I love the fact that it's a bilingual book and very typical Chinese in some of its instructions. Several of the dishes feature rather rare ingredients though, but most of them can be easily stored for later re-use.
Chinese Cuisine: Szechwan Style
By Lee Hwa Lin
Wei-Chuan Publishing Co Ltd ,U.S. - 1993
Great Chinese cookbook! I love the fact that it's a bilingual book and very typical Chinese in some of its instructions. Several of the dishes feature rather rare ingredients though, but most of them are dried or pickled anyway and can be easily stored for later re-use.
At first glance I thought this book contained more exotic recipes compared to Chinese Cuisine Cantonese Style, but actually it doesn't, there seem to be several easily manageable recipes in there.
However, you do need to be a lover of hot food to enjoy this one.
Complete Vegetarian
By Nicola Graimes
Lorenz Books - 2006
I'm not really sure about this cookbook. I've tried two recipes so far, Creamy Lemon Puy Lentils, and Vegetable Pilau, both of which were delicious. The only problem is that most of the dishes on the pictures don’t look appetizing, and the recipe titles aren’t very convincing either. It makes me doubt very much why I bought this book in the first place.
Beware; this book has been published several times with different front covers and different titles (eg. Complete Vegetarian, 330 Vegetarian Recipes for Health, Vegetarian: Over 300 Healthy and Wholesome Recipes Chosen From Around the World, The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook, Around The World), but always the content is always exactly the same.
Update, 25 May 2011:
I cooked another two recipes from this book. Actually, it isn't so bad at all, at least the recipes are reliable and quite nice. Still, the pictures look dated even for the time of publishing and aren't very appealing.
The Cook's Book: Techniques and Tips from the World's Master Chefs
By Jill Norman
DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) - 2005
Half cookbook, half instruction on cooking techniques, this is a brilliant book to fall back on. And the recipes are excellent!
Crazy Water Pickled Lemons: Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa
By Diana Henry
Mitchell Beazley - 2006
Just like Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, this book is sorted in a rather non-traditional way by topic, which makes for an interesting way of discovering the recipes. But unfortunately, just like Pure Simple Cooking: Effortless Meals Every Day, this one is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to recipe reliability. Some recipes were really good, some of them - not so much. Test and practice before you serve it to guests!
Creme Brulee
By Sarah Lewis
Whitecap Books Ltd. - 2010
The information given in this book on how to make a crème brûlée is scarse, which is a pity as there is enough that can go wrong when making a custard. My first dish from this book wasn't really a success. Given that all the crème brûlée recipes in this book seem to be identical apart from the flavourings, I doubt that I will give any other recipe a try.
The Cuisine of Italy: All the Recipes
By Giunti (ed)
Demetra - 2010
I actually picked up this book at an airport as I was leaving Italy, one of those books you'll find in piles at shopkeeper's cash register in at least six different languages. Kind of cheesy to buy such a book. Nevertheless, the recipes so far have been delicious and reliable, and seem relatively authentic (measured in how often recipes do not take a modern short cut).
The Cuisine of the Rose: Classic French Cooking from Burgundy and Lyonnais (Penguin Cookery Library)
By Mireille Johnston, Milton Glaser
Penguin Books Ltd - 1992
There are some great recipes in this book - but make sure that you have a whole day's worth of time, you'll probably need it. The recipes are accompanied by interesting tidbits of information covering history of the dish and the likes. No pictures.
Culinaria France
By Andre Domine
h. f. ullmann - 2008
Love this book. Admittedly, it’s more of a culinary travel guide rather than a cookbook, but it’s just so full of information and has beautiful pictures. I haven’t yet tried the recipes, but those from Culinaria Germany mostly worked well for me.
Culinaria Germany
By Konemann
Ullmann Publishing - 2006
Love this book. Admittedly, it’s more of a culinary travel guide rather than a cookbook, but it’s just so full of information and has beautiful pictures. The recipes that are scattered in between mostly worked well for me.
Culinaria Russia: Ukraine-georgia-armenia-azerbaijan (Cooking)
By Marion Trutter
Ullmann - 2008
Love this book. Admittedly, it’s more of a culinary travel guide rather than a cookbook, but it’s just so full of information and has beautiful pictures. I haven’t yet tried the recipes, but those from Culinaria Germany mostly worked well for me.
Culinaria Spain
By Marios Trutter, Marion Trutter, Gunter Beer, Gunter Beer
Konemann - 2007
Love this book. Admittedly, it’s more of a culinary travel guide rather than a cookbook, but it’s just so full of information and has beautiful pictures. I haven’t yet tried the recipes, but those from Culinaria Germany mostly worked well for me.
De verstandige kok
By Marleen Willebrands
Uitgeverij Pereboom - 2006
This book is great document of culinary history: a cookbook from the 16th century, the Dutch Golden Age, annotated and 'translated' to modern Dutch. And it's really interesting. At one point, for example, a recipe advises using rain water, and the text just below explains that typically, four different types of water were used (mineral water, rain water, river water and well water).
However, it's not really to be used as a cookbook. Most recipes are, uhm, lets say not really up to date - most meats, for example, are boiled before they are fried or baked; mussels are actually removed from their shells before cooking; obviously, several recipes call for frying meat on a spit or in a fire-heated stone oven.
Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche: Gut kochen und essen Tag für Tag
By Cornelia Schinharl
Graefe Und Unzer Verlag - 2007
Just a note to say that I noticed a while ago that I had added the wrong cookbook - I own Die Echte Jeden-Tag-Küche by Sabine Sälzer, not Die Echte Jeden-Tag-Küche by Cornelia Schinharl. Why anybody would allow such a distinct title to be used by two completely cookbooks, and then even published by the same publisher (!) is a complete mystery to me. In fact, my mother was so inspired by my book that she decided to get it, too - and of course she got the wrong one...
Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche
By Sabine Sälzer
Graefe Und Unzer Verlag - 2004
It really is a shame that this book hasn't yet been translated; it's one of my favourites. I don't know if all recipes are ones I'd cook on a daily basis (which is what the book's title implies), but that may be because I'm awed by many of the more traditional dishes (only four dishes of spaghetti out of a several hundred, yay!).
The layout is beautiful, the recipes are well written (some include step-by-step illustrations) and well described, and the book contains lots of extra information: which cuts of meats to use for which dish and how to prepare them, different kinds of lesser known salads, average portion sizes per ingredient (ie. how much vegetable per person for a side dish or a vegetarian main?), a or just lists of menus, for daily use, buffets or parties, including a time planner.
The Essential Christmas Cookbook
By Wendy Stephen
Thunder Bay Press (CA) - 2003
A nice book with slightly traditional festive meals, but all of them very nice.
The Essential Seafood Cookbook
By Wendy Stephen
Thunder Bay Press - 2003
A very nice book with many interesting ideas. However, the photos make it look slightly older that it is, and the dishes so far have been of variable quality. I'm still testing, though, and I'm not having any troubles in finding recipes I would like to make.
Essentials of Cooking (Cookery)
By James Peterson
Konemann UK Ltd - 2000
Not really a cookbook, more of a book of techniques. It's quite interesting, but I would still rather recommend The Cook's Book or Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cookery Techniques, both of which are excellent.
Essentials of Roasting: Recipes and Techniques for Delicious Oven-Cooked Meals (Williams-Sonoma Essentials)
By Chuck Williams, Noel Barnhurst
Oxmoor House - 2004
I can't imagine I haven't reviewed this book yet! As a cookbook, it's a bit of a mixed bag - I liked some of the dishes, and others not. In general, the recipes look sound. If I had the choice to buy this book or another one on roasting, I would now probably buy Molly Stevens' All About Roasting, just because All About Braising is such a brilliant book.
Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes
By Tessa Kiros
Murdoch Books - 2004
I always thought that this was the first book combining cooking with beautiful photos and a narrative in such a way that you can completely forget that you're holding a cookbook in your hands. I might be entirely wrong about this, of course, however, in my eyes this has always been a book that set the standard for other books to follow.
Tessa Kiros introduces us to her colourful family, her Finnish mother and her family, her Greek-Cypriotic father and his family, and her Italian husband, and tells us about living in South Africa for some years. The photos are fantastic, and the way she tells her story really makes you think you've been there all along with her. Or at least that you're leafing through her personal, hand-written notes.
Flavour First
By John Burton Race
Quadrille Publishing Ltd - 2008
This is a brilliant book. In fact, If I had to compile a list of five cookbooks to bring to a desert island (the type of desert island that furnishes a fully equipped kitchen and all the ingredients I can wish for), this would be one of them. Until now, all the major recipes I've reviewed except for one were a great success - and the one that failed probably failed because we had the wrong cut of meat.
Most of the recipes are very interesting, quite sophisticated, and absolutely doable in respect to both difficulty and time! Of course a few of them that are a bit more expensive, difficult and time-consuming than most of us would be willing to prepare every week, but then again that's what you expect from a cookbook written by a Michelin chef. The good thing about this book, especially when you're using expensive ingredients, is that it's so reliable that you don't need to worry if something will go wrong - it won't.
The Flavour Thesaurus
By Niki Segnit
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC - 2010
I absolutely love the concept of this book - I often turn to it when I'm not exactly sure if two ingredients will pair well, or if I just need inspiration. I also enjoy her writing, which can be very funny at times.
Unfortunately, not all the recipes we tried until now were reliable, and so I'll turn to a proper cookbook for future recipes.
French Provincial Cooking
By Elizabeth David
Penguin - 1998
DH bought this book in his student years. He prepared a dish or two from it, but he never really used it a lot. Part of the problem was that this book definitely isn't meant for cooking novices - a lot of the recipes contain gaps a skilled cook is expected to fill, but a novice can't. I'm sure the book had a lot of value back then, as there just weren't a lot of cookbooks around, but until now I can't really help thinking that while this book contains a few good recipes, there are probably better ones around.
Fresh in Winter (Seasonal Cookbooks)
By Alastair Hendy
Ryland, Peters & Small Ltd - 1999
Quite sophisticated cooking; most of it is too sophisticated to really be of use for daily cooking. What I do like is that most recipes are accompanied by a recommendation how to modify the recipe.
Gelati d'Italia
By Linda Tubby
Fontaine - 2007
A very nice book on ice creams. If I had to choose between this book and The Perfect Scoop, I would probably choose the latter, because it contains more recipes and as I've only reviewed a few recipes in either book, the fact that The Perfect Scoop has so many fans also weighs in - but believe me, it's a very close call! If you have enough money to spend on two books on ice cream....
German Cooking Today: The Original.
By Dr. Oetker
Ceres Verlag - 2003
Very dated, very, very eighties, especially in layout and format. Some of the recipes are timeless and still very enjoyable. If you're looking for German cuisine, I would rather recommend Culinaria Germany; if you're new to cooking and need help, rather turn to Ich helf Dir kochen (actually, both books are good on German cuisine. Recipes in Culinaria books typically tend to be slightly difficult, whereas Ich helf Dir kochen has lots of easy and straightforward recipes. Not sure if this is available in English, though).
Good Housekeeping: Step-by-step Cookbook: Over 650 Easy-to-follow Techniques and Triple-tested Recipes (Good Housekeeping)
March 27th, 2011A good cookbook for beginners, covering a lot of basic equipment, ingredients and techniques along with many recipes. It really begins at the beginning, with e.g. and illustrated step-by-step instruction on how to mash potatoes. Go figure.
The recipes I've tried have worked for the greatest part; however, for a cookbook that basic I would have expected less fancy and more 'basic'recipes, such as a simple cream soup. Then again I guess the reasoning was that you can get there yourself by following the instructions on making soup.
Grains
By Molly Brown
Hardie Grant Books - 2014
I really like this book. It presents a lot of recipes with ingredients I rarely use, and most of them look and sound quite appetizing. Unfortunately, not all of the recipes were a full success, but those that were (the two curries, so far) have gone straight into our repertoire of day-to-day dishes.
Grillen & Picknicks
May 5th, 2011I bought this book (and actually all books of this series I own) because the recipes looked attractive and innovative, the dishes are beautifully presented and they just looked like a good deal (5 Euro a piece, 128 pages, ca. 70 recipes) - and they won the World Cookbook Award for best series, right?
Turns out the dishes look good, but taste bland and just don't work well, and are usually a lot of work. And there are at least ten series a year that win the World Cookbook Award for best series. Seriously.
I guess I'll continue to try a few recipes, there must be some good ideas in there. If not...
Grown in Britain Cookbook
By Carolyn Humphries, Donna Air
Dorling Kindersley - 2009
I love the concept of it - it starts with a month-by-month overview about which ingredients are in season, while the main part is arranged by ingredient, including a description, different types, storage, season, perfect pairings, and recipes. Very unfortunate then that two of the four recipes I made so far turned out to be a complete disaster! It looks like they just compiled recipes from different people without testing them properly. What a pity, as the basic concept of this book is really nice.
In a way, this book is comparable to The Middle Eastern Kitchen.
Healing Foods (Dk Living)
By Miriam Polunin
Dk Pub (T) - 1997
This book actually consists of two sections: one regarding health issues andd types of food, one containing recipes. The former is quite interesting, but so far the recipes haven't always been convincing.
Heimwee naar Bella Italia
By Onno Kleyn
Het Spectrum - 2002
A bit of a mixed bunch, the Dover Sole continues to be a great hit whereas other dishes were a disappointment. Does not contain photos.