friederike's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
121 books reviewed. Showing 101 to 121Sort by: Rating | Title 
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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).
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?)...
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 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.
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...
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 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.