sturlington's Profile

From: Hillsborough, NC US

Joined: March 11th, 2010

About me: I am an avid home cook. I am using this site to keep track of my favorite recipes from my cookbook collection.

Favorite cookbook: Fresh Every Day

Favorite recipe: Chocolate Brownies (Ad Hoc at Home)

Website:
simplycooking.wordpress.com


Latest review:

October 6th, 2012

Easy Cheesy Chili Chicken from Eating Stella Style: Low-Carb Recipes for Healthy Living

My husband enjoyed this a lot. It was easy enough for a weeknight, but I will have to tweak the seasonings some, as it was just a bit too salty for my tastes. read more >


recipe reviews (537)
book reviews (49)
useful review votes (414)

sturlington's Reviews


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Cookbook Reviews

49 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 49Sort by: Rating | Title

Ad Hoc at Home

By Thomas Keller
Artisan - 2009

April 20th, 2011 (edited 19th March 2012)

This is a beautiful cookbook filled with classic American dishes. The recipes, for the most part, are complicated, multi-step affairs, although there are notable exceptions. I usually like to cook simpler recipes, and if I do take more time with a recipe, I want it to be over-the-top delicious. I also don't like to cook with as much fat as many of these recipes call for.

Most of the recipes I tried turned out beautifully and deliciously. I have found that the simpler recipes were the more successful ones. Cod en persillade, marinated feta and tarragon chicken all come to mind. Some of the more complicated dishes were absolutely scrumptious to eat, but would have to be reserved for special occasions because of the fat content, such as the hash, chocolate brownies and garlic bread.

On the other hand, some recipes flopped, and were doubly disappointing because of the effort required to make them. Others were very complicated to make, and I have made simpler versions that were just as good, if not better. I'm thinking particularly of the blue cheese dressing and oven-dried tomatoes. These were the exception, rather than the rule, though.

As a whole, I enjoy looking through this gorgeous cookbook and cooking from it occasionally. But I tend to reserve it for special-occasion cooking or when I am in the mood to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating

By Barbara Kingsolver
Faber and Faber - 2008

October 6th, 2012

My review is here: http://simplycooking.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/review-animal-vegetable-miracle/

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution

By Alice Waters
Clarkson Potter - 2007

June 23rd, 2011

I trust Alice Waters more than Mark Bittman for simple, reliable recipes suitable for everyday cooking. Pretty much every recipe from here that I have tried is easy and delicious. This is an indispensable book for everyday cooking.

Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Ed: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico

By Rick Bayless
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2007

July 17th, 2010

The recipes are very detailed and include many notes on techniques and ingredients. The section on timing and advance preparation is extremely helpful for planning my cooking strategy; I wish every cookbook included such thoughtful notes. I also appreciate the many traditional and contemporary variations on each recipe provided, which enable the cook to try the dish multiple ways or easily substitute ingredients.

BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes

By Shirley O. Corriher
Scribner - 2008

July 17th, 2010 (edited 19th March 2012)

I have tried a few recipes from this book and not one has turned out successfully. I am surprised given Shirley O. Corriher's reputation.

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients

By Ina Garten
Clarkson Potter - 2008

October 6th, 2012

I haven't cooked much out of this book, because the dishes are what I would make to entertain, rather than feeding my family every day. What I have tried has been very good, and the range of recipes seem like crowd pleasers. The cookbook itself is very beautiful, with photos of every dish and lots of helpful entertaining tips.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

By Ina Garten, Martha Stewart
Clarkson Potter - 1999

April 13th, 2011 (edited 19th March 2012)

This is my first Barefoot Contessa cookbook. So far, I haven't had the opportunity to cook much out of it. The recipes I have tried have made enormous quantities, too much for my small family. I think the Contessa entertains a lot more than I do.

Having said that, these are classic favorites, well presented with nice photos. Even if I don't cook out of this book all the time, I'd definitely keep it around for family gatherings, holiday meals and other occasions.

The Best 30-Minute Recipe

By Cook's Illustrated Magazine, John Burgoyne, Daniel J. Van Ackere, Carl Tremblay
America's Test Kitchen - 2006

July 17th, 2010

All of the recipes I have tried have turned out very well. I really only have two criticisms of this book. One is that too many of the recipes rely on packaged or processed ingredients that we don't usually buy, and the other is that a lot of the recipes are just really basic. But the recipes do work and they are tasty.

The Best Recipes in the World

By Mark Bittman
Broadway - 2005

July 17th, 2010 (edited 12th March 2012)

This is a good cookbook to own if you enjoy Asian cooking. It is a huge compendium but many of the recipes are simple and easy, as Bittman is known for.

The Big Book of Chicken: (Chronicle Books))

By Maryana Vollstedt
Chronicle Books - 2008

August 7th, 2011 (edited 26th March 2012)

We cook chicken more than any other meat, two or three times a week, and I always have leftover grilled or roasted chicken in the refrigerator for lunchtime salads and sandwiches. I bought this book as a source of fresh ideas for making chicken different and exciting, since we eat it so much. In that regard, it has been a success. The recipes are pretty simple, and there is some repetition, but mostly they are reliable, easy and good. Which makes this a great cookbook for weeknight cooking.

Bistro Cooking

By Patricia Wells
Workman Publishing Company - 1989

July 17th, 2010 (edited 19th March 2012)

Patricia Wells is my new best friend. I have had her cookbook, Bistro Cooking, for a while but only recently began cooking out of it. The recipes are simple but hearty French bistro fare that rely on the best ingredients for flavor, and each one I have attempted has been delicious. Her Marinated Goat Cheese, for instance, should be a pantry staple; it keeps for a long time, and it is a tasty snack and a useful ingredient to have on hand for salads and other dishes.

Wells’ book Bistro Cooking encourages you to keep great ingredients on hand in order to quickly put together satisfying meals that don’t require the fussy handling and intricate preparation we often associate with French cooking. I love turning my kitchen into a French bistro.

Bouchon

By Thomas Keller
Artisan - 2004

May 28th, 2012

A beautiful cookbook. The recipes look scrumptious, and reproduce the best dishes from the restaurant, but the order of difficulty for many of them are high. This is good project cooking if you have some time on your hands.

The Busy Person's Guide to Preserving Food: Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for Freezing, Drying, and Canning

By Janet Chadwick
Storey Publishing, LLC - 1995

August 7th, 2011 (edited 26th March 2012)

This is a pretty handy book for preserving various foods. I use it mostly as a reference for freezing fruits and vegetables.

Chefs of the Triangle: Their Lives, Recipes and Restaurants

By Ann Prospero
John F Blair Pub - 2009

June 9th, 2012

This cookbook showcases chefs from various restaurants around the area where I live, and provides 2 or 3 recipes from each. I haven't made many of the recipes, because they are complicated, but the ones I have tried have turned out well. This is not a cookbook I turn to very often, I must admit, but because of the local interest, it's one I'm glad I have.

The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook: 2,000 Recipes from 20 Years of America's Most Trusted Cooking Magazine

By Editors at Cook's Illustrated Magazine
Cook's Illustrated - 2011

March 31st, 2012

I used to own The New Best Recipe, but I got tired of it because the recipes seemed long-winded and overly complex, especially since so many simple techniques for cooking meats and vegetables were included. Despite that, quite a few of the recipes were divinely delicious, and I did miss the cookbook for that reason.

That's why I was so excited to discover this cookbook. It has many more recipes, including quite a few of my favorites from the magazine. But the recipes are more compact and only the most relevant details are included in the introduction, i.e., why does this recipe work. So I have regained many favorite recipes, discovered many more to try, and it's all contained in a handsome package with a gorgeous cover. This is definitely an improvement on The New Best Recipe, and probably the only Cook's Illustrated cookbook you need in your library.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

By Marcella Hazan
Knopf - 1992

June 23rd, 2011

After cooking out of this book for a while, I have come to believe that it is the only Italian cookbook I really need. The pasta sauces in particular are all excellent and not difficult to execute. The vegetable sides and salad recipes are also classic and scrumptious. I use this book both for everyday cooking and special meals, and it hasn't let me down yet.

Essentials of Cooking

By James Peterson
Artisan - 2003

August 7th, 2011

Teaches the basics for food preparation and common recipes. I found the detailed illustrations helpful, especially for knife techniques. Since none of the recipe procedures give measurements, I've had mixed results with those.

Feast of Santa Fe: Cooking of the American Southwest

By Huntley Dent
Simon & Schuster - 1993

March 29th, 2010

I bought The Feast of Santa Fe while I was in Santa Fe, and it was a truly great find. This is not only a cookbook but also a history of New Mexican cuisine, as fun to read as it is to cook from. It contains all of the classic recipes, including both sauces, and almost every recipe suggests several variations. I learned how to make real enchiladas out of this cookbook, as well as burritos and chiles rellenos. Every recipe I tried from it was both delicious and authentic-tasting.

Feast: Food to Celebrate Life

By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2004

June 23rd, 2011 (edited 19th March 2012)

I purchased this book from the bargain shelf, and I think I truly got a bargain. This is a nice compendium of holiday and party recipes, probably the only one you ever need. I don't pull it out every day, by any means, but it is indispensable when a recipe is needed for a Halloween party or a birthday cake or a Christmas dinner.

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes

By Mark Bittman
Simon & Schuster - 2009

April 16th, 2011

Review too long to post here. Read it on my blog: http://simplycooking.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/review-food-matters/

The Foster's Market Cookbook: Favorite Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night

By Sara Foster, Sarah Belk King, James Baigrie, Martha Stewart
Random House - 2002

April 11th, 2011

I don't love this cookbook as much as the previous two Foster's Market Cookbooks, primarily because this one has more big dishes and fewer adaptable basics. But as with all of Sara Foster's recipes, the ones I've tried from this book are yummy and amenable to adaptation to my family's tastes. I cook from this book a lot, and it has a permanent home in my cookbook collection.

Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Foster's Market

By Sara Foster, Carolynn Carreno
Clarkson Potter - 2005

July 17th, 2010

Fresh Every Day is a fairly straightforward cookbook of favorites from Foster’s Market, adapted for home cooking. I really appreciate the numerous tips, shortcuts and variations that Foster provides for her recipes. My favorite chapters are “Breakfast for Anytime,” “Simple Soups,” “Seasonal Salads and Salad Meals” and “Seasonal Sides”; I think the chapter titles say it all.

High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking

By J.M. Hirsch
Ballantine Books - 2010

August 7th, 2011 (edited 26th March 2012)

In general, I like this book. The recipes are interesting and fun, and they are certainly flavorful. However, I find that many of the recipes are just "too much" -- too many ingredients, too much fat, more than I'd like to cook for a weeknight dinner, which I prefer to keep light. I'll keep this cookbook around for weekend blowout eating but probably won't turn to it for everyday cooking.

How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition): 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food

By Mark Bittman
Wiley - 2008

November 9th, 2010

I'm kind of mad at Mark Bittman. This is the cookbook I wanted to write. Now I guess I don't have to.

I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking

By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2002

July 17th, 2010

I enjoy Alton Brown's TV show a lot, but I can't say the same for his book. There was a lot of basic information I already knew, so perhaps I had already moved beyond this book, and I found the presentation a bit confusing. Also, very few of the recipes inspired me. This book is going in the reference section of my shelves, will probably eventually be given away.

The Improvisational Cook

By Sally Schneider
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2006

June 23rd, 2011 (edited 26th March 2012)

I've gotten a lot of great ideas from this book. However, it is uneven. Some ideas just aren't practical for everyday or for how my family eats. Instead of cooking straight out of this book, I mostly use it for inspiration. It is a beautiful book just to browse through.

Italian Classics (Best Recipe)

By Cook's Illustrated Magazine Editors
America's Test Kitchen - 2002

July 17th, 2010

I wouldn’t look to this cookbook if you’re searching for really authentic Italian food. The list of recipes reads more like the menu at the local mom ‘n’ pop Italian eatery/pizza joint — not that there’s anything wrong with that. These recipes are all crowd pleasers and useful to have in your repertoire.

Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006

By Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker
Scribner - 2006

March 31st, 2012

I got this cookbook primarily as a reference for looking up common recipes and techniques. It does that job very well. It probably has a version of almost every recipe you can think of, although they are often very scaled-down. Think of these recipes as a place to start creating in the kitchen or foundations to build on. While I consult this cookbook regularly, I don't cook out of it every day.

Marcella Cucina

By Marcella Hazan
Humanity Press/prometheus Bk - 1999

June 1st, 2011 (edited 12th March 2012)

I found this book to be somewhat uneven. Some of the recipes are unusual and delicious; others seem to be beyond me. The recipes are more esoteric than those found in Essentials of Classic Italian Cookbook; I think I prefer the latter for my regular Italian cooking.

The Minimalist Cooks Dinner

By Mark Bittman
Broadway - 2001

July 17th, 2010

The Minimalist Cooks Dinner is one of Bittman’s smaller cookbooks, comprised of about 100 recipes that were previously published in his Minimalist column in The New York Times. This is a solid collection all-around, with a lot of interesting dishes that were new to me, although a few of the recipes–green salad, boiled rice–may be too simplistic for anyone but the beginner cook. I did learn a couple of wonderful new techniques from this cookbook that I have since incorporated into my regular repertoire, such as cooking pasta risotto-style and pan-roasting boneless chicken breasts. Most of the recipes I tried from the book were very successful; the only failure I can think of was the 60-Minute Bread, but I have never had much luck with Bittman’s baking recipes.

Mrs. Restino's Country Kitchen

By Susan Restino
Chelsea Green Publishing Company - 1996

July 17th, 2010 (edited 26th March 2012)

The recipes are all very simple, but there is a lot of great information on this book, such as on raising chickens and making cheese.

My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method

By Jim Lahey, Ron Manville, Mark Luinenburg, Rick Flaste
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2009

November 13th, 2011

After Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe went viral, thanks to Mark Bittman and The New York Times, he wrote this cookbook around the recipe. The bread recipe itself is very good, and along with his no-knead pizza dough recipe, are probably the only ones you need for making batch after batch of tasty bread at home.

The remainder of the recipes are really just variations on the theme, some simple but very good changes (Cheese Bread), and others more of a flop (Focaccia). Beyond that, Lahey offers some recipes for sandwiches, pizza toppings and what to do with stale bread, but there isn't much new in these chapters.

All in all, I'd say this book is only worth it if you want an illustrated guide to exactly how to make the no-knead bread and pizza. Otherwise, you can find variations of these recipes for free all over the web, and you probably don't need to buy the book.

The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition

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

April 20th, 2011

The New Best Recipe, from the editors of Cook’s Illustrated, is a hefty tome weighing in at over 900 pages and collecting 1,000 of what are purportedly the best recipes developed by the magazine. If the collection has a theme, it is familiar favorites: comfort foods, American standards, frequently ordered items from restaurant menus and the like. Each recipe is preceded by a lengthy introduction, explaining exactly what and why the particular cooking methods, ingredients and equipment were used to turn out the best results. If you are interested in the hows and whys of cooking, this makes for entertaining reading; if you are not, skip it.

With some exceptions, these are multi-step recipes, and some of the steps seem quite bizarre. In most cases, the results are unexpected but impeccable. For instance, when making Chicken Stir-Fry, taking the time to marinate the chicken pieces, coat them in flour and cornstarch, and cook them before the stir-fry results in crispy browned chicken pieces that are, in my opinion, better than what you get in most Chinese restaurants. In a few cases, the extra steps required to get to a bowl of, say, Cream of Tomato Soup, just may not be worth all the bother.

The most useful chapters for me were:

Salads: These are the salads and salad dressings I remember from my childhood, from potlucks, church dinners and picnics; this is a collection of all the standards in one place, with plenty of suggestions and room for playing around with the recipes

Vegetables: If you are a novice cook, this chapter will arm you with all you need to know about cooking any vegetable and provides many ideas for jazzing up simple sides

Poultry: Again, the basics for cooking chicken are well covered, from brining and roasting to breading and sauteing; plus, there are quite a few really good recipes (Chicken Fricassee, Chicken & Rice) that, once mastered, can be modified easily to suit your tastes

In addition, extensive attention is paid to desserts, from cookies to cakes to ice cream, if you have a sweet tooth. There are also chapters on baking bread, making pizza and grilling. And if you don’t even know how to fry an egg or boil pasta, you’ll learn how to do that, too. In fact, if you’re not a too adventurous eater, this may be the only cookbook you’ll need.

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

By Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press - 2004

August 7th, 2011 (edited 26th March 2012)

I got a slow cooker after my son was born but I didn't really know what to do with it. This cookbook has shown me that a slow cooker is good for cooking a lot more than just soup, stew and meatballs. I now use mine to make stock, tomato sauce and beans. While not every recipe I've tried has been successful, this cookbook has helped me learn how to use my slow cooker in more ways than I thought possible and improvise recipes for it.

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

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

June 23rd, 2011 (edited 26th March 2012)

This is the only book I need for ice cream recipes. There's almost too much, because I can never hope to make all of these delicious treats.

Pure Simple Cooking: Effortless Meals Every Day

By Diana Henry
Ten Speed Press - 2009

March 31st, 2012

Very simple recipes, suitable for weeknight cooking. There are a few gems here, and this cookbook has been pretty reliable, but a lot of the recipes just aren't suitable for my family, unfortunately.

Real Fast Food

By Nigel Slater
Penguin UK - 1993

August 7th, 2011

This is not a cookbook so much as a list of simple ideas for what to do with various ingredients. I like the concept, and indeed I keep a notebook of something similar. I have gleaned a few good ideas from browsing through it. Since many of the "recipes" are so basic, though, I feel this cookbook is better suited to truly beginning cooks.

Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant flavors of a World-Class Cuisine

By Rick Bayless
Scribner - 1996

July 17th, 2010 (edited 19th March 2012)

Each recipe is long and detailed, with notes on advance preparation, shortcuts and variations. I cannot stress enough how helpful these notes are, and I am surprised more cookbook writers don’t take the same approach. This cookbook also includes mouth-watering photographs.

Roast Chicken And Other Stories

By Simon Hopkinson
Hyperion - 2007

November 20th, 2011 (edited 12th March 2012)

This is a fun cookbook to browse through, organized by ingredient, with whimsical illustrations. However, it's not so practical to cook from, at least not for me. This is probably a cookbook that's more suited for reading on the couch with a cup of tea than for actually using in the kitchen.

Salsas That Cook : Using Classic Salsas To Enliven Our Favorite Dishes

By Rick Bayless
Scribner - 1998

July 17th, 2010 (edited 26th March 2012)

Salsa That Cook is a fun little cookbook from which I have made several very successful recipes. The cookbook opens with a selection of salsas made from a variety of chiles. The recipes that follow use the salsas as key ingredients to enliven such dishes as macaroni and cheese and baked goat cheese. I usually make the salsa ahead of time and hope that I have enough left over for some good old-fashioned chips and dips.

Salt to Taste: The Key to Confident, Delicious Cooking

By Marco Canora, Cathy Young, John Kernick, Tom Colicchio
Rodale Books - 2009

August 7th, 2011 (edited 19th March 2012)

For the most part, I have enjoyed this cookbook. It has some familiar recipes, some new ones, focusing on Italian cuisine. The recipes are for the most part simple and flavorful, perhaps a bit more elevated than most cookbooks geared to home cooks. This is not a cookbook I pull out all the time, but I usually make something good when I do.

Sara Foster's Casual Cooking: More Fresh Simple Recipes from Foster's Market

By Sara Foster, Carolynn Carreño
Clarkson Potter - 2007

July 17th, 2010 (edited 12th March 2012)

Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking focuses on home cooking by providing not only recipes but also lots of ideas for day-to-day cooking, so that you can put together a great meal even when you’re tired or haven’t been shopping. Most recipes include lots of ideas for variations as well as tips for putting together full menus. My favorite chapters were “Party Platters” for its snack as well as party ideas; “Sandwiches, Wraps and Rolls,” which is replete with great ideas; and “Anytime Eggs,” because I love eggs anytime.

Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen

By Sara Foster, Lee Smith
Random House - 2011

August 4th, 2011

My review is too long to post here, so please go read it at my blog: http://simplycooking.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/review-of-sara-fosters-southern-kitchen/

Seriously Simple Holidays: Recipes and Ideas to Celebrate the Season

By Diane Rossen Worthington, Noel Barnhurst, Noel Barnhurst
Chronicle Books - 2007

May 28th, 2012

This is a nice compilation of some not-so-traditional but relatively easy recipes to cook for holiday dinners. I haven't tried many recipes from the book yet, but I've enjoyed all of the ones that I have tried.

Small-Batch Baking

By Debby Maugans Nakos
Workman Publishing Company - 2004

July 17th, 2010

Small-batch baking is a good idea but not terribly successful in practice. A lot of work and special equipment are required for what is often not very good results. I think it's better to just make a full-size batch when you're going to bake.

The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show

By Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Sally Swift
Clarkson Potter - 2008

July 17th, 2010

If you are one of those people who likes to read cookbooks, How to Eat Supper is a good choice for browsing. There are lots of notes, tips and book recommendations throughout, formatted in fun fonts and colors, and the full-color photos are mouth-watering.

But once you start cooking out of it, How to Eat Supper shows itself to be strangely uneven. The theme is a fresh take on weeknight cooking, aligned with contemporary values about food, such as seasonality and sustainability. There are a handful of recipes within that are so delicious and unusual that you’ll want to make them again and again. But there were just as many recipes I tried (or more) that simply fell flat. The remainder were so middle-of-the-road that I can’t really remember them.

I’m not sure if it’s worth investing in the cookbook for such a small number of truly great recipes. But it’s still a very pretty book to have on your shelf.

Tomato blessings and radish teachings

By Edward Espe Brown
Riverhead Trade - 1998

April 7th, 2011

This collection of essays and reflections, interspersed with recipes, is more a handbook for conscious cooking than a cookbook. Heavily influenced by Buddhist philosophy–the author is a practicing Zen Buddhist–the lessons imparted are equally applicable to any cook’s forays into the kitchen, whether you’re Buddhist or not, whether you cook professionally, for your family or simply for yourself.

The reflective essays before each group of recipes attempt to illustrate the interplay between our spiritual lives and the tasks of our everyday lives, especially cooking, eating and cleaning up afterward. As Brown says in his introduction: “After all, this is where we live: with things that are not just things, and with meaning that can be more real than things. I want the spiritual to reach the kitchen. Otherwise it is empty of significance.”

If you would like to start practicing conscious cooking–to be consciously aware of the tasks you perform in the kitchen, of the connections between the foods you eat and the world you live in–this book is the perfect beginner’s guide. And the simple, everyday vegetarian recipes will fortify you with the basics for your own experiments.

Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen

By Amy Pennington, Della Chen
Skipstone Press - 2010

September 29th, 2011

I bought this book on sale, and it shows. Of the three recipes I've tried so far, only one was really worth eating, and it was only so-so. The author over relies on vinegar in her recipes, and doesn't balance the strong sour taste with other flavors. Also, I have to quibble with a whole chapter on eggs in a pantry cookbook. Eggs are a staple, but not really what I would think of as a pantry ingredient. Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It is a far better cookbook for pantry recipes.

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

June 23rd, 2011 (edited 12th March 2012)

This is a beautiful cookbook that is very different from my other cookbooks. The recipes are very detailed and contain a lot of useful advice, but are not simple to make. I would consider this project cooking, for when I want to spend some time in the kitchen or prepare something special.