Editorial Review

This volume is jam-packed with more than 750 indulgent dishes rigorously tested by the Southern Living Test Kitchen staff , often two or three times, to ensure that they're not only reliable and convenient, but also decidedly scrumptious. From showcasing some of the twists on Southern classics to featuring quick-andeasy weeknight meals your family will love, there's something for everyone.

Insider hints and tips from the Food Staff, full-color photographs, and all-time favorite Southern recipes make this a must-have volume. More than 50 menus are included to help you plan for every occasion. From everyday dinners to supper club entertaining, Southern Living helps you find the perfect recipes to create simple, easy, and inspiring menus. ... Read more

Reviews

Fantastic recipes!, November 9, 2010
Love the Annual Recipes books - get them every year for my mother for Christmas. I go through and mark the ones I've made through the year. Southern Living never lets me down!

Recipe books and cooking are part of me!, December 16, 2010
This is an excellent book comprised of ALL the recipes in preceding year in the Southern Living magazine. While the articles and pictures are great in the magazine, the recipe book is almost to die for! So many recipes ... and all good! I have not missed the annual recipes in years!

collection of my cookbooks, December 4, 2010
Excellent book. Having all the magazine recipes from an entire year makes it easy to mark the pages for the ones that I have tried. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

loving it! at least so far!, August 16, 2010
Well, having been canning for several years now, I opened up this book and was instantly hooked. There are so many delicious recipes I'm not sure where to begin. But more importantly, I'm so very glad that the author uses minimal amounts of sugar for preserves, and like myself, is more concerned about the fruit tasting like real fruit than adding copious amounts of sugar to ensure a certain gel consistency. Also, she relies on granny smith apples and peels for almost all of her jam/jelly recipes, as well as in others. I can't wait to start trying several of these recipes, and have a made a list for my next visit to the farmers market! yummy! UPDATE: I've made the 'classic peach jam', 'peach and cilantro salsa', and the 'nectarine jam with vanilla bean'. These were all great, but the nectarines with the vanilla bean was magnificent! My husband couldn't stay out of the kitchen while I was cooking it up, and he normally isn't into jams. After several 'tastings' I finally managed to get it into jars. we'll see how long this lasts at our house!

Not your Grandma's canning book!, August 17, 2010
What a beautiful, unique book! So many good tips--the easy jelly straining method is definitely easier than Grandma's messy jelly drip bags! There are mouth-watering recipes for unusual entrees using the preserved products. The evocative photographs blend with the text to make this a book to curl up with. Salsa verde is so simple; and the plum cardamom jam is to die for. With flavors like these, my pantry will never be the same again.

my favorite canning/preserving/pickling book, September 4, 2010
A friend bought this book for me as a gift, and it's a real winner. I've had it for only 2 weeks and have already used 4 of the recipes: Dilly Beans, Achar Segar, zucchini bread and butter pickles with ginger, and salsa verde. The salsa verde is great, and the zucchini pickles smelled heavenly as they were going into the jars. I only just put the achar segar into the fridge, but I'm looking forward to Indonesian fried rice tomorrow.

The recipes are clear, nicely presented, accurate (as far as I can tell), and there's a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs represented. I haven't tried any of the meal or desert recipes yet, but those look tasty as well. All in all, I'm really enjoying this book so far and think that it will be my go-to reference for canning, preserving, and pickling from now on.

Awesome recipes, September 17, 2010
I have only been canning for a few months and had only purchase one other canning book before this one. I loved that this book offered up a lot of contemporary and unique recipes, and still had a lot of helpful tips and instructions for beginners. Every recipe I've tried so far has been delicious, and has canned the exact amount specified. The peach jam with lemon thyme and almonds is worth the price of the book alone!

really great book, October 14, 2010
I love all types of canning, and this books is great because it not only gives you the canning recipe, but another recipe to use your canned item in. The only thing I would have liked to see differently is that she doesn't have any recipes that use standard fruit pectin, but rather want you to extract the pectin from a bunch of apples. I wish she had put the alternative recipe if all you have is the pouched pectin. But otherwise, the book is awesome!

Errors in instructions make use of recipes impossible, October 29, 2010
I chose four recipes to use this fall. Two of the recipes contain errors (Nuka and Grapefruit Segments in Mint Syrup)that make it impossible to complete the recipe. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the rest of the recipes. So, here I sit with 5 pounds of grapefruit, fresh mint, 2 pounds of wheat bran, as well as kombu seaweed, miso paste, ginger, daikon and beer. At least I know what to do with the latter.

Using what you can!, November 24, 2010
Kudos to Krissoff for including unique recipes for canning, but I am even more appreciative that she also includes recipes for using what is canned. And her sense of humor is as spicy as her recipes! The yields are smaller than most canning books which is perfect for people new to canning so they are not discouraged with having to can 20lb of something. My garden is barren this time of year, but I can hardly wait to try her spring selections. Although I gave this 5 stars, I have found the index to need some ammending to include listing basic ingredients ... for example, if you grow/have tomatillos you better know they go into salsa verde because tomatillos are not in the index. But then I am a librarian and actually use indices ... others may not.

PS - The photography is very inspirational!!

New Recipes for Preserving, December 20, 2010
This is a good book for someone who wants to step outside the usual home canned basics like applesauce, strawberry jam and tomato sauce. Some basics are included but most are what I would call "gourmet" types of food such as Brandied Sweet Cherries With Red Wine, Hot Cumin Pickled Summer Squash, Slow-Roasted Fig Preserves With Lemon, and Spiced Cranberries. The recipes are divided by seasons and decorative tags are included in the back of the book.

I'm a more traditional "canner" but there were some recipes in in this book that interested me and I do like that the author includes recipes to use with the preserved foods. However, I do recommend that a beginner invest in something like The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (or get information from the U.S.D.A. or local county extension office) in addition to Canning For a New Generation because the Ball book gives better information about canning and preserving that is important for food safety. Krissoff gives some information but I felt it wasn't thorough enough for someone with no previous knowledge of canning. However, for new and fresh recipes this book is a good resource. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Have your cake and laugh at it, too, with the sweet treat known as Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong. From the creator of the ultrapopular blog CakeWrecks.com, here are the worst cakes ever, including the ugly, the silly, the downright creepy, the unintentionally sad or suggestive, and the just plain funny. With witty commentary and behind-the-scenes tidbits, Cake Wrecks will ensure that you never look at a cake the same way again.

Since May 2008, Jen Yates has been blogging about such confectionery calamities at her popular Web site CakeWrecks.com, winner of the 2008 Blogger's Choice Award for Best Humor Blog, and three 2009 Weblog awards (Bloggies) for Best Writing on a Blog, Best New Blog, and Best Food Blog. Yates now offers up this inspired photo collection with over 150 Cake Wrecks, including 75 percent never-before-seen content.

"I haven't laughed so hard in ages." --Mary Alice, from the Food Network's Ace of Cakes ... Read more

Editorial Review

Beer. It's the most popular drink in the world. Enjoyed at ballparks, in home-away-from-home pubs, on the family room sofa, and in every kind of restaurant, beer is at ease in any setting. For all beer lovers who have known the pleasure of draining a pint, Randy Mosher explores and explains the complete tasting experience as it applies to all the wonderful brews of the world.

Beer may be the common beverage of the people, but it is far from simple. With 10,000 years of history, more than 900 identified flavors, dozens of styles, and thousands of breweries around the world, beer is as complex as its grape-based neighbors in the liquor stores. It is an artistic creation, brewed from dozens of possible ingredients and processed in hundreds of different ways. Mosher guides readers to a better understanding of how every batch of beer is affected by each of the brewmaster's choices — recipe formulation, brewhouse procedures, yeasts, fermentations, carbonation, filtration, packaging, and much more.

Beer can be light, dark, mild, strong, flat, or fizzy. Hundreds of tastes can be detected in beer, from resin to toast, and from apple to smoke. Readers will learn how to identify the scents, colors, flavors, and mouth-feel of all the major beer styles. There are also chapters on proper serving and storage conditions, and classic beer and food pairings.

The second half of the book is a style-by-style compendium of the different brews within major beer families, including American craft brews, British lagers, German ales, and Belgian Dubbels. For each style there are historical and regional facts, taste and aroma characteristics, seasonal availability, food pairings, and a few terrific recommendations for readers to sample.
... Read more

Reviews

A Must-Have for Current or Aspiring Beer Geeks, November 23, 2009
Before I review Randy Mosher's "Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink," let me give you a few calibration points so you can decide whether to take my opinions seriously or not. I definitely qualify as a serious beer geek. My travels around the U.S. nearly always involve visits to brewpubs. I'll drive hundreds of miles out of my way to have a pint of good craft brew, and I attend as many beer festivals each year as I possibly can. My favorite beers are Imperial stouts, barleywines and Imperial I.P.A.s, such as Alesmith's Speedway, Stone's Old Guardian and Moylan's Hopsickle (among many others). I enjoy the occasional Belgian (the funkier the better), and I consider Fat Tire to be an overly hyped "training-wheels beer" for people who don't know any better. I couldn't choke down a Bud, Coors or Miller if I were dying of thirst, and (yes, it's true) I tend to be a little snobbish toward people who are unwilling to expand their beer tastes beyond the Big Three. So, with that said, what did I think of "Tasting Beer?"

Well, there's a remarkable amount of information in its 247 pages, all of it presented in a very nicely integrated text-and-picture form. No matter what aspect of beer culture you're interested in, you'll find it covered to a useful level of detail in "Tasting Beer." Do you want to know more about the history of beer? It's in there, from 10,000 years BCE to the present, in a fascinating 22-page section. Do you want to improve your abilities to taste beer, and to accurately describe its qualities and complexity? It's in there--you'll learn how to distinguish 25 common flavors such as diacetyl, isoamyl acetate and fusels, and whether they're desirable or not. Are you interested in becoming more sophisticated in pairing beer with food? It's in there, both general guidelines and specific recommendations. Do you want to bone up on the bewildering variety of beer styles available? They're all in there, from the lightest adjunct lagers to Imperial stouts. Each style is described and characterized in great detail, including suggestions for which beers you should try that best represent the styles. There's a whole chapter on the modern American craft beer movement and its new styles such as wet-hopped ales, ultra-strong beers and other experimental types. I found the charts showing beer color, strength, etc., as a function of style to be especially interesting and useful, although all of the graphics and figures are exceptionally well done.

"Tasting Beer" is the best single volume of beer lore that I've read in many years. It is so good that a few of my other older beer books became redundant and have now found their way into the public library donation box. There should still be a place in the beer lover's inventory for such books as Roger Protz's "The Ale Trail" and Garrett Oliver's "The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food." But if you own only one beer book, "Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink," should be it. Cheers!

An Excellent Introduction to the World of Beer, April 2, 2009
Randy Mosher has been well-known in serious beer and homebrewing circles for years. His earlier book, Radical Brewing, is a classic for anyone interested in brewing and a wondrous font of cool recipes for beers to brew at home. Tasting Beer is a much more approachable work, aimed more at the general audience of beer drinkers out there than at us "beer geeks". It provides a broad overview of styles, tips on pairing beer with food, proper glassware and serving techniques, historical perspectives, and even the basics of sensory evaluation of beer. Profusely illustrated, including many helpful charts and diagrams comparing various styles of beer, this really is an exceptional work. It would make a perfect gift for anyone who is at all interested in any aspect of modern craft brewing. I like to think I'm fairly well-read when it comes to beer, but I was still fascinated and picked up several new and interesting beer facts.

If you're at all interested in beer, don't miss this great new book!

Very Recomendable Overview of Beer's Diversity and History, June 17, 2009
Tasting Beer is a good all around introduction to the history, diversity, and enriching ways to explore beer.
While it might be useful to share with beer novices and help break quite a few stereotypes and misunderstanding, it is also a nice volume for beer aficionados with plenty of advice and insightful background.

If anything the book might suffer from some top-down style narrative. Mosher tries hard to be amicable and casual, and more often than not does it well, but his occasional cheekiness sometimes can have a patronizing undertone. And while certainly this is a book that emcompasses a broad Western global perspective of beer, he slips a few times adressing exclusively a US readership, which for obvious reasons I find limiting and unnecessary.

And yet, these flaws remain in the background of what is a quite recommendable book. While I am just a small aficionado, he supported and expanded those things that I felt comfortable in knowing already, and excited the senses to explore quite a few that I did not know about, or did not know at that level of detail.

"Tasting Beer" is an industry must-read, March 18, 2009
Mosher's latest dissertation upon beer is a must-have, not just for beer lovers, but for everyone in the business of "taste". This book gives you the vocabulary and the sensory methodology to objectively evaluate beer- but the tasting disciplines can also be applied to other beverages and foods. Detailed beer style descriptions abound and the work of organizing a tasting, pairing, or epicurean expedition is already done for you. A fun and interesting read. I highly recommend "Tasting Beer" by Randy Mosher.

Required reading for anyone interested in beer!, February 25, 2009
Randy Mosher is one of the most talented and knowledgeable beer writers. His first book, Radical Brewing, should be on the bookshelf of every homebrewer, and "Tasting Beer" brings it to beer drinkers in general.

If you're at all interested in really understanding beer, brewing, drinking, and eating with beer, this is the perfect start.

This should be a textbook for any restaurant even thinking of adding craft beer to their menu.

Highly recommended!

Michael Shannon
BJCP Certified Beer Judge

Great book, August 28, 2009
This book is a great book for any beer lover whether you are going to be a beer judge or not. Mosher goes through history, tips, and loads of information on beer and tasting. The book begins with a very brief history of beer and moves pretty quickly into the aspects of tasting. Mosher uses the most up to date information (apparently we can taste 6 types of flavor rather than the main 4 that we were all taught in elementary school - and the old locations on the tongue were incorrect) to educate and teach the reader as well as to enhance the experience of tasting in general. The final section of the book looks through the different styles and what to look for in each one. Overall a great resource for any beer lover.

A Complex, Full-Bodied Education on America's Frothiest Beverage: Beer, July 26, 2009
As complex as a full-bodied ale, //Tasting Beer// reveals the depth and versatility of this ancient brew. Author Randy Mosher provides an in-depth history of beer, the scientific reaction our bodies have to taste, sight, and smell, and notes on beer vocabulary (which includes words other than "cheers!"). It must be noted that this is a richly educational book, and passive enthusiasts need not approach it. Mosher wants his reader to gain a deeper appreciation of the brewing process, the differences between pale ales and lagers, in which glass to serve your frothy beverage, and how regions of the world from America to Belgium are crafting unique varieties. Mosher even grants you permission to send a beer back--and you'll learn why. Beyond popping open the bottle at a pizza parlor, you'll learn about pairing beer with food and how to make the most of a beer festival. Once hooked (as if you weren't already), you'll learn how you can continue to expand your beer appreciation through beer forums, home brewing, and more books about beer. Most true beer lovers understand this is a complex beverage. If you want to know why, dive into this satisfying book--and make sure to do so with a cold one in your hand!

Reviewed by
Amber K. Stott

Warning: Graphs not visible in Kindle Edition, August 24, 2010
This is an awesome book for beer drinkers and beer brewers alike. Randy Mosher really goes into a lot of detail on beer in his book. I am about halfway through and still learning a lot (as a beer brewer).

Fair warning - if you get the Kindle edition, you can't see the graphs with the Kindle 1 or the Kindle 2. (You may be able to with the DX, I don't own one so I am not sure). I would still get the book for the Kindle for the content (so I did not mark it down) but if the graphs are important, you may want to stick with the print edition.

Perfect Introduction, May 15, 2010
I havent completed the book yet, but so far this is exactly was I was looking for.
It is well written and entertaining to read all while being very informative on the important aspects of appreciating your beer. This book covers the different types of beer & what makes them unique, how to identify flavors & smells, proper pouring, proper glassware, and basic brewing & ingredients.
Definitely recommend for anyone that want to appreciate beer outside of BBQs and beer pong.

Great tour through beer tasting and the palate, April 13, 2010
What I love about this book is the neuroscience stuff -- how the palate experiences beer. It's technical while still being accessible, with basic maps of the olfactory system, gustatory system, etc.

It's also a great overview of how beer is made, beer styles, etc.

Along with The Beer Trials The Beer Trials (ratings guide -- just released), the world of beer writing has just gotten a lot deeper. Beer is really happening.

Randy Mosher is a true beer renaissance man. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Provides an updated combination of two best-selling cookbooks--The Classic Italian Cookbook and More Classic Italian Cooking--with thirty-five new recipes, revised cooking instructions, and new menus. 40,000 first printing. ... Read more

Reviews

Essential First Book on Italian Cooking. Highly Recommended, October 18, 2004
`Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking' is Marcella Hazan's fourth book, composed of an edited and updated amalgam of her first two books, both of which were on `classic Italian cooking'. As with all of Ms. Hazan's books except for her latest, `Marcella Says', my main regret is that I have not read them sooner. All, especially this volume, are every bit as good as the blurbs may lead you to believe.

Some reviewers have compared this book to `The Joy of Cooking'. It is much more accurate to compare it to Julia Child's seminal `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' on several counts. First, like Child's book, Hazan's book is devoted exclusively to the techniques, ingredients, and recipes of a single major national cuisine. Second, unlike `The Joy of Cooking', it does not cover absolutely every kitchen technique and issue such as hygiene, nutrition, preserving, and obscure game meats. Third, the book is published and edited by the same people, Knopf and senior editor Judith Jones. This common publishing team means the two books have a very similar look. Both are illustrated by line drawings and both benefit from Knopf's traditional skill in designing the typeface and layout of books in general for easy reading. Fourth, Ms. Hazan arrived at cooking in almost exactly the same manner as Julia Child, in that they found themselves married to men who likes to eat well, and they did not know how to cook at the time.

The 64-dollar question of course is whether this book is equal in quality to Child's book. I think there is little shame in saying that while Hazan's book stands head and shoulders over virtually every other book I have read and reviewed on Italian cuisine, it does not quite match Child et al on the latters' innovations in recipe writing, the great good humor of the writing, and the comprehensive treatment of virtually every aspect of French kitchen equipment and the `cuisine bourgeois' techniques.

This book by Dr. Hazan (she has a Ph.D. in natural sciences and biology) is the exception which proves Tony Bourdain's observation in his excellent new cookbook which claims that cooking professionals are mostly just ordinary blokes who happen to have learned a skill which you the reader do not yet have. This applies as much to most cookbook authors as it does to most chefs. The thing that separates most good cookbook authors (witness Jamie Oliver) from their readers is their passion for the importance of good ingredients, careful observation of technique, and love of achieving a desirable result. Ms. Hazan is one of the very, very few writers who approach their subject as much with the rigor of an academic as with the passion of a good cook. Ms. Hazan's academic voice is much more anthropological and phenomenological than it is scientific a la Shirley Corriher.

Ms. Hazan succeeds in distilling for us the essence of Italian savory cuisine based on the notions of battuto (an Italian trinity of lard, parsley, and onion, chopped fine), soffritto (battuto saut�ed until onion is translucent and garlic is pale gold), and insaporire (the technique of preparing ingredient such as the battuto and additions to extract flavor from the primary ingredients and impart that flavor to other ingredients, as when the flavors of the soffritto are imparted to the rice in making a risotto). After introducing these essential concepts, she gives us a very detailed tour of the most important ingredients in Italian cooking. To the casual American reader who may not have been schooled by `Molto Mario', there are some surprises, such as the fact that garlic is not as important an ingredient as you may believe. Another culture shock is the difference between the French stock and the Italian broth, and Ms. Hazan's insistence that using the former is simply not Italian cooking, thank you. That is not to say that there are not at least some things in common between French and Italian cooking. The most prominent is Bechamel sauce (Salsa Balsamella), made in exactly the same manner in Rome as it is in Paris. I am reluctant to steal any thunder from Ms. Hazan, but I must pass on to you her excellent suggestion for cutting your own scallopine from the top round, so that you can be sure of getting it cut against the grain.

If there is any dissonance in Ms. Hazan's presentation, it is in her paean to the regionality of Italian cooking, where, for example, the cuisines of Bologna and Florence, just 60 miles apart, is almost as different from one another as the cuisines of Venice and Naples, which are over 400 miles apart. The geographical origin of most (but not all) recipes is given in the headnotes, yet the general discussion of Italian technique makes no notice of this great geographical variety.

Like Child's book (taking volumes I and II together) and unlike virtually every other book on Italian cooking, this volume deals with so much more than the usual 6 chapters in that it has large, separate chapters on Soups, Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi, Crespelle (Italian for crepes), Polenta, Frittate, Fish and Shellfish, Fowl and Rabbit, Veal, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Variety Meats, Vegetables (very large chapter), Salads, Desserts, Breads, and typical Italian menus. Also like Child's books and unlike her later books, this volume does deal almost exclusively with traditional dishes. I cannot guarantee that the book is complete, as it is missing any reference to Puttanesca or saltimbocca, two certifiable classics of regional Italian cuisine. But, completeness is not the objective here. The main objective is to teach you how to cook like an Italian.

This book does not replace the dozens of good books on Italian regional cooking and it does not replace good books on Italian specialities, such as Carol Field's book on Italian baking. But, it should be the very first book you buy on Italian cooking to better understand what it is these other books are saying.

Behold a Sacred Text, February 15, 2001
I agree with the other reviewer here: this is the one cookbook I'd keep if I could only have one. This book takes you so far beyond spaghetti and meatballs you won't believe it. It is also meticulous, thorough, and yet very enjoyable just to read. Here are my favorite recipes:

1. The Bolognese Pork Roasted in Milk - this recipe is insane. It is like a wonderful chemistry set experiment you can eat. Marcella says it would be one of her top 10 choices of recipes that embody the genius of Italian Cuisine.

2. The Lemon Chicken - Also amazing. Easy to do, wonderful. Great summer dish.

3. Veal Stew w/Tomatoes and Peas

4. Veal Stew w/White Wine and Sage

Also, some of the standards are given great treatment:

1. Eggplant Parm

2. Osso Bucco (this is by FAR the best version I've seen of this).

3. Fried zucchini.

This makes a great gift too because it isn't full of esoteric stuff that only foodies (no derision intended) would make.

Delicious, Delicious, Delicious, December 1, 1998
This is it: The single indispensable cookbook -- not just for Italian food, but for good food. Marcella's (sometimes acerbic) commentary on ingredients and recipes is wonderful, but the reason to buy this book is for the dishes. Almost everything I've made from this book has been an absolute treat, from the succulent mushroom and ham pasta sauce to the delectable stuffed tomatoes. And with the size of this compendium, you'll never run out of new tastes to try.

My one quibble? The desserts don't seem to measure up to the rest of the dishes. The two I've tried -- lemon almond cookies and the farm wive's pear tart -- were disappointing. The cookies tasted great, but had the texture of cardboard, while the "tart" was more like a clafouti; although I baked it far longer than the recipe called for, it remained doughy and wet. With all that ripe pear in the batter, though, it certainly tasted acceptable!

With two disappointments out of the 30-or-so fabulous recipes I've tried, this is still single finest book I've ever cooked from. (and much better than her recent huge success Marcella Cucina). Oh, the soups! Oh, the pastas! Oh, the vegetables! Oh, Marcella!

Buy this book, July 5, 2000
This is an incredible book. I have read it from cover to cover, and even lugged it on vacation to read (yes, I am a bit obsessive). Everything that I have tried so far has been wonderful. Marcella's recipes are very approachable, and, best of all, they work! I am not Italian, nor have I ever been to Italy, so I can not speak to it's authenticity as Italian cuisine, but I can speak to the fact that this is wonderful food. She does insist on high quality ingredients, with which I am in total agreement, but I wish that she had included name brand names and resources in this updated edition. I have yet to be able to find anchovies in salt--even on the internet! The tomato and butter sauce is now my favorite pasta sauce, the veal marsala is delicious, and the cream and butter sauce is also wonderful. She goes into incredible detail about making pasta, as well as pairing fresh and factory products with the appropriate sauce. I would highly recommend reading the first part of the book before diving into the recipes, because she discusses several cooking techniques, as well as how to determine quality in your ingredients. If you love simple, wonderful food, you will not be disappointed with Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

One of my top five cookbooks, July 18, 2001
Essentials gets the most use of any cookbook in my kitchen, second only to Joy of Cooking. I absolutely love it. I started cooking from it as a fairly new cook - every recipe is easy with very good instructions. Essentials is a real Italian cookbook so you wil not find Italian-American recipes loaded with cheese and tons of sauce (not that those aren't good). The book is over 600 pages and crammed full of recipes from all of Italy's regions (no food pictures). Virtually every recipe has notes for ahead-of-time prep and all the pasta sauce recipes list a recommended pasta. My husband loves Marcella Hazan b/c she doesn't try to be fancy. If a dried pasta is best with a sauce she will recommend it. If canned broth can be used, she will make a note of it. There is a great chapter in the back of the book called "At Table". She discusses how Italians eat (how the courses work) and has a large variety of suggested menus.

My favorite cookbook reviews list the recipes people have made from it. It gives me ideas of dishes to try and a better idea of what the cookbook will be like. Since I have made over 30 recipes from this book I can't list them all, but here are some of our favorites: Minestrone alla Romagnola - the best, thickest vegetable soup I have ever had and unlike any minestrone I have had at a restaurant. Tomato Sauce with Porcini Mushrooms; Smothered Onion Sauce; Scallop Sauce with Olive Oil, Garlic and Hot Pepper; and Gorgonzola Sauce are all incredible on pasta. Don't forget the Pesto! Her recipe is the best. On to risotto's.... the Parmesan Cheese; Porcini Mushroom; and Sausage risotto's are great. The Baked Crespelle with Spinach, Prosciutto and Parmesan is a yummy Sunday night dinner. The Stuffed Spaghetti Frittata with Tomato, Mozzarella and Ham is my husband's new favorite Saturday breakfast. We have made the Grilled Shrimp Skewers at least 20 times - it goes great with pasta and pesto sauce. Chicken Fricassee with Porcini Mushrooms, White Wine and Tomatoes; Tuscan Meat Roll with White Wine and Porcini Mushrooms; Braised Pork Chops with Two Wines are all good winter cooking. If you want to wow your friends with a minimal amount of work try the Braised Pork Chops with Tomatoes, Cream and Porcini Mushrooms (I had a pound of dried porcini so I tried every recipe that called for it). I could keep going, but at this point just typing the recipes has made me hungry. I promise - you can't go wrong with this book. Hmmm, maybe I'll make the minestrone tonight!

If you're going to buy just one Italian cookbook..., September 3, 2003
If you're going to buy just one Italian cookbook, in my opinion this should be the one. The 20 odd pasta sauces alone would be enough to keep you busy and sated. Marcella Hazan's brand of cookery is not the most showy. I am constantly surprised how often I can prepare the dishes with ingredients I have on hand. If you follow her instructions carefully you'll wind up with a marvellous alchemy: the simplest ingredients yield the richest of flavors. I would definitely pay attention to her description of ingredients as our American version of some of them (parmesan and ricotta come to mind) are decidedly different from what she intends. I'll conclude by encouraging you to give the Chicken Cacciatore a go--the best ever.

The Essential Italian Cookbook, December 29, 2003
Marcella Hazan is to Italian what Julia Child is to French: The person who introduced American cooks to a cuisine, and in so doing changed how we ate. This book is essential: both essential to anyone who wants to cook authentic Italian, and essentially Marcella.

This book has many virtues. It's very thorough -- a comprehensive survey of the various courses and food groups. There are dedicated chapters for pasta and risotto, for example, where many books treat those together. And in addition to the obvious meats, such as veal, lamb, beef, pork, etc., she also tackles subjects such as rabbit and variety meats. (Use Amazon's "Look inside" feature to see the table of contents.)

Another virtue is the trouble she takes to explain ingredients, be they classic italian ingredients or simply the italian perspective on something. After reading through the Fundamentals chapter, you'll never shop for italian-style ingredients quite the same way ever again. In short, very accessible paragraphs, she goes through the history, regional origins, and uses for the major herbs, cheeses, meats, etc. She covers what to look for when buying an ingredient -- what's fresh, what packaging makes for the best product.

The recipies are very workable and give generally excellent results. The techniques are accessible to anyone who can saute on a stovetop -- anyone who's beyond the stage of rank beginner. The instructions are very clear and strike the right balance, with enough information to give clarity without drowning the reader in detail. (There are few things more infuriating than standing over a cookbook, dripping spoon in hand, reading through War and Peace to figure out what to do next.)

Last, but not least, the results are delicious, with subtle flavors that will please you and yours. Two of my favorites will give you a taste. The Pasta with Peas, Bacon, and Ricotta combines very simple ingredients -- pancetta, mild, smooth, ricotta cheese, parmesan, and fresh peas, into a sublime dish that you can throw together for summer dinners in half an hour from start to finish. On the other hand, the Stewed Pork with Porcini Mushrooms and Juniper makes a wonderful winter meal, as the wild tastes of the porcini and the bite of juniper berries combine wonderfully to flavor the pork. This is one I catch my husband eating cold out of the fridge late at night!

Brava Marcella!

Important note: This edition is not a brand-new book. Instead, it combines two previous books, The Classic Italian Cook Book (1973) and More Classic Italian Cooking (1976), into one volume. There are a couple dozen new recipies, and the older recipies are updated to reduce fats. If you own those, you may want this one. If you are new to Marcella and are accumulating her books, this one book enables you to skip the two older ones.

Great recipes, July 19, 2002
I bought the first volume of this cookbook as a paperback edition in the late 70's and added the second volume a few years later. These cookbooks really taught me how to cook. I was thrilled to see that the two volumes were available in a single volume hardcover because my two paperbacks were just worn out. This book will teach you everything you need to know about Italian cuisine. The thing that I appreciate most about Marcella's books are that the recipes are designed for normal people who cook for their families and themselves, not chefs. The recipes do not demand unusual ingredients or techniques. My husband came home from fishing with a bluefish the other day, and Marcella had a wonderful recipe for it and I didn't need to dash off to the market for any unusual ingredients, just what I had in the larder, potatoes, red peppers, garlic and onions. The best bluesfish I ever ate! Everything I have cooked from her recipes is just basically good food and delicious. Our all -time favorites: Bolognese meat sauce (!!, my 13 year old son is such a fan, he has learned to cook this himself), veal chops (or pork chops) with anchovies (my husband didn't think he like anchovies but now is a complete convert), steak pan-fried with Marsala. All the soups are wonderful. A great resource: I haven't found a recipe yet I don't like. If I were on a desert isle and had to pick only one cookbook, I would pick this one.

True Italian cooking, September 21, 2005
I love this cookbook! My husband is from Florence, Italy ("the birthplace of culture" as he likes to remind everyone!) and I am always looking for recipes to recreate that true Italian taste he is so used to. This book has it! Marcella Hazen writes her recipes in a friendly, and easy to read format -- and also includes "make ahead tips" which come in handy when cooking for a dinner party. I am not Italian, but I have used this book for everyday meals, in addition to two big dinner parties (of 12 or more people), which I prepared myself, for Italians. Both parties were successes -- and I was even asked for some of the recipes! In fact, I believe in this book so much, I have two copies -- one for our home in the U.S. and the other for our home in Florence. Marcella Hazen is from Venice, but she covers dishes typical from regions of northern Italy down to Rome. If you want to try true Italian cooking, get this book. You can't go wrong.

Taught me to cook Italian. Taught me to cook, period., January 14, 2003
This book is wonderful. The recipes are easy to follow and never fail. Marcella is very opinionated about ingredients and you know, she's probably right: canned tomatoes from italy are better than canned tomatoes from America. They are better than anything but the sweetest ripest off the vine plum tomatoes you can only get a few weeks a year by growing your own. Her recipes aren't full of gimmicks, and short cuts that sacrifice flavor. They are often labor intensive or require more than twenty minutes of cooking time. But they work and are often an absolute revelation in taste. As someone else mentioned, the tomato/butter and onion sauce is to die for good and unbelievably simple.

The best thing is the way success with these recipes has built my confidence. You can start off with a simple pasta sauce and work toward making your own pasta, pizza and other more complicated recipes. After success at making homemade gnocci with a simple sauce, I was inspired to move on. I have used ingredients I never would have touched in the past (anchovies??, Chestnuts??? and prosciutto??) and have gotten over my worry that if it took longer than 20 minutes to make that it wasn't worth the hassle. Good food is worth the hassle. And also there's the fact that so many of her recipes use staple ingredients that after you're familiar with the Essentials of Italian Cooking, you will always have around.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn to cook, but is unsure of where to begin. I would also highly recommend this book for gardeners since so many of the recipes are built around seasonal veggies like zucchini, tomato, eggplant, basil and greens you'll never again give your surplus zukes to the neighbors! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

For nearly a decade, The Healthy College Cookbook has offered time-pressed, budget-crunched students a simple way to enjoy home cooking in their own small apartment kitchens or even dorm rooms. Written by students for students, the book offers hundreds of simple, healthful alternatives to dreary cafeteria fare. The first edition was so successful it returned to print 17 times.

Now, this best-selling cookbook has been revised, expanded, and enlivened for a new generation of students. One hundred brand-new recipes have been added to the old favorites, including expanded breakfast options, recipes for the ever-popular George Foreman Grill, new smoothie creations, and pizza toppings for storebought crusts, English muffins, and pita bases. Recipes require only a handful of easy-to-find ingredients. The book is packed with vegetarian options, and every recipe is as nutritious as it is delicious. Most can be prepared in less time than it takes to order pizza.

Most college students are new to cooking, and The Healthy College Cookbook contains a wealth of information and tips for the novice. It explains cooking terms, describes common spices, and offers basic, sensible advice on stocking a kitchen with equipment and food staples.

The book isn't just for novices, however. Even the most discerning young palates will appreciate zesty Garlic Green Beans with Tofu or lively Mandarin-Mint Salad. These recipes are so quick, so inexpensive, and so delicious that they're bound to become dinner party favorites, years past graduation. ... Read more

Reviews

Doable, Practical, and Imaginative Cooking for Beginners., March 31, 2004
This was my first cookbook, and I can now cook and bake almost anything I try. My mother gave this to me when I was studying abroad in Ireland and found that, being vegetarian, I couldn't eat most of the food in restaurants. I had never liked cooking much before but this book sparked an interest in me that has become my primary hobby.

The book consists of multiple sections, which include Breakfast, Poultry, Beef, Seafood, Vegetarian (yay!), and Desserts. And even though most of the above don't apply to me, this book is still splattered and marked with my always successful attempts at these recipes. The ingredients are usually on hand in a well-stocked kitchen, and, for further assistance, the authors give you thorough advice on how to stock a kitchen in the first place. In addition, the book includes a glossary on cooking and baking terms in case, like me, you didn't know and couldn't place international calls to your mom every five minutes.

But the absolute best thing about this book, after you take into consideration the creative recipes, the simple delicious taste of each finished product, the ease of use, and the lasting power of the recipes - I still come back to this book for the recipes listed further below, is the universal quality the authors cultivate. Each recipe gives both metric and standard measuring units (and in my case, it was essential) and thorough nutritional information with each recipe.

Key recipes that I still use, many many dinner parties later: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Carrot Cake, Baked Ziti, Garlic Green Beans with Tofu, Tomato Basil Sauce, Mushroom Pasta Sauce (try with linguine), and Mushrooms Parmesan.

Drawbacks to this book: Not many. And there aren't even any pictures, which I usually find upsetting. For this book, it works. If I had a photo of what the dish was supposed to look like in front of me, I would have been upset if my final product didn't resemble it completely.

If you are searching for the perfect gift for a student with a first apartment, consider this book. It was a gift to me, and I am still grateful.

It got me through Graduate School, January 3, 2001
Putting in 90-100 hour weeks during Graduate school, I needed a basic but comprehensive cookbook where the meals wouldn't take long, the ingredient list wasn't huge, but the meals would still be flavorful. I picked up this little gem. I can't even count how many times I've cooked my favorite recipes out of this book--Vegetarian Lasagna, Balsamic Chicken & Potatoes, the list goes on and on. This cookbook covers every meal item possible and gives you a great combination of classic and unique recipes that anyone can make. You don't have to be a BAD cook to get this book, the authors are sensitive to the fast-paced lifestyle many people have and present this as an alternative to lengthy cooking. And now that I'm out of the Graduate School schedule, guess what -- I'm still making these recipes.

I Used It, College Grad. Didn't, January 22, 2007
I found this book in my boyfriends closet while we were packing to move. Apparently this book was given to him as a present when he was in Graduate School but never used it. So, I decided to take it and give it a try.

The recipes were pretty simple to make and I must say, they were delicious and very creative. I am not sure though, if a college student would really go out of their way and try and make some of these.....You as a student would be finding and buying foods you would never think of before, which can add up the grocery bill. But if you love to cook then you will like this.

I would say the major downfall is that this book contains NO pictures. I like having a picutre in front of me to give me an idea of what the outcome of the dish will look like when I am finished.

This book really has made my life quick, cheap and easy., August 5, 1999
The Healthy College Cookbook is not just for college kids. I am a recent college alum, living and working in New York City. For several months, I ate myself out of house and home as New York delis and restaurants sucked the cash right out of my pocket, cooking seemed like a hastle so I didn't do it! Since I ordered the Healthy College Cookbook, I am cooking more, eating better, and saving money - with these simple recipes, cooking's no hastle, it's easy. I recommend this book to any college student or young adult cooking for themselves for the first time.

A College Vegetarians Delight, January 23, 2000
Being a vegetarian on a college meal plan is more than impossiable. With this book I have time to cook and go to practice and do homework. The recipes are easy, and adding your own personal touch to a recepie is a personal favorite. A huge selection of veggie dishes helps feed even the pickyist dinner guest. A+

., June 13, 2006
This cookbook is very well put together, but it didnt quite live up to my expectations. I thought I was the perfect target audience for this book - a college student on a budget who is trying to teach herself to cook.
I realize this book is for beginning cooks (I definately fall into the beginning cook category) but a lot of the recipes are just silly. I mean, ants-on-a-log? English muffin pizza? Do people really need a cookbook for that kind of thing?
Don't get me wrong, there are some great things about this book as well. It has very detailed descriptions of cooking terminology as well as familiar spices and kitchen necessities. I also love it that nutritional information is included with all of the recipes.
In short, this book is a great choice for someone who is absolutely cooking impaired. The recipes are extremely easy and the instructions and background information is very thorough. However, if you have even the slightest amount of cooking experience (e.g., know how to make scrambled eggs) you might find yourself dissapointed.

Whoa - Hot Diggity Dog Damn, January 17, 2003
Yowza. This sucker literally transformed me from eating take-out burritos and pizza (last semester) to now only cooking my own meals. Not kidding. Who knew it was actually cheaper and healthier to cook for yourself?

I rank this book(from all the ones I bought thru amazon) to have the most impact on my daily life; Since purchasing it I am able to cook pretty much whatever I want - within the limits of the recipes in the book. I even got so motivated to go out and buy all the suggested spices.

The only thing though is that you have to spend (in some cases) like an hour to cook stuff. Especially if you are a newbie like me. But man oh man I highly suggest picking up this sucker.

This book is WAY cool indeed.

;-)

Few Recipes are Good, July 10, 2007
I bought this book for my girlfriend for Christmas, to help each of us learn how to cook. The problem with the book is that the instructions are meant for someone that has maybe never even stepped foot in a kitchen. If you even know how to make spaghetti or hamburger helper, then this book is too simple for you. Most of the recipes turn out not to be very good, and some are just crappy. There were a few items that we have enjoyed, but we even had to modify those slightly.

Overall I would say go with a different book unless you are buying it for someone who is completely clueless. Don't listen to the reviews here. Even for a notice, the mediocre meals will only discourage you from cooking. Try something else.

This is my favorite cookbook, September 21, 2005
This book makes it possible for a non-cook such as myself to make decent-tasting meals for myself and my family. I especially love the tomato-basil omelettes, the delicious and healthy homemade macaroni and cheese, and, of course, the chocolate cake. I like how the book contains a variety of simple, easy-to-follow, well-explained recipes that use inexpensive ingredients that are still pretty healthy. I highly recommend this for people who prefer eating to cooking.

One of the best buys I've ever made, April 30, 2004
I bought this book my junior year of college after moving into my first apartment, and even though I'm on my third apartment, this is still my favorite cookbook.
I've tried dozens and dozens of recipes, and their delicious (and so simple!)
I brought this cookbook home over Christmas break this past year and made some of the dishes for my mom (who is an excellent cook), and she loved the cookbook so much, she has made it quite clear that this is what she wants for Mother's Day. So for the novice or the expert - anyone who likes delicious food that's easy and doesn't take all day to make, you'll love this book.

Favorites: Roasted red pepper and feta salad (pretty much the easiest and tastiest salad I've ever made), banana chocolate chip muffins (amazing every time), vegetable chili (mom made this three times while I was home for Christmas), twice baked potato and tomato-corn omlet. So good. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The perfect cookie for every occasion.

Cookies are the treat that never disappoints. Whether you’re baking for a party or a picnic, a formal dinner or a family supper–or if you simply want something on hand for snacking–there is a cookie that’s just right. In Martha Stewart’s Cookies, the editors of Martha Stewart Living give you 175 recipes and variations that showcase all kinds of flavors and fancies. Besides perennial pleasers like traditional chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin, there are other sweet surprises, including Rum Raisin Shortbread, Peppermint Meringue Sandwiches with Chocolate Filling, and Lime Meltaways.

Cleverly organized by texture, the recipes in Martha Stewart’s Cookies inspire you to think of a classic, nostalgic treat with more nuance. Chapters include all types of treasures: Light and Delicate (Cherry Tuiles, Hazelnut Cookies, Chocolate Meringues); Rich and Dense (Key Lime Bars, Chocolate Mint Sandwiches, Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies); Chunky and Nutty (Magic Blondies, Turtle Brownies, White Chocolate-Chunk Cookies); Soft and Chewy (Snickerdoodles, Fig Bars, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies); Crisp and Crunchy (ANZAC Biscuits, Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti, Almond Spice Wafers); Crumbly and Sandy (Cappuccino-Chocolate Bites, Maple-Pecan Shortbread, Lemon-Apricot Sandwiches); and Cakey and Tender (Lemon Madeleines, Carrot Cake Cookies, Pumpkin Cookies with Brown-Butter Icing).

Each tantalizing recipe is accompanied by a lush, full-color photograph, so you never have to wonder how the cookie will look. Beautifully designed and a joy to read, Martha Stewart’s Cookies is rich with helpful tips and techniques for baking, decorating, and storing, as well as lovely gift-packaging ideas in standout Martha Stewart style. ... Read more

Reviews

Enough variety to tempt any appetite ;-O, March 12, 2008
I love baking and I love cookies. That's what encouraged me to purchase this book and I'm so glad I did. There are around 175 recipes; I now have enough cookie recipes to last a lifetime and all the new possibilities of flavours makes my head spin.
I am so glad to see she made ANZAC cookies (something really popular in New Zealand and Australia). They are so devine and definately worth trying. I also love the Lemon-Apricot Sandwiches and the Chocolate Meringues. There are fantastic pictures to go along with them all (making them all the more tempting) and I can't wait to make more than the three I've done already. It's a good way to broaden your taste bud horizons because the variety is endless. I also find her instruction easy to follow which is so important.
If you are someone who loves baking and want to try some old favourites or new kinds, it's one of the better books I've seen. I love it and imagine it will be used many many times down the road.

Beautiful & Delicious!, March 13, 2008
I purchased Martha's special cookie magazine at Christmas a few years back, and it's simply falling apart now because I've made her cookies again and again. I was excited to see this book as a lot of my favorites from the cookie mag are included and the protective book allows me to keep these yummy recipes in one safe place. The photos are stunning - there's a pictorial table of contents (very unique!) based on things like 'soft and chewy' and 'crisp and crunchy' and there's even a delightful section in the back that shows you how to package your cookies for gifting. I simply can't wait to try the all the recipes!

A must have., March 11, 2008
I pre-ordered my book and just received it today. There is a colorful picture for every cookie recipe. I just baked (pictured on the front cover) chewy chocolate Gingerbread cookies and the smell, texture and taste came out sensational. Honestly this is a book worth buying.

A little disappointed., March 20, 2008
When I saw this "new" book, I was very excited because I have the Holiday/Christmas Cookie Book from a few years ago and I thought "Awesome, more cookie recipes!" Avast, no...as another reviewer has pointed out, it basically is a re-hash of the Holiday/Christmas Cookie Book, and recipes that are available on the Martha Stewart website.
:o(

Makes a great gift for brides & new mothers - all the cookies they will ever need to bake are here!, May 10, 2008
This collection of recipes from Martha Stewart Living is beautifully organized by texture & type and covers the gamut from the most basic of cookies to some of the most adventurous. it is not by martha herself which I found refreshing since it doesn't pre-suppose you have a kitchen full of exotic ingredients and expensive equipment. Even the most daring cookies here can be attempted by a modestly equipped cook. Cookies with similar basic ingredients & textures are grouped together to illustrate how easy it can be to change up a basic recipe and trick it out for a more sophisticated taste-bud or occasion. The old standby's are here as well. All the recipes rely on good wholesome ingredients and very basic preparation methods but they add a flare of imagination. The cookie on the cover is a terrific example - chocolate filled chewy gingerbread! Yum! Inside are other similarly invetnive recipes such as Cream Cheese Shortbreads, Chocolate Malt Sandwhich cookies and more.

The best part of this book is that EVERY cookie is photographed so that you can see exactly how they are intended to look when finished. In addition, the instructions are free from frothy observations or self-congratulatory rhetoric that mar some her other publications. She did not write this book and it shows. Her editors wrote it. And that my friends, is a GOOD THING when it comes to a book such as this which is intended to be the only cookie book you'll ever need. I have already bought several as gifts for young mothers I know and dedicated cookie baking pals. This is really the last cookie book I will ever need. It will take me years to run out of recipes to try from this collection.

I have made 39 of these recipes, January 19, 2009
Twice since I bought this book I have had large parties (150+) where it just made sense to put out large quantities of cookies for the marauding hordes. I have made 39 of the recipes in this book and frozen the raw dough of all of them. I loved 35 of them, I ADORED 3 of them (lime melt aways, carrot cake cookies w/cream cheese filling and OMG! the cashew caramel chewies) and been disappointed in one (peanut butter).
This book is so good because the book is divided into sections (like Chewy, Cakey, Nutty, etc,) and there is a photo of every cookie. No guesswork! I highly recommend it.

Well organized, delicious, beaufiful pictures, December 24, 2008
I checked this book out at my local library and made a few cookies before ordering it. (I have too many cookbooks as it is). The recipes and photos are divine! The only complaint I have about this book is that I wish the publisher had included measurements by weight. Most home cooks use volume to measure out ingredients, but those of us who use weight have a hard and tedious time going back to volume. That being said, I want to tell you that the most delicious Palmiers and Chocolate Crackle cookies I have ever eaten, came out of this book. During Christmas I bake LOTS of cookies to give away, and this year I received many compliments on the cookies from this book. So next year I will use some of the same recipes plus a few new ones. Besides the great photos and recipes, the Table of Contents is a pictorial of the 175 cookie recipes. All the cookies are right there, in front of you to choose from without having to peruse the entire book to choose what you are going to bake. This to me is a great time saver. The cookies are divided into the following sections:
Light and Delicate
Soft and Chewy
Crumbly and Sandy
Chunky and Nutty
Cakey and Tender
Crisp and Crunchy
Rich and Dense
Tools and Techniques
Packaging and Giving
Sources
This is a great book to own, but be careful.....those cookies have a way of jumping out of the page, make you bake them, and then insist on following you everywhere by sitting on your hips, thighs, belly, etc. If you are not a cookie monster now, you will be one if you have this book.

Excellent recipes, April 23, 2008
I'm often intimidated the long, difficult recipes that appear in Martha's magazine -- and there ARE a few of those in this book -- but most of these recipes can be made with a reasonable amount of effort. The focus is on excellent ingredients, thoughtful flavor combinations, and precise instructions. I've made three of the recipes so far and found them to be simply brilliant! For example, in the Fruit and Nut Cookies, Martha calls for coarse salt instead of ordinary table salt. It sounded crazy to me to put coarse salt into cookies, but I gave Martha the benefit of the doubt and used fleur de sel. WOW. The little unexpected hits of salt with those lush chunks of dried apricot took those cookies to a new level of Delicious. Another recipe I made was a chocolate shortbread thumbprint cookie filled with sweetened cream cheese and minced fresh strawberries. Those were positively mind-blowing and disappeared almost immediately. This book is well worth its price.

Amazing!!!!, March 13, 2008
Martha Stewart and her team have out done themselves again. This book is very similar to the 'Everyday Food: Good Food Fast' cookbook. The pictures are beautiful and I love all of the recipies. If you love to bake, you must buy this book today.

Endless Yummy Possibilities, March 31, 2008
Martha Stewart Living has done it again!! After watching Cookie Week on Martha Stewarts daytime show a few weeks ago I couldn't resist ordering this cookie cookbook. It arrived a few days later and I now have a new hobby. I make a cookie recipe a week and just love it!! So far I've tried the Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies, The Chocolate Thumbprints and the Macaroons. Every recipe is easy to follow and make and the results are amazing. I highly recommend this for your cookbook shelf and even as gifts for birthdays and holidays. You could even bake a batch and make it a package gift of cookies and cookbook!!! ... Read more

Editorial Review

The Big Green Egg Cookbook is the first cookbook specifically celebrating this versatile ceramic cooker. Available in five sizes, Big Green Egg ceramic cookers can sear, grill, smoke, roast, and bake. Here is the cookbook EGGheads have been waiting for, offering a variety of recipes encompassing the cooker's capabilities as a grill, a smoker, and an oven.

The book's introduction explains the ancient history of ceramic cookers and the loyal devotion of self-proclaimed EGGheads to these dynamic, original American-designed cookers. Complete with more than 160 recipes and 100 color photographs, the Big Green Egg Cookbook is a must for the more than 1 million EGG owners in the United States and a great introduction for anyone wanting to crack the shell of EGGhead culture. ... Read more

Reviews

Big Green Egg Cookbook, August 1, 2010
As a newby to the BGE Egghead group I love this book. Not just the recipes but the information in the front is very helpful. It explains how to cook with direct heat or indirect, gives you lots of tips. I went and bought a plate setter and cooked my first pork loin using the indirect method and followed their tips. It came out so juicy and cooked to perfection. I am now going to advance to mixing rubs :) The local BGE dealers sell the same book for $50 so I loved getting it for such a good price on Amazon.

Book is OK, better off with trial and error, September 23, 2010
Being a first time BGE user, I thought this was the book to have, but it had quite a few froo-froo recipes that I would never make. It's got nice pictures and a few good recipes. I've had my egg for a month now and have found that recipes on line are good for beginners, and then it is just trial and error, and writing down everything, including times, temps, weather conditions, what rub was used, how long it marinated, etc. So far I have made pulled pork and brisket and both turned out incredible. I would recommend the Smokology book for beginners.

Big Green Egg Book is Great, August 21, 2010
This book is a must have for Eggheads. If you are new to the egg this is an great tool to get you started. ... Read more

Editorial Review

THINK YOU KNOW THE ATKINS DIET?
THINK AGAIN.
THE NEW ATKINS IS...

POWERFUL
Learn how to eat the wholesome foods that will turn your body into an amazing fat-burning machine.

EASY
The updated and simplified program was created with you and your goals in mind.

HEALTHY
Atkins is about eating delicious and healthy food -- a variety of protein, leafy greens and other vegetables, nuts, fruits, and whole grains.

FLEXIBLE
Perfect for busy lifestyles: you can stick with Atkins at work, at home, on vacation, when you're eating out -- wherever you are.

BACKED BY SCIENCE
More than 50 studies support the low-carb science behind Atkins.

But Atkins is more than just a diet. This healthy lifestyle focuses on maintenance from Day 1, ensuring that you'll not only take the weight off -- you'll keep it off for good. Featuring inspiring success stories, all-new recipes, and 24 weeks' worth of meal plans, The New Atkins for a New You offers the proven low-carb plan that has worked for millions, now totally updated and even easier than ever. ... Read more

Reviews

The latest and best science, March 26, 2010
I have hesitated to write a review because I am one of the success stories in this book. However, in light of T. Colin Campbell's unprofessional attack on this book, I believe I must speak up to share my story and the good health that has resulted in my following the Atkins plan. I am nearly 65 years old and have struggled with weight all my life. I've been on many diets including a vegetarian one with little results in either weight loss or improved health. In fact, my health markers were getting worse, and I suffered from arthritis, dry skin and elevated tryglyceride levels. My blood pressure was borderline. Since following the plan outlined in this book, I have lost weight, my arthritis has improved substantially (particularly in my neck and shoulders) and my dry skin (which 2 dermatologists had diagnosed as rosacea) has disappeared. My tryglyceride level dropped remarkably, but more importantly my HDL (the good cholesterol) has gone up and my latest BP was 117/76. I used to wear a size 18 -- now I wear a 6 or 8. All of these results came from following the plan outlined in this book.

What disturbs me further about T. Colin Campbell is that he has clearly put out a call to his vegan followers to come to the Amazon site and give bad reviews of this book, as he posted this nonsense on his webpage. I don't have a problem with their chosen lifestyle, but I do have a problem with the many deragatory posts that make it clear that they could not have read this book as they have no comprehension of its contents. Shame on them. Using the Amazon review system to grind their vegan axes should not be allowed.

Contrary to their ravings, the Atkins diet recommends lots of vegetables, a conservative amount of dietary protein and good fats. All recommendations that are supported by recent science. Read Gary Taubes "Good Calories, Bad Calories" or the distinquished works of Dr. Mary Enig. T. Colin Campbell has used this review process to further his own agenda and has encouraged his minions to post here. They disparage the book as well as mouth urban legend lies about Dr. Robert Atkins (a cardiologist, BTW). Anyway, read the book and make your own conclusions. Don't be led astray by these agenda-led and untrue attacks. This 65 year old feels 20-30 years younger!!

Fine for Vegetarians, March 26, 2010
Over the decade that I have been a vegetarian, my weight has ballooned. About two weeks ago a friend who has been an avid Atkins follower told me that I could join her on Atkins. Now that I have read this book I realize why I couldn't lose weight before. I was eating so many "empty" carbs as bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, chips, and other snack foods plus lots and lots of fruit that I was never giving my body the chance to burn its own fat. In the two weeks that I have been following the vegetarian version of Atkins, I have already lost 5 pounds. Just as important, my constant hunger has disappeared. It sounds strange but I am actually eating more vegetables than I was before. It's good to know that I can feel good about what I eat and have my body feel good too.

Definitely worth reading, March 25, 2010
A very well explained, scientifically based and flexible nutrition plan which includes vegan, vegetarian and ethnic options. Even if you choose to not follow the plan, you will be left understanding the dangers of a high sugar diet. If you have any questions about the science, I would suggest that you "google" the prestigious authors of this book. I am mortified by the number of reviews by those that have not read the book and have no idea about its contents. I highly suggest that you read this book and judge for yourself.

Good book, March 27, 2010
A few years ago I lost a little over 100lbs on Atkins. I continue to follow eating low-carb and have kept the weight off and keep it off this whole time. My health is excellent and I enjoy eating. My doctor has about 50 patients who have followed the diet and have kept the weight off. Several of them HAD diabetes or other health problems that cleared up.

I use to eat the way the USDA stated everyone should eat, and I just got fatter. Maybe eating the way some government nutritionist who has never been fat states is fine when you are already healthy and you eat whole, unprocessed foods. But when you are 100lbs overweight eating 6-11 servings of bread, cereal, rice or pasta is not good for you.

I bought this book yesterday at Borders and read it in about two hours. It is a good book and I like the fact that it takes the best of the books Dr. Atkins wrote and combines it with new research. There is less emphasis on low-carb products than on other books written by Atkins Nutritional after Dr. Atkins died.

I don't understand why people get so upset with the principles of an Atkins. I have a blood sugar of 65, my blood pressure is 110/65 and my HDL is 80 and my LDL is 20. I will still have someone who follows the USDA diet and is 50lbs overweight telling me I am killing myself with eating a lot of fat. In reality, I am probably eating less `bad' fat, and eating more veggies and fruit than someone following a `healthy' diet.

I have met people who eat low-carb and are not healthy and those that are. I have met vegans that are healthy and those that look sickly and 20 years older looking than they really are. Find what works for you and don't knock what everyone else does.

I'm impressed!, March 29, 2010
Having read the Old Atkins book, I was worried about the amount of vegetables & salad you could eat. I purchased the new book after reading an article in a newspaper, and I'm very happy with it. I find I am eating more vegetables than I was before starting the diet, which no-one can argue is a bad thing, can they??

Superb New Book, March 24, 2010
If you're overweight or just want a healthier way to live, read the book, do your research and then try it. BUT you have to do it properly and educate yourself.

The authors of this book have made great strides in bringing the science behind this diet to the general public - they've made the science much easier to understand and if you understand the science and what is going on with your body when we eat the way we do, the easier it is going to be.

The Atkins way of eating is for LIFE, it isn't just a 4 week diet where you lose some weight then revert back to your old ways.

A typical day's eating for me is: b/fast - mixed vegetable omelette; lunch - very large salad with tuna, mayo, avocado; dinner - roast pork, broccoli, mushrooms, sprouts and onions with a chocolate cheesecake with raspberries and cream for dessert. Tea, coffee and water to drink. Not that bad is it?

btw, vegetarians and vegans can follow Atkins, no problem - I have a family member who is doing great on it.

The Healthy High-Fat, Low-Carb Revolution Continues On In 2010!, February 27, 2010
In my first-look at the brand new "Atkins diet" book from Atkins Nutritionals, I'm happy to say that advocates of a high-fat, moderate-protein, and low-carb nutritional approach will have a lot to cheer about. Unlike the December 2008 release of The All-New Atkins Advantage: The 12-Week Low-Carb Program to Lose Weight, Achieve Peak Fitness and Health, and Maximize Your Willpower to Reach Life Goals by Dr. Stuart Trager and Colette Heimowitz which advocated "lean protein" and lots of vegetables as the basis of the world's most popular low-carb diet, this new book gets back to the roots of what the good Atkins name is really all about.

Three of the most well-known and highly-respected researchers of carbohydrate restriction were charged with penning an updated Atkins diet book that would be simpler to follow and completely backed by the latest science. The result of those efforts are culminated in the book release "New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight Fast and Feeling Great Forever." Written by the perfect trio of today's brightest low-carb scholars -- Dr. Stephen Phinney from the University of California-Davis, Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University -- it aims to set the record straight about why low-carb works, what you need to do to make it work, adapting it to your busy lifestyle, and then providing the evidence that proves what they say about the Atkins lifestyle is valid.

This is a book that has been sorely needed on the market ever since the untimely death of the late, great Dr. Robert C. Atkins in 2003. And the authors acknowledge the forward-thinking that Dr. Atkins possessed so many years ago when he started using his low-carbohydrate plan on patients and they hope to carry on his legacy for many years to come by sharing the amazing research that is now confirming much of what he taught people struggling with weight and health problems. They share a wealth of science in this book through the 50+ references to real scientific data that has been conducted on carbohydrate-restriction in just the past few years. Much of this information may be new to the public since it has not received a lot of attention in the press. But the good thing is they present the information in such a way that the general public will easily understand and implement these dietary changes into their own weight and health regimen.

Anyone you know who thinks the Atkins low-carb diet is just some passing "fad" that is not backed by any substantive studies needs to know about this book. Even for people who have read the 2002 edition of Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Revised Edition this new version contains a whole new way to look at low-carb living like you've never seen it before because the authors made it easy-to-understand and instituted subtle improvements to make the plan more effective than any of the other Atkins imitator books that have come along in recent years.

This new Atkins will shock the naysayers (that is, if they actually READ this one!) when they learn you consume lots of healthy non-starchy veggies on it, can implement some basic strategies for greatly reducing or preventing the common negative symptoms associated with starting low-carb, have a great guide for knowing when to transition from phase to phase of the diet, will find a detailed explanation of making this a permanent weight maintenance plan, have the ability to customize the plan to your specific dietary wants and needs, and that eating low-carb on the go isn't as impossible as some people think. This really is a new way of looking at healthy low-carb living from a new perspective.

The contents are broken down into four main parts:

PART I outlines all the nutritional mechanics of Atkins low-carb eating. The authors help you determine if the Atkins approach is right for you, clearly explain that this program is not meant to completely eliminate carbs, just limit them, identify the various health improvements that one could expect by following the plan, share what the four phases are and why they are important, define the "Atkins Edge" that comes when you put your body into fat-burning mode, give the mechanism behind why food becomes energy and is stored as body fat, reveal the damning role that most carbohydrates play in healthy living and discover the right ones you should be consuming, uncover the unique role of protein in the Atkins diet and give reasons why this plan is not high-protein as is often erroneously claimed, and share the evidence behind why consuming dietary cholesterol and fat, especially saturated fat, should become your diet's best friend.

PART II gets into the nitty gritty of the diet by showing you what you are supposed to eat and tailoring it to your specific health goals. The authors help you focus intently on looking at the net carbs of the foods you consume, insure you are getting an adequate amount of protein in your diet daily, understand the amazing benefits of fat when you greatly reduce your carb consumption, learn the benefits of consuming fiber-rich foods like the "Foundation Vegetables" that are essential on the Atkins plan as they always have been, how to keep the added sugar and refined carbohydrate out of your menus, supplement your diet with the appropriate vitamins to obtain optimal health, and find the appropriate level of exercise that will fit within your specific physical fitness capabilities.

Tools for making yourself successful are also included in this section, including setting goals, finding support, planning meals, making appropriate lifestyle changes, keeping a food log, and participate in online web sites and blogs. They even show how you can make your Atkins diet vegetarian or even vegan if you so choose and even a "Latin Beat" version for the growing Hispanic population dealing with obesity and diabetes. Specifics for following Phase 1 Induction, Phase 2 Ongoing Weight Loss, Phase 3 Pre-Maintenance, and Phase 4 Lifetime Maintenance are also included with more information than you've ever seen before about doing it right along with some common pitfalls that may sabotage your efforts along the way. As long as I've been studying low-carb over these past six years, never have I seen a book so clearly demonstrate the details of the Atkins way of eating in such a concise manner.

PART III is dedicated to helping you live the Atkins life in the real world by arming you with ways to make virtually any restaurant into your own personal low-carb restaurant with appropriate substitutions and changes. The authors recognize the necessity that many people have to eat out as part of their job, so they provide an alphabetical listing of restaurants with both the approved "Thumbs Up" choices as well as the "Thumbs Down" selections to avoid. Additionally, various styles of restaurants like Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and more are Atkins-ized just for you! A section of recipes and an extensive set of low-carb meal plans is also included for making various low-carb sauces, flavored oils, salad dressings, marinades and rubs, and broths to complement your Atkins meals.

PART IV is all about the science that support low-carb living for health. While the media and the so-called health "experts" out there enjoy mocking the low-carb diet as an unhealthy and unbalanced nutritional plan, the authors explain that nothing could be further from the truth. They provide compelling evidence that demonstrates heart disease, diabetes, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, metabolic syndrome, and cancer is improved by low-carb and actually made worse by low-fat diets. The process of how the "fat-storing" hormone insulin works is noted as well as why saturated fat isn't the great danger that it has been made out to be. The long history of low-carb diets is also revealed to show that this isn't just some here today, gone tomorrow eating plan -- it's been with us for many generations! Finally, the authors identify diabetes as "the bully disease" and that Atkins is the answer for the millions suffering from it.

I have only but scratched the surface of what "New Atkins for a New You" contains, but hopefully my review has whet your appetite to pick up a copy for yourself. It would be well worth adding to your low-carb library for people who are concerned about not just weight loss, but radically improving their health for the better long-term. That's what livin' la vida low-carb did for me back in 2004 when I not only lost triple-digit weight following these principles, but I've seen an extraordinary turnaround in my health that reversed the negative trend that the rest of my family is suffering from, including losing a brother at the age of 41 to morbid obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. You can read more about some of the things I've learned about healthy low-carb living in my book 21 Life Lessons From Livin' La Vida Low-Carb: How The Healthy Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew.

Also, be sure to listen to my March 1, 2010 "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" podcast interview with co-author Dr. Eric Westman about this new version of Atkins at TheLivinLowCarbShow dot com slash shownotes for more information about this incredible new Atkins book that you're gonna be hearing a lot about in 2010 and beyond. This could be just the beginning of restarting the revolution that the Dr. Atkins himself began nearly four decades ago! Anyone who thinks the Atkins diet is going away anytime soon is delusional. Atkins low-carb living is here to stay and change people's lives...forever!

The Atkins Diet is Changing My Life!, March 25, 2010
I know as Americans we have become indoctrinated to the low fat, low calorie diet, but there is an easier and more effective way to lose weight. Give the Atkins Diet a try! You will eat real and healthy food and not have to kill yourself at the gym to see results! Even those of you who have been Atkins Diet or Low Carb Diet friends for years should read this updated Atkins Diet book. I've tried many diet plans over the years and I find the Atkins Diet to be the simplest to stick with while seeing great results!

A Worthy Successor to Atkins, Valuable New Stuff, May 4, 2010
Having eaten a low carb diet for nearly fifteen years now, (spending much of my time coming up with low carb recipes 1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes from Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back) with nothing but great health to show for it, I'm a huge fan of Dr. Atkins. Having met Dr. Eric Westman, and followed his research for the past several years, I'm a huge fan of his, too. New Atkins For a New You is a more than worthy successor to Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution.

How does New Atkins For A New You differ from DANDR?

* They've lost the focus on ketosis. Oh, you'll still go into ketosis if you eat the way they tell you, and that's a good thing -- it means you're running a fat-burning rather than a glucose-burning metabolism. It also feels great -- high energy, suppressed appetite, and a clear head. Great mood, too; ketosis makes me ebullient. But there's no peeing on ketostix. Ketostix told people less than they thought: They can tell you that you're burning fat, but they can't tell you if you're burning fat you just ate, or fat from your storage depots. And ketostix are expensive. Some people do find "turning purple" motivating, but this is a useful simplification.

* They've incorporated the net carbs concept, as pioneered by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, instructing people to subtract fiber grams from total grams of carbohydrate. This makes for more vegetables from the get-go,since quite a lot of the carbohydrate in vegetables is in the form of fiber. Also makes for a little more fruit and possibly a little whole grain in the later stages of the diet. Most low carbers were already doing this, but since DANDR was published before the Eades wrote Protein Power, it wasn't "in the book." It is now. They've also expanded the list of vegetables allowed on "Induction," the super-low-carb introductory phase.

* They've added sodium, in the form of broth, soy sauce, or a few other options. Because dropping insulin levels drastically, as a low carb diet does, enables the body to properly excrete sodium, they found some people were feeling washed out, or even light-headed. Adding sodium fixes the problem. (Also keep in mind that by knocking out the vast majority of processed foods, the diet eliminates a big whack of the sodium in the Standard American Diet.

* They allow caffeine. Woo-hoo! (I'm betting this was the most-violated Atkins no-no.) Say that the research says caffeine aids fat burning and is perfectly healthy stuff, and anyway tea and coffee are loaded with antioxidants. She said with a cup of tea in front of her.

* Also alcohol in moderation after the Induction phase.

* They include vegetarian options. This is the only part of the new version about which I have mixed feelings. The vegetarian options are heavy on the soy products, and I'm completely un-sold on the benefits of soy. OTOH, I know for certain that being fat and running high insulin levels is deadly. I would personally urge vegetarians to rely more heavily on eggs and cheese, and have been forthright in stating that I don't consider veganism to be nutritionally adequate. But if this is what it takes to get vegetarians lower their carb intake, that's a good thing. I've known too many long-time vegetarians who have found themselves in pre-diabetes or even full-blown diabetes.

* Perhaps most important, Drs. Westman, Volek, and Phinney cover the multitudinous research demonstrating the many health benefits of carbohydrate restriction that has happened since DANDR was written. If you haven't been keeping up, you'll be impressed as heck.

This is the best-of-breed of the low carbohydrate diet books to come out in the past decade. Buy it. Read it.

New focus for an INCREDIBLE nutritional plan, March 24, 2010
This book is a great step in the wonderful Atkins legacy.

I've read a lot of the studies cited in this book, and am looking forward to researching the cornucopia of scientific studies cited in it.

Atkins turned the nutritional field on it's head almost forty years ago when he published his initial book. But he was NOT the creator of the low-carb diet. Doctors were putting people on the low-carb diet in the 1800s after they found that too much bread and ale were causing obesity. It wasn't until the 1950s that the field of nutrition was subverted by Ansel Keyes and his followers. Low carb is NOT the "fad diet" of today. Low-Fat is the fad diet. A costly fad diet that is killing MILLIONS of us from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

A LOT of the anti-Atkins people say "I knew someone that was on Atkins and they had XXX health problems because of it." The question to ask is...HOW did they do Atkins? Did they only eat meat, cheese and eggs? If so they WERE NOT DOING ATKINS. Atkins requires 12-15 grams of NET carbs (total - fiber) from VEGGIES every single day. It also recommends that you get 25-30 grams of fiber per day. What is unhealthy about that?

This book was incredibly well written and did a great job of pulling together some of the groundbreaking scientific studies that have been done that DO prove that low-carb is a phenomenal tool to reduce risk factors such as high blood sugar, cholesterol and high blood pressure.

I did find things that I disagreed with in the book such as the recommendation to not weigh your food, but that is minutia, and each individual will find tools that work for them.

If you want to understand how the nutrional field got so screwed up, a good book to read is Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories". ... Read more

Editorial Review

With 101 easy recipes to choose from-from breakfast to dessert, including breads and rolls-the Dutch oven might just become the most popular cooking method in your house. Recipes include the Mountain Man Breakfast, Sausage Spinach Wreath, Dutch Oven Stew with spicy Jalapeno Cheese Bread, Caramel Apple Cobbler, Stuffed Pork Roast, Cinnamon Rolls, Dutch Oven Pizza, Apricot Raspberry Glazed Cornish Hens, and White Chili.

Reviews

Nice book, but not my kind of cooking, May 17, 2009
This is a nice little cookbook, with very clear directions for temperatures and numbers of coals and where to place them. Most of the recipes are intended for 12" dutch ovens, although I'm sure they could be adapted for other sizes.

My main quarrel with the book is that many of the recipes are not for the kind of camp cooking that I do. About 1/4 of the recipes are for yeast breads/rolls. If this is the way you want to use your dutch oven, there are some great sounding recipes here! However, this isn't the way I cook when I am camping. A few other recipes call for a special "Camp Chef Ultimate" dutch oven. Then there are the recipes calling for cornish game hens, mutton, orange zest, asiago cheese, almond extract, red wine, white chocolate, or toasted pine nuts. Again, if this is the kind of cooking you want to do with your dutch oven, I'm sure the recipes are great, but it isn't my style.

Of the remaining recipes, several are the traditional camp fare - breakfast casserole, hamburger casserole, stew, and 'dump' cobbler. Others have added a nice variety to my menu (teriyaki barbecue chicken, Catalina chicken, manicotti, etc.). I was just disappointed to find that so few of the recipes are ones that fit my camp cooking style.

Practical easy to use book, December 4, 2006
I have been using a dutch oven since I was a youth in scouts. This book has clear instructions on how to: assemble a successful recipe, number of coals, location of coals and cooking time make for a success every time. The quality and diversity of recipes is outstanding. The guide at the beginning is also useful on oven care and how to regulate temperature.

Excellent book--it gets used almost daily, February 8, 2008
My boyfriend has a lot of cast iron--in fact, they are his pots of choice to use. However, he didn't have a lot of recipes for his dutch ovens. I took a chance and ordered this book for him. He absolutely loves it. The recipes are easy to read, understand, and use. The results are delicious. He refers to it almost daily, and is constantly trying new recipes out of it. I recommend it to anyone who likes to use dutch ovens.

Made for camping, September 7, 2008
This book is great, filled with recipies all will enjoy. Some dutch oven cookbooks seem to give receipes that are for mountain men or hillbillies (road kill)... ok just kidding. However, I am a leader in a scout troop and our last campout the scouts used this cookbook to make their meals. They found several that they wanted to try so I am sure they will continue to use in the future. Typically the hunt through a cookbook for one with ingredients they will eat. This one is a must for anyone who uses a dutch oven on campouts. The ingredients are things that are easy to find and even the picky eaters can find something.

Decent, but not a must-buy, May 15, 2009
Has some good recipes (we bought the Kindle version so that we can take it with us without the bulk). The Kindle version is well-laid out. I like that it lists the ingredients clearly, making it easy to go shopping. However IMHO, the recipes are neither terribly unique nor special. I've found that similar recipes seem to be available on the web. Also a little lacking in the area of main courses.

Just what I wanted!!!!!, January 11, 2009
I bought this for my husband who had been looking for just the right cookbook for his dutch oven. This one is perfect!!!! It tells you on each recipe how many coals you need on the top and bottom of the dutch oven. It also lets you know the temperature to use if you want to use it in the oven as well. My husband is thrilled with this cookbook and the variety of the recipes is wonderful. Can't wait to try them all out!!!!

Great recipe book, June 30, 2008
Nice easy recipes with "idiot proof' instructions that includes exactly how many coals you need to cook with. Perfect for a beginner dutch oven cooker. Can't wait to try some on my next campout!

Dutch Oven Cooking, April 21, 2009
Great recipes here! It even tells you how many coals to put on top and beneath the oven! Worth the "dough." (A little pun there..... :)

101 Things To Do With A Dutch Oven, January 12, 2009
I bought this Dutch Oven cookbook, along with Cee Dub's Dutch Oven & Camp Cookin' and Camp Cooking:100 Years, for my father-in-law for Christmas. The three were sold together for a savings. My father-in-law is really enjoying them. He makes new recipes and is always excited to share them with us. I personally liked this one best, but he seems to enjoy reading the trivia in all of them.

Camp food doesnt have to be dull, April 3, 2010
My husband and I are avid kayakers and campers. A friend of ours exposed us to the joy of dutch oven cooking about 10 years ago and the first meal we had was lasagne- which was AWESOME! When you're camping every weekend from Aril to October you get sick of the tradional beans, chili, hot dogs, cornbread, etc. This book really is a must have for those who want to really enjoy cooking outdoors! Fresh bread & rolls, breakfast casseroles, cabbage rolls, and poached pears...come on--this book is great for the wilderness foodies out there. Best of all, because it's specific on the number of coals needed and the temperatures you're cooking with, it makes creating your own recipes so easy. We do alot of the prep work at home (mixing the dry ingredients in ziplocks & labeling them with the measurements of the other items we need to add, really saves us a lot of time. I highly recommend it to anyone, new or experienced, who actually wants to enjoy meals made over a fire. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Building on the tremendous success of Weber's Art of the Grill, Weber the world's best-known and most trusted grilling experts, return with the ultimate in barbeque cookbooks. Weber's Big Book of Grilling is the definitive guide to outdoor cooking. Packed with 350 recipes and hundreds of sure-fire tips and techniques, this one-stop cookbook is guaranteed to turn readers everywhere into backyard heroes. Using nearly 50 years of outdoor grilling wisdom, the experts at Weber have created an essential handbook destined to become a sauce-stained classic. So, for the chef who's barely flipped a burger or for the local grilling guru, here's all the advice they'll need to stretch their skills--and at the price that's red-hot as the coals! ... Read more

Reviews

We Refer To This Book As "The Bible"!, July 20, 2004
The first time I tasted grilled food, many years before Weber existed, I remember wondering why all meat was not cooked over charcoal. As I got older, I started grilling a bit but the recipes were the staples: burgers, steaks and chicken.

Then I purchased a Weber charcoal kettle, which came with some neat, out of the ordinary recipes. I started experimenting, and branched out into growing fresh herbs to season the food. There are now four Weber grills on my deck, including the little "Smokey Joe", for little projects and The Summit gas grille for the big ones.

As a result of a couple of major cooking projects I did for the neighborhood, I was given this book. I didn't know whether it was a thank you, or a subtle way of saying that my cooking needed improvement. What a horizon expanding book it is! If there is anything outside its covers that is needed to teach the novice or improve the good cook, I don't know what it is.

Recipes? Yep, and not a single loser out of 350. Grilling advice? Yep, everything from buying to using to maintaining your grill. There's a section on the uses of fresh herbs, including reduction formulas for the use of store bought seasoning. There are explanations as to why fresh ground black pepper and Kosher salt are preferred.

I have used this book exhaustively since I got it, and have given it as gifts to many, many friends, all of whom are as enthusiastic about it as I am. Simply put, if grilling means burning meat to you, save your money. But if you enjoy the looks of friends and family when you place a truly outstanding meal on the table, get this book.

Cooking seems to intimidate some guys. I don't know why. But Weber's book takes the fear out of cooking, and after a couple of successes, generates a bit of enthusiasm for the next time, both for the cook and the eaters.

100X better than the first book (and that's saying A LOT!), September 13, 2003
I can't say enough about this Weber book. I purchased this one, and the first one ("Art of the Grill") at the same time, fully expecting to like the first one more. Well, as it turns out, the Big Book of Grilling has been used upon every single grill day (at least 3 days/week) as apposed to the other one, which has only been used a few times.

The Art of the Grill (the first book) contains some very involved recipes that are very tasty, but not any of the practical cooking tips. The Big Book of Grilling, however, highlights the following:
* Tips on what to look for when selecting the best cuts of meat at the grocer/butcher.
* Explaining cooking tips such as when to use direct heat vs. indirect heat cooking, and how to make those cross-grill marks on your steak!
* A wide variety of homemade marinade recipes.
* Helpful charts at the end of the book which you can quickly reference when you quickly need to know how long to cook something no matter if it's a porterhouse steak or even a bunch of asparagus.
* Great side stories, like how to cook enough ham sandwiches for the town of Peoria, IL.

Just overall, this book has been a godsend when it comes to my grill. I have an older Weber 3-burner model that allows me to easily switch from direct to indirect heating, but the book also compensates for the charcoal users out there. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a book full of great grilling ideas and suggestions, or who at least needs a great grilling reference book.

Big Followup to His First Grilled Effort, May 17, 2001
There must of been many of us who used Purviance's first effort "Weber's Art of the Grill" because here comes its successor.

Big describes the difference. Quality recipes, photos and grilling basic advice are all here, but now more of it. Also, more informal recipes I'm discovering which probably will allow its usage more than just the occasional weekend bbq blast.

So far, pigged out on Greek Garlic Chicken, Disappearing Tenderloins with Pico de Gallo, Grilling A Monster Fish, plus great side dishes of veggies and grilled fruits and desserts.

Worthy to become a classic standard! Next to my Weber all the time!

Happily Surprised, June 20, 2001
I was a bit skeptical when I saw that Weber was putting out a grilling cookbook. However, even though they promote thier products, the recipes are plentiful and fantastic. I also liked the instructions on how to use the grill one currently owns with simple instructions for novices like myself. Look past the Weber promotion if it bothers you and dig right into the "meat" of the book. The photos are quite appealing and summer is too short to pass this book up!

Well-done? Well written!, June 13, 2001
What a fun cookbook! Just expecting a few good grilling ideas and some Weber history, I first opened this book to the words "Are you still using lighter fluid? Say it ain't so. . . ." and I was hooked. This tome is packed with sumptuous pictures of everything from Cheesy Onion Quiche (yes, you can GRILL it!) to Teriyaki Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa. The recipes are tantalizing--but what really sets this cookbook apart is the snappy patter that accompanies the standard instructions. McRae, apparently the writer of the team, has peppered the text with barbecue history, anecdotes, and quotations that make reading half the fun of cooking. The directions--for example, preparing a rib roast--seem eloquently simple and are illustrated with drawings to reinforce your confidence. It's the chatter that I appreciate, however: "And then there's the precocious debutante of the poultry world, the Cornish game hen, which nowadays is neither Cornish nor game." Lots of enticing info you can relate to your guests as you serve up your next barbecue.

Another Great Book by Weber, July 10, 2002
I got a Weber Summit grill two years ago, then I went out looking for cookbooks, since I never had owned a grill before and had no idea what to do or where to start. Some cookbooks are strictly for charcoal grills; other cookbooks just didn't have the right kind of directions. It seems like some authors out there don't want to recognize the existence of gas grills. I really like the convenience of a gas grill. I discovered the Art of the Grill cookbook and it had the kind of directions I needed and understood. The recipes in that book are great. The salmon is a snap because you cook it on a sheet of foil, so it's easy, delicious and no cleanup. Even the strawberry pie was wonderful.
Then along came this latest book. It's even better with lots more recipes and great instructions. I hate grill books that don't have clear instructions on the heat you need, among other things. I have made the stuffed veal chops several times and the sea bass and the simple pork chops that you just marinate for 30 minutes. Vegetables are also easy to grill, and I think they always taste better grilled. The recipes always come out as promised. I have no been disappointed, and I am anxious to try many more recipes that I know will turn out. This is the ultimate grill cookbook.

"On The Web!", June 11, 2001
Weber's Big Book of Grilling

I got so involved in the book, I had to buy another. The arrangement is great-if you don't start with condiments, a rub, a marinade, a sauce, you're wasting a good fire. The assortment and explanations are prodigious, and the commentary is fun. This is a droll friend who just happens to be a great grill chef taking the novice and the "chef d'backyard cuisine" alike along a path of hot coals to a satisfying feast. Lots of Asian and Mexican influence, and fish is treated with familiarity, not like an afterthought. While I don't understand the photo on page 165, the photography like the commentary, feeds the soul as well as the body-- the dog stealing a steak--adds to the family, friends, fun essence of cookouts---the memory-searing seasoning that lasts long after you've licked your fingers clean. Wonderful Father's Day, birthday, hostess or Holiday gift. Turkey or a prime rib on the grill not only tastes great, it frees up the kitchen and gets the guys involved. This book gets you involved.

Jam-Packed Grilling Guide, August 27, 2001
From appetizers right through to desserts, you can go grill-crazy with this book absolutely jam-packed with recipes. How to's on barbecuing everything from the traditional beef, lamb and poultry to the less common rabbit, turkey and buffalo. Marinades and sauces are also included because, let's face it, a good piece of grilled meat just isn't complete if it's not smothered with a tasty sauce. So, get out the Weber and dive into this book. There are enough fantastic recipes for a barbecue a day to last a whole year, with some left over for next year.

THE grilling cookbook, June 27, 2002
Weber's BIG BOOK of Grilling is out of this world!! I purchased this book along with Weber's Art of The Grill and while they are both great I would pick this one over "Art" for an all around grilling cookbook. This was a VERY well thought out book, it is easy to find what you are looking for and offers great advice for beginners to grilling. It is broken down into food "groups" and then delves into each group with a nice assortment of recipes. The best thing about grilling with an actual Weber grill and using this cookbook is that if you follow the recipe you can't go wrong. It truly can take you from the "You burned the burgers Again!!" to "Wow these are great burgers". I really could go on and on about this book but I won't, just trust me and purchase it, you will not regret it.

Big fat book!, August 5, 2002
This is an all-around great cook book with nice big pictures, and error free recipes. I've tried several already, and they've all turned out great. I didn't believe I could get good tasting ribs from only 2 hours of cooking, but it really worked.

The only complaint I have is that I was looking for a standard, straightforward bbq book, and for the most part this is just that, however, certain recipes seem to veer off into the "exotic" realm. I'll use Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible for crazy exotic BBQ.

But I guess I can't really complain. The Kansas City Ribs recipe is excellent, and Weber gives great advice on grilling and grilling techniques. Good thing I own a Weber grill.

A great book to have in your library. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The book has already sold more than 5 million copies, so we didn't want to spoil it! We have only added a few enhancements to this original cookbook in the wildly claimed Fix-It and Forget-It cookbook series:
1. Brand New: 100 new recipes for slow cookers.
2. Brand New: "Prep Time," "Cooking Time," and "Ideal Slow-Cooker Size" are included for each recipe.
3. Brand New: 4 pages of basic and very helpful "Extra Information":
"Substitute Ingredients for When You're in a Pinch"
"Equivalent Measurements"
"Kitchen Tools and Equipment You May Have Overlooked"
"Assumptions about Ingredients in Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook, Revised and Updated"
4. Brand New: 1 page of "Tips for Using Your Slow Cooker: a Friendly, Year-Round Appliance."
5. Brand New: Additional tips and tricks for making the most of your slow cooker, spread throughout the book.
6. Brand New: A second color-a rich purple-for recipe titles, contributors' names and addresses, the words "Tip" and "Variation," and the numbered instruction steps.
7. Brand New: The drawings on the opening pages of chapters and the spot illustrations throughout.
8. Brand New: 1 page of tip-in color, right inside the front cover.
9. Brand New: 2 pages of review excerpts to position the original book's success, immediately following the tip-in page of color.
10. Revised: An improved Index!
11. Revised: A personal Introduction to the book by author Phyllis Pellman Good.
12. Revised: Good's personal comments and voice throughout the recipes.
We've learned a lot since the original Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook first quietly appeared. Now you and your customers can benefit with this new edition of the beloved favorite - Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook REVISED and UPDATED!
... Read more

Reviews

Not exactly haute cuisine, but has a lot of useful recipes, February 1, 2002
Yes, crock pots, once considered a kind of quaint relic of the seventies, are making a comeback. And why not? The basic idea is that you take a bunch of ingredients, throw them into the crock pot in the morning, and by dinnertime, voila--you have something hot, fragrant, and tasty. And what's more, a lot of the foods cooked this way taste even better as leftovers.

The strength of this cookbook is in the sheer volume of recipes provided, and in their overall simplicity. These truly are "fix it and forget it" types of dishes, including a lot of soups, chiles, and simple stews. Surely out of the 800+ recipes here anyone who purchases this book will find enough winners to make it a worthwhile buy.

Potential buyers should be forewarned, however, that this is by no means *haute cuisine*. Lots of the recipes include generous glops of canned creamed soups, dry soup mixes, canned vegetables, "American" cheese, and other gastronomical abominations. The point is, however, that there are so many recipes included that it's easy to skip over those and go on to ones that appear more promising.

The bottom line is that during the short time that I have owned this book, it has proven itself incredibly valuable and useful. My wife and my family are very glad that I picked it up, and that I brought the ol' crock pot out of its previously semi-retired state.

Nutritious Meals for Busy People, October 20, 2001
We hate to cook, but restaurants, take-out and frozen foods have lost their appeal for my husband and me in our last 6 years as empty-nesters. Our new larger crock-pot and THIS book have been the answer! Since the larger cookers are far superior to their ancestors of the 70's, we were looking for interesting recipes that stretched beyond the lentil soup recipes of the older crock-pot cookbooks. On the other hand, we didn't want to have to make a special trip to the international market for exotic ingredients each time either. Lemon roasted chicken, beef burgundy, and the tenderest ribs ever are just a few of the great meals we've had from this collection. While some of the old crock-pot stand-bys are included: baked beans, chili, lentil soup, and one pot meals made with cream of mushroom soup and cheese, there are many newer and creative recipes that serve their purpose - easy to prepare with common home kitchen ingredients, ready when you get home for dinner, and delicious.

A Must for Your Cookbook Collection, September 1, 2001
I've compared this cookbook with Betty Crocker, Sunset, Hoffman, etc. In my opinion, it beats all of them. Fix It and Forget it is a collection of recipes from people all over the country. There are twenty different chili recipes to choose from, as well as appetizers, desserts, main dishes, and soups. The book is divided in these categories, listing several recipes per page. Each recipe is very simple to follow. So far, I've tried the Saucy Pork Chops and the Creamy Chicken Italiano. The pork chops were excellent, and I'm not a big pork lover. The Chicken Italiano was a step up from the Chicken Helper you can get in the supermarket. If I make this again, I'd put more spices in it. If you don't like a lot of spice in your food, then you'll enjoy this dish.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a crock pot and anyone who doesn't. Some of these recipes, like the pork chops, you can cook on the stovetop. There's something for everyone in this book.

AWFUL -- UNLESS YOU'RE TRYING TO GET SICK OR FAT, February 25, 2006
I bought this book after reading some online reviews and have never been so disappointed in a cookbook. Just about every recipe includes high-sodium, high-fat, junky canned and/or processed food ingredients such as cream of mushroom soup. I simply don't eat that way and wasn't about to start just so that I could use my new slow-cooker. In all fairness, many crockpot cookbooks use these ingredients, I've learned, but this one doesn't even seem to have been put together by an expert. It appears to be a compilation of solicited reader submissions and reminds me very much of a community potluck fundraising cookbook. For instance, there are several recipes titled 'pot roast,' each submitted by a different person and no pictures, not that pictures would have changed my opinion of this book. When I purchase a cookbook, I'm trusting the author to have created or at least tried the recipes in the book and to present the best one. Not the case here. I returned the book and went to a local bookstore, and sat there with a bunch of cookbooks, reading through each to determine which one to buy. By the way, "Fix it and foget it lightly" wasn't any better. My selection was 'Not your mother's slow cooker cookbook," which presents recipes using only healthy ingredients that I would actually eat.

WHO EVER THOUGHT LIFE COULD BE SO SIMPLE!, September 18, 2001
If you run as short on energy and time during the run of a day as I do, you will not want to be without this terrific book. Who ever thought meal preparation could be so simple for those of us who put in a full day at the office. The title says it all: "Fix It and Forget It" Forget the microwave section of your favourite supermarket and pass by the fast food outlets on the way home - too much of that will eventually play havoc with your health anyway. It takes just a few minutes each morning, when we do have the energy, to peel a few veggies, cut up a portion of meat if that is to your liking, toss it in the slow cooker with a dash of this and a dab of that and...voila, your meal will be waiting for you at the end of the day. The recipes are terrific in this book, particularly the stews and soups, and the flavourful goodness that comes out of the pot is out of this world! Buy the book; it's a real time saver.

Majority of recipes not healthy (but some are), repetitive, February 12, 2003
I bought this book and I am not sure I would again. There are about 800 recipes in the book. There are 4 major drawbacks to this book. First -- A vast number of them do contain a LOT of cheese and fats (1 to 3 cups per recipe) and preprepared soups and soup mixes. Definitely not the healthy meals I try to prepare. Second -- There are multiple variations of the same recipe. How many times can you vary beef stew and beef vegetable soup and still call it a different recipe? This book does it about 50 times. Third -- the table of contents isn't detailed enough. You have to sift through 200 main dish recipes at a time. It would have been nice if there was some grouping such as 'beef main dishes, chicken main dishes, vegetarian main dises' etc. Fouth -- It could use a better overview section on the principles of slow cooking to cover such things as safety, keeping the crockpot at least 1/2 full, etc. Having said that I did go through and highlight the recipes that I would cook -- reasonble in fat and salt content. I found that there were only about 10% (excluding the repetitive ones) that I would use. Because of the 800 recipes to start with this still leaves me about 80. I tend to think of the value of a cookbook in how many recipes I get for the value. So this one ended up being 80 recipes for the cost of the book. That's not unreasonable.

Not as useful as many others, October 26, 2004
For people looking for sheer quantity of recipes, this may be a great book.

For me, however, there were two significant problems with the book. First, no attempt seems to have been made to standardize the size of the recipes -- and you can't tell from reading the recipe whether it was developed for a 2 qt crock-pot or an 8-qt one. Other crock-pot cookbooks I've found have all recipes calculated for one size (often the common 4-5 qt crock-pot), and those using other sizes know to multiply or divide as need be. Another aspect that seemed missing in this cookbook was an introductory section with general crock-pot cooking tips -- since so many crock-pot cookers are students, young adults, or those just unfamiliar with cookery, this can be incredibly important.

Two books I'd recommend instead of this one are "Betty Crocker's Easy Slow Cooker Dinners" and "Crock-It" -- the former will appeal more to those wanting to cook dishes from a diverse range of cultures, the latter will appeal to those looking to use the crock-pot for homestyle casseroles and the like.

I've been looking all over for this book!!, August 16, 2001
Okay, first our old slow cooker died. We hardly noticed since we only used it a few of times a month. Then summer hit and we got busy with work and suddenly we realized we were eating from the snack food section of the 'One Stop' way too much. Beef jerky should not be considered an 'entree'. We bought a new cooker, then started thinking we really needed a good slow cooker cook book to go with it. I bought two books. One is good. This one is GREAT! Lots of recipes with affordable, everyday ingredients that I can pronounce! And better still, the kids will eat what comes out of the slow cooker every time. . . no complaints!!!

Throw out your other slow cooker cook books!, November 19, 2001
This is by far, the best crock pot cook book that I have ever come across. The recipes are from real cooks - like you and me - and are extremely delicious and easy to prepare.

What I liked best about this book is that a lot of recipes have a couple of different versions. For example, when I made rice pudding, I had about five different recipes to choose from. Some had cooked rice, some didn't, some involved putting a dish inside the crock pot and some required different amounts of involvement from me.

The best thing about this book is that almost every recipe in it I can actually picture myself making. None of the recipes are too difficult or too fancy. Plus, the book is a great bargain because it offers more recipes for a lower price than the other slow cooker cook books.

This would make a great gift (with a brand new crock pot!) for a college student or someone getting married!

The cookbook that makes you look like Betty Crocker!, June 16, 2001
This is a FANTASTIC cookbook! There are recipes for all kinds of dishes; dips, soups, main dishes, desserts, etc. So many recipes are easy - great for any mom/cook with not enough hands or time to get things done. A few things that I like best about this book are 1)most recipes are comprised of ingredients I already have on-hand or can use for more than one recipe, and 2)many recipes have multiple versions so I can choose the preparation or ingredients that work best for me. The PERFECT gift for a shower, housewarming, birthday, etc. So easy that even the worst cook can whip up something impressive! A must-have for every kitchen! ... Read more

Editorial Review

The first cookbook from the author of Gluten-Free Girl and GlutenFreeGirl.com

Combining tempting recipes with an authentic love story, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef is a narrative cookbook for anyone who loves food.

A must-have for those who need to eat gluten-free, this cookbook offers irresistible stories and plenty of mouth-watering meals. From the authors of the much-loved food blog, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, the book includes evocative photos, cooking techniques, and 100 chef-tested recipes that are sure to give joy in the belly.

• Illustrates the working day of a talented chef and what he does to put delicious food on the plate
• Contains great-tasting recipes that everyone can cook and eat
• Meant to be read cover to cover

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef inspires anyone who has to eat gluten-free to say yes to the food he or she can eat. ... Read more

Reviews

This would be Julie and Julia copy cat is going to make all 100 recipes, September 14, 2010
I have read this book cover to cover, twice. Captivating story, stunning photos and a plethora of recipes for me to work my way though this fall. Well, maybe not all this fall, after all I am going to heed the advice about cooking in season. I am going to be a Julie and Julia copy cat and work my way though each of the recipes. O.K. maybe not the smoked salt carmel ice cream which seems really overwhelming and intimidating. I love how the book approaches the idea of cooking, connecting with people and providing joy to the belly. While I consider myself to be a very good cook I still found the tips and suggestions through out the book very helpful. For example, how to season food with salt and pepper to evenly distribute the seasoning, why you should use fresh herbs instead of dry, how to braise, and finally a recipe for veal stock that I think I can manage. Offering variations for each recipe is also a wonderful sidebar to each recipe. Most importantly I find the writing and the stories, especially the stories of each recipe compelling and satisfying. I love knowing the history behind the food, how the recipe evolved. I am drawn to long, slow days in the kitchen and this cookbook is going to carry me far in expanding my kitchen skills. At the expense of being critical of other gluten-free cookbooks it is finally time for classy, upscale approach with a hardback cookbook that earns distinction. Finally, here it is!

This one earns a permanent spot on my Counter!, September 14, 2010
I pre-ordered this book so that I could be one of the first to receive it. I just got it yesterday and I must say that it is not often that i can curl up and read an entire book, cover to cover, in just one sitting (especially with two young children running around). But that is exactly what happened with this book. The beautiful recipes have been intertwined with an amazing love story - i could not stop reading it. Shauna and Danny Ahern's love story reminds me very much of my own (and of my parents). The story was as addicting as the recipes and images themselves. And with Fall descending on us, many of these recipes look so enticing, especially the crusty bread recipe, the braising recipes, and a particularly fascinating cassoulet that I am really excited to try for a Sunday night dinner!

I have made many of the amazing recipes from The Gluten Free Girl's blog in the past, so I know each of the recipes in this cookbook have been perfected and tested with the same total love that the recipes on her blog recieve! Bottom Line: This one has earned the coveted #1 position in my cookbook holder on my counter...

A gem!!!, September 14, 2010
I love reading Shauna's blog because it is real and genuine. Life is messy sometimes, but how we bounce back and keep going speaks to our character. These two individuals have lived and taken risks, have experienced pain on many levels, and have also experienced amazing amounts of joy. Watching the vimeo videos with the Chef and Shauna gives you a hint to their love and adoration for each other, for food, and for living.

My copy arrived yesterday and I could hardly put it down. This is a cookbook that is more intimate than your typical cookbook- you get another peek into the lives of these two incredible people, and it is a gift. Say YES to this cookbook and YES to life. The tips from The Chef are helpful, and it is written in a way that is easy to understand (and actually use!!)

An Every Person Book, September 15, 2010
Both my husband and I eat gluten free and we have for almost a decade. Frankly until Shauna's first book arrived (Gluten Free Girl), we were working very hard to bake and cook gluten free with little inspiration. I think I've gifted that first book to more than a dozen people by now because it is that good. This one is no different and even more inspiring. I've been able to have a ringside seat watching the two of them create this book by keeping up on their blog, and I've tried many of the recipes that are now in the book. I cannot thank them enough for helping bring gluten free baking and cooking into the mainstream. Sure, there are folks who also need gluten free-diary free- vegan, but many of us love butter, and dairy and do fine with it. I wanted to bake gluten free, not taste free. And if you are thinking that you want to do the same, then buy this book. And follow their blog. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone for making this book possible. And now since Lu is getting to the right age, how about a gluten free kids cookbook? Just saying....

Worth the Wait!, September 13, 2010
I usually don't bother to write reviews on Amazon. I am gluten free (I don't believe I have full blown celiac sprue, but I am definitely sensitive to it). I've been following Shauna's blog since she started it and I follow both the Ahearns on Twitter. I pre-ordered this book as soon as Shauna mentioned it on her blog. It came today and I've already read it (and dog eared most of the recipes). I fully expect it to be covered in sauce splotches and dustings of flour soon. It will not sit all pristine on my cookbook shelf pretty, but unused. The language is beautiful and evocative (what I would expect from Shauna), the pictures are gorgeous and the recipes are clear and seem easy to follow (I've been cooking for awhile, so I can't speak to how a beginner would fare). I especially like the way Danny broke the instructions down into steps, like forming the crumble, preheating the oven, preparing the filling, baking the crumble. It helps keeps things organized and since I'm prone to having 2 or 3 dishes going at once, it's really great. I also appreciate the sidebars with substitution suggestions, since I am lactose intolerant and keep kosher, which means beef tenderloin is out. I am excited to start cooking from this book.

As far as the language goes (and that's the main reason I'm bothering to write this review), yes, there's some swearing. Meh. It's in the dialogue and it isn't gratuitous. Some people swear and some people don't - to each his own. I am not bothered by it and would not recommend anyone pass up this book just because of words some find offensive.

An extraordinary contribution, September 15, 2010
Shauna James Ahern and her husband chef Danny Ahern have made an extraordinary contribution to the world of gluten-free cooking and to the wider world of food lovers as well. As someone who has cooked gluten-free for 30 years, with 3 Celiacs in the family, I am so grateful for the delicious food, the innovative recipes, and the loving voices of the authors. It is an insightful book about becoming a family and learning to live, love and cook together. Of course our family needed three copies for each gluten-free household, and we are thrilled that they have arrived!

Amazing!, September 15, 2010
This is an incredible haute cusine cookbook- even if you are not a celiac or have a gluten intolerance, it is a must for every kitchen!!! Fabulous details and pictures!!!

long awaited and worth it!, September 13, 2010
My family and I are mostly gluten-free, loved Shauna's first book and love this one. I hope the previous review does not put anyone off because this is a wonderful book. Anyone who is offended is now fore-warned and is free to read many other lesser cookbooks which speak to the gluten-free life (and the bountiful life of the Northwest) - but you will be missing the best! Shauna is a beautiful, creative spirit who has enriched my life and countless others with her honest and sensitive writing about her own journey (check out her blog - [...]

EXCELLENT!, September 15, 2010
I've read one of Shauna's books, and it was excellent! She is heart warming, captivating and inspiring! Anyone who has Celiac Disease will be able to relate to her experiences and her challenges. The cookbook will be a sure hit for anyone eating gluten free or cooking for someone who is. They will be thrilled! Sometimes her recipes are challenging; but she is awesome! She's constantly striving to feed us well! You can tell she has a heart of gold. She inspires me to be better in the kitchen! She's a blessing!

One of the best gluten free cookbooks ever!, September 15, 2010
Shauna & Danny are incredible people! This amazing cookbook is about so much more than gluten free recipes. It's about real cooking in your kitchen. It's about learning techniques & using new ingredients. It's about being willing to experiment with gluten free baking if you've never tried! Shauna's warm & humble voice shines through this love story that is so elegantly written it's hard to put down. Danny's calm guidance through each and every recipe is encouraging and makes you want to cook. Danny wants you to cook. You will learn so many things about what it means to show love through your cooking & baking skills and it's just a good story. Buy the book. Give it to friends & neighbors. Hold a Gluten Free Girl & Chef Cookoff one afternoon with friends and try the recipes. Thank you once again Shauna & Danny for making my gluten free kitchen a glorious place to be! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Recipes for easily accessible, fresh-from-the-garden Italian food from a Calabrian native and "bountiful good cook" (The Atlantic).At the tip of Italy's "boot" lies Calabria. It is a beautiful, mountainous region populated by fishermen and small farmers. Rosetta Costantino grew up in this rugged landscape—her father a shepherd and wine maker and her mother his tireless assistant.

When her family immigrated to California, they re-created a little Calabria on their property, cooking with eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers from their garden, fresh ricotta made from scratch, and pasta fashioned by hand. A frugal people, Calabrians are master preservers, transforming fresh figs into jam, canning fresh tuna in oil, and sun-drying peppers for the winter.Now Rosetta shares her family's story and introduces readers to the fiery simplicity of Calabrian food. The first cookbook of a little-known region of Italy, My Calabria celebrates the richness of the region's landscape and the allure of its cuisine. This is a cookbook for our time: a reminder of how ingenious and resourceful cooks can create a gorgeous local cuisine. 100 color photographs ... Read more

Reviews

Finally! An authentic & excellent cookbook for Calabrian cooking., October 27, 2010
I've been searching for a cookbook and travel book with Calabrian roots for so long. Many books are 'Southern Italian' but only delve into the well-known Neopolitan recipies. I am a first-generation Italian-American, whose parents immigrated from Calabria so when I saw these recipes in print I almost cried. Very authentic and fun to see the dialect in there too. The history, stories, recipes and photos are outstanding. Thank you for writing this book. Finalmente! p.s. note to author on the 'Peaches' dessert, you can get Alkermes liquor flavoring in the states, Torre Products in New York carries it. I believe they are in Brooklyn and ship. And if you are reading this wondering if you should buy this book, don't hesitate. I bought a few copies for family to pass on our roots and recipes.

Authentic, comprehensive, and simply gorgeous, November 8, 2010
As some background, I am an American of Calabrian heritage who has been living in my ancestors' village in Calabria since 2003; I received this book for review on my blog, Bleeding Espresso.

*

Rosetta Costantino was born in Calabria and moved to America with her family at age 14. Although they left behind much of what was familiar to them, the Costantino family never lost their culinary traditions -- and now Rosetta shares them with us in My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy's Undiscovered South.

When paging through My Calabria, you feel like an honorary member of the family at the table as you learn about how Rosetta's father recreated their Calabrian garden in Oakland, California; how various members of the family make the same dish; and also the 11 ingredients every Calabrian pantry should have on hand.

Rosetta also shares information about the historical and cultural influences on Calabrian cuisine and lifestyle, so aside from being a wonderful collection of recipes (150) that includes appetizers through dessert, My Calabria is simply a wonderful resource book on the region -- you're getting so much more than a cookbook here.

The recipes themselves are authentic as they come and easy to follow -- one of the best things about Calabrian cooking is that it's user-friendly as it uses so few ingredients -- and the book is just gorgeous. There are plenty of full-page and other sized color photos throughout, not only of recipes but also of various sights from around Calabria.

From a personal standpoint as someone who has been making Calabrian food ever since I could cook -- first from my grandmother's recipes and now also from my mother-in-law's -- I give this book five very full espresso cups out of five. Rosetta is a wonderful tour guide through this region's food, history, and culture, and I highly recommend My Calabria for anyone who is interested in Calabria, southern Italy, or southern Italian cuisine.

Fabulous Cookbook from one of Italy's Most Rustic Regions, November 3, 2010
I've lived in Calabria since 2006 and was sent a copy of My Calabria to review for my website, My Bella Vita. I wrote a review there, as well as a few other sites, but since people come here to buy the book-and I always read Amazon reviews before making my own purchases-I wanted to write something here, as well.

It is hard to find reliable English-language information on Calabria and I loved that this cookbook was more than just a collection of recipes. Yes, it is chock-full of authentic Calabrian cooking, homemade pasta, sauces, meat, fish, veggie and dessert dishes, but it also has the history of various places in Calabria, bright, vivid photos (of more than just the food) and it is written in an easy, conversational tone that makes for easy reading.

If you are an Italophile or fan of Calabria, you'll enjoy this cookbook.

Great Authentic Italian Cookbook, November 20, 2010
Having travelled to Italy a few times taking cooking classes and experiencing authentic Italian Food, I am often disappointed when I look through/buy Italian cookbooks because the recipes are so "Americano"...This cookbook is anything but and I consider it one of the best cookbooks I have ever purchased. In this book, you are getting the true deal-the author emigrated from Italy to America when she was 14, and she and her family have made a little Italy in their California homes-canning, preserving and growing large gardens that are so common in Calabria (the pictures are in the book and are just delightful!) The author also gives history and insight into the Italian and Calabrian culture, and many of her recipes I recognise from my time in Calabria earlier this year, when I spent time with an Italian family learning the recipes of the region.
There are many many recipes-from preserving, appetizers, primi, secondi, contorni and dolce. Many of them contain just a few ingredients that are not difficult to find at your local grocery store or supermarket and are very easy to make!
And that is the beauty of Italian food-simple and delicious-not the cheesey, greasy and meatball laden sauces that somehow take over most Italian menus! If you are looking for an AUTHENTIC Italian cookbook, this is it. On a side note, the author conducts cooking classes in California and I am seriously thinking of making a trip to partake!

The stories are as good as the recipes, November 4, 2010
You will learn wonderful recipes from Calabria, and you will also learn a lot about the people of Calabria, through her wonderful stories and introductions to topics.
She has taken the real Calabrese recipes and translated them into terms that we can measure and deal with in the US. My favorite cookbook now!

A cook's tour, December 6, 2010
A Calabrian native, Costantino begins this big, glossy, colorful book of traditional recipes with a tour of the region and its essential foods, a bit of family history and key ingredients of the Calabrian kitchen. Luscious photos accompany many dishes.

Organization is by course and each recipe includes background, serving suggestions and wine suggestions. Baked Fresh Anchovies with Breadcrumbs, for instance (Tortiera d'Alici) includes directions for cleaning the anchovies (or sardines) and recommends serving this "savory cake" with a salad or vegetable, preceded by pasta with a seafood or vegetable sauce.

Costantino includes a whole chapter of home-preserved pantry items, from sun-dried zucchini or sweet red peppers to various oil-cured vegetables and fish to home-made paprika and candied orange peel.

There are recipes for fresh homemade ricotta, rennet and pasta, fennel sausage, bread starter, pizza doughs and Calabrian Rusks. There's Chicken Soup with Ricotta Dumplings, Ribbon Pasta with Chickpeas, Risotto with Fresh Mussels, Pork Meatballs in Tomato Sauce, Potatoes Layered with Artichokes and Breadcrumbs, Sweet Christmas Ravioli with Chestnut and Chocolate Filling.

This is the real thing, mouth-wateringly authentic, with a proud joy in the time-honored, leisurely work.

ALMOST AS GOOD AS A VISIT TO THAT STORIED REGION, November 30, 2010

Italian food lovers will rejoice, those who yearn for the flavors of Calabria will be ecstatic with MY CALABRIA, the first cookbook devoted entirely to the distinctive cuisine of that unique rather remote region. As author Costantino notes in her Introduction, "At the southern tip of the peninsula lies an Italy that few people know: a land of fragrant citron and bergamot orchards, ancient olive groves and terraced vineyards; a place of persistent tradition and ritual, where the annual swordfish catch and hot pepper harvest are celebrated with elaborate festivals, and where women still roll pasta dough around knitting needles."

Yes, this is the area that popular cooking teacher Costantino knows and loves; it is where she was born and raised, nourished with homegrown, homemade food. Her knowledge of and affection for Calabria is evident on every one of this book's 416 pages and in every gorgeous full color photograph.

Beginning with Antipasti and Pasta we're treated to a cornucopia of hearty dishes under the headings of Soup, Rice, Polenta; Bread, Cheese, Eggs; Seafood; Meat; Vegetables; and Desserts. Each recipe mirrors the Calabrian's need to create nourishing and delicious food from what they grew or caught. The Desserts, many of which are a part of religious celebrations, are especially appealing.

While MY CALABRIA would stand alone as an outstanding cookbook it is so much more - it is a delightful armchair tour of the region (one we've enjoyed over and over again), a listing of places to stay and eat, and a comprehensive ingredient resource guide. Costantino finds her Peperoni Cruschi and Pecorino di Toscano at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.zingermans.com). We followed her lead and have thoroughly enjoyed the Peperoni Cruschi, made from the peppers in which the Calabrians take such pride, and the Pecorino di Toscano, which we grated to garnish our pasta.

MY CALABRIA is both a celebration of rustic family cooking and a tribute to the traditional ways of preparing food - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Recipes, Culinary Tour and History All in One Package, November 16, 2010
This is a fantatic cookbook. I have to admit I am a bit biased since we live in the San Franciso Bay area and have had a chance to get to know Rosetta and some of her family (including her mother, Maria, who is a key character in the book) and to take some of her cooking classes. Plus I have long respected the writing of Rosetta's collaborator, Janet Fletcher, and her knack of putting food topics in a geographical and historic context.

You won't go wrong with this cookbook. I have had a chance to read through it and, in contract to many cookbooks, actually think I will be trying most of the recipes. Like many of the regions of Italy, Calabria has some traditional dishes that are not found elsewhere, although it has seemed to me that if anything Calabria's cuisine is even more unique than that of other regions. If you like to learn about a place through the food people actually eat there, this is the book for you. Hmmm, shouldn't have written this so close to lunch time.... ... Read more

Editorial Review

Kid's Baking teaches basic baking techniques through fun, delicious recipes that range from easy to challenging making this a cookbook they can use for many years. Kids are taught the importance of being organized, how to cream butter and sugar, how to whip egg whites, how to peel and core fruit, and how to tell when foods are done baking. Baking terms are defined in a glossary for easy reference.A visual glossary of basic baking equipment is also included. Kid's Baking encourages exploration in the kitchen and teaches kids skills they will never outgrow. ... Read more

Reviews

Written for kids, on their level, for their enjoyment, October 17, 2004
Not your average cookbook for children, Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking provides a basic course in baking written just for kids. The instructions are written at a child's reading level and include how to measure ingredients, correctly break eggs, beating ingredients, testing for doneness, etc. Even all the photographs are children doing the tasks.

The recipes were obviously chosen to be ones that children like to eat and include cookies, breads, pretzels, pizza, pies, and cake. Williams-Sonoma Kid's Baking is a great introduction to cooking that children can read their self and is highly recommended.

Love it! Love it! oh- and the kids do too!, March 28, 2006
I traveled to a few different stores to puruse their cookbooks for kids. My children (3 & 5) love to cook and bake with me, and I was looking for a book with good pictures/illustrations, and recipes that were easy to make with them, but also good to eat. This one, found in a kitchen store, fit the bill. The pictures are lucious and plentiful and I can easily invite the children to pick a recipe by looking through the cookbook themselves at the pictures. The recipes are well written, and have render so far great results. I really like how that offer up a list of all items needed at the begining of each recipe. Great book for anyone wanting to bake with their young children or want to give a book to an older child ready to try on their own.

Wonderful Cookbook for Kids of all ages, October 30, 2005
I just bought this book for my 3 year old and I to cook. This a wonderful book with excellent recipes and beautiful pictures. The book is pleasant and simple to understand. It provides nice photos of ingredients and shows kids doing the tasks. I love the simple, yet delicious recipes and it doesn't rush through the recipes -- gives lots of photos so your child can learn and get excited about cooking. I am buying more for my friends with children -- a wonderful gift!

A Nice Start to Baking, January 9, 2007
The instructions in this book are clear, and the recipes are good. We've made about 4 recipes in this since we got it for Christmas. The instructions are written so my 6 year-old daughter can understand them, and (with some help) she can understand the recipe. Many of the recipes are made with ingredients that are either around the house or easy to get. I recommend this as a starter book for kids who enjoy being in the kitchen.

Great cookbook for kids! Highly reccommended!, August 29, 2009
I would highly reccommend this book for anyone who has kids who like to bake. I gave it to a little girl whom I spend a lot of time with (don't have my own kids so I'll often spend time being "the fun grownup" with other people's kids). It was a birthday gift: I got her this book and some cookie cutters because she always wants to make cookies when I see her.
I love how it's actually at the kids' level, unlike some "kids" cookbooks. It shows them how to do everything they need to do for baking at their level, such as chopping fruit, creaming butter and sugar, kneading bread, and greasing pans. It doesn't show the advanced techniques that they don't need to know and that could put them in danger (e.g. making a sugar syrup or using a water bath). And it tells them that they need to ask an adult's help with some things.
The only thing I'd like to see different is there is no note to identify the steps that require adult help. I would like to see these steps in a different color or with a star next to them or something. That would make it easier for the kids to know when to ask for help.

Great kids cookbook, April 21, 2008
I bought this for my 12-year old grandson who enjoys cooking. He loved it! The first thing he tried to make was the pizza with the fresh yeasty dough. It turned out great! This is a wonderful book for your kids.

Worth the price simply for that pretzel recipe!, September 5, 2010
This cookbook is great for kids, and encourages them to work with their parents. The pictures give a good idea of what baker should be doing. However, when we try any recipes from the bread section, their pictures of dough never match ours. The pretzel recipe was to DIE FOR! I think I ate 4 of them. They taste just like the ones sold at the mall! The pizza dough recipe wasn't bad either. The butter milk biscuts turned out light and fluffy. We haven't made all the recipes yet, but so far the only flop we've had was the braided egg bread. I'm the mom here and I was having serious issues with that recipe. We ended up throwing away the dough and if I remember correctly, eating a box of oreos instade. But this book is worth it for that pretzel recipe alone.

Great easy recipes, February 19, 2009
The book has great recipes which are easy to follow and fun to do with the kids.
We love it and since we got it we have been baking a lot :-)
I highly recommend it.

kids baking, January 8, 2009
I bought these for my 9 yr old grandaughter. She loves them and has already made several recipes. The spiral binding makes it easy to keep the book open, and the instructions and pictures make it easy for her to follow and cook with little assistance.

Great product with easy recipes kids want to cook., January 17, 2009
My 12 yr old daughter received this cookbook for Christmas since she has shown an interest in baking. This book is perfect for the baker her age. There are great visual aids and verbal descriptions for understanding cooking processes. The recipes are good too. She can make these recipes with very little help (if any) from me. At first I thought it might be a little junvenile for her. I was wrong. I only wish there was a section on cleaning the dishes after she is done. :) ... Read more

Editorial Review

In her first ever boxed set, bestselling cookbook author and Food Network star Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, unites her initial three titles in one beautiful package.
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Here are the books that started it all for Ina Garten, who turned a passion for food into a successful specialty food store in the Hamptons and is now beloved by millions for her Barefoot Contessa television show and cookbooks. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina's first book, has all of the fabulous, easy recipes that won Ina a loyal following at her retail shop, including Perfect Roast Chicken, French Potato Salad, and those irresistible Coconut Cupcakes. In Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ina shares her very best menus, divided by season, for fuss-free yet gorgeous entertaining, from a summer garden lunch for eight to an intimate fireside dinner for two. Barefoot Contessa Family Style is full of crowd-pleasers you'll make again and again, like roasted asparagus showered with freshly grated Parmesan and a French toast made with challah and just the right amount of grated orange zest and pure vanilla extract to make it sing.�
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Together, these three titles form a timeless collection perfect for every home cook, whether accomplished or amateur, and for every occasion, whether a weeknight dinner with family or a larger, more festive gathering. With stunning photography and Ina's helpful tips, this boxed set makes the perfect gift for those who love to cook. ... Read more

Reviews

Contessa Cookbook, December 7, 2010
Great book I receive as a gift.
Contessa cookbook provides a variety of recipes that will please almost any appetite.
I recommended,Any cook would appreciate the addition of this cookbook to his collection.

INA IS UNIQUE - SO IS THE CONTESSA COOKBOOK, December 21, 2010



For those who haven't had the pleasure of shopping at Ina Garten's specialty food store in the Hamptons The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook delivers - literally. Some 160 gorgeous photos plus Ina's favorite recipes fill the 252 pages of this indispensable kitchen reference
As Martha Stewart writes in her Foreword, Ina is unique. "There is a freshness in cooking, a total lack of finickiness, a reliance on the freshest and best, and a casualness that I know will be appealing to everyone who uses her book." How true!
Ina stresses freshness, noting that after several weeks in Provence where she found radishes and carrots with "soil still clinging to them," she determined to base her cooking on ingredients from local sources. A lesson for us all.
Hosting a cocktail party, she decided, was not much fun if she spent all of her time running back and forth to the kitchen to get hot hors d'oeuvres out of the oven. So, she does everything possible to be sure that she does not leave the room. For instance, she has a table with all the drink fixings on it, and appetizers that can be served at room temperature so everything is either out or ready to pass when the first guest arrives. Thus we find common sense and uncommonly good appetizers from Roasted Eggplant spread to Guacamole to Smoked Salmon Sandwiches.
Her soups are splendid, most of them starting with sauteed onions "to give a sweet, rich flavor to the stock." Parker's Split Pea Soup, which Steven Spielberg said tasted just like his mother's, is rich, hearty and beautifully presented topped either with toasted croutons or diced smoked ham.
The joy Ina finds in cooking is evident in all of her dishes. She's a cook who makes simple food very, very special.
Highly recommended. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Since the original publication of the MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK in 1977, author Mollie Katzen has been leading the revolution in American eating habits. MOOSEWOOD was listed by the New York Times as one of the top ten best-selling cookbooks of all time, and no wonder. With her sophisticated, easy-to-prepare vegetarian recipes, charming drawings, and hand lettering, Mollie introduced millions to a more healthful, natural way of cooking. This new edition--a companion volume to her latest TV series--preserves the major revisions and additions that Mollie made in 1992, accented with new recipes from Mollie’s current repertoire and 16 pages of beautiful full-color food photography. You’ve seen MOOSEWOOD before, but you’ve never seen it quite like this! ... Read more

Reviews

best cookbook for those who love to eat and hate to cook!, June 29, 2000
Absolutely fabulous recipies that are extremely simple to prepare. The names of the vegetarian dishes are inventive and somehow make the recipes really come to life.

If you're like me, you like eating healthy and great-tasting food, but dread food preparation time and following hundreds of directions and end up missing a crucial step that ruins the dish. Some people are born with a gift for whipping up recipes from their own imaginations, but I'm not one of those people.

The only reason this book doesn't get 5 stars from me is that it should have been spiral bound. It's almost impossible to keep the book open on a kitchen counter unless you put heavy objects (very heavy) on both pages or you go an buy one of those gizmos that hold books open.

Nonetheless, this is my favorite recipe book. My kitchen is full of them, but this is the only one that almost never has any dust on it like the other ones. :-)

Lighter versions of the same wonderful recipes--and more!, February 16, 2000
First published in 1977, this classic vegetarian cookbook still has the same charm and warmth of hand-drawn pictures and handwritten recipes, and now it also has bright color photos interspersed among the familiar pages. There are 30 new recipes, and many of the old ones have been rewritten, since, as the author describes, her cooking has become "more streamlined in preparation-and lighter in `weight' while richer in flavor" over the years. The oil content has been pared down and only 15 recipes include eggs. Tips for "dairy reduction or substitutions" are included, so this version will probably appeal more to the vegan set. Also included: pantry notes, recommended tools for the kitchen and a table of conversions.

Recipes have TONS of variety, simple preparation., June 25, 1998
I purchased the Moosewood Cookbook last summer, during one of my many attempts to revive the "health" level of my diet. I'm so glad that I added this book to my collection.

The recipes use a wide variety of ingredients. So, you'll never get bored if you cook from it on a regular basis. The variety in the collection also allows you to make use of fruits and vegetables that are in season throughout the year.

The time required to prepare most dishes is under an hour. This makes the book ideal for weekday cooking, a time when most of us should be eating better, but don't due to busy schedules. I made the vegetable chowder for dinner last night. I needed about an hour total. The result was a delicious, healthy, lowfat meal in a bowl. Perfect for a hectic Wednesday.

Finally, I'd like to say that everything I've cooked from this book has tasted FABULOUS! I haven't missed the fat. I love the fresh ingredients, particulary the use of herbs. And I love the fact that I'm eating healty food that also tastes wonderful.

Hats off to Mollie Katzen and the Moosewood crew. This book is a godsend.

Leaner cuisine than the original, but not as tasty . . ., January 3, 2004
This cookbook might be a good introduction to vegetarian cooking, but I prefer the "old" version of this cookbook, although that one was a bit heavy on more fattening ingredients (cheeses, for example). The "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home" might be a better choice for someone who doesn't already have a Moosewood Cookbook, or who is looking for a beginner vegetarian cookbook. Still, it's worth having on your cookbook shelf if you don't have the original version, and already have started your veg cookbook collection with other cookbooks.

More inventive recipes from Mollie Katzen, June 30, 2000
I don't like to cook. It bugs me. But I love to eat. I'm a strict vegan, and the only one in my family, so its hard to find good food to eat. To be honest, I don't like tofu much more than the average schmo, and I like to eat entrees that actually has flavor, not something like a slimy "healthy" greens salad you'd be served on an airplane. If you can relate to me, you can appreciate the New Moosewood Cookbook. The recipes in this book are meatless and pretty low-fat, but I'm sure you can add something meat-based to them if you wanted to. The recipes are simple, and they taste good. They are recipes you wouldn't mind giving up so time to make. One of my favourites was the Lentil-Bulgar salad. Instead of the refrigerated tabouli like version, I just ate it fresh and warm. It was so good I scarfed it all in about two days, a total of 12 hours, and I made enough for the average household. Lentil-Bulgar Salad and the other recipes in the book are that good. Even non-vegetarians enjoy her recipes. Thank you, Mollie.

Not the wonderful old version - everything is changed for the worst., April 25, 2008
I loved the original Moosewood cookbook. I had borrowed it from a friend and cooked with it often. When I bought the new version, I was quite surprised at the changes in the recipes. The recipes had lowered the fat and upped the sugar content. That's good you might say - well I didn't know too many fat vegetarians in the 70's. Good fats from eggs butter and cream - satisfy your hunger plus give you good nutrition. Sorry to say these revised recipes are just not as good as the old ones. I am very disappointed in this version. Plus the new photos take out the charm of the book.
I do recommend buying the original version used if you can find it.

Excellent!, December 22, 1999
A friend gave me this cookbook six years ago and I have tried nearly every recipe. This began my collection of vegetarian cookbooks, namely those from this author (Mollie Katzen) and the Moosewood Collective. I highly recommend it--it is easy to follow, has a lot of great information about ingredients, and the recipes all are delicious! The only drawback is that some of the recipes are time-consuming, but each recipe has an estimated time for its preparation and cooking. This is very helpful, especially if you are cooking for company. If you are vegetarian, this is a MUST for your collection. If you are not, it's a great cookbook to have anyway. Treating non-vegetarian friends to these recipes has often resulted in their reconsidering their eating habits!

Fantastic, May 8, 2000
I've had this cook book for about 9 years now and have cooked nearly every recipe in it. It's easy to follow and the recipes are delicious. Each recipe has an estimated preparation and cooking time which is a great way to gauge the intensity of what you're in for before you start. I'd highly reccomend this book for beginers as well as more advanced cooks. Katzan explains each step in clear and easy langauge and also adds hints for where to obtain some of the more exotic ingredients. I've gotten so used to cooking some of the dishes that I've begun experimenting by substituting ingredients and seasonings. This cookbook includes dairy and eggs so it's not for vegans, but if you are ok with dairy and eggs then it's a good source.

Even an omnivore can love this book, December 27, 1999
Look, all I wanted to do was start eating more vegetables, and this book is getting me to do just that. All the recipes are easy; very few call for ingredients I can't find in rural Nebraska; and, most importantly, everything tastes *wonderful*. Do NOT assume that only vegetarians will find this book useful.

How I Learned to Cook, March 4, 2005
In college, I was a summer intern at an international school and one of my jobs was to prepare lunch for 30+ people who came from all over the world. I wasn't going to just put out cold cuts, so I found this cookbook on a shelf in the kitchen. I recognized it because my mother often used it and so I knew the recipes were vegetarian-friendly and healthy. But I had no clue how to cook (the only thing I knew how to do was to boil water for pasta)! That summer, I made the ratatouille, spanikopita, carrot-mushroom loaf, gazpacho...basically most of the dishes! This book is fabulous; a great step-by-step guide. It is very basic and the directions are clear and simple. Everything is spelled out. I had no clue how to cook and I learned by using this book. At the end of the summer, the head of the school toasted me for "the best lunches in the history of the program." Thank you Moosewood! ps: and these dishes pleased everyone from France, Japan, Russia, Bulgaria, and Italy! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Rachel Saunders's The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook is the definitive jam and marmalade cookbook of the 21st century. In addition to offering more than 100 original jam, jelly, and marmalade recipes, master jam artisan Rachel Saunders shares all of her technical preserving knowledge, as well as her unique jam maker's perspective on fruit.

Rachel combines nostalgia with a modern, sustainable approach to creating fresh and vividly flavored preserves. The recipes are divided into chapters based on the seasons, and each chapter is organized by month and type of fruit. Sample recipes include Strawberry-Marsala Jam with Rosemary, Italian Lemon Marmalade, and Early Girl Tomato Jam.

More than 100 stunning photographs by Sara Remington illustrate each part of the preserving process--from the different stages of cooking to testing for doneness to the final canning stage. Each recipe includes an approximate yield and a suggested shelf life, in addition to details on recommended equipment, including Rachel's beloved copper jam pot. The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook gives all measurements by weight rather than volume, making it the most exact and reliable American jam book on the market. More than 20 recipe variations are provided, along with detailed information about common and rare fruits, hybrid varieties, and flavor combinations. Nothing is left to chance or overlooked; Rachel explains every aspect of jam and marmalade making in step-by-step detail. The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook is a one-of-a-kind, must-have resource for home and professional cooks alike. ... Read more

Reviews

A Very Pleasant Suprise!, September 18, 2010
My wife and I just got our copy. We are both cooks and we thought this might be interesting. Well, it's much more than I anticipated. First of all it's one of the most beautiful food books I've seen. It has every recipe you might need for working with fruit as well as some approaches I had never even considered. But it's also filled with facts and information that reads more like a book than just food recipes. It's the type of book we'll enjoy curling up with on a winter's evening long after there's no fruit left to process.

A DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR PREPARING JAMS AND MARMALADES, October 24, 2010

Who can resist the honeyed taste of jam? Certainly not one of Lewis Carroll's characters who laments, "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today." Not to worry with the wonderfully comprehensive guide, THE BLUE CHAIR JAM COOKBOOK, we can have jam every day in an apparent endless variety of that sweet spread. Whether your preference is for a plain lemon marmalade or strawberry jam you'll find variations of these and so much more in this 364 page tribute to preserves.

Founder of the Bay Area jam company Blue Chair Fruit Rachel Saunders has a passion for fruit which is evidenced in every recipe and mouth-watering illustration in this remarkable collection. She presents a loving, detailed discussions of various fruits, a technical section and, of course, her incomparable original recipes organized around the seasons of the year.

Okay, I admit it - initially I was intimidated by the thought of making jam. But soon happy memories of my grandmother's kitchen filled my mind, and I could see her stove covered with kettles and glistening jars of jams covering the kitchen counter. This is one of those "If I can do it, anyone can" comments: For me, the directions found with the recipes are step-by-step clear and precise. As in the recipe for Early Summer Peach Jam with Green Almonds, which begins with Day 1 and the preparation of the peaches. (To be placed in sugar and lemon juice and left to macerate in the refrigerator overnight.) Then on to Day 2 and the final steps. She specifies the type of utensils to be used ("...a copper preserving pan or two smaller rnonreactive kettles.") No need for guess-work when following her directions - even individual yields and shelf life are included. Clearly, this is someone who is dedicated to her craft and is happy to share the joy and fun of jam preparation with all.

While certainly precise in her recipes Saunders is far from a stickler for her preferences - she encourages cooks to prepare their own unique jams by following their preferences and tastes.

THE BLUE CHAIR JAM COOKBOOK is the ultimate definitive guide for preparing jam and marmalade throughout the year.

And, Blue Chair Fruit Co. is the ultimate place to find the fresh and distinctly flavored jams and marmalades prepared by Rachel and her team. We've been fortunate enough to try Damson Jam and Strawberry-Blood Orange Marmalade with Rosemary. Made from organic plums Damson Jam has a just-picked distinctive flavor and is filled with whole pieces of fruit - this is jam at its finest. The Marmalade glitters with colors of deep gold and orange slivers, while the flavor is robust, hearty, distinguished by a hint of rosemary - in a class of its own. These delights and many more may be found at www.bluechairfruit.com.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

Exceptional Book, October 20, 2010
I am a professional chef with a collection of more than 5000 cookbooks. This book easily rates in the top 10 cookbooks I own. Much more than I expected. Encyclopedic in scope and beautifully illustrated, I fully expect to see a James Beard Award sticker on next years printing.

Who knew that you did not have to boil those jelly jars, November 7, 2010

I saw the Author on the Martha Stewart Show. I was so impressed with her jelly making technique that I bought the book on Amazon after I went to the Blue Chair Jam sight and discovered that the book was not available.

I received the book in a timely manner and was surprised to find that the book was so big. Many more pages then I expected.

Who knew that you did not have to boil those jelly jars on the stove but you can use the oven. This is such a good tip.

Besides that tip, the book has the technique for making jelly and jams. This book is great for beginners but has enough recipes for the advanced jelly makers.

I am not in the stage of my life where I would make a batch of jelly so I gifted the book to my daughter who was delighted and I am confident she will try to make some jelly or jam. It was the perfect gift for her.

Be confident that I read the book before I gifted it.

Love Blue Chair Fruit Jams!, November 11, 2010
I am a huge fan of blue chair fruit, and was a frequent customer at the farmer's market in Oakland. Because I loved the jams so much I took a class on jam making from Rachel and the jams I made were amazing, which I was really excited about since I had never made jam before. I really appreciate that there is no need for additional pectin... it's just fruit, sugar, lemon, and whatever additional herb or liqueur you wish to add to for something a little extra. Sterilizing the jars in the oven made the whole process a lot easier than the traditional water bath method. I also happened to have a copper pot that I purchased in Mexico that worked great... so if you don't want to fork out the money for the french version, the Mexican copper pot worked great (Caso de cobre... traditionally for making carnitas, I believe). I am really looking forward to trying the recipes in the book!!!

Insightful, Encyclopedic!, November 18, 2010
I've been making jam, jelly, marmalade and chutney for over 50 years! Some summers I've made over 1,000 jars! But here I am, only on page 9 of this fabulous book, and already I've learned so many things I didn't know, like straining for jelly twice; once through a coarse strainer and then, only then, through the cheesecloth. Up to now, I've only done the cheesecloth strain. This ways makes so much more sense.

I'll Post-It flag the pages with useful hints and refer back to them in future.

I love this HUGE book!

Now to find some winter quince!

.Kathy, Portland, OR

Best Jams in a long time!, November 29, 2010
I love this book. After having many preserves/jam books, this one really interested me. I've made both the Concord Grape Jam and the Early Girl Tomato Jam. They are both super delicious and out of the box. I've never seen a concord jam recipe that KEEPS the grape skins in, and boy, was this the ticket! This is by far, the BEST concord grape jam I've ever tasted or made! I'm not lying here! Try it! The Tomato Jam was the bomb! Who'd think that tomato jam would be so killer??? I gave both jams to friends and neighbors, and every comment I got was on the "wow" factor! I even was told by one neighbor that I'd "miss my calling" and should make jams for a living. But I owe the credit all to the book and it's wonderfully inventive author! Buy this book. You won't regret it, and it will become one of your favorites, for sure!

Excellent Jamming Experience, October 27, 2010
After a snafu with the Kindle version of this book, which the author and publisher were very quick to address, I have had the pleasure of reviewing the hard copy of The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook. All I can say is wow; I am so inspired! This book is absolutely wonderful. It is so informative and I love the way the recipes are broken down by season. I made the Strawberry, balsamic and black pepper jam and the Pear, vanilla and elderflower jam. Both are heavenly and I love the texture and the fact that they are free of added pectin. I can't wait to make my next batch, which I think will be one of the lemon marmalades.

If you are at all interested in making your own jam, this book is a must have! The only down side is that now I really, really want a Mauviel preserving pan!

Advocates an unsafe canning method, December 17, 2010
This book advocates oven canning which is an unsafe method of home preserving. The author covers herself by stating that the items should be processed according to manufacturer directions, or by following the steps outlined on page 42 which are the directions for oven canning. I presume that by "manufacturer directions," the author means the manufacturer of the canning jars used. In most cases, that would be Jarden Home brands, makers of Ball and Kerr jars and those directions would be for water bath canning.

Many universities have done in-depth studies of safe canning methods and have found that water bath and pressure canning are the only safe methods for home preserving. Water bath canning can be used only for high-acid foods such as jams, jellies, pickles and salsa. Pressure canning can be used for either high or low acid foods.

Often, the home canner can "get away" with using unsafe methods for canning because it is possible that harmful bacteria were not present on the food to be canned. However, you cannot safely assume that harmful bacteria aren't present. MSN recently had an article about this very problem regarding homemade Christmas gifts.

The following is taken from the University of Georgia National Center for Home Preserving.

"Only boiling water or pressure canning methods are recommended for canning foods. Older methods, such as oven canning and open-kettle canning, have been discredited and can be hazardous (Equipment and Methods Not Recommended from the USDA Complete Guide to Canning 1994). The risk of botulism poisoning determines the choice of either boiling water or pressure canners for canning foods. In foods that are acid (pH 4.6 or lower) the microorganism that causes botulism cannot grow. Therefore it is safe to use a boiling water bath canner. All other foods must be canned using tested pressure canning processes (Ensuring Safe Canned Foods)."

The University of North Dakota Extension has a more in-depth discussion of why oven canning is unsafe.

Since the author advocated an unsafe canning method, I am worried that the levels of acid specified in her recipes are not sufficient for home canning so I doubt that I'll be using any of these recipes and feel that I wasted my money.

Lovely, useful book, December 13, 2010
Just got this book and it's absolutely lovely. The book itself is weighty and has beautiful pictures. My boyfriend is totally not into cookbooks but immediately admired the design of the book. Saunders' recipes are fantastic - I've had her jams at the farmer's market many times and I made my first recipe from the book this weekend (meyer lemon mandarin marmalade). Delicious! I will use this book again and again.

A couple caveats. First, as lovely as the book is, I wish the pages were more traditional cookbook pages. These are that sort of thick, pulpy paper, and if you spill on them (which, duh, happens all the time with cookbooks), they soak up the water really fast and the paper pills up as you try to blot the book clean. Also, despite what a couple other reviewers have said, this is definitely not a beginner's jam-making book. The recipes, particularly for the marmalades, are quite complex and Saunders doesn't always explain the "why" of doing things a certain way or she leaves out basic steps or safety info that you only know from having made jams before. I think I would have been terribly intimidated if this was my first exposure to the how-to of making jam. And keep in mind, her methods don't always meet USDA food safety recommendations (e.g. processing filled jars in the oven to seal them rather than in a hot water bath). ... Read more

Editorial Review

For pure pleasure, few experiences are as satisfying as a chance to explore the world’s great culinary traditions and landmarks—and here, in the latest title of our popular series of illustrated travel gift books, you’ll find a fabulous itinerary of foods, dishes, markets, and restaurants worth traveling far and wide to savor.

On the menu is the best of the best from all over the globe: Tokyo’s freshest sushi; the spiciest Creole favorites in New Orleans; the finest vintages of the great French wineries; the juiciest cuts of beef in Argentina; and much, much more. You’ll sample the sophisticated dishes of fabled chefs and five-star restaurants, of course, but you’ll also discover the simpler pleasures of the side-street cafés that cater to local people and the classic specialties that give each region a distinctive flavor.

Every cuisine tells a unique story about its countryside, climate, and culture, and in these pages you’ll meet the men and women who transform nature’s bounty into a thousand gustatory delights. Hundreds of appetizing full-color illustrations evoke an extraordinary range of tastes and cooking techniques; a wide selection of recipes invites you to create as well as consume; sidebars give a wealth of entertaining information about additional sites to visit as well as the cultural importance of the featured food; while lively top ten lists cover topics from chocolate factories to champagne bars, from historic food markets to wedding feasts, harvest celebrations, and festive occasions of every kind. In addition, detailed practical travel information provides all the ingredients you’ll need to cook up a truly delicious experience for even the most demanding of traveling gourmets. ... Read more

Reviews

Great Book!, November 10, 2009
This book is sooo cool! I have been to many of the places they write about, and find the book to be amazingly well researched. I plan to use it as a travel planner supplement for future trips because you can't get this kind of information out of a regular travel book. Plus, it a great daydreaming tool. One can flip the pages and imagine wonderful places to visit and eat. I especially appreciate the way they cover all types of dining experiences -- it's not just about expensive, 5-star restaurants. Each page contains loads of information that connects the food to the context of the place. These pieces were clearly written by insiders, people who know the area and can guide you to authentic, memorable experiences.

This is my idea of a great travel book., November 11, 2009
Who doesn't want to eat their way around the world? I love this book, it takes care of my holiday shopping list and is hugely entertaining. Food Journeys captures the essence of why I/most people travel -- they want to eat great food in gorgeous locales with interesting people. The photos are beautiful and the info is rich and very helpful. Hadn't thought of food festivals as a good travel destination. Also looking forward to hunting down the best baguette. Lots of fun ideas here. Am glad someone finally made a book like this.

Love the "lists of 10", November 12, 2009
This book represents my secret -- I don't eat when I am out travelinig, but I travel to eat.... And imagining what I am going to eat when I go to places is really almost as good as being there (not really, but it does help to build the anticipation.) I found myself lingering over the Lists of 10 things in many of the categories. It's the kind of compare and contrast thing that really gets you thinking. The cheese tours of France and the Literary Watering holes of the world particularly, particularly are begging to be implemented.

For the armchair as well as experienced traveler, November 11, 2009
I suggest that you keep a copy of this evocative book by your desk. On those endless afternoons when you've had just about enough of spreadsheets and office coffee, pick it up and turn through the pages at random. Yes, there is a world outside your four walls and the luscious photos and descriptions in this book will conjure up the tastes, scents, and sights of places you've never even heard of...you'll be roused from your boring day funk, your appetite whet for food adventures. Just when you feel that you may never experience life outside a cubicle again, this book will remind you that's it's a mysterious and diverse world out there--seek it out!

Pure Pleasure, November 10, 2009
I bought two copies of Food Journeys of a Lifetime: one for myself, the other for a foodie friend. The photography is beautiful; the descriptions are comprehensive (when to go, planning, recommended websites, and more); and the layout makes it easy to take it all in. (Thank you, National Geographic editors, for including an index!) Food plays a big part in my travel, and I will use this book to dream, to plan, to reminisce. Five stars!

Culinary Globetrotting, National Geographic Style, February 1, 2010
When I have the privilege to travel to exotic places abroad, I've generally made it a point to find an opportunity to take a cooking lesson in the local cuisine. I figured out a while back that the most intimate way to get to know a culture is through the food they grow, create, cook and eat. Now comes a book from the editors of one of my favorite magazines, National Geographic Traveler, that focuses on the culinary adventures to be had around the globe. As expected, it's a handsome coffee-table book that takes full advantage of the vast catalog of images and articles long featured in the magazine. It's divided into nine beguiling chapters:

-- "Specialties & Ingredients" focuses on foods which are unique to specific locales, ranging from Vermont maple syrup to the fresh sushi found at dawn in Tokyo's Tsukiji Market to the vanilla bean that originated on the island of R�union.
-- "Outstanding Markets" spotlights the world's great bazaars such as Thailand's floating markets, Venice's Rialto Fish Market, and in my own backyard, San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace.
-- "Seasonal Delights" runs the gamut from French truffles to Finnish crayfish to Maryland's soft-shell crabs.
-- "In the Kitchen" brings to the fore the intimate secrets of the world's cuisines through classic technique and unique ingredients. Recipes are plentiful in this section's sidebars.
-- "Favorite Street Foods" is the section with which I have the most affinity since it highlights exactly the type of food that I would eat as a traveler, the local eats found on mobile food carts, at street kiosks, and in expansive night markets.
-- "Great Food Towns" travels far and wide to identify the culinary capitals from Bologna to Goa to Hong Kong to the inevitable destination, Paris.
-- "Ultimate Luxuries" identifies the rare treats to be discovered by those with deep pockets, for example, kaiseki feasting in Kyoto and luxuriant dining at the Hotel Cipriani in Venice.
-- "The Best Wine, Beer, & More" focuses on some unusual beverages such as Peruvian pisco and Greenland's glacier beer, as well as more predictable choices like Oregon's microbreweries and Sonoma wines.
-- "Just Desserts" looks at the world's confectionary delights such as Belgian chocolates and Florida's key lime pie.

For each entry, the editors provide critical information on when to go, how to plan a particular culinary adventure, and what relevant websites can help with the planning. There are entertaining top ten lists throughout the book in categories as diverse as Extreme Restaurants and Monastic Tipples. My only complaints about the book are that certain areas (Western Europe, Japan) seem to be favored at the expense of more exotic locales and that there aren't as many "a-ha" moments as I would have hoped from a list as comprehensive as this one. Still, the photography is mostly spectacular, and the editors recognize the most important discovery for the reader - that what and where we eat becomes as much a part of our travel as what we see - and the book successfully delivers an exercise in cultural immersion through our individual palates.

On "Food Journeys for a Lifetime", December 1, 2009
On the basis of a favorable newspaper review, I bought this book for my son, who has been a chef and kitchen manager in several restaurants, as a birthday gift. I didn't really do more than scan it myself, but I could tell from his reaction that he liked it and appreciated my choice of gift. He, the famous curmudgeon, even gave me a hug!

Foodie Fun!!, December 26, 2010
A richly produced National Geographic book. . . . I received this as a Christmas present and enjoy its quirkiness immensely. The subtitle suggests why: "500 Extraordinary Places to Eat around the Globe." And I have actually been to some of the places, such as Ben & Jerry's in Vermont, Philly cheese steak venues in Philadelphia, the Beaver Club in Montreal, steak in Buenos Aires, beer halls of Munich, and Les Deux Magots in Paris. Some nice memories came back to me! Sitting at Les Deux Magots in Paris, having a Croque Monsieur for lunch. . . .

The book is divided into a series of sections, such as Specialties & ingredients, Outstanding markets, Seasonal delights, In the kitchen, Favorite street foods, Great food towns, Ultimate luxuries, the best wine (beer and more), and Just desserts. After each title page, a series of examples is provided. For instance, after "Specialties & ingredients," we see a segment on lobsters (from the Atlantic coast) to maple syrup (Vermont). Also, there are "Top 10 listings," such as Top 10 Unusual Food and Drink Festivals, such as the Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas, or the Cabbage Festival in Hungary, or the Fete de fromage (Cheese Festival) in France. . . .

In short, a lot of fun if you are a foodie. Not much in the way of recipes. Not much detail on any of the 500 places to eat. But a richly illustrated, enjoyable work to peruse.

a fabulous journey, June 22, 2010
I gave this as a gift to my Mom who is 86. She can't travel anymore, but loves going to all the places by reading. She loves it and says the photos are spectacular!

But Can You Lift It?, March 3, 2010
Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe � National Geographic Society 2009
By Nan C.
That travel bug you were sure airport hassle, terrorists, or a current stay on Poverty Row had killed, comes right back to haunt you as soon as you open this book. Supersized 12"L x 9.5"W and 1" Deep (not counting sturdy hard cover), this five-pounder is no takalong guide. But what a beautiful way to browse and dream! Be sure to take notes - in case.
National Geographic never shys away from sending contributors to wild parts of the world. Foodie destinations in most corners of the globe are covered, as though grim State Department Travel Warnings do not exist. Wonderful index of 313 non-gushy pages, beautiful photos (of course), suggestions for international hotel chains, bed & breakfasts, campgrounds to stay near the goal - from gourmet cooking schools to street food vendor-specialists in world capitals and villages, including the USA, plus the occasional sidelined recipe. Those Preserved Lemons somehow inspired me to get to Morocco ASAP! ###

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