Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
I highly recommend this book... 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
These are recipes to use if you're having a dinner party and want to impress your guests with great food, not potluck casserole recipes made with canned soup, salt & pepper and processed cheese, etc. for people who are absolute beginners or are afraid of a little extra prep. I've tried several of the recipes in this book, some more than once, and loved all of them, especially the Indian dishes (in particular, the Chicken in Saffron-Tomato Cream Sauce).
Finally some decent slow cooker recipes! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Collecting cookbooks is a hobby. I've pored thru many of them and spent a ton of money buying, then discarding them. This is the FIRST slow cooker cookbook I've loved! I'm not a pork or ham person, I love intricate flavors (but not hot) and for the first time these dishes have all the layers of flavor I was looking for, without being overly calorie or sodium laden.
Yes it's more work to do the prep but it is a fact that browning the meat makes more layers of flavor, so get up a little earlier or do the prep the night before. I only cook for two or three adults so I halve the recipe and still have alot left over.
The slow cooker brand is VERY important. The first three recipes I made all burned even when I adjusted the cooking time. So I went online and found customer and magazine reviews of different crock pots. Just as I suspected--there were lots of complaints about the Rival brand that just BOILED the food (and I've had pretty much all the different models throughout the years). So I threw out my current Rivals and forked over the money for the All Clad. Boy it was worth it! I hardly fill half of the crockpot but the recipes still turn out great! I was praying the author had written another one and I am getting it soon The only books I reach for now are the "Slow Cooker For Dummies" and Lynn Alley's books. None of the other books even come close!
Editorial Review:
The Gourmet Slow Cooker Simple and Sophisticated Meals from around the WorldBy Lynn Alley"Although the slow cooker has experienced a renaissance over the past several years, the discriminating cook is still hard-pressed to find slow cooker recipes worthy
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 64
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
First published in 1982, The Silver Palate Cookbook was an instant smash. It offered 350 stylish but easy recipes that reflected and helped cement America's burgeoning interest in quality cooking. It acquainted cooks with "gourmet" ingredients, just beginning to appear in our markets. And it helped many a host to shine.
The collection, whose recipes range from hors d'oeuvres to sweets, now arrives in a 25th-anniversary edition, which reproduces the original text and adds color photos throughout, often dropped into the text pages. All the old favorites, including Marinated Eggplant Livia, Chicken Marbella, Blanquette de Vaeu, and Blackberry Mousse are present, along with information about ingredients, menus, quotes, and other asides--all the things that help make the book such a pleasure. It's hard to imagine a cook--and especially one who entertains--not owning Silver Palate. This printing, which includes a retrospective foreword, offers more satisfaction still while reiterating the reasons for the book's enduring appeal. --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
A breakthrough bread book by the unchallenged expert in gluten-free and wheat-free cooking
In Bette Hagman's three earlier cookbooks, she worked with gluten-free flours that are safe for celiacs (those who are intolerant to gluten) and for those with wheat allergies to create recipes for great- tasting food. Knowing from her own hard-earned experience that bread is the greatest loss for those who can't eat wheat, oats, rye, or barley, she has experimented with exciting new bean-based flours and has devoted an entire book to breads. Here are yeast breads, yeast-free breads, muffins, rolls, buns, breakfast breads, and crackers-a vast array of recipes for the oven or the bread machine-for people who cannot buy breads at a bakery or supermarket but must rely on their own kitchens to provide the staff of life.
Along with dozens of great recipes are: a beginner's guide to understanding and cooking with gluten-free flours; answers to commonly asked questions about baking with these flours; and a source list of where to buy gluten-free baking supplies.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
From two acclaimed, award-winning restaurants came two of the most acclaimed, award-winning cookbooks ever published—now packaged together in a luxurious slipcased boxed set, the ideal gift for any food lover.
First there was French Laundry in Napa Valley, setting a new standard for American fine dining. Then there was The French Laundry Cookbook, setting a new standard for American cookbooks. In 1998, Chef Keller opened Bouchon, “so that I’d have a place to eat after cooking all night at the French Laundry,” and that restaurant, too, gave birth to a groundbreaking cookbook. Now, fifteen years after Thomas Keller first set foot in what would become a landmark restaurant, these two extraordinary books are offered in a striking new slipcased edition. With this year’s opening of the Bouchon Bakery in New York City, and last year’s momentous Michelin guide that awarded Keller’s Per Se the top honors, Keller is increasingly in the limelight—and his inventive, delicious food is increasingly in the consciousness of a national audience. The Complete Keller is the perfect gift for anyone who loves fine food.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Definitely worth the price 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.
I purchased this book because I LOVE Alley's first volume of recipes for the slow cooker. I am very happy with this book, however it is really very different than the first (which makes them a great set).
While flavor is certainly not compromised, the foods in this cookbook are more like peasant-food than gourmet dishes. With a hungry husband and 3 growing boys in my house, comfort foods are always well-received here, and I've had no complaints from them!
The ingredients in this volume are easier to manage (no grinding of spices as in the first volume).
My only disappointment with the book is that it seems many of the recipes, while tasty, don't seem to benefit much from the slow-cooking...some of the soups, for example, are just about as easily made on the stovetop.
For my family, the slow cooker has primarily been a great way to prepare flavorful and tender meats, and this cookbook has offered us some new options (Korean style ribs, chicken adobo, italian style pork chops, for example). I have made some of the non-meat recipes (i.e. several soups/chowders), and I find that they are just as easy to make on the stove.
This is my one bit of advice to the new owner of a slow-cooker: Don't try to make it something it isn't...fix recipes which lend themselves well to the type of cooking, and fix your veggies on the stovetop or in the oven.
Editorial Review:
With its emphasis on quality ingredients, nuanced global flavors, and sumptuous presentation, the original GOURMET SLOW COOKER inspired discerning home cooks to dust off—and fall in love with—their slow cookers again. Back by popular demand, Lynn Alley serves a generous second helping of sophisticated yet easy-to-prepare slow-cooker recipes, this time with a focus on regional comfort food. Packed with classic and innovative dishes designed to delight family and guests alike, THE GOURMET SLOW COOKER: VOLUME II will satisfy fans' hunger for new recipes—and encourage even more busy home cooks to join the bandwagon.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Not always 5 minutes but always Tastey! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
I recently purchased three raw cookbooks, this is the first I have tried.
I have tried all but two recipes of the first three days menu plan, plus two extras, sometimes they took a little longer than 5 minutes but I have enjoyed every recipes.
This is my fourth try going raw and I may make it this time because the foods in the book are readily available (except maybe one or two).
There is not a lot planning days ahead to soak, sprout, grind, dehydrate for three days so maybe it will be ready and hopefully you will still want it and remember what you were trying to make in the first place! With this book you see it, you check the frig and find the ingrediants, you make it, you love it!
Editorial Review:
Here is a great resource for anyone looking for easy alternatives to complex raw recipes that require lots of time and expensive equipment to prepare. Acclaimed raw chef Angela Elliott shows how to whip up mouth-watering lasagne, spaghetti marinara, stuffed mushrooms, broccoli in cheese sauce, apple pie, decadent whipped cream and strawberries, chocolate shake, and more--all in about five minutes, with easy-to-find ingredients and just a blender or food processor. She shares her personal wellness journey and her playful enthusiasm to make the book an enjoyable and inspiring guide to delicious living.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Heavy on the pics, light on the science 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 8 people found this review helpful.
This book is good for the pics. I have not tried any recipes yet. The equipment is way too expensive and out of my budget for the next few months. They look good though!
Shannon is very light on the science. All the raw food books in the bookstore (Barnes and Noble, Borders) make the claim that 'we need enzymes to help digest food' (page 3). The human stomach contains an acid that aids in digestion. This acid would render the live enzymes inactive therefore defeating the purpose of eating raw food for the enzymes! I agree that incorporating more foods in their natural state is beneficial, but this raw food movement needs to have a registerd dietician write a book, then I will believe all the hocus pocus.
Editorial Review:
Whether you'd simply like to add more fruit and vegetables to your meals, or want to change your lifestyle in a more dramatic way, The Raw Gourmet is the complete guide to one of the world's fastest growing nutrition and health movements-the living-foods diet.
In the first book of its kind, Nomi Shannon opens a door onto a refreshing new world of food preparation...Learn how fresh, non-cooked fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains can boost your vitality while lighting up your palate.
Try exotic dishes like chili rellenos, spinach mousse, and vegetable nori roll-ups. Or, on a more familiar note, serve up a living foods version of old favorites like pizza, tomato soup or apple pie. Whatever you choose, this book brings a rich variety of flavors and textures to your table and offers everything your body needs to stay healthy and vigorous.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 131
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
When Gourmet magazine opened shop in 1941, it addressed a small epicurean audience. In those days, fine dining was French, seafood specialties always seemed to include cream and sherry, and game made the meal--or so the magazine preached. The bill of fare has changed since then, and fine dining now includes dishes from the world's four corners, commanded by a broad, food-aware audience. Over the years, Gourmet has chronicled all this, changing to reflect a wider, more democratized food scene that has also, paradoxically, raised the bar on what's expected of the average, too-busy cook. The Gourmet Cookbook is the most comprehensive of the magazine's recipe anthologies--a mega-tome offering more than 1,000 formulas drawn from Gourmet since its birth.
The statistics are indeed impressive: more than 100 hors d'oeuvre recipes; an equal number of vegetable dishes; 200 desserts--21 chapters in all, touching all courses and including stops at breakfast and brunch specialties; breads and crackers; plus sauces, salsas, and preserves. Included are recipes from Gourmet contributors like James Beard and Jean-Georges Vongericten, and hundreds of sidebars like "Salad Greens Primer" and "Blind Baking," all useful and informative. There are classic dishes like onion soup gratiné, gefilte fish, corn fritters, and peanut butter cookies; "new classics" such as fried calamari and spaghetti alla carbonara; and the "modern," including oatmeal brûlée with macerated berries and grilled lobster with orange chipotle vinaigrette--"every recipe you'd ever want," says the text, something of an understatement.
Cooks should know, however, that this is not a basic cookbook, despite its Noah's ark of formulas. Rather, it's a Gourmet cookbook, which means that, notwithstanding some rudimentary recipes, the focus is on the stylishly up-to-date (which is not to deny the excellence of the formulas), resulting, often, in refinements. Thus its recipe for mac and cheese calls for dijon mustard and panko; its beef stroganoff requires cremini mushrooms; its grilled chicken calls for brining; and so on. Recipes can also run to over 450 words, and require unusual ingredients. (A list of sources is provided.) Of all its chapters, those for sweets are the most immediately attractive.
For all the praise, though, there's one major goof. The recipe titles are printed in a light butter-yellow color, making them almost illegible. For many readers, this will be a deal-breaker; others will find it merely annoying. Should you own the book? For dedicated cooks and foodies the answer will be, How can I not? --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Several New Things I've Got to Try 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 17 people found this review helpful.
I don't really read cookbooks. I don't believe all the great words on the back cover and flyleaf about how wonderful this cook is. Instead I start by scanning the table of contents. And in this book, the top item on the second column is Nobu-Style Paella. Hold On! This is a Japanese cookbook. Paella is a traditional Spanish dish, and one of my favorites. So I had to look. Now I've go to try it.
One problem with esoteric cookbooks is that they often have esoteric ingredients that you can't get in my little town. The Paella recipie calls for Dashi, a soup base made from konbu and bonito flakes. A quick scan on the computer and behold, Amazon, in their Gourmet Foods section sells both of these. So I'll be trying this one day soon.
Then I find Ice Cream Tempura - two good things that have to be better together. And this book has a section on coctails. I have my own recipies for things like Martini's, Cosmopolitians, etc. But I'm always open to suggestions. How about a Lychee Martini?
All in all, several new things to try and what more could you ask of a cookbook.
Editorial Review:
Nobu draws upon his extensive training in Tokyo and his life abroad in Peru, Argentina, and Alaska, as well as his own Michelin-rated, award-winning restaurants worldwide, to create unusual and ingenious East-meets-West dishes like Chilled Pea Shoot Soup with Caviar, Oysters with Pancetta, Iberian Pork Shabu Shabu, and the Japanese Mojito, which herald his ability to explore a confluence of cultures and tastes.
Nobu style is synonymous with flexibility, freshness, quality, and above all, simplicity. Nobu West is for cooks of all experience levels, providing advice; descriptions of unfamiliar flavorings, ingredients, and techniques; and helpful step-by-step illustrations along with tantalizing, full-color photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Fascinating to read, but not a "cookbook" in the modern sense 4 out of 5 stars.
27 of 27 people found this review helpful.
"The Escoffier Cookbook" is a heavily abridged American version of Auguste Escoffier's 1903 book "Guide Culinaire". It is a fascinating look at the art of professional European cookery at the beginning of the 20th century.
However, to appreciate this book fully, it's important to understand exactly who it was written for. Escoffier's original guide was never for a second intended for the home cook. Escoffier was a pioneer with respect to the education of professional chefs, and originally wrote this book for the use of those working in grand houses, in hotels, on ocean liners, and in restaurants who might not have had access to contemporary recipes. Accordingly, the original book does not attempt to teach basic cooking or food preparation techniques. The American translation does include some details on cooking techniques and utensils unfamiliar to the average American chef (such as poeleing, worth the cost of the book alone, and the old French form of braising), but even in the translation it is assumed that the reader is a trained, experienced chef.
The recipes themselves are clear and simple to follow, but represent only a small subset of French cooking of the early 20th century. An earlier reviewer mentioned that there was no recipe for onion soup; this is true, but it should be understood that onion soup would never have been accepted by the class of restaurant patron Escoffier cooked for. Much of what has arrived on this side of the Atlantic as "French cooking" - dishes such as pot-au-feu, onion soup, and steak frites - is distinctly middle-class, and consequently would have been rejected by the clientele of quality restaurants of the time as being unspeakably boorish. Escoffier personally enjoyed bourgeois cooking, but as an astute, intelligent businessman he provided the haute cuisine his clients demanded.
One interesting difference between modern cooking and the cooking featured in this book is that Escoffier uses few spices, and indeed declaims on the foolishness of using large amounts of spices in meat dishes. This appears bizarre from our vantage point, but Escoffier had sound economic reasons for his proscriptions. Most diners of the time grew up in the days before refrigeration, when old deteriorating meat was heavily spiced to make it palatable. Fresh, unspiced meat was a sign of the highest quality. The association between strong spices and poor quality was powerful enough to survive long into the 20th century, as any reader of a 1950s American cookbook can attest.
As for the recipes themselves, I doubt that many of them could be prepared by the North American home cook. Most of us cannot afford (if we can even find) foie gras, truffles, or capons, and few have espagnole sauce or fish fumet available at all times. However, many recipes can be adapted for the modern cook - using cepes or porcini mushrooms for truffles, for instance - and those that can be prepared really are delicious.
Editorial Review:
An American translation of the definitive Guide Culinaire, the Escoffier Cookbook includes weights, measurements, quantities, and terms according to American usage. Features 2,973 recipes.
Twenty five years ago seems like the distant past but we still make ratatouille the same way and who would have ever dreamed that so many people would say to us, "I had Chicken Marbella at a dinner party last week and I just loved it." It took slight madness to open our little store in 1977. Florence Fabricant was writing an article on the renaissance of Columbus Avenue, where our shop was opening, we needed a name, she was on a deadline and called and said, "What are you calling your store?" We didn't know. "Why don't you call it The Silver Palate," she said. We loved it. It took sheer bravery in 1982 to write our book--who would need to buy food in our store any longer once they had all of our recipes? But that never happened for one hour. In fact, it helped us go national even further. Here we are, 25 years later, celebrating with a brand new edition of our book that finally highlights our recipes with vibrant color photographs. I once picked up the phone and someone on the other end said, "Sheila, I just baked the Decadent Chocolate Cake and my cake doesn't look like the drawing." I didn't know how to reply. I assured them the taste made up for the looks. It's bittersweet, but those problems are solved forever. While different, the color adds an exciting new dimension to the cookbook that has been a treasure to so many cooks for two and a half decades. Julee and I had a fantasy food partnership and the publication of this book has given us the opportunity to spend some wonderful time together. 
