Perfect Party Food: All the Recipes and Tips You'll Ever Need for Stress-Free Entertaining from the Diva of Do-Ahead Review

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(More customer reviews)It's not necessary to read Phillips' party-planner introduction, but you may find it steadying, even reassuring with its calm, well-organized timeline, lists and tips. The book's easy-on-the-eyes graphic design allows for quick browsing and the color-coded highlights and eye-catching symbols continue on through the recipes. An appendix includes mail-order sources and "stress-free" menus for all occasions.
Recipes provide 10 to 12 servings, and all have at least some elements (even if it's only salad dressing or sauce) to prepare in advance. Phillips provides a table for multiplying recipes for larger parties, a list of essential tools and pantry items and an entertaining primer for rescuing disasters, from lumpy sauce to too many guests. She even gives her email for last minute disaster aversion.
Brief intros to each dish suggest variations and describe the dish's character. Step-by-step instructions pause at "do-ahead" points, and give instructions for how, and how long, to store, be it a few hours, days, or even months.

From drinks (Mulled Wine, Margaritas) through appetizers (Marinated Shrimp, Pigs in a Blanket) salads (Marinated Orange, Chicken Waldorf), sides (Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta, Wild Mushroom Rice), poultry (Tarragon Sesame, Oven Fried, French Farmhouse), seafood (Pesto-Crusted Fillets, New England Clam Pie, Seafood Gumbo), meat (Braised Beef in Cabernet Sauvignon, Swedish Meatballs, Pulled Pork Barbecue), to dessert (Strawberry Shortcake Layer Cake, Chocolate Truffles), Phillips emphasizes accessibility, be it sit-down elegant or grazing casual.
A versatile sauce chapter, from Cilantro Pesto to Quick Berry, offers a choice of serving suggestions and Phillips ("The Perfect Mix") also includes chapters for breakfast and lunch. Thoroughly unintimidating and full of useful advice beyond food preparation, this is a practical, comforting guide to making entertaining a pleasure.
- Portsmouth Herald

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Hamlyn All Colour 200 Slow Cooker Recipes (Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)Although titled 200 slow cooker recipes there are actually 104 main recipes the others which make up the 200 are slight variations often changing one ingredient however still fantastic value for money. It is a small book 5 ½" by 6 ½ "with the picture of the completed dish on the right hand page and instructions on the left hand page. As well as the instructions section there 5 other main sections giving recipes for; Breakfasts & Light Bites; Meat, Poultry & Game; Fish & Seafood; Vegetables; Deserts, Drinks & Preserves: What more could you want.
There is a useful instruction section explaining hints and tips on using a slow cooker and mentions that all recipes are for 3.5 litre (6 pint) slow cookers but it does explain how to vary the ingredients for the other two sizes of slow cookers.
It is as well to follow the recipes in detail at the first attempt, we did not use vegetable suet to make dumplings on the first attempt and these were well underdone.(Cidered Pork with Sage Dumplings) the only one we had any problems with, we have not tried them all, was the Beef and Root Vegetable Hotpot; The instructions said press the potatoes into the stock and the picture does show them on the top of the dish however this resulted in the potatoes being undercooked. Unless the liquid is above the level of the potatoes they do not cook properly. However this worked well with sweet potatoes in the Rancheros Pie which also asked for them to be sliced and placed on top.
Favourite dish so far "Pork, Orange & Star Anise"


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The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2009: The Year's Best Recipes, Equipment Reviews, and Tastings (Best of America's Test Kitchen Cookbook: The Year's Best Recipes) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a little hesitant these days on rushing out to purchase each and every America's Test Kitchen cookbook. Some are spectacular while others are not of much use to everyday cooks like me. Here's a GREAT one:
The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
...and here's a lame one:
Americas Best Lost Recipes: 121 heirloom recipes too good to forgetIf you've seen the PBS Television Program, "America's Test Kitchen," then you'll know why people are so attracted to their spin-off cookbooks. Program Host Christopher Kimball's mantra is, "We do the work so you don't have to." And they do. Their recipes are quite excellent, (but not necessarily "the very best" in all cases.)
For this cookbook, we're getting the "crème of the crop" of the organization's best 200 recipes from this past year. The editors have also included information from two of the program's popular cameo features, the culinary equipment reviews and, the "tasting" reviews.
Here are the book chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Starters & Salads
3. Soups & Stews
4. Vegetables & Side Dishes
5. Breakfast & Breads
6. Pasta
7. Meat
8. Poultry
9. Seafood
10. Desserts
11. Test Kitchen Resources
12. IndexI have tried a number of these down-to-earth recipes and they're just great. The average cook will find many old stand-bys in here (much improved in most instances) and a good number of innovative recipes which will spark the family's interest at the supper table.
I have only two so-so issues with this cookbook:
-- Due to some overkill in giving details on recipe background and in the recipe preparation(s), the font size is resultantly pretty darn small. You'll find it difficult to post this cookbook in your kitchen and then read along as you cook -- you'll need to squint your eyes.
-- In the tasting section, I found myself frequently disagreeing with the selections which have been recommended and thus, they do me little good. As an example, they recommend Prego Marinara Italian [pasta] Sauce, a product which practically makes me physically ill when I taste it. Conversely they do not recommend Classico Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce, which is one of my big favorites. Whether I'm right or wrong is not the issue -- the fact is that we all have our preferences and these judgments are so very subjective from person to person that I question the value of including this section in the book.The equipment section (a version of consumer reports) is pretty spot-on, these items not being quite so dependent upon our personal likes and dislikes. With kitchen equipment, most folks seem to share their likes for the same good features. In fact, I bought the pepper mill that they recommended and I find that it suits me just fine.
The book, at 360 pages in length and 8 ½" x 11" x 1" in dimension, is very nicely bound with a rugged dust jacket. The pages are of heavy stock and you'll discover a profusion of helpful illustrations which mostly facilitate better culinary techniques. There are also lots of color photographs of the various completed dishes found throughout the book.
In summary, while this is not a foundational, general cookbook, it's still a great supplement to such works. Noting my minor reservations above, I can recommend it but you might want to check it out at the public library first, before buying, to see if it fits your personal needs.


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