5 comments about Cocina Betty Crocker: Recetas Americanas Favoritas en Espaol e Ingls/Favorite American Recipes in Spanish and English (Betty Crocker Books).

1. gave this to my mom for her birthday she really loves it!!! she also likes the fact that if she doesn't know what the ingredient is in english she can just glance at the next page! really great for anyone who likes to cook- has a lot of basics great for an everyday or once in a while cook



2. I really liked this book. It had simple recipes in both spanish & english. My mother loved it! Everything recipe she has cooked & baked from this book has turned out great!



3. Purchased this book for a Cuban friend and myself. I do not speak Spanish, but, wow this book sure helps me to translate my personal recipes into Spanish. This book has various meat, dessert, casserole, vegetable and salad recipes. I have cooked for over 50 years, and find the basics of cooking within these pages. I can help my friend with her English, and this book helps me to learn a bit of Spanish. Now, if only Betty Crocker could print their regular cookbook in English/Spanish. How awesome that would be.



4. El espanol de este libro es malisimo. Yo entiendo que en diferentes paises de habla hispana se tengan diferentes palabras para decir cosas, pero los verbos de la forma que se conjugan son iguales y la gramatica de este libro es malisima. No se donde han traducido este libro pero deberian tener cuidado. La gente esta aprendiendo un malisimo espanol.
   Muchas gracias por escucharme.



5. I guess this book is about what you would expect from Betty Crocker, but I was expecting a little bit more in the way of Latin American food. Everything in the book is mid-west food from the 70's including Chex Party Mix, Sloppy joes and grilled cheese sandwiches. The translations seem to be good. I usually find myself translating recipes for my non-English speaking cook, so there were some phrases that were something I can use for other recipes, but I was hard pressed to find a recipe that I would actually use. There aren't as many recipes as I had hoped either. There is a lot of white space on the pages with one recipe per page using very small type - my cook will have to get her reading glasses out. (Oh how I wish someone would translate Joy of cooking into bi-lingual!)
   
   On the positive side (this is why I gave it as good a rating as I did), there are good pictures and some how-to drawings for preparing meat, such as in stuffed pork chops. While there is nothing earth-shattering about the dessert menus, they have good instructions with Betty Crocker's standard step-by-step easy to follow directions.

5 comments about Nanny Ogg's Cookbook (Discworld Series).

1. I haven't actually tried any of these culinary delights as yet. This is a cookbook, so it will not satisfy all of his readers. I'm from the U.K (living in Tx) and have to say, I have a soft spot for Nanny and Granny Weatherwax. I recognize in these two, a very particular kind of character from the northwest of England (very fond memories/yet they both remind me at times of my late Scots mother). Nanny is just being herself, in this unusual collection of dishes, some of which sound almost familiar from my distant childhood ! This is a fun item, not for anyone other than the hardened Discworld Fan.



2. If you have read all of Terry Pratchett's Disc World series, particularly those books that deal with Granny Weatherwax and her sometimes sidekick Nanny Ogg, you will not find anything new here. This is due to publishers coming up with new ways to market old material. This is not wrong if they would 'fess up when they do this. However, if you like Nanny Ogg, then you might enjoy this collection of her sayings and recipes which are very humorous.
   
   One suggested use for this book is to keep it in the kitchen next to the real cookbooks and the next time you have a guest bothering you while you are trying to cook you can pretend to be using this cookbook. Note down some arcane ingredient and then ask them to get it from the grocery store on the other side of town. By the time they have given up, you can have the real dinner ready.



3. This book is a must have for any Terry Pratchett fan! Although I have yet to try any of the recipes, (I don't have the courage...), it's still an incredibly funny read. all the various 'Author notes' and comments from 'the editor' make it seem like a portal opened up from the discworld itself, and this dropped through! Highly recommended!



4. I suppose you could call this a cookbook, but it's much more about Nanny Ogg than it is about the recipes. And let's face it--I bought it for the fantasy, not for the food.
   
   There are "recipes" for a lot of the foods you'll find in the Discworld books: dwarf bread, rat onna stick, dried frog pills... You could even quite possibly make some of the recipes in here for a lovely Discworld party and invite some of your savvier friends.
   
   But it's mostly lovely little tidbits about various Discworld characters--primarily Nanny Ogg, but a few other characters get some space here, too.
   
   If you're familiar with the Discworld, you won't find it at all surprising that it's been "heavily edited"--they tried to take out the innuendos, but I think they found that was a losing proposition, and settled for taking out just the blatant stuff.
   
   And if you're not familiar with the Discworld, and happen to find a copy of this at your library, go ahead and pick it up, and see if it doesn't just convince you that the Discworld is a place you'd like to visit.



5. I would say a "Must Have" for any Discworld fanatic, but unfortunately it's not a "Must Have"... what it is however is a very fun, whimsical cookbook assembled by our favorite dirty minded witch of Lancre - Nanny Ogg. Though this book does contain recipes (and most of them appear fairly legit) the reason to buy this book is for the old fashioned wisdom that used to come in cookbooks. The more of the Discworld books that you have read, the more you will recognize the names and people mentioned in the recipes. Everyone from the Patrician, to Nobby's Mum, to The King of Lancre have contributed their favorites (Even CMOT Dibbler has contributed his "Sausage-inna-bun recipe). There are also a series of "Ethnic" foods from Klatch, Quirm, Lancre, and many other of the Discworld lands including multiple Dwarven recipes which (include the ever popular "Dwarf Bread.")
   
   Throughout the cookbook you will find not only recipes, but also Nanny's quips, and advise, as well as notes from the "editors" who are very concerned about Nanny's tendency towards the vulgar. It is safe to have around the house because the kiddies won't get the references as Nanny always states them with double meaning and a wink. At the end of the book there is a section on life and etiquette which is absolutely hysterical. Having just been married two years ago, the section on weddings nearly had me in tears, specifically the instructional part about how to have the obligatory wedding fight among the guests.
   
   Note to those of you wavering about the purchase of this book. It's cute, it's funny, but it is by no means a novel. If you plan to sit down with it and read it as a book, you will be done in less than an hour and will probably be disappointed. If you are the type who has a few "Discworld junkie" friends, this is the perfect help to any party... you can all get together and make dwarf bread and see who's flies the farthest. This would also make an excellent gift for a Discworld fan. If you are planning to put it in your kitchen with the rest of your cookbooks, I would advise getting the hardcover version.

5 comments about Happy Days with the Naked Chef.

1. This is absolutely the best cookbook I have ever owned. Usually I own a cookbook and prepare maybe one or two recipes before it sits of the shelf and begins to collect dust.

   Happy Days is chock full of simple, low fuss recipes that taste as though hours of work have been spent in the kitchen. Simple, accessible ingredients and winning combinations. A recipe has yet to disappoint me. For someone who's life is too busy for long hours in the kitchen and want flavorful recipes with flair and originality - this is the book for you!




2. I don't know why the recipes in this book don't turn out right. Every recipe I tried has been a disaster, not to mention required an extremely expensive list of ingredients (porcini mushrooms and arugula anyone?). Jamie Oliver puts on a great show, but the food just doesn't seem to live up to the "easy peasy" hype. His "My favorite curry" with "Lemon rice" took almost 3 hours from prep to finish and tasted horrible. I won't be buying another Jamie Oliver book.



3. In every way imaginable, this third Jamie Oliver cookbook proclaims that he has arrived as a celebrity chef, husband, father, and all around swell lad made good. His name on the cover is about three times the size of the book's title, `Happy Days with the Naked Chef', the book is dedicated to his two children, Little Henners and Jakey Bakey, and photos his nibs with his wife, Jools appear throughout the book. On top of all this, there is a much broader representation of international flavors in these recipes based on trips to the Orient, echoing the influence of Japan on the culinary thinking of Joel Robuchon.
   
   At the risk of laying it on just a little too thick, I really believe Oliver shows the kind of passion about good food and cooking which I have seen in very few other TV culinary personalities. Stopping short of a comparison with Julia Child, as Saint Julia did say she couldn't quite understand him most of the time, I would compare his enthusiasm with that of Mario Batali and Jacques Pepin, although he does not have the depth of technique of Jaques or the extensive knowledge of local Italian cuisines as Mario.
   
   Oliver does not simply dedicate to his children for schmaltz value as he devotes a sizable section of the book on the value and attitudes to use when cooking with your kids. These few pages alone are worth the price of the book. Emeril just published a whole book on techniques for cooking with your kids, and as good a job as he did in telling you how to do it, Jamie does a much better job of telling you why you do it and what benefits will arise from the effort. Jamie also gives a few insights into his cooking with Jools as well when he says that once upon a time, every little suggestion on Jools' cooking from world famous chef Jamie was taken as a criticism and tended to dampen her enthusiasm for doing something she did not especially enjoy anyway. The whole picture changed when Jamie simply praised everything Jools did in the kitchen. The quality of her cooking and her attitude improved dramatically. I can think of a few of my relatives I would love to feed the wisdom in this book.
   
   In reviews of Oliver's other books, I have warned that while Jamie preaches simplicity, this is not the same as quick or easy. Jamie does lean a bit toward quicker and easier in some chapters in this book, keeping to the cooking with the kids theme. He has a chapter on `Quick Fixes' and `Comfort Grub' plus `More Simple Salads'. And, he leaves out any recipes for homemade pasta, with all pasta dishes being based on dried pasta, which he always says is not inferior to fresh, just different. There is also a very short chapter just after the introduction on using fresh herbs, which for the entire world sounds like a sermon from Pastor Oliver exhorting you to use fresh herbs. This homily is understandable if you recall that Jamie Oliver's writing and televising about food is all about lifestyle, not just how to cook. His lesson is that fresh herbs are necessary to good cooking.
   
   As always, Oliver's most appealing recipes are for salads, pasta dishes, and seafood. I sometimes wish that all of his books would be reissued collecting all like chapters into individual volumes and I would buy the salad and pasta volumes simply to have all these recipes together. They are by far the most original of his dishes, although there is one pasta dish Jamie attributes to Mario Batali and there are a few in his books that are attributed to his experiences at the River Café.
   
   Bread is one of my favorite culinary subjects and Jamie is one of the very few superstar chefs who gives special emphasis to bread baking. His basic bread recipe is a classic fast method he probably got from Gennaro, as Contaldo uses a very similar recipe in his book `Passione'. The recipe violates the recommendation from experts like Peter Reinhart who promote little yeast and long rise times, but I have made Jamie's bread and I find it just fine, especially as a medium for rolling in savory additions such as onions and salami. To atone for his fast yeast bread, Jamie adds a recipe for artisinal sourdough bread with natural yeast and a classic Italian bega. Read this recipe very carefully before starting, as it takes a FULL WEEK to complete. If you are serious about bread, check out books by Reinhart, Joe Ortiz, or Nancy Silverton, but you could do a lot worse than getting your first taste of bread baking from Sir Jamie.
   
   When someone has an engaging TV personality, I fear their enthusiasm may not transfer to a skill with the written word, especially with Jamie, as I have heard him say he dictates all his books into a tape recorder, as he never really learned to write properly in school. Let me assure you here that even his chapters with low culinary interest such as his chapters on mixed drinks are a joy to read.
   
   Jamie has a habit of labeling certain recipes as `the best ever'. Well, I have made his `best ever' recipes and I agree with him. They have all become standards in my repertoire. He continues to match or exceed the very high quality of recipes you will find from the River Café or even from Signoir Batali himself.
   
   On the remote chance that Hyperion editors read this review for constructive criticism, I will point out that the layout of ingredient lists makes reading the recipes a bit annoying, as does the absence of ingredient lists from some of the simpler recipes.
   
   If one wishes to get more out of their cooking, they could not do much better than to work their way through Jamie Oliver's cookbooks.



4. The first few times I made things from this book, they seemed off. But Jamie is such the grab and go and not really measuring cook. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then I tried one of his bread recipes... the Banana and Honey Bread (p.245) and using the basic bread recipe (p. 236). Starting with the banana recipe, he says to puree 6 bananas and add water to equal two cups. 6 bananas pureed came out to way more than two cups... then I didnt know what to do about the water. In the basic bread recipe, there it calls for 2 TABLESPOONS of level salt and 2 TABLESPOONS of level sugar. The sugar I could understand, but I had to read the salt one over and over again. I dont even use 2TBS of salt for a roasted chicken and I like salty foods. Then the banana recipe did not call for the removal of the salt from the original recipe. Needless to say, the bread did not turn out well was quite salty, among other things. In retrospect, I think this book has suffered from the conversion from the British system of metrics to the American measurements. I was really disappointed in how much energy and time and enjoyment I had poured into this book and Jamie Oliver, when someone did not care enough to proof the book and ensure that recipes were accurate and usable. I was so disappointed that despite the small fortune I used to collect the books, I decided to give them away with the belief that you should use the book for inspiration, and for recipes that do not call for exact measurements, otherwise, this is not really a cookbook but a selling of a celebrity or personality. I was truly disappointed.



5. I really enjoy Jamie Oliver. He is more down-to-earth than many of the other food network chefs and I just love the food he prepares. This is a wonderful book! buy it!

5 comments about Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Classics.

1. not quite a cook book.. more an exploration of certain kitchen classics and how to molecularly gastronimize them. or at least use a ton of steps and special equipment to make them. treacle tart with an ice cream made with dry ice? Just try to make the black forest choco cake he has in here.



2. This was a great book. It reads like a book instead of a cookbook. The stories are excellent. It should serve as a guide to any Chef. The way that Heston goes about researching ingredients can be used by anyone. I am not saying that we need to travel the world trying different components of a recipe but trying the best of our local ingredients would suffice. Heston is at the cutting edge of the Culinary world and it was great to see his thinking process put down on paper.



3. IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION: REINVENTING KITCHEN CLASSICS comes packed with color photos by Simon Wheeler and presents reflections by one of the world's most renowned chefs: as such, it will find its place not in the casual cook's collection, but in any library catering to neo-professionals fascinated by American regional culinary history in general and Blumenthal in particular. His scientific research into the origins and influences of dishes explores ways of cooking them to perfection and features a focus on what makes recipes stand out from the crowd. From sausage history to chicken packaging, IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION ladles out a wealth of fun, enlightening culinary detail.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. Yep, it's Alton Brown on steroids.
   
   I am a big fan of Alton Brown, and now I have found an even greater hero: Heston!
   
   Just one thing though - he scares the living daylights out of me - if he weren't in a kitchen the only safe place for him is a padded lockdown.
   
   I've made about two of the recipes so far, and I am looking forward to doing more. I have already ordered Further Adventures in Search of Perfection and pre-ordered his (very expensive) The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.
   
   On his Fish and Chips:
   Alas, no turbot on the US West Coast. Maybe no-one understands me because I use the English pronunciation (like fillet) - pronouncing both t's, unlike the American/French with a silent 2nd t.
   
   I used halibut - love halibut.
   His batter method is unnecessarily long-winded. I used a 5lb CO2 bottle with a special adapter for a standard plastic soda bottle instead of a soda siphon, With this exception completed his recipe and found where the book's true value is:
   
   It didn't work for me, but it allowed me to see where to improve my beer batter recipe that I have used for years.
   I now use 2/3 beer, 1/3 vodka, (plus a large splash of lemon juice and paprika).
   
   And now I make very small batter batches, don't wait for the every last lump to disappear, batter immediately, and straight in the fryer - all as fast as possible. It is a tangible improvement - thanks Heston!
   
   His chips (french fries) again has what to my unrefined palette is an unnecessary step - the initial boil.
   Instead I now extend my initial low temp (300F) fry to 10 mins, and cool completely in the 'fridge.
   But I found an improvement - I use a little portable fan to blow over the fries to hurry along the dehydration process - all thanks to Heston!
   
   I also tried the entire steak recipe which was 100% great, and the mushroom ketchup is to die for!
   
   Now I have a few words to say about our little naysayer J. Alt, who mysteriously has but one review.
   Little disgruntled are we J?
   
   The reason that Heston sears the meat before the long 120F slow cook (and I know because I did it) is that the Maillard reaction flavors from the sear spend that time permeating through the meat.
   Do I care that his reasoning is off at a tangent? NO.
   You know why? Because it is the best damn tasting steak I have ever made. Good enough?
   
   And if he tests 5 varieties of potatoes to get the best roast potato, yet doesn't draw a sufficiently tight logical line to satisfy Mr J. Alt, I don't care either. The man has sufficient bone fides for me to trust his judgement and conclusions.
   And you know why I doubly don't care? I can't get Maris Pipers in the U.S. anyway!
   
   I used his method of trying every potato I could get my hands on and made my own judgement. *
   
   Which is what any reader of these reviews should also do.
   
   I recommend this book.
   
   Kevin
   * I decided on White Rose. Thanks yet again, Heston!



5. An interesting read for the culinary inclined!
   
   This book, by Heston Blumenthal is an in-depth discussion about the history, ingredients and food preparation of 8 different food dishes. The end result is a culinary offering that he'd be willing to describe as near 'perfection'. However, he's the first to admit that 'perfection' is obviously a very subjective matter.
   
   The choices for this book include the following...
   
   1.)Roast Chicken and Roast Potatoes
   2.)Pizza
   3.)Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes)
   4.)Steaks
   5.)Spaghetti Bolognese
   6.)Fish and Chips
   7.)Black Forest Gateau
   8.)Treacle Tart and Ice Cream
   
   All recipes found in this book were developed after extensive research and travel. The best authorities of the region(s) involved were visited (on both sides of the Atlantic) and consulted to learn special cooking techniques and to obtain the best ingredients. Then further research and testing was done back home (England) in an attempt to create the 'perfect' dish.
   
   Blumenthal freely admits in the 'Introduction' that this effort was not intended to be a 'cookbook' as such, more rather a personal attempt to do something he's always wanted to do, now that he has the resources to do so. An with this in mind, the book has accomplished its goals.
   
   Anyone contemplating making any of these intriguing and beautiful meals, be forewarned, there is a huge degree of impracticality about all of these recipes. For Example, the chicken in 'Roast Chicken and Roast Potatoes' comes only from Bresse area of France, the potato from England. The 'Steak' recipe uses a specific type of beef that is browned with a blow torch and then the meat must be slowly heated to 120F (using a digital thermometer to make sure it doesn't exceed 120F) in an oven (this takes 4-8 hrs) before finally being cooked in a pan. The 'Treacle Tart and Ice Cream' recipe requires 'dry ice' to make the ice cream, etc. All recipes are unique and use items, ingredients and techniques that most of us would never have access to, nor the time to prepare such extravagant meals. Although, having said that, there is a photograph at the end of each section showing the final creation. WOW, simply mouth watering!
   
   In the back of the book there is a 'Directory', listing Restaurants, suppliers and addresses of places where you can eat or get ingredients; places that Mr. Blumenthal visited on his travels to make this book.
   
   Conclusion: A fun and informative culinary read. A look at the art of food preparation that has been taken to the next level. 5 Stars
   
   Ray Nicholson

5 comments about The Irish Pub Cookbook.

1. `The Irish Pub Cookbook' is the fourth Irish themed cookbook I have reviewed from Irish-American Margaret M. Johnson of New York. All four, including `The New Irish Table', `Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools', and `The Irish Heritage Cookbook' are of similar trade paperback format from Chronicle Books. They are also similar in that all seem to be collections of recipes from various culinary professionals in Ireland. They all also seem to repeat a lot of sidebar material, although I have yet to see any repeated recipes.
   
   To state a perfectly obvious fact, you probably only want to buy this book if you happen to want to cook recipes prepared at Irish pubs. That is, if you already own a fairly sizable collection of cookbooks, many of the recipes in this book will simply be variations on recipes you already have in either a standard book on Irish cooking or in books on Brasserie or Trattoria cooking. This premise, however, is no little recommendation. My personal experience of pub food in England, to which most of these recipes bear a strong resemblance, is that English speaking pubs offer a quality of food at least as good as their much more widely advertised French Brasserie and Italian Trattoria cousins. Like the famous Italian and French `bar food' recipes, these also have the virtue of being very fast to prepare. Either they cook very quickly or they can be cooked up ahead and reheated very quickly. The best model for Americans of pub / brasserie / trattoria food would be the kind of thing you will find at Chili's, Bennigan's, or Appleby's, except that my experience with the three European versions is that they tend to deal in less greasy and less cliched dishes.
   
   The seven recipe chapters are:
   
   Starters with 10 recipes with several based on seafood such as mussels, oysters, and salmon.
   Soups with 9 recipes emphasizing cream based soups, plus four recipes for homemade stocks.
   Salads with 9 recipes with lots of recipes using chicken, seafood, and cheese.
   Hot Pots, Meat Pies, and Savory Tarts (hot pots are rich, thick stews) with 12 recipes featuring pies, savory tarts, `Irish Stew', and brown soda bread.
   Meat and Potatoes with 12 recipes for, you guessed it, meat and potatoes, including pork (bacon and ham), lamb, fowl, and steaks.
   Seafood with 8 recipes featuring salmon, cod, haddock, and monkfish.
   Desserts with 11 recipes for cheesecakes, apple and pear cakes, puddings, mousses and pies.
   
   If your primary interest is Irish desserts, go for the author's, `Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools', although this book includes cheesecakes, which are not in the dessert book.
   
   Johnson certainly writes well about her recipes, although this may not be the best book for a green amateur, as there are few tips on techniques, although a fair knowledge of common kitchen techniques should be more than enough. I do tend to be just a little annoyed at Ms. Johnson's always citing Irish staples in her ingredients list such as `Kerrygold Irish Butter'. I feel that for a `comfort food book, it would have been better not to be expected to chase down a very specific, uncommon ingredient. The book also makes an important point that to the Irish, the pig is commonly divided into `ham' and `bacon'. This can easily be the source of the `Canadian bacon' label for smoked pork loin, as the Irish call everything not part of the rear leg ham to be `bacon'. While explaining this little bit of wisdom, the author seems to be not as clear as she could be in identifying exactly what kind of pork she means when she calls for `bacon'.
   
   A collection of Ms. Johnson's books will give you an excellent overview of contemporary Irish cooking and contemporary Irish hospitality, with a few insights into Irish culinary history. So, if all you want is the recipes, these books are quite good. If you want to go deeper into traditional cooking, start with `Irish Traditional Cooking' by leading Irish cooking school owner, Darina Allen and her husband's `The Ballymaloe Bread Book' by Tim Allen (not the comedian).



2. Photos by the author blend with food photos by Leigh Beish in a lovely book which arrived too late for St. Patrick's Day feature, but which deserves ongoing mention as an excellent focus on Irish pub cooking. If you've been to Ireland in the last twenty years, you'll know there's been many changes in the nature of pub grub: just look at the tomato tarts, ham and chicken pie, spinach salad with pears and other dishes you wouldn't have identified with Irish pub foods of the past. Recipes - and photos - come from some of the most celebrated pubs in Ireland and represent a fine cross-section of modern fare home cooks will find quite easy to follow.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. This is the perfect book for us to use when opening our pub. Excellent resource.



4. I really enjoy this book. I am by no means a cook and as a single male living on my own I don't really cook "real food" a lot. However, I find the recipes in this book not only easy to follow but really good. The soups are awesome, even if they sound bad at first, the stews are great and the book also gives a little bit of information on pubs in Ireland. There are a ton of recipes from fish to poultry and from salads to soups. I was even able to make the soda bread for my parents. Plus there are a bunch of recipes for various soda breads. This book is a great buy and totally worth your time.



5. Very good book if you want to make your cooking taste like an Irish pube.

5 comments about Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery.

1. I noticed the book Breakfast, Lunch, Tea by Rose Carrarini being mentioned in the Lifestyle magazine that came with Sunday The New York Times newspaper. The idea of little meals caught my eye. Over the years I have handpicked cookbooks into my small collection, but I'm constantly on the market for something that I might like or might not have imagined. The latter appeared in the form of this book. I ordered the book, opened it on a random page and - it took my breath away, literally, with its structure, beauty (needless to say - Phaidon press)and a promise of finer things, food included. I opened it on a back flap, which quoted Rose Carrarini saying "Life can be improved by great food." Oh yes - they are my kind of people! The Carrarinis prefer and prepare their food simple and natural, preferably, but not necessarily organic. They put vegetables above meat or fish with ambition to blur the line between home and restaurant cooking; they have put together menus, and based on them, a cookbook that is too filled even to be read in many sittings. Rather, it is to be enjoyed by tiny morsels that make your lunch, snack or day. A thousand thanks for this masterpiece!



2. What a charming and wonderful book this is! From the lemon, rice and polenta cake to the Pistachio cake using a bit of wheat flour and ground almonds and pistachios, to the Eccles Cakes (cookies that use pie dough as cases) filled with raisins, spices, lemon zest and brown sugar to the lamb shank with cumin, eggplant and chickpeas, it's all wonderful. I've tried several other recipes, and, although I've only had this book for a few months, it's covered with smudges and bent pages.
   
   I love this book!



3. This is a delightful book that operates on a number of levels. First the exquisite photographs capture the beauty of the mundane doings of the Rose Bakery. From the simplicity of a zested lemon to the ruddy faces of the apple suppliers to the delivery truck to the ooh so chic clientèle, the pictures transport the reader to this Paris cafe.
   
   Then there is the author's story, a tale of a woman who loves food and people. With no formal training and a belief in natural, fresh and unpretentious dishes, Rose Carranini built the wildly successful business. Her sense of purpose and commitment to quality and sustainability is impressive and her affection for her patrons is palpable.
   
   Finally, the recipes themselves are superb. Basically, there are two types of people: those who follow recipes to a tee and those who view recipes as a guide or starting point for their own creativity. The author advocates the flexible approach. She encourages the cooks to use their favorite ingredients and substitutions, cautioning that it is the method as opposed to the ingredients that is crucial to the ultimate success of the recipe. She correctly points out that cookie cutter results are impossible when using natural ingredients...the juiciness of a piece of fruit, the humidity,the weather, the rainfall or lack thereof, the temperature of the room all impact the final result. The amateur cook should not be deterred. While some of the recipes are a bit labor intensive, they all are fairly easy. Additionally there are plenty for vegans and vegetarians.
   
   The author embodies the joy of cooking. Food should be fun not fake. Her secrets are all revealed...always buy fresh, seasonal and local; use organic and sustainable when possible and remember the most important ingredient is love.



4. I love this book.
   Admittedly I am a sucker for beautiful presentation, but this book is beautiful far beyond its visual appeal. Each recipe is the pinnacle of its kind. The pancake recipe, for example, outshines any I've ever tried. The salads are spectacular and have been the talk of many a collaborative dinner party. I haven't yet come across a dish I even slightly dislike. The recipes are accurate, as well. The quantities and cooking temperatures/times yield the perfect product. I can only assume that this accuracy comes from years of meticulous testing and tasting. The effort is well appreciated and results in recipes that are not only perfect every time, but are destined to become the classics you reach for time and again. The recipes, photgraphs, the quality of the binding and printing, the book in its entirety is simply wonderful.



5. I have noly cooked a few recipes from this book, but there is a carrot salad in here that is one of the best things I have EVER eaten. I don't like carrot salad; I would never order it in a restaurant. But this is am amazing recipe.
   
   I've made it 10 times in the last year--every party we serve it at people love it and ask for the recipe.
   
   I'm sure there will be other recipes just as good--if I can only get past the carrot salad...

5 comments about Jamie's Kitchen.

1. Dont think twice, if you are starting a cookbook collection or is just searching for inspiration - Jamie's cookboks are for you... bought it for my wife...couldn't stop reading it and trying it out....
   
   Good choice!
   
   Good taste!



2. I received this book as a Christmas gift and was excited about getting it home and trying out the recipes. Some of the recipes turned out fabulous but some didn't as the measurements were just plain wrong. I even tried a couple of the recipes twice and even bought new kitchen scales only to have it fail every time. I think people think Jamie's lack of precise measurements are part of his charm and even liberating but unfortunately cooking doesn't always allow this much room for error. So Jamie, while you have the priveledge of being careless with your measurements and able to try recipes until you master them the rest of us poor saps that bought your book have to keep ruining dinner. I guess you can figure out that you should not reach for this book if you want to try something new for those dinner guests coming over.



3. I now have all of Jamie Oliver's books and DVDs. I am eagerly awaiting his book on Italy to be released. B. Marold says it best, so anything I say will be redundant. What I like (love really) about his cookbooks, including this one, is that all of the recipes are cook-able. The meat, fish, salad, and dessert recipes are simple, but incredibly tasty. I own numerous cookbooks, but few are as easy to manouver as Jame Oliver's. The photographs are wonderful and he is adorable. Perhaps he makes it look too easy, but it is once you read the recipe and get down to business in your kitchen. I love this cookbook. It has everything you need to cook and serve a delicious and healthy meal. I would also recommend both his DVDs. His energy is infectious. If you love London (and England) as I do, you get colorful glimpses of restaurants and markets in each episode. His friends are deightful. Especially Gennaro his Italian 'father' and mentor.
   
   I wish I had recorded all of his earlier programs (The Naked Chef) when they were on the Food Network. These tapes are not available now. He deserves all of the success he has garnered for himself. Go out and buy this book and all his other books. And don't forget the DVDs.



4. I love Jamie's books! I love all the pictures, the great simple recipes, and insight into Jamie's world.
   
   This book was written during the time when he started training young unemployed kids to become chefs. The chapters include some great unusual salads, cooking without heat, poaching, cooking in pouches, stewing, frying, roasting, grilling, and baking.
   
   There is only one recipe per page, and include a beautiful picture of the prepared product. In between the recipes there are tons of pictures of Jamie, for all the fans out there.:)
   
   These books are definitely a writing from the heart.



5. Just looking at the pictures (as many of Jamie, it seems, as of the food) and reading the recipes, I tagged 6 as both appealing and do-able. That's not too many from a book of this size. Of course it's all a matter of personal taste, but just for example, an inordinate number of recipes call for mint, which is fine if you're crazy about mint. If not, not. I'd recommend leafing through this at the library or book store before purchasing.

1 comments about Essence.

1. If you are chef this is the book for you.recipes like a sunchoke and the roasted almond soup,chessnut soup,eel tortelloni with watercress cream and bitter leaves,and pumpkin gnocchi with crisp pork belly seared squid and peanut milk.only down side not every recipe has a picture,but the photos yhat are in this book are beautiful.A must have and my favorite book

5 comments about Gordon Ramsay: The Biography.

1. Truly an excellent book. This book opens your eyes to the hard work it takes to become a great Chef.
   I recommend other Gordan Ramsay books.



2. I would consider myself a fan of Gordon Ramsey, I think his theories on management and what it takes to be a success could be a lesson to all. Also he has led what seems like a fascinating life, rising up from a rough part of Glasgow, dealing with the issues of a broken family and a promising football career ruined by injury. Sadly this book is written in little better than tabloid tidbits for those with a very short attention span. His childhood and motivations that led him to being a world class chef are glossed over and given about 30 pages. His troubled relationship with his father and its impact is mentioned several times in the book but never really elaborated on sufficiently. His early years as a chef are dealt with in about 15 pages and his years in Paris are given even less coverage despite Gordon's belief that they were absolutely central to him becoming the chef he is today. The author seems more interested in making constant references to Gordon's notorious foul mouth and his relationship with the tabloid press. What a shame there are so many more interesting facets to his life that could have been explored here.



3. This was a great book. It really gives you insight to his behavior. (which is not bad) It was a page turner, and I finished it in a weekend.
   He really had alot of disappointments in life but turned it all around. It gives you inspiration.
   If you like Gordon,this is a must read.



4. I agree with previous reviewers. This is short attention span writing. It jumps from one topic to another topic without going into depth. It felt like reading People Magazine and not a book.



5. If this biography was a dish on one of the episodes of Hell's Kitchen, Chef Ramsay would have told author Neil Simpson to "take off your jacket and leave Hell's Kitchen". I thought the book was poorly written and provided little more than superficial insight into Gordon Ramsay and his meteoric rise to success in the culinary world. Too much of the time the author seemed more interested in trying to justify the boorish behavior that Ramsay is known for as somehow being okay because of Ramsay's passion for food. In addition, the book portrays Ramsay as having an idealized family life that doesn't seem possible given the driven, workaholic nature of Ramsay. I would have prefered a book that provided a more balanced, and yes, more critical look at Ramsay.

5 comments about More Spaghetti, I Say! (level 2) (Hello Reader).

1. I love this book. It lends itself to many activities with monkeys or spaghetti.



2. I love reading this book to my daughter (2 1/2). I got it when i was a small child and have held onto it as one of my favorites. It is quickly becoming her favorite as well...the story flows so well its really fun to read...my daughter likes to see how fast I can read it without messing up.



3. This is my favorite children's book - it is especially fun to read out loud. It has a cute level of humor and I've even had a class of 3-year-olds laughing at it. A good learn to read book - but also a good story in general.



4. I adored this book as a kid (I'm in my 30s now). I haven't gotten my new copy yet, but I think there is a lesson about temperance at the end, but that's not what I recall: I just remember the sheer joy of more, more, more. With books that use so few and such simple words, it's often hard for an adult to distinguish the adequate from the great. Speaking for my very young self, I can tell you that this book is great.



5. When my son was three, he made me read this book to him so many times that even now, 22 years later, I know the entire thing by heart.
   
   Kids love this book. Parents do, too, at least the first 10 or 12 thousand times they read it to the kids!