5 comments about The Cook's Illustrated Complete Book of Poultry.

1. I'm an avid cook and, while I no longer subscribe to "Cooks Illustrated" magazine, I respect editor Christopher Kimball and his expert "Cook's Illustrated" kitchen crew and have had good luck, more or less, with their recipes which, if followed exactly, are virtually foolproof. I also never fail to learn something from their informative kitchen commentary. All in all, Kimball's recipes and advice are beneficial to both novice and experienced cooks.

   That having been I have to point out that taste is, of course, subjective. For instance, I've found, from trying a number of Kimball's recipes, that he is a salt-a-holic. I prefer to cook with little or no salt, as I find the taste harsh and unpleasant, and if I followed Kimbell's recipes exactly I'd be drowning in the stuff. I prefer pepper and tend to double or triple the often meager amounts Kimbell calls for in his recipes (usually he calls for four or fives times more salt than pepper, and I almost reverse that ratio). But, if your taste is the same as Kimball's when it comes to a particular food, his well-researched and thoroughly-tested recipes will be amazing! (In this particular cookbook he endlessly recommends "brining" chicken before cooking, which means soaking it in salt water. This is something my grandmother has done for years, but with vinegar and water, instead of salt. I still prefer the latter method and use either apple cider or white vinegar--half water, half vinegar--with great success and no salty after taste.)

   All of Kimball's "Cook's Illustrated" cookbooks follow the same basic format: a long-winded, but often interesting, discourse on how Kimball views the "perfect" version of whatever it is he's showing you how to cook, including a lengthy explanation of variations he has tried, followed by his "Master Recipe" for the food. I recommend carefully reading this introduction, focusing on what Kimball considers "perfection," before attempting the recipe. If you don't feel the same way about, say, roast chicken as the author, his "master recipe" for roasting a chicken will leave you cold (he likes it quite salty and greasy--though he uses terms like "savory," "succulent" and "moist" to describe what I think of as "salty" and "greasy"). But this can all be easily adapted to create a brilliant chicken you will love. In short, the basics are all there, you just may have to fiddle with the seasonings.

   I must also warn cooks that Kimball's cookbooks are books not necessarily made for cooking (odd, isn't it?). They are standard-bound hardcover editions that rarely lie flat (the latest, "The Best Recipe," is a little better than the others) and the index is dreadful--a fairly major gripe when you consider how important an index is to a cookbook when, say, you quickly want to find a recipe for "Chicken Soup" and you can't even decipher where the "Cs" start! There may be six or seven pages under the tiny heading "entrees," five of which may start with "chicken," leading you to believe you're in the "Cs" when you're actually in the "Es." It's very confusing. Many other people have recommended putting dictionary like letter headers (for example "CHI-CLA") at the top of each index page and, after trying it, I have to say I highly recommend this method.

   Usually my biggest problem with Kimbell cookbooks is this: If you have one, you have them all. He lifts whole passages and recipes and uses them in multiple books. "The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook," and the "Cook's Bible," for instance, have at least 50 identical recipes, not to mention verbatim introductions to each section and cookware recommendations repeated word-for-word. "The Best Recipe" features ALL of the recipes (as far as I can tell) from the "Cook's Bible," with the same commentary, which is, in turn, lifted in whole chunks from past issues of "Cooks Illustrated." I'm sure this saves Mr. Kimbell a great deal of time when compiling his cookbooks but it leaves little reason to own more than one edition of his work. The "Complete Poultry" cookbook though, is an exception to this rule. While it does contain exact repeats from other books, it also add a wealth of new recipes and information, making it more than worth your while for anyone who cooks poultry regularly.

   While I wouldn't take his meat recommendations too seriously--I'd say that most of us can't REALLY tell the difference between a $90 special-order free range turkey and a $15 Butterball (I did try both and it's not worth the cost)--Kimball's recipes will help you make the best Thanksgiving dinner ever and help answer that near nightly question: 'What on Earth am I going to do with these boneless, skinless chicken breasts this time?'




2. Almost every recipe I've tried from this book has been marvelous. I do, however, have a BIG problem with the curry recipes. As any good Indian cook knows, it is essential to fry the spices before adding the liquid. You can't, as this book says, add the liquid and the spices to the oil at the same time and expect the spices and oil to "separate" from the liquid. The spices are more likely to blend with the liquid, not the oil, and not fry at all. This makes for an unpleasant curry. I have to wonder how well-tested the curry recipes were.



3. If you like chicken, you'll love this one. It's a good one for the library as are all CI's works. If you're familiar with them, then you know what to expect.

   I agree with the previous reviewer about the index not only of this book but all of the Cook's Illustrated books. For having such high standards, they really should correct this problem. I don't have this issue with any other books in my library and it's extremely annoying coming from them especially.




4. Last week me and my boyfriend made the basic roast turkey recipe and it was the best turkey I ever tasted. The skin is cooked crispy but not burned. The meat, even the white meat is juicy and tender, and the gravy compliments the bird so well you'll want to make turkey every week. Some may be discouraged that you need to soak the turkey for 12 hours beforehand, but believe me, the end result is worth it.

   This book is worth buying just for the praise you would get on holidays from making this recipe.




5. Great book for cooks of all levels for everything from how to cook chicken/turkey, soup, stews, and ideas for left-overs. Similar format to the Best Recipe book in the many tests were done for the best recipe. Included are not only recipes, but ideas for modifications, how to turn over a bird that is cooking, and what flavors go well together. This was a gift to my husband and I - we have used it a great deal find it helpful for everything from ideas to practical questions. A great gift for cooks.

4 comments about Cutting Up in the Kitchen.

1. What part of the animal does the London Broil come from? Anyone who has been frustrated trying to decipher the marketing nomenclature of the meat industry will appreciate Merle's straightforward and frank explanations. Hailing from the U.S. heartland and practicing his trade in California, Merle shows himself to be a knowledgable butcher with a knack for writing in a conversational style. The writing is puncuated by clear line drawings of carcasses and cuts that aid the exposition, as well as other drawings that bring out the romance of meat. A few B/W photographs illustrate the difference between Prime and other US Grades of meat. I've looked for similar information in many other cookbooks without success. My only criticism is that the text does not refer directly to figures. Rather they are dropped on the page and one must guess which figure relates to what part of the text.



2. I have owned this book for about 20 years and wouldn't do without it! Mr. Ellis presents superb descriptions of the cuts of meats, methods for boning, ways to ensure that one gets the tenderest slice of a specific cut based on anatomy and many hints about saving money. I showed it to my butcher, and he got one for himself. My daughter was just married, and I am now ordering her a copy. I can't say enough good about this book.



3. "Cutting Up In The Kitchen" walks you through the dozens of names for the same cuts of meat that come from every cow. It is a guide for getting the best meat for the least money!



4. I saw this book at the library years ago and found it very helpful, so when I saw it on Amazon, I purchased it. It is out of print and some of the information is a little dated (turkey is no longer 69 cents per pound), but it is excellent at teaching about the different cuts of meat and how to recognize which are tough and which are tender. It explains how to cook the cuts of meat and which ones are a good bargain and which cost too much money for what you get. Also it tells how to cut up chicken and turkeys. I recommend it very much if you a a meat eater.

1 comments about Second Helpings of Roast Chicken.

1. Like Mr. Hopkinson, I am Bury born and bred. My mother shopped at the same tripe shop as his grandmother; I celebrated my 21st birthday at M. Chambas' restaurant ("The Normandy", Mr. Hopkinson - you'd have been laughed out of town on a rail in the 60's if you'd referred to it in Bury as "La Normandie"!)where he later cut his teeth - my mother, who taught at an hotel school, drove my father, who was paying for the meal, crazy by "costing" the meal as it proceeded - the salad was the final straw - we never, alas, returned!
   
   I have lived for many years on a different continent and would love his books, regardless of the recipes, for the many reminders of my youth that they contain. That said, this and his original roast chicken book, are a wonderful source of varied, instructive and utterly usable recipes. I cannot recommend them too highly.

1 comments about The Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook: Home-Made Meals with Store-Bought Convenience.

1. I pre-ordered this book from Amazon mostly out of curiosity. I love reading cookbooks and then suggesting them (or giving them) to friends. This seemed like a fun title with a theme that would appeal to the many home cooks who can't seem to find the time to cook everything from scratch. I read that the author (Michelle Ann Anderson) won a $100,000 prize from the 47th Annual National Chicken Cooking Contest. She seemed like a perfect person to give us simple and quick recipes using the wide variety of prepared food that is becoming so available to today's home cook.
   
   Well... this was not what I expected. To start with, the subtitle reads "Home-made meals with store-bought convenience". The Amazon description includes the phrase "converting store-bought rotisserie chicken into quick, convenient, and delicious meals". I love to cook and the more ingredients the better, but many don't share that joy. They are looking for shortcuts to decent food. It is my opinion that when it comes to giving the reader "quick and convenient" recipes for rotisserie chickens this book fails to deliver.
   
   First of all I am not feeling any respect for the titular ingredient, rotisserie chicken. I have made dozens (probably more like hundreds) of rotisserie chickens in my lifetime. I have marinated them, seasoned them with countless spices, inserted various fruit between the skin and the flesh, soaked them in brine, stuffed them with herbs, you get the idea. The options are endless. Also, I have seen the variety of prepared, pre-cooked chickens that are available in most grocery stores. I have seen lemon chickens, herb chickens, BBQ chickens, Thai chickens, mesquite chickens, etc. Nowhere in this book does the author discuss these varieties. It seems like she assumes that all rotisserie chickens are the same. In addition to that assumption I find that most of the recipes treat rotisserie chickens as just a source of meat. The VAST majority of the recipes called for "diced rotisserie chicken" or "shredded rotisserie chicken". Out of the almost 200 recipes only two call for sliced breasts (Cubano-Inspired Chicken Sandwiches and Asparagus and Chicken Eggs Benedict), a staple for easy foods like sandwiches, the panini, bruschetta, countless salads, pasta, etc.
   
   Let's face it, although we are told that white meat is "good" for you, the dark meat has the most flavor. The author states in her brief introduction that a 24 ounce bird "yields an average of 4 cups of white meat and 2 cups of dark". Most of her recipes call for between 1 and 3 cups of "rotisserie chicken" and only one (Steamed Egg Cups with Chicken and Enoki) specifies white meat over dark. None of the close to 200 recipes distinguish between the two. Are we to assume that it doesn't matter whether we use white or dark? Trust me, it does. Some delicate dishes would be ruined with the moist, earthy flavor of thigh meat and others recipes would taste bland if one only used white meat.
   
   And what about the SKIN! Only 6 recipes call for a divided whole chicken (6 out of almost 200?). Still, we are not told if we are to include the tasty, crispy, crunchy, delicious skin or not. This should be called the "Diced-Chicken Book". There are cheaper, easier sources of white chicken meat if that is all you are looking for.
   
   As far as the recipes are concerned, they are O-K. Nothing really new and few honor the theme of "quick and convenient". Most recipes call for 10-13 ingredients (some, like the Moroccan Chicken recipes call for more that 20!). That's O-K for me and many amateur cooks (if the results justify it) but does the target audience for this book want to do all that shopping for one dish? Some included recipes cut corners by suggesting the use of frozen onions, peas, spinach, etc. I have found that the texture and flavor of fresh veggies gives a dish character and texture even when you use prepared sauces. I think that there are better ways to make a dish easy to prepare than by using frozen vegetables.
   
   The saving grace for this cookbook is that the author included recipes derived from many different cuisines (Indian, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, etc.). None were particularly authentic (again, we are looking for quick and easy here, not authentic) but I admire the diversity. Otherwise I would have given this book 2 stars.
   
   I received a paperback issue of this book (I could not find if it is available as a hardback). For a book with about 200 recipes it only has 30 photos. All were small (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") and all were poorly photographed or poorly reproduced. All of the photos were in an "insert" at the beginning of the book. For me they were a bigger disappointment than the book itself.
   
   This book might appeal to some and I admire the author for her effort. I have made several of the recipes and even though I modified them some I enjoyed the outcome. However, as far as the theme of this book goes, I think that it misses the mark.

5 comments about Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie.

1. This is a fun book. The book has great trivia and history, and a great variety of the old traditional recipes. But along with that, are the recipes created by the different cultures of our "Melting Pot", who adapted their own wonderful tastes and flavors to their Thanksgiving celebration. This year, my family is going use only recipes in this cookbook to make a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.



2. A fantastic book to read! The recipes we tried were outstanding-easy to read directions & the history behind each dish was a treat to read. I am looking forward to using these recipes at our Thanksgiving this year.



3. Wonderful! Curtin and Oliver put together a unique collection of exquisite and easy to follow recipes. The history behind the national holiday is also explained with interesting details and complements nicely the culinary section. Whether the reader wants to learn more about the tradition or wants to impress friends and family at the dinner table, this is the book to read!
   Giving Thanks. A book to have and a book to give!
   



4. As someone who loves to cook and is fascinated by early american history, I was extremely pleased by the content of this book. It is not merely a cookbook but a history book as well. This book can be enjoyed by children and adults equally.



5. It's a history book and a cookbook all in one. The biggest selling point for me is the accuracy of the recipes. Can you believe it contains a mincemeat recipe that actually contains meat! That's a rare gem these days. If you love food history as much as you do a good dish you will want to own this book.

1 comments about Simple Essentials Chicken.

1. This is a great cookbook except that it repeats a lot of recipes from other Donna Hay books. If you have only one or two Donna Hay cookbooks and love chicken then get this book. If you already have a collection (I have about 6) you will still get some new ideas but maybe buy the book, have a look through it and if you don't see enough new recipes you want to try, give it as a gift. It made a great gift along with the salad and vegetables book for a friend of mine who doesn't eat beef or fish so is always looking for new ways to prepare chicken. I ended up keeping the book AND ordering a 2nd copy as a gift. The recipes are great, and despite having many of them in other books, I like having them all in one place so I am not flipping through multiple books looking for one random chicken recipe. As always, Donna Hay's books have beautiful photography and a picture to go with every single recipe. Plus there is lots of info about different cuts of chicken and the recipes are organized by cooking method. I have already tried the harrissa yogurt baked chicken, the chicken mint rice noodle salad, the lemon grass ground chicken in lettuce cups, and the chicken lemon pasta- all are delicious.

5 comments about Wings Across America: 150 Outrageously Delicious Chicken-Wing Recipes: 150 Outrageously Delicious Chicken Wings Recipes.

1. I picked up this book at the buffalo wing festival last year and I'm still inspired by the ton of recipes in the book. Definitly worth it!



2. I think I saw the author on one of the talking heads morning programs preparing some chicken wing recepie, which then made it difficult for me to find the book anywhere later in the day.

   Now that I have had a chance to, of course, get the book and try some of the recepies I can certainly attest to the reason it was hard to get. WOW ... even though we may all have fallen into the pit of deep frying wings and buying buffalo wing sauces at the local Piggely Wiggely .... this book will blow out all of your chicken wing pre-conceptions ....

   There are suaerbraten wing recepies, hoisin sauce recepies, sour cream recepies and so on and so forth, all of them exquisite, and a taste sensation. The recepies are very varied in the basic prep of the wings and most do not take that many steps. There are a multitude of flavours to choose from ranging from the dark sweet brown sugar glazed wings to spicy Eastern wings made with chutney or hoisin sauce to tangy sour European style wings.

   The 'Desert Fox Wing' recepie (page 79) for example, uses orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, lemon and orange zest, rosemary, thyme, oregano, cardamon, cumin,tumeric and of course salt in the preparation of the marinade .... WOW .... how many chickens did they have to kill just to get that list of ingredients .....

   The book has a few B&W pictures on how to prep the wings but they have no pictures of dish presentation... I can understand that since all you really need is just a roll of paper towells and a beer ... Some of the recepies have a history or a restaurant tied to them and some, I guess, are just from the author.... The book is 203 pages long and I would estimate then that it must have well over 130 recipies

   Like I said ... don't expect this book to be picked up on the cheap but do RUN and buy a copy ..... then call me and invite me over for wings and a beer ... LOL




3. i came to be a fan of Wings relatively late, only a couple of years ago. I always consdidered them not worth the trouble to make or eat given the amount of meat on the bones. But I was really transformed a few years ago at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant and their many varieties of wings and sauces. They were not just heat but spice as well and i soon began experimenting with my own buffalo style wings and hit upon a method that friends always demand. I would put mine at medium hot in terms of their heat.
   
   This wonderful little book comes along with 150 wing recipes from traditional buffalo wings to international recipes from the Caribbean, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and more. There are so many varieties that you just won't know where to begin. I've only made about a half dozen which I always make 3 or 4 different varieties of wings for parties.
   
   The Cajun Wings are a nice change of pace with the Cajun spices making it still hot but with a distinctly different taste than the average hot wing. There's the Die-Hard Dijon wings with a fantastic savory flavor. And of course Teriyaki wings are one of my favorites. But it's not just wings. There's receipes for dipping sauces as well as a number of salads to compliment the wings. Truly an indispensible book for any wing fan!



4. I prefer being positive. Sorry, this time I cannot do so. I've found NOTHING useful inside the covers. Cutesy titles and recipes, any of us amateurs could come up with simply by looking in the pantry and frig.
   I'll gladly mail the book to anyone willing to pay my cost of packaging and postage.
   My suggestion is do a search or two for wing recipes. Save your money.



5. I was very disappointed with the recipes in this book, the base of each recipe was almost identical, in other word there were only a couple methods of cooking the wings, which was used in each recipe. Only slight variations were used. Nothing unique about this book or the recipes, wish I knew of an alternative, I was hoping to find a better or more alternatives to cooking wings. Complete waste of money.

No comments about The Big Book of Chicken: Over 300 Exciting Ways to Cook Chicken (Big Book (Chronicle Books)).

5 comments about Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue!: How to Use the Already-Roasted Chickens You Purchase at the Market to Make More Than 125 Simple and Delicious Meals.

1. I too love this book. I bought it off a bargin rack (a competitor) because I collect cookbooks. To my surprise, I found my self earmarking nearly the entire book. This author provides a variety of selections that are quick, simple and easily prepared. She has a nice chapter on salads from common to ethnic (Muffaletta, Pecan Waldorf, Chinese Chicken, California Cobb, and Buffalo pasta salad, to name a few). Other chapters include soups, sandwiches, casseroles, side dishes and glazes to top a deli-prepared roaster. I've made several of the recipes and have put them into my "keeper" files. I go back to this book time and time again. I'm very happy I purchased it.



2. This book is not only great for the recipes, it is great for giving you an idea about variations and substitutions if you don't have something in your pantry. It gives you a limitless list of things your can do in a very short period of time. A must have for the working mom.



3. I really like this book. It has some very imaginitive ways to use rotisserie/leftover chicken. I have made a few recipies from it and all were successes. All of the recipies seem quick and easy with easy-to-find ingredients. It does not have pictures though. Overall a solid book.



4. Quick to make and quick to remember. The few meals I have made my family has enjoyed and asked for more. It's nice to have a cookbook that gives me a head start on what to do with an already cooked chicken. I can change the recipe to fit my family without taking away from the meal. A Must Have for the Kitchen library!



5. book has lots of recipes...most common sense, I was already doing with my rotisserie chicken....no pictures...I love pictures in a cookbook!

1 comments about Betty Crocker Dinner Made Easy with Rotisserie Chicken: Build a Meal Tonight! (Betty Crocker Books).

1. This book has menus and recipes for sides and desserts in addition to the chicken.