Amazon.com
Everyone loves soup, the world's most versatile dish. James Peterson's Splendid Soups, first published in 1993 and now updated, celebrates that fact with stunning comprehensiveness. Offering almost 300 tantalizing recipes ranging from the most pristine consommés to the heartiest peasant stews, the book also provides extensive technical information, tips, and serving suggestions that make it a true soup tutorial. The book's "ultimate goal," says Peterson, "is to give the reader the tools with which to invent," an aim he realizes with clarity, warmth, and precision. It's hard to imagine a cook who wouldn't embrace this authoritative yet companionable work.
The recipe range is vast. In 10 chapters that cover all the soup bases, including yogurt, bread, and fruit mixtures, Peterson offers an encyclopedic dish array. Among the entries new to this edition are Roast Garlic and Acorn Squash Soup, Thai-Style Hot and Sour Blue Crab Soup, and Dried Fruit Soup, a traditional Swedish specialty. Especially noteworthy is Peterson's introductory section on ethnic soups; a section offering strategies for reducing a soup's fat content (don't let meat broths boil, which homogenizes fat and liquid); and advice on what to drink with soup. With 40 color photos taken by the author, an equipment guide, and a useful chart for soup improvisation, the book is better than ever and a must-have for any kitchen library. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Praise for the fully revised and updated Splendid Soups
"Jim Peterson's Splendid Soups is a comprehensive and mouthwatering atlas of the world of soup. It not only covers soups of all nationalities and every garnish, but provides a handy list of sources for every hard-to-find ingredient and kitchen tool, too. More importantly though, through his gargantuan world tour Jim empowers home cooks to strike out on their own and invent new soups. It just makes me want to get into the kitchen and start cooking!" -SARA MOULTON Host, The Food Network's Cooking Live; Executive Chef, Gourmet magazine; Food Editor, Good Morning America
"We love James Peterson. Splendid Soups is a bountiful source of enticing ideas!"-the moosewood collective Authors of the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbooks
Customer Reviews:
Learn to Make Stocks.......2006-08-18
The most useful thing about this book is that it teaches you how to make a good stock. I can't tell you how much it has made a difference in my cooking. I do like the recipes in the book, but more often his techniques are being applied to other recipes vastly improved by my new ability to make a good stock. Once you get into the habit of making stock, you will be horrified at the thought of throwing away bones! Use them to make stock now, or freeze them and make stock later. The recipes are loose, but if you read the opening chapters you will not need absolute precision because you will know what you are doing!
Good compilation of recipies, but poor quality of each recipe.........2006-03-11
First of all I have to say that I am spanish and I am not writing in my mother tongue. So I have to apologise in advance for my poor English skills.
When I read a review I like to know who write it in order to guess what he expected to find in the book and what sort of judgment he is going to give us.
I am an Spanish Food Engineer. I am not a professional chef but, I dare say, I am an advanced amateur cook.
I read the cookbooks form cover to cover at least twice. I underlain it and even it compare the recipies with other books.
I dont want a compilation of recipies that I left in my shelves for checking a recipe from time to time.
What I expected to find in this book was:
1-A classification of soups.
2-A correct description of the techniques for cooking the soups.
3-A collection of really splendid soups. I dont mind how many recipies the book has, but I mind the quality of each recipe.
I want a perfect recipe for each soup. Whether I like or not the soup, once I have cooked it, it depends on my personal taste.
So with this in mind, here is my review.
1-The book is organized by ingredientes (meat soups, fish soups, vegetable soups..). It makes easier to find a recipe if you have some ingredientes in the refrigerator and you wants to know what to do with them. But it should be arranged by technique as the book "Professional Chef" (CIA) does (consommes, hearty broths, cream soups, puree soups and bisques).You cant remember all the recipies but you can remember the techniques. This is the most didactic way of organize the book if you want to read it from cover to cover.
2-The general description of the techniques are omitted. The author goes straight to the description of the preparation of each recipe. What it is good if you want a compilation of recipies, but it isnt very useful if you really want to learn how to cook soups at your will.
By the other hand, the description of the preparation of the recipies are detailed and correct. Neither it is "over-detailed" nor ambiguous.
3-At first sight, the number of recipies seems to be huge. But once you have read some chapters you will realise that some recipies are almost the same. Organizing the book by ingredients its easy to repeat recipes because you only need to change an ingredient.For example, "Miso Soup" and "Miso soup with egg plant", the first one appears in the chapter of broths and the second one appears in the chapter of vegetables. But both are the same .Another example "Puree of Artichoke", "Puree of Asparagus", "Puree of Cauliflower"...etc.
The number of recipies has been falsely increased
4-I cant say the recipies doesnt works, but I cant say the recipies are excellent.In some cases I am sure the recipe is wrong. As I said I am spanish, and I cant assure that Gazpacho doesnt contain neither chicken broth nor lime. I understand the author wants to transform/interpret some exotic/ethnic soups. But the changes should not become the dish into another thing. Another example is the Bisque. He uses vegetable puree to thick the soup. By definition a Bisque is a soup that only contains crustaceans and the vegetables are only use for give a subtle taste and it should not distort the crustacean taste.
I wouldnt say that from the 400 soups all of them are "splendid". On the contrary, only few ones are good (but not excellent). He should be more concentrated on the quality rather than in the quantity.
5-There are few photographs (8 pages). The "soups" showed by these photos has got so many solids and so few liquid that you would need a fork and a knife for eating it. So it isnt soups, because you dont use a spoon for eating it.
6-The style of writing is a bit arrogant. I agree with other review. He uses a lot the word "I". I think he is too worry about demostrating that he has cooked each soup, because he repeat many times "Each time I cook it..." "I like to eat it.." "I cant image a summer without it.." and so on.
I dont think he has cooked all the recipies, or at least, I dont think he cook the soups with frequency he try to show.
The book contains 400 recipies, really do you think that he eats so often all them during the 365 days of the year?.
On the other hand, he is too precise with very tiny details (add the parsley just 1 minute before serving, for example) but he is too loose with other matters.
Does he pretend to be exquisite? an epicurean?
7-This book has got some good points. The chapter of ethnic soups is excellent. He describes some ethnic and exotic ingredients and also incorporate soups from Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, China, India Morocco, Mexico etc...
After reading the book you will be able to prepare a soup freely just watching what you have got in the refrigerator.
All in all, I doesnt believe its a masterpiece as other reviewers does. The recipies arent totaly perfect and if you are purist the book will disappoint you.
But if you arent a purist, if you doesnt look for the perfect soup, and if you only want to find a recipe and cook it from time to time, this is your book.
Best Soup Cookbook Ever.......2006-02-18
Every recipe was easy to follow and came with set-by-step instructions. All of my favorite soups are from the Splendid Soup cookbook. Everytime I make a soup from this cookbook (which is once a week) I get a thumbs up from my family, especially from the hard to please little ones!!!
A fantastic book, but not for beginners.......2002-10-12
I am a self-described soup addict. I make soups at least once a week year round, even when the weather in my hometown is well above 100 degrees! This book is an excellent book, great for someone who has spent a lot of time making soups and is willing to put the time and effort into getting the ingredients, and doing the chopping and cooking that is required. It has nearly every soup imaginable in it and is great for coming up with great ideas for your own new recipes. However, the reason I can't give it 5 stars is that, as others have mentioned before, it does not go into intimate detail in the instructions, it includes some hard-to-find or largely unfamiliar ingredients, and some of the recipes are difficult. If you are a beginner, you should probably stay away from this book. If you are soup obsessed like me, this book is well worth buying and will become an invaluable source of information for you.
great book.......2001-12-01
great book. i tend to use it as a base for creating soups (e.g., a turkey soup that was based on 3 different veggy soup recipes). i've bought a copy for a buddy and for my brother-in-law and they both love the book (for some reason, men in my family do the cooking!!)
Book Description
No, there is no chicken stock in this soup. What you'll find here is page after glorious page of the loveliest, most delicious soups and stews - each and every one entirely vegetarian. Brimming with international flavors, Paulette Mitchell's easy-to-follow recipes are paired with unique accompaniments, garnishes, and toppings that add tremendous visual appeal. Witness hearty Pumpkin Stew baked and served in a pumpkin shell; classic onion soup updated with crunchy goat cheese toasts; and Spicy Sweet Potato Ancho Bisque swirled with bright Roasted Red Pepper Cream. From Mediterranean Saffron Stew to Greek Spinach and Orzo Soup, these colorful dishes are simple enough for every day, yet sophisticated enough for elegant dinner parties. Instructions for making tasty vegetable stock from scratch, a selection of delicious vegan soups, and a helpful "tips" section make this gorgeous cookbook an important addition to any kitchen where good food and good health are on the menu.
Customer Reviews:
A Truly Lovely Addition to your Cookbook Collection with a minor exception........2007-09-10
I love this book. Not just for the recipes but for the clean design and beautiful photographs. Everything about this book makes you want to use it over and over.
I do have one word of caution. Her miso soup recipe calls for you to boil the miso. She makes an effort to explain how beneficial miso is for your health but unfortunately, boiling miso destroys all of the good enzymes.
Add it at the end by turning off the heat, mix in your miso, and wait a few minutes before serving. Heat activates the enzymes but, again, boiling will destroy them.
Aside from this small detail, it is one of my favorites amoung my vast collection of cookbooks.
Better than I expected...great book for soup lovers!.......2007-08-11
This book is the perfect soup cook book. I really love soup and wanted some new and interesting recipes. This book definitely delivered! I have tried many of the recipes and all of them were delicious. Each recipe is very unique and my favorite so far is the roasted vegetable soup. The roasting causes a sweetness and carmelization that is delicious and even though there are a lot of ingredients prep is quick because it is mostly just chopping up veggies.
One of my friends was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease and this book is helping her through her tough time with her new dietary restrictions. She is not able to use any canned broths or bouillions that you could buy at the store so the vegetable stock recipe in this book is helping her to be able to eat the soups she loves again.
This is a great book!
hungry for soup?.......2007-07-28
Excellent and easy and delicious recipes for anyone who likes soup and doesn't like to go to a whole lot of trouble.
Soups a Plenty.......2007-07-17
If you like soup and are a vegetarian you"ll love this book of receipes. The book itself was in great shape. Thanx Seller
I wish there was images.......2007-06-20
I think a good cookbook should have an image for every recipe.
This cookbook has beautiful images, but I wish they would show me an image of the cooked soup instead of images of the ingredients. I know what a raspberry looks like, but I have no idea about raspberry soup.
Else than that I think that the yummy titled of the recipe make up a little bit for the lack of images, they all sound good. They are simple yet not obvious soups. They have refined ingredients, but not obscure, you can find everything at the grocery store.
My only other critique would be that the organization of the explanation is trying to simplify the flowing of the making process, but I think it is just confusing. I would like a 1-2-3 kind of book, but this one is more like a flowing text wich makes it hard to follow once you are in the kitchen with your stuff cooking fast.
Over all it seems to be a good book, full of nice little recipies. I just wish there was more images...
Book Description
What's the secret to great chicken stock? Which cut of meat makes the best beef stew? What's the best way to thicken New England clam chowder? Do you really need to soak black beans before making soup?
In an exhaustive effort to answer these and many more questions, the test kitchen simmered more than 6,000 pots of soup and stew. The result is this definitive collection of more than 200 recipes covering just about every soup and stew imaginable. Choose from perennial favorites such as Manhattan clam chowder, cream of tomato soup, Cincinnati chili, and beef barley soup or international recipes such as hot-and-sour soup, borscht, and miso soup.
The Best Soups and Stews also contains 200 illustrations that show you how to cut up a chicken, defat stock, shape matzo balls, mince ginger, and much more. No-nonsense equipment ratings and taste tests of supermarket ingredients are also included. Find out which supermarket chicken broth received our highest rating, which blender turns out the smoothest pureed soups, and which pot is best for making stews. With this book at your side, we guarantee that you will never turn out a bland pot of soup or a greasy stew with tough stringy meat—in fact, cooking favorite and new recipes will be easy and foolproof.
What separates great corn chowder from the pack?
For deep corn flavor, grate ears of corn to create a thick pulp bursting with fresh corn flavor, then add whole kernels at the last minute. And for richness and smoky flavor, sauté salt pork and leave it in the chowder as it simmers.
What is the secret to rich-tasting beef stew?
First, use beef chuck and cut your own stew meat (for consistency of texture and flavor); then skip the flouring step—floured meat gives stew a weak, less beefy flavor. And for the perfect texture overall, cook the stew in the oven after browning the meat and add the vegetables in stages.
How do you make the ultimate French Onion soup?
The best French onion soup starts with caramelized red onions (they have the most intense sweetness and complexity of flavor) and two types of broth—chicken and beef broth. And for the perfect cheesy crust, use Asiago for flavor and Swiss for meltability.
How do you make great chicken cacciatore?
Start with skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs for the deepest flavor, then discard the skin after the initial sauté to prevent the stew from becoming greasy. Add portobellos for earthy flavor and build a robust sauce with red wine and a Parmesan rind.
Customer Reviews:
Best Soups.......2007-07-16
If you like soups, this is the book for you. It explains in great detail from start to finish. I recommend this highly if you like healthy, nutritious and delicious cuisine.
$3.99 is the cheapest price for a Cook's Illustrated cookbook .......2007-06-15
Watching America's Test Kitchen has tempted me to buy the cookbooks but the costs have always been too high. I am buying the soup and stew one just because it is the lowest price for a new copy.
The Best Soups & Stews: A Best Recipe Classic (Best Recipe Series).......2006-11-10
This book lives up to the high regard I have for the Cooks Illustrated books. It not only gives good recipes, it teaches you to COOK!!! Reminds me of the saying that if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day, but teach him to fish and . . .
Book Description
Savoring Soups Salads celebrates the gastronomic and cultural customs of America, Mexico, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, India, China, and Southeast Asia. Expand your kitchen repertoire with 125 deliciously authentic soups and salads, from American Butternut Squash Soup, Roman-Style Fish Soup, Peppery Tuscan Beef Stew, and French Oyster Bisque to Chinese Shredded Chicken Salad, Italian Bean Salad with Tuna and Radicchio, Indian Tomato and Yogurt Salad, and Spicy Green Beans, Bean Sprouts, and Coconut Salad.
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Everyone loves soups and stews--but how best to prepare these sometimes challenging dishes? The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews, part of the Best Recipe series from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine, has the answer. Applying its signature "trial and error" approach to the business of choosing definitive recipes and techniques, the magazine tested 23 noodle soups, 40 corn chowders, and 54 beef Burgundies. The results? Not only 200 exemplary recipes--ranging from Manhattan Clam Chowder and Cream of Tomato Soup to Lobster Bisques, Chicken Noodle Soup, Irish Stew, and Beef Goulash--but an armament of technical information, tips, and equipment recommendations all cooks will welcome. Among these are authoritative stock-making suggestions, keys to choosing tender stew meat, and recommendations that yield a superior crust for onion soup. Readers also learn why blender jars with interior flutes produce the best purées, which brand of matzo meal to choose, and how best to crush tomatoes and slice flank steak. The book also covers accompaniments such as baguettes, mashed potatoes, rice, and cornbread. With ingredient profiles, "Science" sidebars (How Starches Work, is one), plus step-by-step how-to illustrations, Soups & Stews will help all cooks achieve mastery of these beloved dishes --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
The Test Cooks at Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, simmered enough chicken soup, beef stew and corn chowder to feed a small city-- the result? More than 200 exhaustively tested recipes and hand-drawn illustrations, kitchen equipment tests and blind food tastings that share our discoveries of the undisputed best ways to make America's favorite soups and stews. 3rd title in "The Best Recipe" series.
Customer Reviews:
Avid Cook.......2005-10-27
This is an excellent compilation of some of the most popular soups and stews. I have been very happy with the Cooks Illustrated books--including this one.
Excellent Manual on Soup Making. Atypical Stock Method.......2004-07-23
In all of their books and magazines, the editors of ?Cooks Illustrated? should have a qualifier stating on which criteria their ?Best? judgment is made. My general experience with their writings is to find that they typically look for the fastest recipe which makes the fewest compromises with taste and which does not cost an unusually large amount of money. Although, it is clear from these recipes that these criteria do not keep it from naturally long procedures such as stock making or expensive basic equipment such as heavy stockpots. It is also clear that these priorities can avoid some longer methods that are needed to achieve the very best taste.
One important question about this book is how well it rates compared to other ?Cooks Illustrated? Best Recipe volumes. In general, I find little to distinguish one from the other except to say that this volume has the virtue of gathering together similar preparations such as the Chinese egg drop soup and the Italian Straciatella, a measure they have not always taken in other volumes, as when brioche and challah are done in two different recipes separated by several dozen pages.
While ?Cooks Illustrated? is commonly very modest about their findings and recipes, the presumption that these culinary journalists and journeyman cooks are coming up with insights which have escaped master chefs is pretty far fetched. The other side of the coin is that different chefs have different methods, and different cuisines have different approaches to the same technique. Witness the difference between French, Swiss, and Italian meringue. But, that doesn?t mean one meringue is always better than another is. An issue more relevant to the book at hand is stock making. The editors choose a saute method for browning meat and vegetables in their stocks, where most recipes brown meat and vegetables in the oven. This decision influences their recommendations of a stockpot, where they suggest a heavy stainless steel or enameled iron pot. The problem with this is that while an 8-quart pot of these metals may be manageable and affordable, a 12 or 16 quart pot is a different kettle of fish entirely. It is much heavier and it is much more expensive.
Many recommendations for a large stockpot are for aluminum or light gage stainless steel. Alton Brown in his Gear book recommends a heavier aluminum or stainless pot to enhance heat distribution, but not for browning. My vote is for browning meat and vegetables in the oven and going for the lighter stockpot.
Other information on stock making is invaluable, and not something you will find the typical master chef saying in their books. The comparison of stocks made with popular commercial brands of chicken versus free-range chicken is dramatic. And, the endorsement of Campbell?s labeled (Campbell?s and Swanson) chicken stocks has been consistent for several years. It is also interesting to hear that commercial stock makers use old egg laying hens to make their stocks and thereby get a stronger flavor than from young broiler / fryers.
The odd thing is that for beef, the reverse is true. The very best beef stocks are from veal, since these very young bones have much more collagen to create more tasty gelatin in the stocks. This is such basic (French) kitchen wisdom that I?m surprised that the book simply does not deal with veal stocks at all, even to say that veal stocks are not commonly used in soups.
The soup recipes are uniformly good and, as always, the reasoning behind each decision in selecting each recipe is well worth the effort to enhance one?s ability to think creatively about cooking. The very best part of each recipe development is in the illustration of how to select good ingredients and how do perform certain common techniques. I strongly suspect that the sidebar on some techniques ends up in many different ?Cooks Illustrated? volumes, but that?s OK. There is lots of special material to go around.
Stews are presented in five separate chapters covering Meat, Chicken, Seafood, and Vegetable stews plus ?Chilis, Gumbos, and Curries?. I suspect the distinction between a soup and a stew is more traditional and arbitrary than can be pinned down in a few words, but the author?s rule seems to be that soups are eaten primarily with a spoon while stews can be eaten with a fork.
While the authors and editors often come to agree with the established practices of generations of chefs, it is always fun to find an exception to a time-honored rule, as with the washing of mushrooms. The editors reproduced an experiment by food scientist Harold McGee to confirm that a quick wash causes mushrooms to pick up no more water than a like weight of broccoli. This may be old news to some, but it is still interesting news.
The final chapter is on recipes for soup accompaniments such as rice, potato, polenta, breads and biscuits. I can?t help thinking that much of this chapter was put in to fill out a page size requirement, as I simply do not know anyone who makes it a practice of eating rice, potato, and polenta dishes with soups and stews. The biscuits and bread recipes are entirely appropriate, but they would not take up much space alone.
I always get recent ?Cooks Illustrated? cookbooks and I am rarely disappointed with them, and this book is no exception. My only caveat is on very basic matters such as stocks, if you are not already familiar with them, is to get a second opinion from an authoritative book by the likes of Jaques Pepin, James Stevenson, or Shirley Corriher.
Recommended primer on good, basic recipes, especially if you are willing to make your own stock.
Wonderful foundation for creating stock and soups.......2004-01-24
This is a wonderful book because it highlights the science and deterministic nature of good cooking. They first suggest some basics for your kitchen, aiming to be practical and spending only where it truly makes a difference.
Next, is a foundation of beef, chicken, vegetable and seafood stock recipes. I enjoy reading these because they're very methodical in trying to understand how to best do things, often suggesting short cuts where "20% of the effort results in 90% of the flavor." There's clearly substantial trial and error, but nice summary of what worked and didn't.
I was especially delighted to see they covered a variety of international cuisines, including Thai and Indian curries (from scratch!), borscht, miso, boullabaisse, minestrone, and gazpacho.
This is easily a "must have" for the creative cook.
Best Chicken Soup on Earth!.......2003-05-06
It takes more work (have your butcher cut the chicken) but people you never even knew will be begging you for some of your "famous" chicken noodle soup
A new standard for soup cookbooks!.......2002-08-05
I used to think "The Daily Soup" was the last word in preparing and making soups and stews, but it pales in comparison to this thoughtful, well executed volume. Everything about the Cook's Illustrated book series impresses. The production values are first rate, the research is superb, and the writing walks the fine line between prose and tech. I commend Mr. Kimball on his singular vision. It results in books like this one that make cooking a real pleasure for a moderately skilled cook like me. This book is a must have for every kicthen!
Book Description
One Pot cooking offers ideal, time-saving solutions to cooking delicious, flavorful meals while making less mess in the kitchen. Each recipe has step-by-step instructions, photographs of key stages of preparation and helpful tips to make your One Pot meals something you and your family will enjoy. This cookbook has a covered spiral binding which allows the book to open flat to the recipe of your choice.
Book Description
Imagine coming home from a long, tiring work day only to find a delicious aromatic stew waiting for you. Or enjoying a day on the slopes and arriving to find mulled red wine already prepared and simply waiting to be poured and savored. By using a timesaving slow cooker, you can have a hot meal or warm drink ready and waiting when you are, without any fuss.
In the last five years, slow cookers have enjoyed a huge increase in popularity. By simmering food at a constant low temperature, slow cookers create food that enjoys a flavor and texture not normally found in stovetop or oven cooking. Ingredients need only be prepared in advance, then tossed into a slow cooker and the results are an easily prepared but satisfying meal.
America's Best Slow Cooker Recipes features over 125 newly developed and tested recipes. Banish the winter blahs by making 'Beef Goulash Soup with Red Wine' or 'Comfy Maple Baked Beans.' Busy families will enjoy the 'Chicken and Broccoli Casserole' or 'All Day Mac & Cheese.' When entertaining dazzle your guests with a 'Hot Crab, Artichoke & Jalapeno Dip' followed by a tantalizing 'Pork Roast with Peach Chutney.' Sensational recipes for desserts such as 'Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cake' and 'Caramel Peaches' can also be created in a slow cooker. These are recipes for today's tastes and today's homes.
As well as including fabulous recipes,
America's Best Slow Cooker Recipes contains useful information on the type of slow cookers available, food safety, tips for success, adapting favorite recipes, and leftover hints. Recipes for accompanying delicious side dishes are also included.
Customer Reviews:
I love this cookbook!.......2005-10-31
I've been using this cookbook for year's and love it. I haven't found the difficulties other readers indicated. Some recipes I like more than others, but overall it is hands-down my favorite slow cooker cookbook.
I bought it originally for the Chicken and Dumplings, as I was searching for a great recipe. I used a mortar and pestle to grind the rosemary to put in the dumplings and other than that, really didn't modify it.
Our favorites that are repeated often:
Thai Chicken thighs - if I'm out of cilantro, I use coriander and add parsley. I also use only natural peanut butter so it's more nutty.
Chicken and Rosemary Dumplings
Honey Glazed Country Ribs
Potato Leek soup with Stilton
Hot Buttered Rum
Pecan Wild Rice
Cheesy Meatloaf
Plum Good Chicken
I recommend this book to all my friends with slow cookers.
If you can adapt recipes, this this book can work for you........2005-02-10
I love using my crockpot, but have had a difficult time finding good recipes that don't call for a can of creamed soup or other highly processed ingredients. I like this book pretty well for reasonably healthy and varied meals, but I have definitely had mixed results. With a little bit of adaptation, I have been able to make most of what I tried work.
A couple of the most successful ones have been the Cheesy Tortellini Bake, the Rich Vegetable Broth w/Meatballs (though why it is called "vegetable broth" I do not know, because the recipe calls for beef stock!), and the Bargain Beef Stroganoff. They are delicious and I've made them several times each. I had high hopes for the salmon loaf but the only word I can use for that recipe is...vile. The crockpot does not treat canned salmon kindly. It was pale, wet and way too fishy. The "Thai Chicken Thighs" were also seriously underseasoned, but I was able to correct that. Last week I made the "Basic Spaghetti Sauce Italiano" which called for 2 pounds of ground meat to one 28 ounce can of tomatoes. Once I got it assembled, it clearly needed another can of tomatoes - without it, it would have been a sludgy mass of ground meat. Adding another can of tomatoes meant I had to adjust the seasonings. Once I did all that, it was delicious. Today I made "Fia's Pasta Sauce" which has the opposite problem - it calls for four 28 ounce cans of tomatoes AND a cup of red wine. I put three cans of tomatoes in my crockpot and saw that I would not have room for another, and the cup of wine. I just wonder if someone tested these recipes before this book was published?
In short, experienced cooks and people comfortable with substitutions and adaptations can use this book as a jumping-off point for crockpot recipes. A novice cook who needs to follow a recipe exactly and have a good result will want to look elsewhere.
Disappointment.......2004-11-29
The recipes sound great, but I tried two and they were both awful. The blend of flavors and consistency were both lacking. Word of advice: try the recipes before using them for guests.
The Jury is Out.......2003-12-05
I recently got this book because it seemed like an excellent starting point for my new slow cooker. While the intro gave me some spot-on advice about the art of slow-cooking, I find the recipes seem to have been a bit neglected by the author. I made the Burgundy Beef with Wild Mushrooms, and although it turned out reasonably well, it was only because I altered the ingredient quantities when the stated amounts were obviously wrong. It was painfully apparent that this recipe had NOT been tested prior to publication. I think this book could be useful to the seasoned cook who will be able to see when the recipe is noticeably unbalanced, but it might cause some heartache for the less experienced cook who will surely end up make some very unappetizing dishes through no fault of their own. I'll try a few more recipes, and update this review accordingly.
Creativity for the Crock Pot.......2002-12-14
I love a good slow cooker, and this book has some interesting recipes to take full advantage of it. It's a cut above the typical canned-soup-and-frozen-vegetables recipes, which is great. My only criticism is that some of the recipes strike me as a bit too ambitious for this appliance: by the time you go through all of the effort, you might as well just make it in a regular dutch oven. But that's quibbling - it's an excellent book and I haven't gone wrong on a recipe yet.
Book Description
Delicious slow cooker recipes created especially for busy families.
A slow cooker is the perfect appliance for families who want good, nutritious food with a minimum of effort. Simply throw a few ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning and your family can come home at the end of the day to a hot, satisfying meal.
The Best Family Slow Cooker Recipes features 125 easy, imaginative and delicious recipes -- each tested for dependability:
Lunch box planning is a snap with Vegetarian Chili, Cheesy Pesto Pasta, Meaty Minestrone and Raspberry Cobbler
Everyday family meals become an event with Brunswick Stew, Ginger Beef and Broccoli, Italian-Style Stuffed Peppers or Johnnycake Cornbread
The next pot luck will be a hit by including Pepperoni Pizza Chili, Oktoberfest Hot German Potato Salad or Homestyle Barbecued Ribs
A sweet slow cooker desert surprise awaits you with Double Chocolate Caramel Bread Pudding, Brown Sugar and Coconut Baked Apples or Raspberry Cobbler
The Best Family Slow Cooker Recipes also offers detailed information on slow-cooker techniques, serving suggestions and kitchen tips.
Customer Reviews:
multiple delights.......2004-12-16
I initially borrowed this book from our local library. As it was new, you could only take it out for 2 weeks at a time. I made 6 recipies from it the first week and each was wonderful. I should have never told the librarian how great they were because I had to wait 6 weeks to get another shot at borrowing it. So, I got my own copy. My family looked forward to each new creation. In particular, the Bacon,Lettuce,& Tomato and tortillini soups were excellent, as well as the mushroom chicken thighs and turkey tetrazinni. The pumpkin soup combines some strange things (coconut milk and chili powder) but the flavors blend into something unusual and wonderful. So far, every recipe is a winner, and I think that is pretty unique in a cookbook. I am buying extra's for Christmas.
Slow Cooking for Fast Times.......2003-11-11
By Bill Marsano. When the Rival company introduced its Crock Pot about 30 years ago, it was an instant hit--but it soon drew criticism on two fronts. One problem was that careless people who cooked for too short a time at too low a temperature had turned it into a germ-breeding device, making a few people sick. That problem does not occur if folks will follow the admirably clear and simple directions provided by the author of this book.
There were also somewhat snooty complaints about crock cuisine being a bit low class--the sort of stuff to be found at church socials, covered-dish suppers and even tailgate picnics. Well, that is in part true--but so what? Slow cooking is what our grannies did when they pushed their cast-iron pots of beef stew to the back burners of their woodstoves and let them simmer for most of the day. I know I always wanted seconds. Didn't you?
The secret to slow cooking is good ingredients, which you can get with ease, and good recipes, which you can get in this book, written by an expert with two previous crock-pot books to her credit.
Now I will admit that we are not talking haute cuisine here. These are practical, stick-to-your-ribs dishes for enthusiastic eaters. At the same time they are not simple, boring, one-note recipes. Ms. Pye shows no fears of herbs and spices, which she uses frequently ("season liberally!" she cries). That gives her entree to many of what we call 'ethnic' cuisines (Oriental, Russian and Indian among them). Let me add, too, that Pye's not necessarily devoted to culinary authenticity. Recipes such as risotto without rice and polenta tamale pie are more about creativity or maybe even desperation than anything else. Still, there are plenty of recognizable dishes here, well rendered, and some real innovations. (I confess it never occurred to me that I might make a cheesecake in a crock pot.)
Busy people--parents with kids and schedules or singles cooped up in offices till dark--can benefit from slow cooking. If they use this book to make one or two meals a week they'll save money, eat better and feel better. Another good thing about the slow cooker is that its safety (no open flame, generally low temperatures) makes it a great way to start the kids learning their way around a kitchen. (Given the chance, most kids actually love cooking.)
The recipes are clearly written and presented one to a page on non-reflective paper. Thisd is a practical, useful book.--Bill Marsano has done most of the cooking for his family over the past few years, and they seem none the worse for it.
Book Description
A definitive collection of recipes for soup lovers.
The old-fashioned image of a simmering stock pot, bubbling for hours, is seldom seen today. Soup recipes in this book are quick to make and well-suited to modern lifestyles. With easy-to-learn basic knowledge about soup making, anyone can create a wide-ranging variety of soups.
Recipes are gathered into the following categories:
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Stocks and Garnishes: Whole Chicken Stock, Court Bouillon, Parmesan Shortbreads
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Garden Soups: Chunky Summer Vegetable Soup with Romano Curls, Roasted Carrot and Onion Soup, Fresh Tomato Soup with Cayenne Mayonnaise
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Chowders: Winter Barley Chowder with Lamb Sausage, Tomato Clam Chowder, Broccoli and Cheese Chowder
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Hearty: Mexican Chili Bean and Corn Soup, Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Seeds, Lentil Dal Soup
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Fancy: Moroccan Cumin Chicken Soup, Cream of Watercress Soup with Sea Scallops, Seeing-Double Soup
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Coolers: Chilled Curried Carrot Soup, Chili Lime Chicken Soup, Cooling Cucumber Soup with Chives
When time is short, the Jump Starts chapter provides virtually instant soups that combine fresh ingredients with pantry staples. A practical section called The Soup Kitchen lists the basic utensils and handy ingredients needed for making great soup anytime and everytime.
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The Best 50 Chili Recipes (Best 50)
Christie Katona , and
Thomas Katona
Manufacturer: Bristol Publishing Enterprises Inc
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Binding: Paperback
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Books Index
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