Rating: 
Summary: Love the Lovely Book
Review: I heard about Nigella from English relatives last summer. Then I caught her show on the Style Network. She's a great cook, beautiful, and she truly does flirt all the way through. It's all done with a bit of kitsch, so it's OK in my book. I ordered my copy of this book from Amazon.co.uk, so the version I have has English measurements and ingredients, so be warned that that's the version I'm reviewing.Nigella is first and foremost a brilliant writer. Even if you aren't planning on cooking anything at all from this book, it's enjoyable to have, as the prose is a pleasure to read, and the photography is beautiful. Here in the US, we have this view of English cookery as being bland, boring, and not worth our time. Nigella will quickly put those views to rest. She is, like me, an avid cookbook junky, and she always cites her sources, so you're getting recipes filtered through Nigella from sources all over the place. I have this book on my coffee table, and my husband and I are both always leafing through it. The Nigella recipes I've tried have always worked out, and I've been able to choose with confidence, since each recipe is described in painstaking detail. You know what to expect. And you often have a photo to check out, too. Most recipes are intended to be easier than the resulting dish would have eaters believe. So, less work, more praise. Hell, maybe she is overcompensating for something else in her cooking, but more power to her. We're the better for it. She does it knowingly with beautiful irony, especially in the title. Love Nigella. She's going to take on the world.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious
Review: I bought this book for my girlfriend as a christmas present. I also gave her a rolling pin, so I suppose I can be grateful she didn't hit me with it. Anyway, she has always expressed an interest in Baking so I thought this would be an ideal introduction to this often intimidating form of cookery. So far, all I can say is the results are amazing. She's tried the white bread and the American style pancakes and they are fantastic for a first effort - which must be a testament to Nigella's recipes and excellant instructions. My girlfriend can testify that much of the inspiration (which is so important with non-essential cookery like baking) is taken from the mouthwatering photos that are on nearly every second page. All in all, a well written, comprehensive, no nonsence, introduction to the art of baking.
Rating:
Summary: domestic goddess isn't what you think
Review: At first I thought Lawson was referring to some 50s TV housewife with her title, and I was happily proven wrong on the very first page. This book is a delight from word go, and the recipes I've tried so far--a rhubarb cordial and a batch of cupcakes--have been excellent. Lawson's writing shows plenty of wit and intelligence, but there's a warm sense of causualness in the pre-recipe notes that makes me feel I'm jotting down kitchen tips from a hip friend. While simplifying the art of baking tremendously, she also manages to infest a baker (or wannabe) with a terrific sense of accomplishment and pleasure. Not only do I plan on eventually trying every recipe in the book (they all sound so good!), but I have every intention of buying a copy for every baker I know.
Rating:
Summary: yum yum
Review: I saw this book on vacation in the UK this summer and couldn't wait for it to be published here. My husband knew and bought it for me for Christmas - a gift that he and my kids will be sure to profit from. I have already made the winter plum cake and the italian apple and walnut cake and both were delcious as well as easy. This is a great book for any home cook . For anybody (gods or goddesses) that wants to bake for their family and friends as an extension of their affection, it is a delight. I am already trying to decide what to bake next.......
Rating:
Summary: very Entertaining
Review: After having just spent this Christmas house and dog sitting for some friends, I noticed this absolutely brilliant book by Nigella Lawson in the kitchen. I then proceeded to spend the next couple of days reading it from cover to cover.
I live in Barbados and having never seen her before or read anything else by her I found her writing refreshingly natural and fun. The recipes are simple and easy to follow and most things don't take much preparation which is always a bonus.
I for one thoroughly enjoyed the book and intend to get my own copy....and for anyone who's interested I made the "Cranberry upside down cake" at Christmas and it was delicious!
Rating:
Summary: Fun baking advice with a British flair
Review: Most of the time when I browse the cookbook aisle at my local bookstore, I'm faced with a never-ending array of cookbooks with a couple of good recipes but mostly stuff that I'll never make. It is hard to find a cookbook that will end up being a treasured repository of personal and family favorites - they just don't come along that often. When I picked this book up, I thought the name was just a good gimmick, a way to get people to take a look. I was doubtful that there would be much substance behind the nice photography and catchy name. How wrong I was! As I went through this book, the exciting and fun looking recipes amazed me. The recipes weren't all new or flashy, but they were uniformly inspiring. The first recipe in the book is actually a simple lemony loaf cake recipe... but it was the first thing I made because it sounded so yummy! On top of the recipes themselves, the commentary from the author helped me to become enthusiastic about the recipes and about baking in general. The overall style of the cookbook is really nice. Great pictures for almost all of the recipes. Clear instructions in the recipes themselves. The introduction to each recipe was very well written. Many recipes had variations and other ideas listed. This cookbook is definitely not for everyone. It does have a British slant both in the commentary and in some of the recipes. For example, there are several recipes for different kinds of mincemeat pies that I'm doubtful I'll be making anytime soon. There are also more subtle ways the British slant comes out, especially in the choice of ingredients. For me, this just added to the charm of the cookbook. The only negative comment I have about the cookbook is that in some cases, I would have liked an explanation of WHY a certain technique was being used. For example, in a recipe for a chocolate loaf cake, you are instructed to alternate adding tablespoons of hot water with tablespoons of flour. I would really like to know why and that type of explanation would have fit in well with the overall style of the book, but it was missing. Overall, a great and fun cookbook that gave me some inspiration for the holiday season and actually got me back into my kitchen when I was feeling a bit "burnt out" on baking.
Rating:
Summary: English Comfort Foods
Review: This absolutely extraordinary cookbook is a Godsend. After a long day at the office I come home, crack the book and flow into the relaxing rhythm of its recipes. The author calmly walks me through the process of creating masterpieces of culinary comfort. How about a steaming, aromatic potato, parsley and leek tart on a cold winter's night, or a layered butterscotch cake, dripping with heavenly goo? Recipes, heretofore, considered best left to experts, are made ridiculously simple. Consider Nigella's puff pastry, a thing of beauty. It is produced (using a food processor, no less!) in one quarter of the standard time required in other recipes. As a matter of fact, this puff pastry is the only one I've ever made successfully, and it was a cinch. My husband and children went nuts when I pulled it from the oven. I just sat back and reaped the accolades.
Rating:
Summary: Gives you a good feeling
Review: I have to admit, I'm a great fan of Nigella Lawson's writing & generally of her style. I've dragged "How to eat" from room to room, read it before falling asleep, in bed, used it (& stained it!) for countless dinners with friends & solitary meals, even read it in the bathroom!! "How to be a domestic goddess" is a kind of follow-up, with the added bonus of wonderful photographs of the desserts. "How to eat" probably took a longer time to write, & in my opinion, it's a difficult book to follow-up on. So it was a smart choice for Nigella Lawosn to go on to something different, to write a whole book just about desserts. Even though the lay-out of the book may seem a little intimidating at first (& that's probably why other readers have commented that the recipes are difficult & time-consuming)in truth they're so well-described (step by step) that they end up being very easy to make. There are some harder recipes, but even these are presented in such an enthusiastic manner by N.Lawson that you just feel you've GOT to tackle them. The title of the book is mainly meant as a joke, but I think it also has to do with the pleasure we take from cooking (regardless of being a man or a woman, a person with a family or not). If you see cooking & baking as a hobby, a wonderfully creative activity that can lift the spirits, then this book is meant for you (the same goes for "How to eat" & indeed "Nigella Bites"). It's a little bit like cooking side-by-side with a friend that knows more about these things than you do & makes you feel very comfortable & enthusiastic along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: "How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking" is a delicious look at foods that matter. I'm a guy. I like sports, action movies, steak and other things stereotyping my gender. However, I like food. While I'm no domestic goddess (nor do I esteem to be one), I prefer the aroma and taste of a food made within the confines of my home. Restaurants are too ... too ... Well, they sort of seem to filter out the best parts of a meal. Restaurant biscuits might tastes wonderful, but they lack that sublime domestic elegance of the one my oven in my apartment provides. You've got your good-for-you food, and you've got your "I'm starving; fill me up quick" food. In "How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking" Lawson gives us the food we want to eat, and how to make it. Hmm. No, she doesn't give us the food. That's where we come in. The pleasure of making a food is almost as good as eating it, and helping someone else enjoy the extacy of a well-baked delicacy is unbelieving satisfying. I fully recommend "How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking." Anthony Trendl
Rating:
Summary: For passionate foodies - ESPECIALLY the ones with careers!
Review: I had to laugh when I read the review demanding to know if there were any driven young career woman out there who enjoy cooking. I am one of those women, and so - thank heavens - is Nigella Lawson. A breath of fresh air in a subject that either prompts professional-level feats of accomplishment or no-fat, food-is-bad self-flagellation, Lawson has a wicked sense of humour, a casual approach and best of all an appreciation for eating. Lots. (In the UK, she's famous for actually tasting her cooking as she goes and taking great pleasure in doing so.) For Lawson, techniques are worth cultivating when they don't require Cordon Bleu levels of practice yet still yield measurably better results. She meanders pleasurably between classic recipes, 'borrowed' ones and those to which she's added her own unmistakable touch. The result is like flipping through Nigella's own recipe files, packed with favourites, hand-me-downs and personal observations. Rather than Superwoman, she is Everywoman...an Everywoman blessed with humour, style and intelligence. Not to mention a hearty appetite! Although I am an avid buyer & user of cookbooks (after I get home from my full-time job, I must point out), it's the ones by Nigella Lawson that have the battered, stained and dog-eared look that marks a truly great cookbook. And by the way, the profiteroles are FAB. Enjoy!
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