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Summary: I still use cookbooks...
Review: How to Cook Without a Book is an interesting volume and contains some useful information. Unfortunately, the book focuses more on recipes than on techniques. Rather than giving you tools to invent your own recipes, this book shows you how to make a few things (e.g. fritatta or salad) using different ingredients. In the end this was a good book, but I would not have bought it had I looked at it first.
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Summary: BASIC FARE AND EASY TO PREPARE!
Review: As a mother of three grown daughters, none of whom have the time or culinary skills of "The Galloping Gourmet", this book should be a blessing. As children they expressed little or no interest in food, except to eat what magically appeared on their plates. The recipes here are basic but they are quite tasty and easy to prepare. It is the basic theory that counts. For example, once you know how to prepare a stir fry, you can vary the taste by simply adding or exchanging various ingredients. There are, however, some staple, multi-purpose ingredients you will probably want to keep handy, on your kitchen shelf, at all times. If you are a more experienced chef, then this book will likely seem quite ho-hum and mundane to you, but for the novice who finds micro-waving a pre-cooked meal is an accomplishment in itself, then this book is for you. You will be suprised how simple it is to prepare a hearty, nutritious dinner from scratch. Basic stuff? Yes, but everyone has to start somewhere and for those with little or no experience, this is an excellent place to start.
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Summary: A great Cookbook for anyone who likes to cook or eat!!
Review: Pam Anderson has created a book to really help you become a better cook. I have always loved to cook and I cook often from recipes, but this book helped me to "branch out" from the books and really learn how to cook. This cookbook teaches about many different types of cooking: first course, italian, stir-fry, seafood,poultry, beef, and desserts. I have tried 4 or 5 new recipes in a two week period. Now that I have learned the technique I no longer need to look at the recipe. This would be a great addition to any kitchen.
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Summary: BEST "HOW TO BOOK" FOR THE SIMPLE GOURMET
Review: THIS BOOK IS A REAL GEM--THE CHAPTER ON QUICK PAN SAUCES ALONE IS WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK. I'M A PERSONAL CHEF--I COOK FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE SIMPLE, TASTY FOOD, BUT DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO COOK. I'VE TOLD EVERYONE , INCLUDING MY MOTHER ABOUT THIS BOOK--ALTHOUGH I PROBABLY SHOULDN'T BECAUSE I'LL START LOSING MY CUSTOMERS!
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Summary: A Disappointment
Review: Pam Anderson, a former editor at the much-revered "Cook's Illustrated," had a good idea with "How to Cook Without a Book," that I believe just didn't quite pan out.The concept of "instinctual" cooking is appealing. Most of us remember the delicious meals our mother's and/or grandmother's whipped up without ever even glancing at a recipe. The problem is that the skills these women possessed were honed by years of experience--cooking three times per day for 30+ years--and usually instilled in them by their mother's and grandmother's in early childhood. The world has changed a lot since then and not only have our tastes vastly changed, but they've also expanded. Most of us regularly eat, and cook, many types of ethnic foods, as well as a host of "healthy" meals that would have baffled cooks in the 1930s and '40s. So, instead of "teaching" people to "cook without a book," as Anderson's title promises, it focuses more on how to put a meal on the table for your family in about 30 minutes--a territory already well covered by dozens of other (more useful) cookbooks. In fact, the "tips" Anderson offers here are so basic as to be useless for almost anyone who knows anything about cooking (Hey, did you know that lettuce could be chopped instead of torn to save time? Or that vinegar and oil made a good salad dressing?) Anderson's advice is hardly revolutionary. And I just can't imagine anyone being that perplexed about how much lettuce needed, per person, per salad. Of course, this book might be nice for someone who literally doesn't even know how to boil water, or thinks opening a can is equal to preparing dinner. The advice and tips given aren't bad, just painfully basic. If your cooking skills are already past the "heating up a Lean Cuisine in the microwave" stage I doubt you'll find much here that's of use.
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Summary: This is the most valuable book in my Library!
Review: What else need i say.... Pam expalins amny recipe mysteries in terms of formulas. It doens't matter which ingredients you are using as long as you follow the formula and the exceptions you will have an excellent meal. Her methods have taken some of the mystery our of recipe construction. She also details some excellent methods of cooking that I have yet to see elsewhere. Such as her steam/saute vegetable cooking method, and her method for cooking pasta. She enables me to cook a well round and delicious diner every night of the week in less tiem than it would take to make something out of a box! Pure Genius!
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Summary: Many Thanks to the Author
Review: I got this book a few days ago and since then have stopped while reading it three times to consider how I could thank the author for such a wonderful book. I think this review may suffice! By some people I am considered a pretty good cook but in reality I have been mostly dependant on recipes and cookbooks to know what to do. And these days with my life so busy, I rely more on ordering take-out or going out to dinner instead of hunting down recipe books and having to go to the grocery store "again". "How to Cook without a Book" is changing all that already. Each chapter describes a "formula" for making a dish, whether it be a side dish, main dish, appetizer or whatever. This formula is not complicated and would not take too long to memorize. Along with this formula Pam Anderson includes ideas of exact ingredients we can use to make the dish delicious but what is most exciting for me is that is also leaves many choices available for me to be creative. I am thrilled I happened upon this book. My family will begin having more homecooked meals now that cooking is so doable. And I plan on teaching my children these skills as well. I have never written a review for anything but I had to do it for this one. Thankyou Pam Anderson for gifting us with this treasure.
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Summary: There's alwas time to make dinner...
Review: My dilemma: working parent with a toddler and a husband who occasionally decides to be a vegetarian. This cookbook works for me. It's not fancy food: it's simple, tasty, and easy to prepare. I love to cook, but run short of energy and ideas at the end of a long day. Instead of the more expensive 'solution' of fast food (which is a decision I'm never happy with...), I can have a hot meal on the table - with plenty of options when we go 'meat free' around here. At the end of it all, I feel creative and as though I can still give our family the 'home cooked' meals I grew up with.
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Summary: My all-time favorite cookbook!!
Review: This is the best cookbook on my shelf. I use it regularly and have never been disappointed by a recipe. Tonight I seared a steak and my husband declared it the best steak he's had. My favorite recipe in the book so far is the ravioli (she has you use wonton wrappers) with her tomato sauce (it's so simple and good). I've also had success with her lasagne (she uses egg roll wrappers). Each section has a long description of how she came about a recipe with a detailed description of the method. Then she has the recipes (they are easy to read and well laid out) and variations of the recipe. Each recipe has a simple formula that people with better memories than me could memorize. One of my favorite recipe sections are the pan sauces. I've made the tomato-rosemary pan sauce with seared salmon a few times and loved it. I highly recommend this book!
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Summary: For those who don¿t want to bother with recipes...
Review: If you don't want to bother with recipes, you can do very nicely in the kitchen, feed a big or small group, by remembering your favorite dinner entrees and vary them with whatever you have on hand. To do this though, you must maintain a well-stocked kitchen. Not all that costly considering the cost of eating out, and that food is a bargain today. According to the author, the way to cook without recipes is to know how to make a few dishes such as: Omelets, pasta, stir-fry, pot roast, steak, fish, port chops or pork loin. Take, for example, an entrée of pot roast, potatoes and vegetables you make in a crockpot. The difference in each pot roast meal is the variation of ingredients you have on hand to create "different" meal each time. Switch to sweet potatoes, for example, or add different vegetables, herbs, flavorings, garnishes, plus original touches to an accompanying salad. The author points out that there probably is no mastery of this method of meal preparation. It's an on-going learning process. You begin by experimenting, develop a few entree dishes, then go from there. Among the items to have on hand in the pantry, refrigerator and freezer to make interesting variations are: An assortment of frozen vegetables in the freezer Herbs and spices: Basil, bay leaves, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, oregano, sage and thyme in the pantry In your refrigerator: gingerroot, garlic, onion, lemon, carrots, celery, green/red/yellow peppers, cabbage, limes. On your pantry shelf: chicken broth, beef broth, clam juice, cans of crushed and while tomatoes, canned tuna, canned clams, peanut butter, honey, jam/jelly, dried mushrooms, noodles, rice, polenta, Dijon mustard, assorted vinegars, soy sauce, canned beans, mayo, breadcrumbs, dried fruit, raisins, dried cranberries, black and green olives, assorted nuts, potatoes, yams, red potatoes. There's a whole chapter on salads with exotic ingredients ideas, including cheeses, fresh fruits, dried fruits, vegetables, and dressings. There are many basic meal ideas in this useful book too, along with this simplified meal idea. Here, indeed, is a book you can use as a handy reference anytime.
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