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Summary: Techniques that should be part of every cook's repetoire!
Review: Pam Anderson has provided an invaluable resource to stressed-out cooks everywhere -- a set of great, simple techniques that enable home cooks to whip up interesting, delicious meals relying on easily available ingredients. Though she provides terrific recipes here, they are flexible, adaptable templates that can be tweaked and adjusted depending upon your tastes. I've only had the book for a week and I've used it four times already. Bravo, Pam Anderson!
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Summary: The Cookbook You've Always Wanted!
Review: I already own a bookshelf of cookbooks, but Pam Anderson's is truly unlike any other out there. It explains, in a concise manner, the basis for the primary forms of cooking (from scratch!) that we all love, but never cook for lack of time: those hearty soups, salads, sauces to go with that ever-present chicken, and how to expand your menu way beyond chicken, and so much more. Unbelievable, she shows us that we *can* cook these on a weeknight (most within 30 minutes).I love the concept behind this book because, while I enjoy cooking, I often don't have time for all of the recipes that are my family's favorites -- or at least I didn't think I did. This book teaches you that a soup, for example, is a few basic ingredients that you probably already have in your home, and that it can be prepared in 20 minutes! She shows you how this is true for a wide variety of meats, pasta dishes, appetizers, desserts, even stir-fry and pad thai dishes. While there are also example recipes for every category of food in the book, after reading it, you will be inspired to create your own variations, even if you never thought you could. In addition, there are tips on how to make most of this food sophisticated enough for a dinner party, including example menus. With the help of Pam Anderson's book, I now have the joy and the option of creating my own recipes, instead of constantly pulling a book from the shelf to find the answer to "What's for dinner?" It's easy to read, thoroughly enjoyable and best of all, the ideas presented will help end the feeling that cooking the nightly dinner is such a chore!
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Summary: Lighting Strikes Twice
Review: I became a fan of Ms Anderson's work(and her good taste) while she was an editor at Cook's Illustrated. Her good sense that she brought to that magazine was in full evidence throughout her last book,The Perfect Recipe. My family enjoyed many meals based on her recipes, which is more than I can say for many of the other cookbooks that I have purchased.Now comes her latest effort"How toCook...". I have only had a few days to "play" with this book,but I am already pleased with the dishes that I have prepared.The Big Frittata with Sausage and Potatoes easily passed a difficult challenge-My four year old daughter. Seconds were requested. Better yet,the Sweet and Sour Pork With Peppers and Pineapple where eaten without complaint to the presence of hot red pepper flakes.There is hope! Anderson's style is such that she makes wannabe cooks like me at ease. This appears to be a book that will I will use time and again. If you are not familar with Ms. Anderson,it's time to get acquainted.
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Summary: Dinner every night is possible if you can cook w/o a book.
Review: As a child, I watched my parents and relatives cook without a book. There was no magic to it. They simply applied the cooking techniques they knew to the few seasonal ingredients they had, and that's how dinner got on the table night after night. As a young working woman, I knew how to cook the cuisine of my youth without a recipe. But I didn't have the time or energy to fry chicken or stew beef for weeknight supper. With a whole lot less time and a whole lot more ingredients from which to choose, I temporarily lost my way. My family ate out or ordered in as often as we cooked. Over time, however, I came to realize the key to making dinner every night lies in past--learn a few simple techniques, keep a few ingredients on hand. Five years ago, if someone had asked me to make seared sea scallops with a lemon parsley sauce, I would have said, "Give me a recipe." Since that time I have learned not only how to sear, but also that the technique is virtually the same regardless of what I'm searing. I have also developed a two-minute pan sauce. Now, without cracking a book, I can make that scallop dish, or sear a New York strip with a horseradish pan sauce, or sear a pork tenderloin with an apple cider pan sauce. The same is true for sautés, soups, salads, omelets, frittatas, stir-fries, tomato sauce, and more. Give a man a recipe, he eats a meal. Teach a man to cook, eats for a lifetime. How to Cook without a Book teaches quick, easy-to-grasp techniques--ones that will get you through the week and help you entertain with ease. Each chapter consists of five components: -A mnemonic rhyme (After sautéing a couple of time, all you may need to remember is, Heat butter and oil, swirling them around. Add meat, seasoned and coated, and cook until beautifully browned.) -A step-by-step narrative of how the technique works -A recipe, presenting the technique in its simplest form -Simple variations, exemplifying how the technique works -The key points of each technique at-a-glance On those bone-weary nights when even following the cooking instructions on the back of a box (much less a full-blown recipe) feels like too much, dinner's got to come from just knowing what to do. You've got to be able to fire up a skillet and go with you you've got. Recipes just get in the way. Let me show you how to cook--without a book.
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Summary: Easy to follow recipes reap maximum rewards
Review: I bought this book recently because I felt that I really wanted to learn how to make my "own" food without always looking up recipes. It is fun to browse through books, but it is a great feeling to be able to just make something when you have the ingredients on hand. I made one of the supper soups last night (a chicken vegetable noodle) and it was delicious. My friend said it was the best soup he had ever had. With this book, you can take it section by section and never feel intimidated. The stir-fry chapter is especially helpful. The variations are kept short and allow you to be creative, because the master recipe is the most detailed. Maybe the intended audience includes mainly busy mothers with families, but as a young single person, I can say that this book has just as much value to me. Most of the people I know who are my age don't cook very much and are in awe of anything homemade because it "looks so hard." With this book, you can learn basic recipes and techniques that you can use forever, well through cyclical changes in food fads and trendy gadgets. The layout of the book is excellent and very readable. The directions get right to the point and offer helpful memory devices. I don't think there is a section that I won't use in this book. It is funny that the author wants you to buy this book, then cook "without" it, but I can say that this one will be a permanent reference in my house.
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Summary: Good Summary of Essential Methods. Not Perfect
Review: `How to Cook Without a Book' by former `Cooks Illustrated' executive editor, Pam Anderson promises to teach us all to cook the way our mothers and grandmothers cooked, from memory, without consulting a cookbook except for the most obscure pastry measurement. And, at that, they usually owned but one cookbook. I had high expectations from this book, but I was not surprised when it turned out to be just a little disappointing.
The most illuminating statement in this book is yet another confirmation of Tom Colicchio's premise in his book `How to Think Like a Chef', where he establishes the principle that chefs do not create recipes, then search for their ingredients to make the recipe; they look to see what they have on hand and create a recipe from these materials. This is why the Iron Chef premise is really a perfect exemplar of how chefs really work. Their source of inspiration may be what is good in the market or what they happen to have on hand in their walk-in. But, this is only half of the equation. Inspiration may arise from ingredients, but you need to know what to do with those ingredients. Presentation of methods for dealing with ingredients takes up the lion's share of the book.
But getting back to the original premise, Anderson takes this premise to the logical, but not entirely satisfactory conclusion that one basis of cooking without a book is to have a well-stocked pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. While I am in the unusual position of having all the time I need to go to the market every day to shop for the day's meals, there was a time when I worked ten to twelve hours a day, and padded my larder with lots of staples such as pastas, beans, rice, canned vegetables, frozen meats, and the like. And, most of that stuff sat in the pantry until I threw it out. Stocking a pantry is a very good idea, but it should not be done from a list given to you by a cookbook author, no matter how good her credentials or how worthy her rationale is for the list. I have it on the authority of no less than Madhur Jaffrey that the best way to build a pantry is to add to it those things that are parts of dishes you know you will make on a regular basis. Thus, being from a Pennsylvania Dutch background, I always have canned sauerkraut, canned dried corn, hot bacon dressing, and chow chow on hand, even though none of these items ever appear in a recommended pantry list.
A second weakness with Anderson's implementation of her program is that her rationale behind cooking without a book is done in order to save time. This means that many of the recipes in the book are either simple in themselves or simplified versions of classic long cooking dishes. My favorite example of this for both its strengths and its weaknesses is her recipe for lasagna, which is certainly fast, using wonton wrappers in place of traditional Italian lasagna noodles. Her method is so far removed from the original dish that she admits that it really must be served almost immediately after cooking. This is not the lasagna I know and love, which will stoutly stand by on the sideboard or the buffet line for hours and will gladly be refrigerated to serve again another day. All of this lasagna virtue is given up in order to get a faster dish. I would sooner eat an alternative, easier baked pasta dish than have to deal with this ersatz dish.
The concern with cooking time leads the author to violate some of the most sacred maxims of cookery, such as the recommendation to cook a pound of pasta in at least four quarts of boiling water. Ms. Anderson states that it takes a fairly long time to bring four quarts of water to a boil, and that two quarts will do the job quite nicely. All this in spite of the fact that Rachael Ray makes pasta in three out of five episodes of '30 Minute Meals' by bringing four quarts of water to a boil and still finishes the pasta dish well within her allotted half-hour.
All these concerns do not eliminate the value of this book in presenting a wide variety of cooking methods and how to plug in different ingredients to a common method to get interesting, new results. This is exactly what Mario Batali did, for example, when presented with a lobster in one of his Iron Chef appearances. Molto Mario simply made lobster saltimbocca, a dish usually made with veal or chicken. Ms. Anderson presents 21 different methods, plus all their variations. And, many of these methods contain some genuinely useful ideas, such as the recommendation to make an omelet dinner for four by making one large eight egg omelet and cutting it into quarters rather than either buying four omelet pans or turning out an omelet every five minutes. With all this good stuff, I still have reservations, as when Ms. Anderson lumps together Broccoli, Cabbage, Squash, and Potatoes in a single category, giving the impression that these four vegetables can be cooked in the same way in a pasta dish with `firm vegetables'. This ignores another prime chef's skill in knowing the differences between ingredients and how to coax the very best out of each ingredient.
Ms. Anderson's lesson is a very good one. I just think that while she may have given one alternative to people who have to cook and may not embrace the task, she has taken a lot of the fun and interest out of cooking for someone who relishes cooking. One may get the same lesson with fewer questionable shortcuts from either Colicchio or Alton Brown's `I'm Only Here for the Food'.
Recommended for good ideas and techniques, as long as you know the difference between the good and the bad ideas.
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Summary: The BEST cookbook I own...hands down
Review: First things first, I judge a book by it's cover first and a quick flip through will cause me to put it down and never to return. This book would NEVER have been purchased by me, as the cover is yuck and there are no photos (boring). Two friends were raving about this book, so despite it's appearance, I bought it.
WOW! This is the very best cookbook I have...hands down. This is the Grandmother in the kitchen I never had. I did not grow up learning the basics of preparing a full meal. This books gives me the confidence in the kitchen that has turned me into a great cook.
A word of advice: *Read* this book. I have many, many cookbooks and I usually skim through them, taking a recipe here and there. This book does indeed have recipies, but it is more of a "how to" manual. You remember, not only the recipe, but the technique to use over and over, even with different meals! For exapmple, she tells you how to pan-fry--anything. She begins the chapter with a concise explantation and tips that are very usful, and not necessary found in the body of the recipe.
The essence of this book is that once you know how to cook, you can do anything. You will open your fridge and pantry with ease and whip up an amazing meal fit for an upscale restarant. (just always have chicken broth on hand. Pan sauces are AMAZING)
The author recognizes that the modern household does not have time to put several hours into a nurishing meal and she gives great shortcuts. I can actually make a scrumptious baked chicken with roasted potatoes and carrots with an rosemary pan sauce in under an hour. And she gives ideas to use those leftovers.
The section on a perfectly stocked pantry is the best I have found. I copied the (rather extensive) list to the grocery store and I now have (and use!) things I never thought I would, like toasted sesame oil,tahini, cumin and vaious oils and vinegaretts for the sauces.
You will not be dissppointed. But remember to READ it. It's filled with the eassiest, best tips you will ever need!
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Summary: Essential reference for beginners and experienced cooks.
Review: Pam Anderson combines grocery store ingredients with both classic and innovative techniques to create sophisticated family meals that rival any restaurant in town. To ice the cake, virtually all of the MEALS (salad, main dish, vegetable, starch) can be put together in under 30 minutes. Once you learn her "secrets" a great dinner can be on the table every night without sifting through recipes and making up menus and shopping lists in advance. While preparing dinner for a family 300+ nights a year is never going to be exciting, this book help put exciting food on the table with a minimum of time and expense.
If you are a beginner...
1. Learn what to stock in your pantry so that you can prepare meals without stopping by a grocery store several times a week.
2. Learn techniques for great tasting food. Your home cooking will have taste and texture that is restaurant quality.
3. Learn Pam's techniques using the included recipes, and then use her ideas to customize to your own taste and budget.
4. Learn to put together a REAL MEAL in about 30 minutes.
If you are an experienced cook...
1. Learn how to tweak your pantry and avoid multiple shopping trips.
2. Fine-tune your technique, and learn easier one-pan, one-minute versions of classic cooking.
3. Enjoy French, Italian, and Oriental recipes made with common ingredients and easy time-saving techniques.
4. Quickly prepare food that tastes as good as more labor intensive meals without resorting to take out or "boxed" dinners.
Whatever your skill level, this book is a great read, and will be used primarily as a reference after internalizing the information. This book doesn't contain information on grilling or baking. If you are on a limited budget (Stay-At-Home moms or large families), this book will be helpful in learning techniques, but most of her recipes call for 1 pound of meat per night for a family of four. She does include chapters on egg dishes as well as stir fry/lo mein which are economical. How to cook without a book is ideally for the cook who is pressed for time with an average food budget. A BIG bonus: Almost all of her recipes and meals are appealing to men (I haven't seen too many guys excited about eggs as a main course, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere!)
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Summary: This and "The Joy of Cooking" are the only two you need!
Review: I love this book! I've only had it for a week and every day it has improved my cooking. From the effortless frittata that I made for Saturday morning breakfast to the quick roasted chicken that we just finished for Monday dinner, this book not only gives you great ideas but it makes cooking less stressful. It has liberated my chef within!
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Summary: An Inspiration for Beginning and Experienced Cooks Alike!
Review: I read an article by Pam in Cooking Light magazine that highlighted a few recipes from this book. After trying the saute and pan sauce methods with the ingredients I had on hand, I was sold on her approach and had to buy the book! I consider myself to be a fairly adventurous cook, but I'm also partial to quick recipes that don't require numerous or exotic ingredients. Pam provides a wonderful "theme and variations" style, and most of her recipe suggestions require only a handful of ingredients. She lays out the chapters based on techniques (saute, sear) rather than main ingredients (meat, fish, chicken), which will help me master the techniques more quickly and stop relying on recipes as much. I'd like to saute, but don't have pork or chicken on hand? Use fish! And I can vary the same meat with dozens of pan sauces and relishes - the combinations are endless. Last night we had a delectable Sauteed Tilapia with Mustard-Cream Sauce, along with a Crisp Potato Cake. Tonight perhaps we'll have Seared Marlin Steaks with Horseradish Pan Sauce and Orzo with Lemon and Parsley. I can't wait to try the Lo Mein, Stir Fry, Quick Ravioli, and Supper Soup techniques, as well as the Tossed Salads and Steam/Sauteed Vegetables. So many possibilities! I'm done paging through cookbooks to find the one recipe for which I have all the ingredients. With this book on my shelf, I can buy any available fresh and seasonal ingredients and know that I'll be able to put together a fast, healthy, and nutritious meal without a problem. This cookbook is a must-have - perfect for you, your best friend, your mother, and any bride-to-be. Thanks for this newfound freedom and creativity, Pam!
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