Rating: 
Summary: Not so happy
Review: I was looking for a book that would give me some great recipes to use with my new food processor. I was not happy with this one. There aren't a whole lot of recipes and a lot of the ingredients are not very common in our household. I usually have capers, anchovy paste, greek olive etc. So I am not talking ketchup and mustard here. I am talking about tahini, lemon grass, and indian relish (what is that, and where do you get it?) I enjoy cooking for my family, but I am more apt to use recipes with ingredients I will use for other recipes. In addition, a lot of the recipes are very complex, which is okay, but cooking doesn't have to be complex to be either gourmet, or tastey. There are a couple of recipes I will try: Mushroom caviar, Oh-my-God Cheesecake and Stuffed Artichokes. Other recipes I will probably never do are: Sweet Potato Soup w/ coconut milk, lemongrass & cilantro, Terrine of Pork & Ham w/ Calvados & Juniper Berries, Leek & Sweet Red Pepper flan, Chicken Liver & Red Onion Jam. I also ordered The Food Processor Bible. There are many more recipes that aren't so elaborate and more for daily use.
Rating:
Summary: Not so happy
Review: I was looking for a book that would give me some great recipes to use with my new food processor. I was not happy with this one. There aren't a whole lot of recipes and a lot of the ingredients are not very common in our household. I usually have capers, anchovy paste, greek olive etc. So I am not talking ketchup and mustard here. I am talking about tahini, lemon grass, and indian relish (what is that, and where do you get it?) I enjoy cooking for my family, but I am more apt to use recipes with ingredients I will use for other recipes. In addition, a lot of the recipes are very complex, which is okay, but cooking doesn't have to be complex to be either gourmet, or tastey. There are a couple of recipes I will try: Mushroom caviar, Oh-my-God Cheesecake and Stuffed Artichokes. Other recipes I will probably never do are: Sweet Potato Soup w/ coconut milk, lemongrass & cilantro, Terrine of Pork & Ham w/ Calvados & Juniper Berries, Leek & Sweet Red Pepper flan, Chicken Liver & Red Onion Jam. I also ordered The Food Processor Bible. There are many more recipes that aren't so elaborate and more for daily use.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic techniques = incredible food
Review: I've had an old Cuisinart for years, and have barely used it. I immediately dusted it off and started using it once I laid eyes on this book."Process This!" gives you simple instructions and recipes that anyone can make. The beginning section is extremely helpful, giving you an alphabetized list of foods and how to process them according to the size or texture (e.g. if you want slivered almonds, pulse nuts with a metal blade no more than 2 cups at a time, 5-10 times; pulse 10-15 times for fairly finely chopped nuts). Make your own bread crumbs, flavored butters, soups, sauces (including a mean hollandaise), custards, savouries, meat or meatless main dishes, hummus and other dips, and more. It's amazing how using a food processor simplifies your work (until you have to clean them!). This book is a great addtion any cooks collection.
Rating:
Summary: Basic techniques = incredible food
Review: I've had an old Cuisinart for years, and have barely used it. I immediately dusted it off and started using it once I laid eyes on this book. "Process This!" gives you simple instructions and recipes that anyone can make. The beginning section is extremely helpful, giving you an alphabetized list of foods and how to process them according to the size or texture (e.g. if you want slivered almonds, pulse nuts with a metal blade no more than 2 cups at a time, 5-10 times; pulse 10-15 times for fairly finely chopped nuts). Make your own bread crumbs, flavored butters, soups, sauces (including a mean hollandaise), custards, savouries, meat or meatless main dishes, hummus and other dips, and more. It's amazing how using a food processor simplifies your work (until you have to clean them!). This book is a great addtion any cooks collection.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare Find
Review: If you're looking for meatloaf and potatoes book, this one is not for you. But if you're looking to surprise your guests and yourself, from the back porch party to a funky soirée, this book will do it. It's not a mammoth like the Joy of Cooking is or other "anthology" type collections. Process This! is more of an art show, the few carefully chosen pieces displayed for effect. In other words, don't expect the plethora of basic things. These are highly polished, wonderfully eclectic (from French countryside to American south), thoughtfully researched interpretations of beloved foods. A lot of the recipes are quite old but modernized for the our kitchens. In some way, the book is technical: it presumes that cooks follow its logic on ways of measurement, treatment of ingredients, etc. The introduction is devoted exclusively to technique. But the basic premise is intuitive and accessible to even the most basic of cooks. And while there are no pictures, a staple in American cook book publishing nowadays, Process This! provides foolproof guidance with many tips and personal commentaries. As a result, there is a sort of respectful intimacy that arises. I know I can always count on it to plan my party menu. I also know that it's not for everyday use. There is something romantic about its collection that just begs a special show off occasion. Except for deserts. The Toasted Hazelnut Tart redefines comfort food.
Rating:
Summary: JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER
Review: Jean Anderson has written another wonderful processor book. Her first processor book, Jean Anderson`s Processor Cooking, was published in 1979, and a slightly revised editon in 1983.This is even better than those two good books.Some material, particularly in the very useful front section, where she talks about foods and how the processor affects them, and how many slices, or how many cups you may get from an item has been retained, but there are enough new and wonderful recipes to make purchasing this book a good decision.I like her comments, and her notes on a recipe`s background.The recipes may seem to run long, but they are easy and complete. If something is supposed to happen, she says it will. There are NO traps in a Jean Anderson recipe. The only surprise is in how delicious the food is. By that, I mean, no matter how good you think a Jean Anderson dish will taste, it always tastes better! Another reviewer commented about garlic and seasonings. Well, garlic can always be reduced, and so can seasonings in cooking. Unlike baking, which is more like easy science, seasoning in cooking is flexible. However, DO try these dishes the way Ms. Anderson writes them.Someone, perhaps the same reviewer, said that most of the recipes were too adventurous. The world is shrinking! An easy way to begin to understand another country, another people is to explore their foods and foodways. A friend with school aged children has used some recipes in this (and other Jean Anderson books) to enrich her children's experiences--there are dishes in "Process This" from Europe, South America, and Asia...In closing, this is another excellent book by one of our best cookbook writers.
Rating:
Summary: Jean Anderson wrote the book, again!
Review: Jean Anderson has written another wonderful processor book. Her first processor book, Jean Anderson`s Processor Cooking, was published in 1979, and a slightly revised editon in 1983.This is even better than those two good books.Some material, particularly in the very useful front section, where she talks about foods and how the processor affects them, and how many slices, or how many cups you may get from an item has been retained, but there are enough new and wonderful recipes to make purchasing this book a good decision.I like her comments, and her notes on a recipe`s background.The recipes may seem to run long, but they are easy and complete. If something is supposed to happen, she says it will. There are NO traps in a Jean Anderson recipe. The only surprise is in how delicious the food is. By that, I mean, no matter how good you think a Jean Anderson dish will taste, it always tastes better! Another reviewer commented about garlic and seasonings. Well, garlic can always be reduced, and so can seasonings in cooking. Unlike baking, which is more like easy science, seasoning in cooking is flexible. However, DO try these dishes the way Ms. Anderson writes them.Someone, perhaps the same reviewer, said that most of the recipes were too adventurous. The world is shrinking! An easy way to begin to understand another country, another people is to explore their foods and foodways. A friend with school aged children has used some recipes in this (and other Jean Anderson books) to enrich her children's experiences--there are dishes in "Process This" from Europe, South America, and Asia...In closing, this is another excellent book by one of our best cookbook writers.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for Everyone. Good Book for Large Family Meals.
Review: Jean Anderson is a member of 'old school' cookbook authors and culinary educators such as Barbara Kafka, Marion Cunningham, Sheila Lukins, and Sara Moulton many of whom are protégés of James Beard or Julia Child. Among them, Anderson and Cunningham have been responsible for editing two of the better 'how to do everything' cookbooks in America. These are the 'American Century Cookbook' and the 'Fanny Farmer Cookbook' respectively. Except for Moulton, who is a staple of the Food Network programming, these authors typically do not get as much attention as their more internationally oriented colleagues such as Patricia Wells and Paula Wolfert; TV educators such as Ina Garten, Rachael Ray, and Nigella Lawson; or magazine magnate Martha Stewart. In spite of this, these authors are probably the ones who write some of the most commonly picked titles among non-foodies who never watch the Food Network and simply want a reliable source of menus. On the face of it, this book, 'Process This!' is very similar to Barbara Kafka's highly rated 'Microwave Gourmet' to which I gave five stars. Both books are about new kitchen appliances that became popular in the early nineteen-seventies and both of which tend to be misused, overused, or underused. I am probably like many people who use both appliances for a relatively small range of tasks and wonder why they persist in taking up so much space on my countertop. I do, however, sense some differences in the two appliances. The biggest I believe is the fact that while the microwave is at its best doing small, quick jobs which often arise in small households or households with lots of different schedules, the food processor is best when it is used to tackle a big job. The reasons for this are simple. A microwave can make popcorn, heat up a cup of coffee, cook bacon, and defrost frozen food quickly, with less electricity than a range or oven, and require little or no cleanup when you are done. And, there are few alternatives to doing these tasks as quickly or as easily. A standard size food processor can mix a pie dough, dice onions, finely chop zest, mix a mayonnaise, shred cabbage for slaw, chop garlic, and slice carrots or a hundred other vegetables in a thrice. But, after each operation, a rather sizable cleanup job is left and with most slicing and dicing, the results leave a fair amount of unevenly sized pieces. And, there are good alternatives to doing each and every one of these tasks, generally with less mess. A pastry cutter will do pie dough very nicely. A sharp chef's knife will give you evenly sized chopped onions very quickly with no slime, a microplane will give fine zest in a thrice, a blender will do an equally good job with Mayonnaises, a knife will do garlic much better than a standard food processor, and a knife can do veggies to a much greater range of sizes and much tighter consistency than can a food processor. The things for which I always go to a food processor are when I wish to shred large vegetables such as cabbage to make slaw and when I wish to powder or crumb a large portion of hard, dry material, as when I want to make bread crumbs. I have gone to a fair amount of trouble to cultivate pretty good knife skills and to buy very sharp knives. I also need to cook for only two people. Therefore, my bias tends against using the large task food processor. This is not to say this tool has no good user base. It is probably at its best in preparing vegetables for salads when the vegetables are not to be cooked, but eaten raw. It is also excellent for shredding hard, awkwardly shaped vegetables such as carrots for a cooked carrot filling, not to mention an ingredient for carrot cake. Lastly, it will very commonly do an acceptable job subbing for a blender if you do not have one. Just don't try crushing ice with it! So how does this book help this audience? First, I thing the introductory material on general suggestions on food processor use is very good. But, I think it would have been a lot better with a few pictures. It is not entirely obvious how the chopping blade compared to the slicing blade. The dictionary of foods and how to process them was quite good, if only to show what foods and results it is wise to prepare with some other tool. The author very wisely advises against using the processor to shred meat or to grind spices. I was also happy to see that the author did not paint a rosy picture of your making peanut butter with a food processor. My first sense that there was something amiss in the book is when I saw the recipes for stock making. The instructions for the meat and the cooking times were all kosher, but I believe the instructions for chopping the vegetables is all wrong. For years, until I started making stocks for myself, I never understood why recipe writers of every stripe tell you to simply toss the peeled vegetables into the stockpot with no more than a quick cut in half, if that. Well, they were right. Simmer whole carrots and onions and celery for four hours and there will simply be no flavor left behind, and there will be no unnecessary cloudiness in your stock from vigorously chopped veg flesh. My reaction to most other recipes is that I already have an ample number of recipes for all these dishes. Why do I need another that uses a tool I would not normally use? This book will be helpful if you make three or four meals a week for four or more people, and, you already have a full size (11 cup bowl) food processor. Otherwise, you may find it gathering dust on your shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Not for Everyone. Good Book for Large Family Meals.
Review: Jean Anderson is a member of `old school' cookbook authors and culinary educators such as Barbara Kafka, Marion Cunningham, Sheila Lukins, and Sara Moulton many of whom are protégés of James Beard or Julia Child. Among them, Anderson and Cunningham have been responsible for editing two of the better `how to do everything' cookbooks in America. These are the `American Century Cookbook' and the `Fanny Farmer Cookbook' respectively. Except for Moulton, who is a staple of the Food Network programming, these authors typically do not get as much attention as their more internationally oriented colleagues such as Patricia Wells and Paula Wolfert; TV educators such as Ina Garten, Rachael Ray, and Nigella Lawson; or magazine magnate Martha Stewart. In spite of this, these authors are probably the ones who write some of the most commonly picked titles among non-foodies who never watch the Food Network and simply want a reliable source of menus. On the face of it, this book, `Process This!' is very similar to Barbara Kafka's highly rated `Microwave Gourmet' to which I gave five stars. Both books are about new kitchen appliances that became popular in the early nineteen-seventies and both of which tend to be misused, overused, or underused. I am probably like many people who use both appliances for a relatively small range of tasks and wonder why they persist in taking up so much space on my countertop. I do, however, sense some differences in the two appliances. The biggest I believe is the fact that while the microwave is at its best doing small, quick jobs which often arise in small households or households with lots of different schedules, the food processor is best when it is used to tackle a big job. The reasons for this are simple. A microwave can make popcorn, heat up a cup of coffee, cook bacon, and defrost frozen food quickly, with less electricity than a range or oven, and require little or no cleanup when you are done. And, there are few alternatives to doing these tasks as quickly or as easily. A standard size food processor can mix a pie dough, dice onions, finely chop zest, mix a mayonnaise, shred cabbage for slaw, chop garlic, and slice carrots or a hundred other vegetables in a thrice. But, after each operation, a rather sizable cleanup job is left and with most slicing and dicing, the results leave a fair amount of unevenly sized pieces. And, there are good alternatives to doing each and every one of these tasks, generally with less mess. A pastry cutter will do pie dough very nicely. A sharp chef's knife will give you evenly sized chopped onions very quickly with no slime, a microplane will give fine zest in a thrice, a blender will do an equally good job with Mayonnaises, a knife will do garlic much better than a standard food processor, and a knife can do veggies to a much greater range of sizes and much tighter consistency than can a food processor. The things for which I always go to a food processor are when I wish to shred large vegetables such as cabbage to make slaw and when I wish to powder or crumb a large portion of hard, dry material, as when I want to make bread crumbs. I have gone to a fair amount of trouble to cultivate pretty good knife skills and to buy very sharp knives. I also need to cook for only two people. Therefore, my bias tends against using the large task food processor. This is not to say this tool has no good user base. It is probably at its best in preparing vegetables for salads when the vegetables are not to be cooked, but eaten raw. It is also excellent for shredding hard, awkwardly shaped vegetables such as carrots for a cooked carrot filling, not to mention an ingredient for carrot cake. Lastly, it will very commonly do an acceptable job subbing for a blender if you do not have one. Just don't try crushing ice with it! So how does this book help this audience? First, I thing the introductory material on general suggestions on food processor use is very good. But, I think it would have been a lot better with a few pictures. It is not entirely obvious how the chopping blade compared to the slicing blade. The dictionary of foods and how to process them was quite good, if only to show what foods and results it is wise to prepare with some other tool. The author very wisely advises against using the processor to shred meat or to grind spices. I was also happy to see that the author did not paint a rosy picture of your making peanut butter with a food processor. My first sense that there was something amiss in the book is when I saw the recipes for stock making. The instructions for the meat and the cooking times were all kosher, but I believe the instructions for chopping the vegetables is all wrong. For years, until I started making stocks for myself, I never understood why recipe writers of every stripe tell you to simply toss the peeled vegetables into the stockpot with no more than a quick cut in half, if that. Well, they were right. Simmer whole carrots and onions and celery for four hours and there will simply be no flavor left behind, and there will be no unnecessary cloudiness in your stock from vigorously chopped veg flesh. My reaction to most other recipes is that I already have an ample number of recipes for all these dishes. Why do I need another that uses a tool I would not normally use? This book will be helpful if you make three or four meals a week for four or more people, and, you already have a full size (11 cup bowl) food processor. Otherwise, you may find it gathering dust on your shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Not for Beginners
Review: Not knowing what to do with the food processor I received as a birthday gift, I came across this book. Other reviews made it sound like the ideal cookbook. I'm no expert in the kitchen (far from it) and couldn't find any recipes in this book that sounded easy or like anything my children would eat. There was even a recipe for mayonaise which made me wonder why anyone would make their own. This might be a great cookbook for those with time and the desire to create gormet meals, but it's not very useful for the remedial cook like me and it made me even less likely to ever take the food processor out of the box. I'm afraid I will be sending this book back.
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