Rating: 
Summary: From the New York Times:
Review: "Saveur magazine, now three years old, has made notable impact, helping to make grass-roots American cooking fashionable again. It's stylish, knowledgeable, chatty, sometimes quirky, gorgeous, you-are-there photographs of food and cooks. Most of all, it explores the connections between people and places and the food they produce. But even if you stockpile copies, Saveur Cooks Authentic American is a good book to have. The same infectious energy that runs through the magazine also animates the 150 recipes and numerous photographs. Appetizers through desserts, it's all Americana. There's a roast turkey with corn-bread stuffing, a Maine blueberry pie, shrimp and crab etouffee, iceberg wedge with blue cheese dressing (along with a spirited defense of iceberg lettuce), smoked trout hash and barbecued ribs. All the recipes have the voice of authenticity-that is to say, they are true to their regional roots. The Texas chili is made from diced, not ground chuck; the corn-bread recipe contains no sugar (heresy to purists) but properly has buttermilk and bacon fat; the Mennonite borscht is all beef and cabbage, no beets and the mint julep, in chilled, preferably silver cups, is the real thing. Most of the recipes originate no with chefs but with cooks at home, who illuminate the ingredients with a story or tow. And they're a good bunch of people to mix with, as I found out in several weeks of testing. Of the dozen recipes I tired, all worked-one of the benefits, no doubt, of a rigorous magazine test kitchen. The few that were not memorable were at least the makings of a decent dinner. And the majority were terrific. Like Joe Delgado's polenta pie with Gorgonzola. Mr. Delgado of San Francisco, pours just cooked polenta into a cast-iron skillet, stirs in some butter and cheese (asiago), crumbles Gorgonzola over the top and bakes it for 25 minutes. Parsley salad with julienned sundried tomatoes and basil vinaigrette is a brilliant answer to the winter salad quandary. Radicchio and fennel slaw, from a California grower, has earned a place as another regular for winter. Layfayette gingerbread (made with orange juice and molasses) is up there with the great ones. And Joe's special, from a legendary old restaurant in San Francisco, is both quick and lovable: a scramble of eggs, onions, ground beef and fresh spinach. But the recipe for Monte's ham may alone be worth the price of admission. Monte Matthews, an advertising executive writes: 'When I first came to New York, a friend gave me two pieces of advice: first, if you wear an expensive watch, you can wear anything else you want; second, when you have a lot of people over, buy a cheap ham.' Mr. Mathews already had the watch, but he was flummoxed by the ham, until he went to a party and saw hordes of guests tucking into a giant, glistening specimen. Begging his hostess for the secret, she disclosed: 'Buy the cheapest ham possible, glaze the hell out of it and cook it for a long time.' Mr. Matthew's says he has follwed the advice several times a year for more than 20 years, never paying more than 99 cents a pound for a bone-in ham (not the canned kind). As a cheap-ham hunter, I was no match for Mr. Matthew's. I settled on an Esskay 'water added' ham for $2.89 a pound. Cooked to his instructions, it was served to a group of 10 with professed discerning palates. (In truth, cut inch slices, the ham would serve 30 or more.) They went crazy for the Monte's ham, clamoring for seconds and thirds, grabbing nubbins from the platter and boldly demanding to take home the leftovers. The big, deeply bronzed beauty was truly delicious-succulent and moist on the inside, sweetly glazed and crisp on the outside-although I cant help thinking how good it might have been with a genuinely cheap ham."
Rating: 
Summary: Excellant
Review: Full action color photographs and high-energy recipes. What else would you expect from America's most soigness cooking magazine.
Rating:
Summary: As good to eat as it is to look at!
Review: Hearing an interview with the authors, I bought this for a friends who love to cook and peeking at it before wrapping it up, I went back to Amazon and got another for myself and my wife. We have made about half the dishes and every one has been spectacular. Our friends said it is their favorite cookbook as well. (We sent the Saveur Cooks French the next year). This is a coffee table quality book. Oversized with photos that make you drool! Nothing is overly complicated either nor is it too spicy. Among our favorites - the Macroni and Cheese.
Rating: 
Summary: American food , a lot of history behind it
Review: I am a lover of american food , I live in Argentina but my passion for american dishes is huge. I found this book really interesting , with a lot of wonderfulls recipes and others recipes not so great but with a nice story beside. The BBQ ribs is an example of a delicious recipe , Joe s special is an example of a very bad recipe but with a nice story, This book is really good and I recomend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly Disappointing
Review: I am amazed at the people who raved about this cookbook because as a cookbook, it's a dismal failure. The recipes are contrived and uninteresting. Virtually none of the recipes herein captured my imagination and I'm a pretty adventurous cook. As a picturebook it's great though. My advice would be to leave it on the coffee table where it belongs. If anyone really wants this book, they can have mine for the cost of shipping.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Disappointing
Review: I am amazed at the people who raved about this cookbook because as a cookbook, it's a dismal failure. The recipes are contrived and uninteresting. Virtually none of the recipes herein captured my imagination and I'm a pretty adventurous cook. As a picturebook it's great though. My advice would be to leave it on the coffee table where it belongs. If anyone really wants this book, they can have mine for the cost of shipping.
Rating:
Summary: More than a cookbook
Review: I was very disappointed by Jane's review of this book - it's more than just a cookbook, rather it's a celebration of the wide range of foods that we call "American". Really, how many recipies could you cover on this subject considering the range and diversity of the people and foods in the U.S.? For the recipies that are included (ranging from simple to complex), most come with a nice story...and it is the stories and history behind some of the people and food in this book that make it truly special. Yes, I agree, not a comprehensive "cookbook" so to speak, but a wonderful one to have in your kitchen (and on your coffee table, to boot) that does a good job of giving the reader a good sample (perhaps an appetizer to make one hungry enough to learn more about certain types of American cooking) of what we call "American Food".
Rating:
Summary: As good to eat as it is to look at!
Review: I was very disappointed by Jane's review of this book - it's more than just a cookbook, rather it's a celebration of the wide range of foods that we call "American". Really, how many recipies could you cover on this subject considering the range and diversity of the people and foods in the U.S.? For the recipies that are included (ranging from simple to complex), most come with a nice story...and it is the stories and history behind some of the people and food in this book that make it truly special. Yes, I agree, not a comprehensive "cookbook" so to speak, but a wonderful one to have in your kitchen (and on your coffee table, to boot) that does a good job of giving the reader a good sample (perhaps an appetizer to make one hungry enough to learn more about certain types of American cooking) of what we call "American Food".
Rating:
Summary: More than a cookbook
Review: I was very disappointed by Jane's review of this book - it's more than just a cookbook, rather it's a celebration of the wide range of foods that we call "American". Really, how many recipies could you cover on this subject considering the range and diversity of the people and foods in the U.S.? For the recipies that are included (ranging from simple to complex), most come with a nice story...and it is the stories and history behind some of the people and food in this book that make it truly special. Yes, I agree, not a comprehensive "cookbook" so to speak, but a wonderful one to have in your kitchen (and on your coffee table, to boot) that does a good job of giving the reader a good sample (perhaps an appetizer to make one hungry enough to learn more about certain types of American cooking) of what we call "American Food".
Rating: 
Summary: It's just okay.
Review: I wasn't as crazy about this one as I was about Saveur's Authentic French book. The Authentic American book is more a melting pot of recipes. I was expecting well known, classic regional dishes. It was strange to see so many ethnic dishes. Yes, everyone in America is from somewhere, but there are dishes that are old and indigenous to the U.S. I would like to have seen more of those.
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