Gourmet's Casual Entertaining : Easy Year-round Menus for Family and Friends

Rating:
Summary: Disappointingly hoity-toity
Review: Okay, say the editors, it's Saturday and some friends are coming over, and you decide to just "throw something on the grill, make a salad, and buy a pie at the bakery." Hah! You can do better than that, they say. Just whip up some Belgian Endive Spears with Fontina & Walnut Filling as a "last-minute dinner." Gimme a break! And under "Lazy Sundays," they suggest Port-Poached Figs with Butter-Toasted Rosemary Almonds and Prosciutto. Now, I'm a pretty fair cook, but this is not the sort of thing you can do with one hand tied behind your back. And while some of these dishes -- the few that actually are illustrated -- look tempting, the title of the book is extremely misleading, because there ain't nothing "casual" about it.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Recipes. Very Misleading Concept
Review: This 'Gourmet' magazine produced volume on 'Casual Entertaining' has been produced by a staff almost large enough to have produced 'The Lord of the Rings', with the role of director Peter Jackson being played by the very distinguished editor in chief Ruth Reichl plus a staff of dozens from 'Gourmet Magazine', 'Gourmet Books', 'Conde Nast books, jaBS MEDIA and probably a few dozen more unsung laborers from Random House. The irony of dedicating these battalions to publishing a 200-page book is not lost on the anonymous copywriter responsible for the acknowledgments. In all the activity by all these people, no one person is identified as the author. The best the publishers could do is to associate various 'Gourmet' food editors with various chapters plus a credit to the wine editor's contribution of wine selections. All this chatter about the number of contributors to this volume is simply to highlight that after all this effort, the book does not succeed in attaining it's subtitled objective of 'Easy Year-Round Menus for Family and Friends'.

Other reviewers have commented on this fact, but I was willing to give the good folks at Gourmet the benefit of the doubt, since the main title of the book is Casual ENTERTAINING, and one certainly does go a little out of the way when feeding guests.

The five chapters with about seven menus per chapter and five or six recipes per menu are entitled 'Easy Saturday Nights', 'Lazy Sundays', 'Easy Celebrations', 'Easy Grills', and 'Easy Picnics'. It certainly seems to me like they had 'easy' recipes in mind when they created the concept for this book.

Almost every recipe by itself is, indeed, fairly straightforward. The number of ingredients per recipe rarely exceeds nine and the very clearly written procedures rarely exceed three short paragraphs. As usual, the most detailed preparations are for the desserts, where special instructions are often needed to prepare something that can be prepared and refrigerated or frozen days in advance of the relaxing day of entertaining. As I noted above, the recipes are all written in an exceptionally clear manner, with each distinct step being put in its own paragraph with a clear emboldened verb at the start to make clear what it is that is being done. I would expect nothing less from the staff of Gourmet Magazine. Wherever appropriate, the recipe's 'Cook's Notes' specify how far in advance the recipe can be made.

I think it is fair to say that many recipes are for dishes that fit casual situations. There are a lot of dips, finger foods, satays, salads, shish ka-bobs, and what have you. Even the somewhat toney dishes such as baked eggs in brioches allows that you will not make the brioche yourself, but buy it from you neighboring Boulangerie. One problem is that while you may not have any problem finding brioches in NYC, out here in the hinterlands, I have a problem finding any baker who even knows what brioche is, let alone being able to sell me some.

Scattered throughout the book are general suggestions on entertaining, but taken all together, they certainly do not constitute a tutorial on entertaining, such as what you will find in Martha Stewart's classic book 'Entertaining'.

If you consider the source of this volume, a magazine named 'Gourmet', you should really expect pretty toney content, and that is what you get in these menus. Each recipe taken individually is fairly straightforward, but all the recipes taken together plus classy wine recommendation requires a fairly sizable grocery bill and some pretty adept hands in the kitchen. This is much, much more work per menu than what you will find in an article in 'Parade' or 'Better Homes and Gardens'. So, the question to you dear reader, is how often you will refer to this book to do all or most of a set piece menu. This book is simply trying to meet two incompatible objectives, simplicity and flash.

For purely family entertaining, I found Sheila Lukins book 'Celebrate' much more useful. Somewhat less complete but also good is 'The Family Table' by Christy Rost. For really easy entertaining, see Rachael Ray's 'Gettogethers' or any of Rachael Ray's 'Thirty Minute Meals' books for that matter. Patricia Weir's 'Cooking in the City' is a good resource for high end entertaining without breaking the budget.

This volume would be more valuable if there were a complete table of recipes by course. The index is pretty good, but it is no substitute for a complete list of recipes.

There are books I would not even buy if they were on the steeply discounted stacks. I would consider this if it were available for less than nine dollars.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining at its best
Review: This book guides you through everyday foods and menus. It is easy to follow and food that is not hard to make yet it is delicious and pleasing. Helps in a pinch for those last minute get-togethers when you aren't sure of what to have or to do. For my husband and myself it is an easy guide. It is an easy read. The pictures help with what the end presentaion is to look like. Pretty much a helpful book.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Recipes. Very Misleading Concept
Review: This `Gourmet' magazine produced volume on `Casual Entertaining' has been produced by a staff almost large enough to have produced `The Lord of the Rings', with the role of director Peter Jackson being played by the very distinguished editor in chief Ruth Reichl plus a staff of dozens from `Gourmet Magazine', `Gourmet Books', `Conde Nast books, jaBS MEDIA and probably a few dozen more unsung laborers from Random House. The irony of dedicating these battalions to publishing a 200-page book is not lost on the anonymous copywriter responsible for the acknowledgments. In all the activity by all these people, no one person is identified as the author. The best the publishers could do is to associate various `Gourmet' food editors with various chapters plus a credit to the wine editor's contribution of wine selections. All this chatter about the number of contributors to this volume is simply to highlight that after all this effort, the book does not succeed in attaining it's subtitled objective of `Easy Year-Round Menus for Family and Friends'.

Other reviewers have commented on this fact, but I was willing to give the good folks at Gourmet the benefit of the doubt, since the main title of the book is Casual ENTERTAINING, and one certainly does go a little out of the way when feeding guests.

The five chapters with about seven menus per chapter and five or six recipes per menu are entitled `Easy Saturday Nights', `Lazy Sundays', `Easy Celebrations', `Easy Grills', and `Easy Picnics'. It certainly seems to me like they had `easy' recipes in mind when they created the concept for this book.

Almost every recipe by itself is, indeed, fairly straightforward. The number of ingredients per recipe rarely exceeds nine and the very clearly written procedures rarely exceed three short paragraphs. As usual, the most detailed preparations are for the desserts, where special instructions are often needed to prepare something that can be prepared and refrigerated or frozen days in advance of the relaxing day of entertaining. As I noted above, the recipes are all written in an exceptionally clear manner, with each distinct step being put in its own paragraph with a clear emboldened verb at the start to make clear what it is that is being done. I would expect nothing less from the staff of Gourmet Magazine. Wherever appropriate, the recipe's `Cook's Notes' specify how far in advance the recipe can be made.

I think it is fair to say that many recipes are for dishes that fit casual situations. There are a lot of dips, finger foods, satays, salads, shish ka-bobs, and what have you. Even the somewhat toney dishes such as baked eggs in brioches allows that you will not make the brioche yourself, but buy it from you neighboring Boulangerie. One problem is that while you may not have any problem finding brioches in NYC, out here in the hinterlands, I have a problem finding any baker who even knows what brioche is, let alone being able to sell me some.

Scattered throughout the book are general suggestions on entertaining, but taken all together, they certainly do not constitute a tutorial on entertaining, such as what you will find in Martha Stewart's classic book `Entertaining'.

If you consider the source of this volume, a magazine named `Gourmet', you should really expect pretty toney content, and that is what you get in these menus. Each recipe taken individually is fairly straightforward, but all the recipes taken together plus classy wine recommendation requires a fairly sizable grocery bill and some pretty adept hands in the kitchen. This is much, much more work per menu than what you will find in an article in `Parade' or `Better Homes and Gardens'. So, the question to you dear reader, is how often you will refer to this book to do all or most of a set piece menu. This book is simply trying to meet two incompatible objectives, simplicity and flash.

For purely family entertaining, I found Sheila Lukins book `Celebrate' much more useful. Somewhat less complete but also good is `The Family Table' by Christy Rost. For really easy entertaining, see Rachael Ray's `Gettogethers' or any of Rachael Ray's `Thirty Minute Meals' books for that matter. Patricia Weir's `Cooking in the City' is a good resource for high end entertaining without breaking the budget.

This volume would be more valuable if there were a complete table of recipes by course. The index is pretty good, but it is no substitute for a complete list of recipes.

There are books I would not even buy if they were on the steeply discounted stacks. I would consider this if it were available for less than nine dollars.