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Rating: 
Summary: Very useful title
Review: My copy of this unpretentious little book is rapidly getting dog-eared. If the recipes weren't so very good, my family would surely be dog-tired of pies and turnovers by now, because I can't seem to stop making them! I literally had to start decorating my productions with alphabetical pastry cutouts (made with the help of a Play-Doh lettering kit), so that we can distinguish between the three or four kinds we usually have on hand.The book has two parts, one on wrappers, and one on fillings. Wrappers are further subdivided into yeasted, pastry, and ready-made wrappers. Fillings are split into Savoury, Vegetarian Savoury, and Sweet. I have no sweet tooth whatsoever, so I can't comment on the sweet fillings, but of the fifteen or twenty savoury fillings I've made so far, there has only been one dud. So why only four stars? 1) The section on pastry wrappers could be a little longer, with more instruction on the often-devilish details of pastry-making. 2) I like my fillings to have interesting textures. Ms. German seems to prefer puréeing everything. 3) She has a tendency to overcook fillings (astonishing comment, coming from a Brit!) 4) She has a fondness for frozen vegetables. The last three quibbles are obviously easily rectified by adjusting the recipes to your taste. Highlights: Spicy Asian Chicken, Chinese Orange Beef, Piroshki, and both of the empanada recipes. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your bread machines!
Rating:
Summary: Genuinely Addictive
Review: My copy of this unpretentious little book is rapidly getting dog-eared. If the recipes weren't so very good, my family would surely be dog-tired of pies and turnovers by now, because I can't seem to stop making them! I literally had to start decorating my productions so that we could distinguish the three or four kinds we usually have on hand. The book has two parts, one on wrappers, and one on fillings. Wrappers are further subdivided into yeasted, pastry, and ready-made wrappers. Fillings are split into Savoury, Vegetarian Savoury, and Sweet. I have no sweet tooth whatsoever, so I can't comment on the sweet fillings, but of the fifteen or twenty savoury fillings I've made so far, there has only been one dud. So why only four stars? 1) The section on pastry wrappers could be a little longer, with more instruction on the often-devilish details of pastry-making. 2) I like my fillings to have interesting textures. Ms. German seems to prefer puréeing everything. 3) She has a tendency to overcook fillings (astonishing comment, coming from a Brit!) 4) She has a fondness for frozen vegetables. The last three quibbles are obviously easily rectified by adjusting the recipes to your taste. Highlights: Spicy Asian Chicken, Chinese Orange Beef, Piroshki, and both of the empanada recipes. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your bread machines!
Rating: 
Summary: I can't recommend this book
Review: The strongest part of Edible Pockets is the various dough recipes. I've tried only a couple, but they worked. I did have to adapt the process to working dough with a stand-alone mixer. I didn't mind, but in a book that seems aimed at the complete novice, it's surprising that German doesn't address this popular alternative to bread machine and totally manual approaches. My biggest complaint, though, is the filling recipes. Have you ever made tuna salad as usual for sandwiches and wondered how it would work if heated? Probably not, but German recommends this in the "tuna and cheese" filling and I was sucker enough to try it. For the record, celery just enough off crisp to be soggy is not a wonderful texture. And the cooking directions for fillings are misleading, as another reviewer has pointed out. An example is the "Cornish Pasty Filling," which was already well on its way to mush at half the hour's cooking time prescribed. In general, most fillings lack moisture and make for a mighty dry pocket. German's directions for assembling the pockets are also at fault.
It's nice to know one can roll out the pastry to 1/8", but there are plenty of fillings that work best with a thicker-sided pocket. German does mention the possibility of letting the yeast-dough pockets rise before baking but fails to point out that the fillings must be at room temperature if this is going to happen. I also wonder why she is so keen on using pressing molds for calzones and other standard pockets. Unless you are cooking for an army, crimping with fingers seals the pockets just dandy. When German says "If you have leftovers ... try using them as pocket fillings," she hits the nail on the head. If you have access to a toaster oven at work, her book helps provide a tasty lunch solution. Throw away the second half of the book, though, and dream up your own fillings.
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