The Fannie Farmer Cookbook: AnniversaryBooks: CookBooks: Candy: Item 6
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful: The BEST all-purpose cookbook, January 16, 2003 Reviewer:Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - I refer to THE FANNIE FARMER COOKBOOK more than any other cookbook in my kitchen - and I own approximately seventy-five cookbooks. What's so special about FANNIE FARMER? It is a wonderfully friendly book for the beginning cook that also supplies recipes for those who are more experienced. Unlike THE JOY OF COOKING, another basic cookbook, this one has recipes that always succeed. The sections on baking are the most successful. You will cherish many of these recipes once you try them. The cornbread is a snap - my family loves it - while the Cracked Wheat Bread, equally delicious, requires more skill, or at least the ability to scale the recipe to a breadmaker. You'll find great recipes for crepes, old-fashioned gingerbread, and berry tarts. It includes five different recipes for chocolate frosting - and a penuche frosting that will send you into a delicious sugar swoon. The selection of cookie recipes is rather ordinary, but hey, you need recipes for peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies. Want to know how to select a good pineapple and then prepare it? It's here. Confused about the various stages of sugar syrup? You'll find an easy to read table, from soft ball to hard crack. Forget the temperature of a properly cooked turkey breast? No problem. You'll find descriptions of fish and shellfish, various cuts of meats, most fruit and vegetables, and instructional paragraphs about proper technique. The inside cover contains liquid and dry measurement equivalents, a basic pastry recipe, and a scattering of tips about food preparation. Most of the recipes would not be considered gourmet - this is a basic cookbook, after all - but sometimes I am surprised by the inclusion of the out-of-the-ordinary. This book can make a good cook out of anyone. Product Review Marion Cunningham's brilliant revision of this classic home cooking reference addresses "good everyday cooking." Cunningham States that "every meal should be a small celebration," and she eases the preparation of those celebrations with clear, straightforward instructions and hints on how to make the most of every meal through beautiful presentation and balanced nutrition. The chapter on microwaved foods is clear and presents recipes that are simple and taste great. Cunningham's work especially shines in the chapters on baking, as might be expected from her work on The Fannie Farmer Baking Book and The Breakfast Book. Your piecrusts will always be crisp and flaky under her tutelage. From Publishers Weekly In its 13th edition, a classic American cookbook is here revised for the contemporary home cook. Restaurant consultant and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Cunningham has added chapters on microwave and outdoor cooking, cut down on excessive fats and revived lost comfort foods (lemon curd, semolina pudding). Warnings about salmonella and other health concerns are highlighted; abundant new and vegetarian recipes are conveniently marked. Cunningham's 325 additions to the Farmer roster use ingredients from ethnic cuisines, including Mexican and Indian spices and Chinese sesame oil and rice vinegar. Contradicting manufacturers' claims for the microwave oven, she carefully explains its best uses (steaming or braising foods) and offers recipes specifically designed to take advantage of its virtues (quick polenta, bananas in caramel sauce). True to its American roots, this remains an excellent meat-and-potatoes cookbook, but exhibits welcome range--from frankfurters to roast goose, smoked salmon tartare to trail mix--relishing food as a social enterprise. Illustrations not seen by PW. Author tour; BOMC alternate, Home Style Book Club main selection, Better Homes and Gardens Book Club alternate. Copyright 1990 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
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