Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Reviewers surely differ in their evaluation of this work. Given where I am in the kitchen right now, I actually like this book very much. It fills a need for me. As I have purchased a number of cookbooks and downloaded a wide array of recipes from the Web, I have run into information/recipe overload. I try a recipe and like it--and then can't recall where it came from, and I waste too much time trying to run it down (and I can't always find the desired recipe at that).
This book has a smidgeon of recipes, a smidgeon of reflections, some "how to" items (e.g., how to slice onions without tearing up), "cookin' first aid" (What do to after oversalting soup?), cooking trivia (how many kernels are on the average ear of corn?), and so on.
But the special value for me? Many blank pages, in which I can place recipes that I like and am apt to use on numerous occasions. Examples? From the Berghoff cookbook (the Berghoff was a glorious restaurant in Chicago)--chicken schnitzel and red cabbage; from the web--lemon garlic tilapia, chicken piccata, gourmet mushroom risotto, meatloaf, oven fried haddock; from one of Mark Bittman's cookbooks, a combination of two recipes for grilled chicken (each alone is fine, use ingredients from both--the result is even better); Racheal Ray's "My lazy sister Ria's chicken"; and so on.
Deen observes that "The blank pages are for you to jot down your own answers to cookin' dilemmas and recipes you've learned and adapted from your momma. . . ." Well, I'm not so interested in either of those--but I intend to meet the spirit by creating space for collecting my favorite recipes that are scattered about various cookbooks and printout from the Web.
So, for me, this book works.
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Paula Deen's Kitchen Wisdom and Recipe JournalHey there, y'all! My favorite recipes came direct from my momma and grandmommas. I just love goin' through all the recipe cards they passed on to me and readin' their handwritten notes; it makes me remember our good times in the kitchen, gathered round the table. Sometimes, though, I need a little remindin' when it comes to writin' down my own recipes and recollections, so I've put together this darlin' little journal to get me (and you) started recordin'. I know I never forget a meal, but I also know that Jamie and Bobby aren't always listenin' to what I'm tellin' 'em. So for you and the boys, I've included some tried-and-true recipes and some of my hard-learned tricks for gettin' out of culinary scrapes -- and Lord, honey, have there been a few. Whether it is a real disaster -- the boss and his wife are comin' over and the kitchen is full of smoke (no shame in servin' some takeout) -- or just an everyday bump in the road -- your husband didn't hear the buzzer, and the cake got a little dry in the oven (let some sugar water soak into those layers, and no one will know the difference) -- I've got your answer. Just get cookin' and let loose: nothin' makes memories like the smell of home-cooked meals. Jot down your ingredients and your musings, cut out a recipe card or two to share with friends, keep track of who came to dinner, who liked what, and who laughed the loudest; remember the good times and learn from the bad. Like I always say, there's not much in life you can't learn in the kitchen. Paula Deen
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