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The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes For A New Century (2010)

by Amanda Hesser(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0393061035 (ISBN13: 9780393061031)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: If you are ever caught short and need a meat tenderising hammer in a hurry and it has disappeared, have no fear the Essential New York Times Cookbook is here. This book is such a size that you could use it instead of a hammer to bash (tenderise) the meat into submission.This might be one of those cookbooks that you buy where you can justifiably not feel bad if you never ever go through it all. To many it might be the only book they need but it would be a little unfair to state that it should be the only book you will need. However if you were to be transported to a tropical island with limitless foodstuffs where only one cookbook was allowed... A very tough decision.Where can one start? This is a compilation of over a thousand recipes compiled from everywhere and anywhere ... moreand collected from a 150 year-odd timeframe. Yet every recipe has been cooked and updated by the editor so you can be assured that it is practically feasible to try each and every one.The book's title tends to do it a bit of a disservice as it is a lot more than a cookbook. The quality of the background, accompanying information is stunning and really hits the mark. Despite being The New York Times' cookbook this is not a parochial American offering, that much is clear from the inside cover where a mass of conversion tables to those "funny, foreign metric measures" are given. Thoughtfulness just runs through this book from cover to cover. Interestingly there is not one colour photograph throughout and this isn't even thought to be a niggle!The editor's introduction is not so much an introduction but a full-blown essay in its own right, explaining the thoughts that went behind the book, its workflow, its development, portraits of the author and contributors and on and on. When it is time to finally see some recipes one notes that they are split into many chapters: Drinks, cocktails, punches and glögg; Hors d'Oeuvres, snacks and small dishes; soups; salads; vegetables; potatoes, corn and legumes; pasta, rice, grains and stuffings; sandwiches, pizza and savoury pies; fish and shellfish; poultry and game; beef, veal, lamb and pork; sauces, dressings, condiments, rubs and preserves; breakfast and brunch; breads and baking; cookies and candy; frozen desserts; cake; pies, tarts and other desserts. If that is not enough then there are a few appendices with menus, information sources, credits and a gargantuan index to keep you busy.As the recipes span a 150-plus year period it is great to see that a timeline is given within each section to show where a recipe first seemed to appear (when it has not been possibly to definitively determine its creation date). A small thing but a fascinating little thing to see the development of foods and food fashion. Each individual recipe (which fails to give an approximated prep/cook time) is prefaced by a scene-setter or background read and followed by a detailed ingredients list and comprehensive instructions about how to make the dish. At the end of each recipe is a portion guideline, some cooking notes as relevant, serving suggestions and even a little historical vignette and a recipe source/credit.This book will not be an aspirational, inspirational cookbook as some of its smaller, colourful bedfellows might be, but it sits squarely as a dependable fount of all knowledge, an instant resource, a sturdy companion in your culinary hour of need. For the Britons a sort of a Mrs Beeton but from a colonial cousin.For what you get, both in a physical and knowledge sense, this is a book worthy of serious consideration. The relative low prices makes it a steal, but do make sure you have paid for it!The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century, edited by Amanda Hesser and published by W. W. Norton Co. ISBN 9780393061031, 1056 pages. Typical price: GBP24. YYYYY.�// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
review 2: The lovely Amanda Hesser, now of food52 fame, has put together a fantastic collection of recipes that create an informative cross-section of food culture for the past 150 years. Many recipes have a brief note from Amanda at the start, and her introduction alone make the book worth owning. I have an advance copy with an unnumbered index, so I've been forced to read this book cover to cover to find just what I'm looking for. Well worth it, though! The only thing this cookbook seems to be lacking is a chili recipe - thus the removal of a star from my rating. Otherwise, excellent. less

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