Rating: 
Summary: The Best Vegetarian Cookbook (so far)
Review: BUY THIS BOOK. IT'S DEFINITIVE. Mrs. Patrick MacFarlin (Deborah) seems like she is interested in doing better what needs to be done and able to smile at her mistakes; she feels detailed, not fatuous; thoughtful, without being patronizing; genuine, instead of slightly affected; and serious, rather than pretentious, unlike this sentence. Deborah Madison is a super-taster with wide-ranging knowledge (1,400 recipes AND MORE variations) and an easy reading style, with both refined discrimination and practicality. You can infer Deborah's tongue has at least 426 taste buds per square centimeter. Examples of what Ms. Madison calls "complicated": home-made 3-cheese (ricotta, Gorgonzola, and Parmesan) ravioli in tomato-cream sauce; "rich": sizzling risotto gratin (risotto with Fontina cheese and cream, baked and browned in the oven); "costly": wild mushroom galette [with boletes (cepes, porcini), chantrelles, morels and fresh truffles]. "Simple" might be jazzing up good olives for at least an hour with toasted cumin seeds, garlic, paprika, red pepper flakes, good olive oil and lemon juice. You can get an idea of her easy reading style, refined discrimination, and practicality from the following quotes: "...joy in cooking, born of the pleasure of using our senses---rustling our fingers through a bunch of herbs, listening to the sizzle of onions, watching the colors brighten while vegetables cook, inhaling the fragrance of olive oil the moment it hits the pasta. "...something impressive in the middle of the plate...it's precisely this effort that produces a dish that has focus, clarity, and enough interest that the diner's eye isn't restlessly seeking something to be "it." "serial eating...(many) people like a meal that consists of a succession of small dishes. There is neither focus nor climax, but it manages to work." "Lighter eating...we've become happier with less....Taking care with setting the table and presenting the food can often balance its simplicity, so that a simple soup, salad, cheese plate, and dessert can be as satisfying...as something more elaborate." "Accompaniments round out...by complementing...taste or texture; they extend time at the table so you're dining instead of just fueling; and they offer a progression of textures and flavors." "... for a classic meal....Changing the levels of intensity: First courses and appetizers are small but rich or intense so that a few small bites both ease our hunger and stimulate our interest. The next course needs to drop a little in intensity and be a little larger....it provides some spacing, like a comma or a dash....Then we need to go on to something heartier but not so rich that you can't comfortably eat a portion. A salad might follow, providing a cleansing freshness and lull before the final sweet note of dessert." "If you're eating a succession of small dishes, maybe everything is at the appetizer level of intensity, but the portions are small and varied." "Avoiding repetition: if it's an important dinner, be sure and look at the entire meal before starting....if you've chosen onion salad, onion soup, and onion gratin...plan to make a few changes...(or) If it's too late, you can always call such a meal an onion festival." "For everyday meals, you might keep these pointers somewhere in the back of your mind---they're not nearly as crucial as simply getting dinner on the table. For that we need strategies, leftovers, some fast foods, and some things we know how to do well that everyone likes." "...one way to approach the traditional holiday meal is just to make all those side dishes---they're usually more than ample and wonderfully varied...Generally, it's those candied yams, cranberries, and stuffings that people love best at Thanksgiving. Long gone, fortunately, are the days when vegetarians attempted to make turkey out of tofu. The other approach is to...honor these days by making foods that are special to you. These might include complicated dishes...from scratch; (and) foods that are richer than those we usually eat...; or foods that are costly.... Of course, the other things that make holidays special are the solemnity, sentimentality, or joy of the occasion, the people around us, the care with which we prepare our homes and tables, and what's in our hearts. In my experience, the food ends up being important, but often not quite as important as we imagined it would be."
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful book!
Review: Not only are the recipes wonderful.
Not only are the pictures beautiful.
Not only are there directions for how to cook dozens of different vegetables in oodles of different styles. But there's just an underlying sensibility to the whole book that makes you say, "Yes, not only could I do this sort of food, but I want to." It's not preachy like _Laurel's Kitchen_, it's not way out of date with 90's tables like _Moosewood_, and it's not full of special interest food, like _Sundays at Moosewood_. Even better, it doesn't constantly apologize for itself. Instead, you read it and find out how to make a perfect omelette. Exactly what goes into guacamole. How to pick a good parsnip. What goes well as a sauce for asparagus. How to make terrific desserts. What goes with roasted peppers. This book reminds me a lot of _Mastering the Art of French Cooking_, by Julia Child, in that I just feel like my possibilities are expanded by reading it. But the recipes are much more contemporary in style than the wonderful French food from Julia. Best of all, it's all there. All of the veggies you could imagine. Neat cheese recipes. Great baked goods. A chapter on breakfast. I have almost exclusively cooked out of this since I bought it a month ago, and am simply hooked. Thank you, Deborah. I've been waiting for a book like this for a while!
Rating:
Summary: Great book for everyone
Review: This is a great book. There is information on many ingredients you dont see in most cookbooks and lots of good tips. You dont have to be a vegetarian to own this cookbook (I'm not). Everyone needs side dishes! Although there are many things in this book that would do just fine as a main course.
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Summary: So simple to use!
Review: This book contains a ton of helpful hints and suggestions. I love it for side dishes.
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Summary: It will be your favorite, too!
Review: One can tell a well-used cookbook by its delapidated condition, and out of all my books this is it (Fanny's a close second). When I can't think of anything to make for dinner (breakfast, something to munch on), I can always find something simple to make in the vast variety of offerings. Every single thing I've ever cooked with this book has been exactly what I wanted. You, too, can make a squash galette! And it will be beautiful and delicious! This is the book that everyone should have in their kitchen and no, it isn't just for vegetarians.
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Summary: I simply can't give it more
Review: Why?
Recipes like Add flour to water then dump the water after cooking. Why on earth would you add an ingredient that does nothing? Cooking times are a bit off also and she keeps saying millet clumps. I am trying very hard but so far my millet has never clumped. Now one of us is doing it wrong and since millet is not suppose to clump, I don't get the impression it is me. I can see why the former owner of mine assisted a library sale.
Rating: 
Summary: Love the food
Review: I bought this book because I was looking for a way to add more healthy foods to our menue. It has been a great resorce for me. I like her cooking tips and the emince number of recipies makes it like a treasure hunt everytime I sit down to brows through it. I am a serious cook with a large family to please and I need lots of different recipies to try to keep me interested in cooking.
I want to thank the author for telling me about a alternative to coffee that is absolutely delicious. Its caffeine-free and comes in 8 delicious flavors. Just google it under "s oyfee" to find it. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced cook, 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' is bound to be a very useful addition to your library.
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Summary: A Must-Have for EVERY Kitchen
Review: Yes, this is a vegetarian cookbook, but even carnivores will appreciate many of the dishes here. Deborah Maidson was the founding chef at Greens restaurant in San Francisco, and if you've ever eaten there, you'll know exactly what I mean. True to her style, most of the fare here is hearty and very flavorful.
I've been especially pleased with the appetizers in this book (and so are my guests!) The Silky Mushroom Paté with Scallion-Walnut Topping is TO DIE FOR. I also found that it freezes well, so by dividing the recipe into two pans, I can serve one now, and have an amazing homemade appetizer ready at a moment's notice for some future gathering.
Of course, there is much more than appetizers covered in the 700+ pages (I frequently substitute her incredibly rich vegetable stock for my chicken stock in my own recipes). In addition to all the recipes, she's done an excellent job in the narrative, whether providing helpful prep tips, recipe variations, or explaining ingredients or the cooking process in general.
You definitely don't need to be a vegetarian to enjoy this cookbook.
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Summary: THIS is what I like to eat
Review: I hesitate to think that I can add to the eloquent reviews already given, but...
I am a beginning cook, and this is the cookbook that convinced me that I WILL learn. In the past, before I found THIS cookbook, I occassionally attempted a quick bread or pasta, but nothing I made tasted GOOD to me. It was dispiriting. I realize that tastes vary widely, depending on what your mother fed you, what restaurants near you serve, what your rising sign is, were you [...] or bottle fed, do you drive standard or automatic, so on. I was raised Southern but have lived in California 4 good years. Everything I've made so far (gumbo, chowder, a gratin, a vinaigrette) has been DELICIOUS.
Some recipes do have vague points, but I, a TOTAL beginner, have been able to wing the details, and come out FINE.
I enjoy the chatty, informative blurbs aside the recipes and appreciate the longer tips at the beginning of each section.
Also, this cookbook includes how to chop guiding the knife with one's fingers. I had never read that before. Good to know.
All in all, I am in love, love, love with this cookbook.
Rating:
Summary: Good food
Review: My fiancee is a vegetarian and this is her primary cookbook. The recipes are simple and taste great, even for non-vegetarians (such as myself). She also enjoys the information in the book about techniques and ingredients because they explain the right way to do things; this is helpful for non-trained cooks such as herself. She has a number of cookbooks from a number of high-profile authors, from Alton Brown to Alice Waters, and this is hands-down the book she always reaches for. I got it as a gift for her and I have reaped the rewards ever since. Also, if you buy this book and enjoy it, the author opened a restaurant in San Francisco called Greens -- the food is amazing, strictly vegetarian, and definitely worth a visit. Very highly recommended.
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