Rating: 
Summary: Essential resource for entertaining!
Review: This is a great accompaniment to the original Silver Palette Cookbook. The emphasis here is on entertaining, so the recipes are frequently more formal and serve larger quantities. The book is arranged seasonally with proposed menus (i.e. a Kentucky Derby party, mid-winter skiing holiday). You'll get great ideas for parties just looking through the book. Plus, there are lots of great tips on planning a party and cooking for a crowd. I particularly recommend the Broccoli-Watercress Soup - I return to it again and again as the definitive cream of broccoli soup. If you're not able to brine your Thanksgiving turkey (which is my personal favorite but very time consuming), the recipe and cooking method in this book is the next best thing. Also, their turkey saves better than any other I've tried. Martha Stewart has better pictures of entertaining in her cookbooks, but this book has the best recipes for entertaining and is the most practical for your typical cook.
Rating:
Summary: Essential resource for entertaining!
Review: This is a great accompaniment to the original Silver Palette Cookbook. The emphasis here is on entertaining, so the recipes are frequently more formal and serve larger quantities. The book is arranged seasonally with proposed menus (i.e. a Kentucky Derby party, mid-winter skiing holiday). You'll get great ideas for parties just looking through the book. Plus, there are lots of great tips on planning a party and cooking for a crowd. I particularly recommend the Broccoli-Watercress Soup - I return to it again and again as the definitive cream of broccoli soup. If you're not able to brine your Thanksgiving turkey (which is my personal favorite but very time consuming), the recipe and cooking method in this book is the next best thing. Also, their turkey saves better than any other I've tried. Martha Stewart has better pictures of entertaining in her cookbooks, but this book has the best recipes for entertaining and is the most practical for your typical cook.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite cookbook
Review: This is the most used book in my kitchen. I love the seasonal approach, and always look at the book for dinner and entertaining ideas at the start of each season.Some of my favorites are Bobbies Roast Chicken (ginger, mustard, lemon, mmmm!), June's Apple Crisp, some of the unusual and festive winter vegetables dishes (how about Brussels sprouts with maple and walnut vinaigrette or the Ruby Radishes?). Christmas is very special indeed with the Red and Green Christmas Salad (spinach, avocado and pomegranates) with Warm Champagne Vinegar Dressing. Buy it, you will feel inspired to be more creative with your cooking!
Rating: 
Summary: I swear it's not me!
Review: This was the first cookbook I ever bought, back in my early-'90s bachelor days. I tried the coq au vin recipe for a big dinner party -- and it flopped so catastrophically that even a then-amateur cook like me realized that no human can screw up a dish this badly without help. I rarely ever touched the cookbook again. I've made the apple pie several times over the years, but had to seriously adjust the cream recommendation of the recipe, because it made for soupy (if tasty) pies. It took four times using this recipe and ending up with soupy pie to realize **it wasn't me, but the recipe.** For some reason, I kept the book with me (never throw out a cookbook). I became a pretty decent cook, and married one too. Two days ago, my wife decided to make the Comforting Shredded Beef. She asked me to come into the kitchen to light the cognac the authors instruct you to pour over the browned pot roast. The ...thing exploded! I kid you not, we followed the recipe *exactly*, and started a kitchen fire, which required use of the fire extinguisher, and evacuating the apartment until it aired out...
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