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Summary: Major YUM
Review: Really, really, really good food, written mostly for the cook who intends to use these menus for entertaining. Not difficult, not so exotic that the kids with marginally sophisticated palates won't eat it, not so fussy that your guests will be too intimidated to invite you to their next party. Just really good, really special, really beautiful food.
Just in case you happen to find yourself with some spare lobsters lying around, check out the lobster potpie.
For a more day-to-day style of cooking, check out Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa: Family Style cookbook; it's another sure winner.
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Summary: BUY "ALL" INA GARTENS COOKBOOKS
Review: INA GARTENS COOKBOOKS ARE FABULOUS.INSPIRATIONAL PHOTOS AND READING.THE #1 BEST COOKBOOKS I OWN ARE INA GARTENS.. BUY BUY BUY
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Summary: Careful selection of durable recipes. Good first cookbook
Review: This first cookbook by Ina Garten, the founder and once owner of the Long Island catering and upscale deli, 'barefoot contessa' is a delightful cross between the high end Martha Stewart 'Entertaining' and the very local and very Southern 'The Lady and Sons' by Paula Deen. By delightful coincidence, all three have shows on the food network. This book shines by being more accessible than Martha Stewart's work for large scale entertaining and by being more selective in its recipes than Paula Deen's books. Deen and Stewart's works both have their virtues, but Garten shines in making the best of its particular strengths.Both Stewart and Garten claim Julia Child as a culinary godmother, and both do us a service by making Child's style of food easier to make for the non-foodie. The greatest value of Garten's selection of dishes and her recipes for same are that they were all prepared at 'the barefoot contessa', so there is no question that the recipes work. This claim is boldly made on the dust jacket. I will add the opinion that since the dishes were a staple of Garten's store and catering business, they were popular with a fairly discriminating clientele. Having seen pictures on Garten's TV show of 'the barefoot contessa', I can see the store's customers probably had pretty high expectations of their food purveyors. I can back this observation up by the opinion that I find almost all of Garten's recipes very appealing, reasonably healthy, and reasonably easy to make. This is so true that I expect this will become my first choice book when I simply do not know what I want to make, and do not want to spend a lot of time, or at least a lot of effort in the preparation. That said, I have to recommend this book as both an excellent first cookbook and an excellent resource for entertaining. By being restaurant and catering recipes, most recipes have the added virtue of being able to remain appetizing after 8 hours in a chilled display case. There are very few prepared or commercially processed ingredients and there are very few expensive and delicate ingredients like foie gras or truffles. I found a few gaffs, mistakes which Ms. Garten's food network on screen talent have repudiated. My favorite geek Alton Brown, my hero Mario Batali, and my imaginary sweetheart Sara Moulton have all reputed the folklore that salt toughens cooking beans. If this were a teaching cookbook or a book by a reputed culinary authority, I think less of the book, but Ms. Garten has succeeded in her primary goal. Another weakness is the 'glossary of kitchen terms'. A single picture defines each of only six terms. I'm sure that these pictures may be of some value to amateur cooks, but the simplest of sentences in explanation would have made them 100% more useful. As I have suggested above, Ms. Garten has not given us a replacement for Martha Stewart's classic. In a discussion of a crudite platter for example, Ms. Garten gives us a three thinly texted pages while Martha gives us eight oversized pages packed with recipes and step by step lessons. Ms. Garten's book does outdo Martha in one regard, at least for people living in the New York metropolitan area. Her tables of sources for both food and equipment is very thorough and up to date. My only objection is her many references to Eli Zabar's breads and stores. Once would have been quite enough. An even better suggestion would have been to rate the suppliers in the list at the end of the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially as a first cookbook for people living in the New York area.
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Summary: Wonderful EVERY time!
Review: The Barefoot Contessa has raised the bar on cookbooks. Every recipe I've made in each of her 3 books has come out well if not wonderful! I previously thought this just could not be done because no one else has done it before (in my experience, anyway), but I have lowered expectations no more! There are nice tidbits of advice in each of them (for example, essential items for the kitchen in "Home Cooking"), and her love of food and cooking shines through in all of the books. The recipes are fairly to moderately easy, so this book is not for the weekend gourmet who wants to build a chocolate tower for dessert. But it is for ANYONE who like delicious, well prepared food. After making many of her desserts for a friend's party, I was told I should open a shop. I had to tell them there already is a shop--and it's owned by Ina Garten! P.S. I met her at a book signing on 2/7 in NY, and she was very kind and personable to everyone in that VERY long line! What a doll!
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Summary: simple culinary brilliance in every recipe
Review: This is absolutely one of the best cookbooks ever written. the recipes are fresh, simple and outrageously delicious. I feel like a culinary goddess when I use this resouce.
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Summary: This cookbook is fabulous!!!
Review: I gave this book to my sister for Christmas and now I have to buy one for myself. I made a number of her dishes from the cookbook and from her TV show over the holidays. They have all been outstanding. If you only make one recipe, try to the coconut macaroons. I've made them four times since Christmas. The pecan squares are also amazing, although I did find the size of this recipe somewhat daunting. I had enough squares to feed an army! I highly recommend this book and trying out her recipes. You won't be sorry.
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Summary: A superb cookbook that you will LOVE!
Review: I have many cookbooks and this one is my favorite. At first I was a bit put off by the recipes because the beautiful pictures made them seem complicated - I didn't think I could create food that looked that good. But it turned out to be really easy! I have probably made about 10 of the recipes in this book and I love them all - I make them over and over again. The instructions are simple to follow, the ingredients always easy to find and the final result is always wonderful. My friends and family all really enjoy eating the end results, as well! I very highly recommend this book and can't wait to purchase Ina Garten's other cookbooks.
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Summary: Great Cookbook
Review: Like all of Ina Garten's cookbooks, this one is terrific! The recipes are so delicious and wholesome. Unlike most other cookbooks, I follow the recipes exactly- there is no need to adjust anything. And all of the ingredients are in your kitchen! I really can't say enough good things about this cookbook. When I am looking for something to make for any occasion this is the first cookbook I turn to.
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Summary: Ya Gotta Love Ina!
Review: She really IS a "down to earth" chef & writer! I love her show, because she is so unaffected and sincere. To be honest, it took me awhile to warm up to her... but now, I feel like she's a friend.(Ina, if you're out there, I'd love an invite to one of your cozy dinners!)
She gives you all the info you need to create the recipes in the book - not just the ingredients. She imparts a lot of great inside info on what to look for, and how to buy & prepare it, without getting too wordy. I don't know about you, but I dislike a lot of "text" in a cookbook. I want the main event: the RECIPES!!! And pictures of what they should look like! This book has gorgeous pictures & descriptions.
I recommend this book to everyone looking for impressive, yet simple, entertaining ideas.
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Summary: Recycled Martha?
Review: Not sure what the reviewer below meant, but I assume he/she didn't know that Ina was responsible for most of Martha Stewarts recipes -- at least the good ones (she did work for Martha for a long time, you know, before starting her own thing.) I don't claim to know who should get complete credit for this book, but Ina's not a Martha wannabe or ripoff. She's just a former co-worker who created some of the best things that were ever attached to Martha's name (you surely don't think Martha does that stuff in between insider trading do you?) I think her stuff is pretty terrific and love the comfort food angle to gourmet leaning dinners and party food. In spite of what you might expect from a middle aged New England white woman, she downplays all the high end charateristics of food and makes things as simple and comforting as can be. Comfort is what her food and this book is primarily about.
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