Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this cookbook (the huge one in the binder) in September of 1989 for my 18th birthday. I had just moved out two months before after graduating from high school and gotten my own apartment. (This is back when kids didn't live at home until they were 28 - we wanted to be on our own!!)
I didn't have any cookbooks and I grew up with a mother who cooked from scratch and large Italian grandmothers and aunts who made all the classics that I wanted to know how to make, in case I ever got married and needed to impress people with my cooking and domestic skills. Needless to say, I did get married, and I have used this book more than any other in the 15 years since I bought it. I can't believe I am that far away from 18 years old - holy cow!! My cookbook cover has been taped and many of my hole-punched pages have the little reinforcers on them now, so I know it has been a long time!
It gives you wonderful, reliable classic recipes for everything you could need made from scratch (basic meatloaf, lemon bars, German potato salad, Christmas punch, how to decorate cakes...even a simple wedding cake is in here!!) so you don't have to call your mother or mother-in-law and sound like a bubbly airhead (or get online like we do now to look for recipes but I hate printing and wasting paper and ink because I am a frugal kinda gal).
The most wonderful part is that it shows you how to set a table for formal and informal occassions, how to fold napkins, what do goblets look like and what do you serve in what kind of glass, how to select cuts of meat, every single cut of beef that their is, how to debone chicken breasts, how long to cook each type of vegetable be it oven, stovetop, or microwave, how many pounds of food to serve for how many guests (of course, I double it in my family), how to properly word invitations, how to set up a buffet, where do the plates, the rolls, etc. go, and on and on. It is basically a manual on how to be Donna Reed, June Cleaver, Marian Cunningham and Martha Stewart all rolled into one!!
The lemon bars taste like my mothers, the pot roast, potatoes and carrots come out like my mothers, the chicken cacciatore and Swiss Steak taste like my mothers...her name is Sharon and she will enjoy hearing this...The oven temps and times are correct and the pictures accompanying the recipes are huge and beautiful (this is for the binder edition...I would recommend buying only this as it lays flat on my table as I make my mess).
I use this book with my daughter who is now 14 so that she too can learn to be a domestic diva. It is a Kitchen Bible. Now, don't get me wrong, I hold a Bachelor's and run a business out of my house so I am not a 1950's housewife whose world ends at the front yard, but since I am married to a balding, slightly overweight, 39 y/o Italian man who also likes to eat and have a home cooked meal on Sunday, and we are too cheap to eat takeout, this book stays right on top of my fridge where anyone in the house can easily get to it.
Being the married, slightly overweight Italians that we are with kids and parents, holiday gatherings and parties are a big part of our lives because it is an excuse to get together and eat and be loud whether it is the Christmas Vigil or a backyard barbecue with the husband at the grill and the women making all the side dishes but he gets all the compliments. This cookbook will never fail you. You can have Donna Reed Syndrome and be the envy of your neighbors with this book.
The good thing is that this book offers substitions if you are snowbound. However, this is basic goodness...you will not need to drive two hours to get Extract of Marbled Orange Radicchio for any recipe as all recipes have things you can buy in any regular grocery store.
If you come across a copy of this in a binder, shame on you if you don't buy it! You should give this to every young person in your family starting out, and every older person in your family who's cooking is Blow-Torch City! As for me, I intend to buy more plastic sleeve protectors and each page is going in one before it goes back in the binder, that is how priceless it is!
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Imaginative and entertaining ideas for today's busy lifestyle, with more than 1,200 tested and evaluated recipes. From the name that generations have grown to trust.This new paperback edition brings together the tools we need to prepare quick and nutritious meals and includes nutritional information with every recipe. More than 150 color photos, step-by-step drawings, and easy-to-use charts make this the complete cookbook for the busy 90s!
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