Customer Reviews

Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips (Fabulous Recipes and Easy Tips)

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I didn't think it was possible to be disappointed with anything Ina Garten is associated with, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I loved her last book (Back to Basics), but this one just fell flat for me for a few reasons:

1. The recipes aren't neccesarily easy, especially when you have to search for some of the special ingredients (duck fois gras, Tate's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies, Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup, etc.). Also, "good ketchup such as Stonewall Kitchen"?!? There were just too many instances of blatantly trying to advertise other people's products. I think the only people who will have no trouble finding these specialized ingredients live in New York City, East Hampton or near a Whole Foods store (which for me is a 2 hour drive).

2. Some of the tips are not realistic for regular cooks, especially in these tough economic times (having 2 dishwashers!?!?!). Sure, I'd love to have 2 dishwashers in my kitchen, but unless you regularly host dinner parties with > 10 people or you run a catering business out of your house, what's the point? And who has room in their kitchen for that?

3. Unlike Ina's other books, none of the recipes here made me want to drop what I was doing and start cooking. Also, Ina's other books have included a chapter on breakfast foods, so I was sad when I saw that this book did not.

The book was not a total disappointment. As always, the pictures and layout of the book were beautiful (although I didn't understand the full page individual photos of each of Ina's friends). Also, some recipes, such as Lemon Chicken Breasts, Ultimate Peach Ice Cream and Old Fashioned Banana Cake are really good.

I'm still a big Ina fan and I'll continue to buy her books. I guess not everyone can hit a homerun everytime they step up to the plate.

I love both Ina's show and her cookbooks. If you've been a fan of both, most of these recipes (as others have noted) are going to seem redundant, particularly if you own her "Back to Basics" or The Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. While the layout and pictures are gorgeous, as usual, I couldn't get over the feeling this book was rushed out and with a little more time and development could have been better.

This is not to say that the recipes themselves are bad - we've just seen them before. The Mustard Chicken salad (page 104) is one of my favorites, but she's published it before. Jeffrey's Roast Chicken (page 122) is a re-tweaked version of the same recipe from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Again, these are good recipes, but the book wasn't presented as a redux of her other cookbooks. If it had been, customers would have been prepared for it, but as it was marketed - as a new book of recipes and tips - it is somewhat of a disappointment.

I'm disappointed, VERY disappointed. One of the reasons I have always loved Ina is because I did find her recipes very easy (my first dinner party was an Ina recipe: a whole salmon stuffed with fennel and onions - took 45 minutes tops). This book's recipes however, really didn't seem very easy and nothing in the book made me want to rush out and buy ingredients (like her previous books and t.v. shows have done). Also, I could not afford to rush out and buy many of these products - truffle oil and duck foie gras! As for the "tip" about having 2 dishwashers, seriously? (yeah, sure Ina, when I find myself living in a million dollar plus house in the Hamptons, I'll buy 2 - heck, I'll buy 3!). I found this book utterly pretentious, completely out of touch with us common folk during a recession (with the expensive items) and was a kind of lame attempt to get you to buy all her friends products etc. On the up side, the book was beautifully photographed. Over all though, this was truly a waste of money for me, and I never EVER thought I would say that about Ina :(

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this book..I love Ina and I love watching her shows but this book is not as good as her previous ones. I guess I thought it was about "easy" and it's not. If one must go to specialty stores for items such as tray figs, prosciutto, white truffle butter, smoked salmon, oxtails,mussels, soppressata salami(what is that?), duck foie gras(yikes),creme fraiche, romano flat bean(never saw those), bakery meringue shells,etc, etc,---this is not what I consider easy. Most cooks are into saving time with fresh, normal food items that are easily found in a normal foodstore. I hope in the future Ina reaches out to middle America for more normal not so expensive items to feed our families and friends. With today's economy, one has to be smart, a bit frugal and wise in making easy decisions for quick dinners on the table.. and healthy and easy does not have to be gourmet.Also, most of her tips and extra info was quite simplistic and took up alot of space in the book.

I'm a really big fan of The Barefoot Contessa TV show and I own all of her cookbooks. This one is a disappointment. It arrived 3 days ago and while I haven't made any of the recipes yet Iam intrigued and will try the rich beef barley soup, watermelon and arugula salad and mocha chocolate icebox cake (our local grocery store carries Tates cookies). All in all however I got a sense of deja vu with many of the recipes and frankly the tips section was a waste of paper that went on way too long and was beyond basic. As usual it was lovely to look at and almost identical to all of her other cookbooks in layout. Nothing much new, her last really good cookbook was Barefoot in Paris.

I will confess that I find Ina Garten's FoodNetwork show to be a guilty pleasure. Her television personality comes off as cheerful and warm. Her home is beautiful in that Hamptons-Pottery Barn style. The shows, however, have become rather tiresome with her relentless plugging of friends (foodies, Hampton food stores, movie and theater folk, carpenters, architects, florists, landscape and lighting designers, etc.) Her recipes are very derivative and nowhere does that become more glaring than in her latest book "How Easy is That?" This is a padded mess of a book. The format is familar: beautiful photographs of highly stylized food, recipes are generally easy and high in butter, cream, and salt, and there are few recipes for the money. Her show and books are actually a peek at a Hamptons lifestyle: beautiful well appointed house and setting, TWO nearly identical kitchens to die for, and glamorous friends seemingly always willing to help her act out this fantasy life for the camera.

This book reads more as a first draft of an idea--that idea being EASY. It is no more easy than the recipes in her other cookbooks, except for a few that seem to be a tip of the hat to Sandra Lee. As for recipes that I actually wanted to prepare, there are very, very few. Truffled popcorn?...give me a break.

As a way to pad the book they came up with the lame idea to have "tips" for making things easy. I call them lame because they are nothing special that would warrant to be considered a "tip." Endorsement is more like it, as they tend to push products (Williams Sonoma olive oil, AllClad and Le Creuset pans, her Barefoot Contessa baking mixes, PepperMate peppermill, Gel Mats, etc.) and are often insulting given that most people are financially strapped in these times. Two highend dishwashers are suggested for all those dishes after this lavish (oh, I mean easy) entertaining.

Obviously, I cannot recommend this book unless you are such a Ina fan that you must have everything that she produces regardless of content and quality.

I always smile when I see the Barefoot Contessa, it's lovely to perceive the passion she has for her work; I just wish the passion would extend to presenting more new recipes in new cookbooks like this that are published.
There are lots of pictures of her and her recipes. Her philosophy of easy is perhaps easier for her, than some; but it does put some elegant recipes at hand for less experienced cooks or those of us that just want it simple. The recipes' print is large, usually one to a page and one page pictures for most. Her truffled popcorn and smoked salmon deviled eggs are hits with friends that want their comfort foods a bit more sophisticated. Even the basic palates around my house like the bangers and mustard mash, with a bit less mustard than she advises.
She gives some of her cookery and serving hints, many of which are obvious to an experienced cook, but we have entertained many times and the light went on in my head when I saw, `put post it notes on the serving dishes' to reserve which one has what food and then also we figured out to label where we wanted it. It is especially helpful when the kitchen and dining area fill up with `helpful' hands.

Two recipes also not to miss are Eton Mess, and Fleur de Sel Caramels. Recipes include: cocktails, starters, lunch, dinner, vegetables and desserts. Many of these recipes have been published before, so this is probably not a book for those who have everyone of the Barefoot Contessa's volumes. Others who do not have her books in their collection would enjoy this, as would beginning, adventurous cooks who wish to move up to more elegant recipes that are not all that difficult to make.

I love love love Ina and her books. I have never been disappointed in anything I have ever cooked from her previous books. This book was an absolute disappointment, the recipies were repeats from prior books, or completely basic and unimaginitive. It seems she got very lazy and did not put much effort in creating this book. Not what I would have expected from her...the book is being returned.

As the owner of all of Ina's previous books I had to pre-order this latest title! I anxiously awaited it's arrival and was not dissapointed. I spent my entire Sunday cooking recipes from this new book I was so excited. I made the Chicken with Shallots (delicious) The garlic roasted cauliflower, the pear apple sauce, and the creamy parmesan polenta. All the recipes were easy and tasted amazing, and were hits with my family. I have cooked from all of Ina's books and this one is great like the rest. For all of you saying the recipes are repeats you obvioulsly didnt look close enough. There are some that are new variations of old favorites but for every one of those there are 10 new exciting ones!! Today I made the fresh peach cake and it was a delicious coffee type cake. I loved the book so much i purchased an extra copy for my mom. Dont listen to all the haters, If you want an easy to follow cookbook that produces tasty and elegant food, buy this book!

Overall, this cookbook just feels off. I quickly ordered it with great excitment as I own all of Ina's other books. But once I received it and flipped through it I was immediately disappointed.

Some of the recipes we have seen before and there is nothing particulary easy about them anyway. I didn't see one that screamed to me "make this now!" In all of her other books, there were about 20 recipes that I wanted to make immediately. I am afraid this going back.

I will not complain like other reviewers about Ina's taste for expensive ingredients. She is a multi-millionare who lives in the Hamptons! So I am not shocked that she is putting out recipes that include foie gras. I just ignore those recipes.