Customer Reviews

The Bean Book

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I have the original UK book from the '70's and have used it so much it's falling apart. It has some wonderful recipes that have become family favorites. I was prepared to throw it away for the newer version. But when I got it and started looking through it, I was disappointed. It's got nicer font than the old one but I thought in a newer version there would be color photos. Nope. And they have trimmed some of the content! I was kind of upset! So it really isn't the same book I thought I was getting. So for now I keep using the old book in the boring font with no photos but with the 20 or so pages included that they didn't see fit to print in the new version. And I'll just keep taping in those pesky pages that keep falling out...

Since beans pop up so much in vegetarian cuisine, it's nice to have a resource handy for fancy things to do with them when company comes over. I've fed the toad-in-the-hole and the lentils over fennel to guests of all dietary stripes and never once had someone complain they missed meat at the meal. The informational section at the front is a must-read: Rose Elliot's bean-by-bean description of all the legumes out there, how to use them, how to cook them, and how to find them if they're hard to come by, will inspire many recipes beyond those contained between these pages. I haven't really tried the salads (I'm not a big fan of salad), but they do look like tasty good things to bring to potlucks if the mood ever strikes me. I first read about this book in "Voyaging on a Small Income" by Annie Hill--a low-cost sailing cruiser's must-read as well--and Annie Hill was right on the money for the usefulness of the recipes in this book. However, I've found that some (like the aforementioned toad-in-the-hole) have been difficult to adapt to pressure cooking, and many of these recipes do require time in a conventional oven or with access to AC power for a food processor, so if you're planning on using this cookbook for your cruising menus, keep that in mind. Otherwise enjoy! Go green--eat a bean!

This lady is a wonderful addition your your cook books if you have any allergies or like me - gluten free. Very nice recipes and interesting combinations of foods. Love it!!!!