The Best American Recipes 2003-2004: The Year's Top Picks from Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and the Internet (150 Best Recipes) [Hardcover]

Fran McCullough (Editor), Alan Richman (Foreword), Molly Stevens (Consultant Editor)

Book Description

Series: 150 Best Recipes | Publication Date: October 10, 2003

Where can you turn to find the best recipes of the past year? According to reviewers for the New York Times, People, Food & Wine, House Beautiful, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show,and many others, the answer is The Best American Recipes. Having this volume at your disposal is like subscribing to every food magazine in the country, owning every newly released cookbook, and having a trusted food authority to test every single recipe.
For this year's volume, the most wide-ranging and exciting yet, series editors Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens tested their way through more than a thousand choices, including * magazines (from Gourmet to Real Simple to Newsweek) * cookbooks (from The Sopranos Cookbook to The Convent Cook) * newsletters (from restaurant publications to winery handouts) * Web sites (from About.com to the California Walnut Commission site) * food packages (from the back of a crcme fraîche package to a tag on a lemon squeezer) * and even insider e-mails from one food professional to another.
What's new in this year's edition? In a word, simplicity. The Best American Recipes 2003-2004 gives you 147 fabulously easy recipes. There's a foolproof pasta from the world-famous French chef Alain Ducasse; a first-rate barbecue sauce from Lady Bird Johnson; a terrific breakfast from the cookbook that won this year's top award; bar cookies that caused a sensation at a New York cocktail party (made from Rice Krispies, no less); and the hands-down favorite cheesecake of The West Wing's Martin Sheen. In addition, you'll find all the answers to your holiday needs, from a foolproof juicy turkey that's the specialty of a New York restaurateur to desserts for the festive table.
Also in The Best American Recipes are the top ten food trends of the year and a list of the ten best-of-the-best recipes published this year.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By paging through dozens of cookbooks, magazines, newspapers and newsletters, McCullough and Stevens, food writers and recipe sleuths, have come up with more than 130 of the very "best" of this year's recipes. Several things make the latest edition in this series so much fun. First, there is the witty introduction by restaurant critic Richman, who clearly intends to eat his way right through the book. Then, there is the colorful mix of starters, soups, salads, entrees and desserts. These range from simple (Olive Butter from Saveur) to complex (Rosemary-Scallion Crusted Rack of Lamb from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home; homey (Amazing Overnight Waffles from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe) to fresh (Italian-Style Tuna Salad with Green Beans, Potatoes, and Red Onion from David Pasternack in the New York Times); and from all-American to multi-ethnic (with thanks to Bobby Flay, Madeleine Kamman and Mario Batali, among others). Flavors are bold, and cooking style is "seriously simple." Finally, there are the wonderfully helpful and enthusiastic "cook's notes" and "tips," which accompany nearly every dish, and provide useful information like how to juice a pomegranate or reinvigorate frozen shrimp. McCullough (Great Food Without Fuss) and Stevens (Williams-Sonoma New England) have given readers a nice taste of the year's recipes.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Several things make the latest edition in this series so much fun. First, there's the witty introduction by restaurant critic Richman...then there is the colrful mix of starters, soups, salads, entrees and dessert...the flavors are bold and cooking style is 'seriously simple.' Finally, there are the wonderfully helpful and very enthusiastic 'cook's notes' and 'tips'...McCullough and Stevens have given readers a nice taste of the year's recipes." -Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

"(McCullough and Stevens) have assembled another enticing collection." Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Can the best get better? Yes, indeed! This year's top picks are even more appealing than those that came before. The authors have an uncanny knack for finding doable recipes that really catch your cooking fancy. I'm so glad this annual event has become a perennial." Bookpage

"one of my favorites last year and tops my list again for its excellent selection presented clearly...This book promises to become as dog-eared as the last edition because the recipes are relatively easy but yield such memorable dishes."-USA TODAY USA Today

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618273840
• ISBN-13: 978-0618273843
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Molly Stevens is the author of All About Roasting and All About Braising, the latter of which won both the James Beard and the IACP cookbook awards. A contributing editor at Fine Cooking magazine, she lives near Burlington, Vermont.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series, September 7, 2004

By 

cookbook critic (Foodville, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best American Recipes 2003-2004: The Year's Top Picks from Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and the Internet (150 Best Recipes) (Hardcover)

This review is of "Best American Recipes 2003-2004." I write this because sometimes a review of a different year gets mixed in by Amazon.

Fran McCullough is a longtime cookbook editor with an eye for the tasty recipe and a spot-on reliable palate. How lucky for me to have her reading thousands of recipes a year and testing them so I don't have to.

B. Marold's bizarre review prompted me to write this. First, the boring rebuttal: It is clear Mr/Ms Marold didn't actually cook anything from the book before reviewing it. His/her comments are generally petty and besides the point. No, I don't use Rachel Ray as my ultimate food authority. The American food scene is made up of chefs, cooks, writers, journalists, critics, purveyors and the public. Not just a couple of publications and the Food Network. Actually, some of the better food shows never sold out and stayed on PBS. Yes, it was a bit depressing to see convenience foods listed as a food trend, but I have no basis with which to argue with Fran on that one. No, I don't expect every cookbook writer to work in the style of the Cook's Illustrated staff. (I adore Cook's Illustrated, but it has its limitations. If you're a very experienced cook, you'll see that each author might skip options you could think of in the Cook's Illustrated series). Yes, there is no dust jacket this year, and sodium in solution and used as a preservative always has a partner, like tripolyphosphate. Who cares, as long as you know not to buy the scallops with "sodium something"?

Back to the point:

McCullough has an impeccable palate, and once again this year she scours the country for wonderful recipes and finds them. Printing things that were just re-published from old favorites happens in most editions of this series, and is O.K. with me because Fran does it sparingly, and always for a reason. Besides, sometimes the author is Elizabeth David, or one of the other greats, and it reminds me to re-open the original book.

The recipe descriptions are accurate as always, and the cook's notes are very insightful.

Once again this year, a great book in an outstanding series. These Fran McCullough books are so reliable, she is becoming like an old friend (if only in print). So:

Fran, if you're listening, I vote you keep on doing these! And while you're at it, please bring back the suggested menus with each recipe, and make a multi-year index!! I know you put your whole Thanksgiving dinner in here. Don't leave it to me to figure it out!!! If you need Hamlin to do the menus, then bring her back! The dust jacket and high grade paper was more stylish, so you might push back on your publisher for that, too.

Cheers!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great series - terrific selections!, December 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best American Recipes 2003-2004: The Year's Top Picks from Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and the Internet (150 Best Recipes) (Hardcover)

Fran McCullough is well known in the food bood business and I've come to trust her taste. I'm automatically favorably inclined towards any book she's associated with.

This series started out strong and has only gotten better over the years. I love the editors comments in the headnotes and they are great at discerning trends.

Also there are lots of really simple but very tasty dishes here, along with a few real challenges.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use it all the time, January 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best American Recipes 2003-2004: The Year's Top Picks from Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and the Internet (150 Best Recipes) (Hardcover)

This series is the absolute best. I have them all. Recipes are reasonably easy, creative, and meal menu suggestions are a big help. For those cooks who need pictures to tell them what the heck they are eating, this probably isn't for you. But if you are into any sort of forward meal menu planning, then pick this and the other years' editions up. An experienced palate also helps so that room temperature dishes are not a shock, but a style to which the Italians and French have become accustomed.