Customer Reviews

Best American Side Dishes: A Best Recipe Classic

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. If you do not own "The New Best Recipes" by the same editor you will like this book, if you do, read on.

The book is outlined as follows:
1. Appetizers
2. Salads
3. Vegetables Sides and Casseroles
4. Potato Sides and Casseroles
5. Rice, Grain and Bean Sides and Casseroles

The "Side Dishes" by the editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine is a nice book provided that you do not own either "Italian Classics" or "Best Recipes" by the same editors. If you own either of these two books (as I do) you will find that this book contains many of the same recipes. The books are not entirely duplicative, but at least 50% of all the recipes are in either and sometimes both of the other two books.

In the first chapter on Appetizers even the order of the recipes is the same as "The New Best Recipe" book. I stopped looking after the first five recipes were the same, and in the same order.

Many of the recipes in this book have a strong Italian influence. Most of these recipes are Italian classics. The recipes themselves are very good, and authentically Italian when appropriate. There are also some Mexican and French recipes included as well.

If you don't own either "Italian Classics" or "Best Recipes" this is a nice book. The recipes are strong and the dishes routinely turn out well. This book is written in the usual Cooks Illustrated Style. The writers tell you what they tried that did and did not work followed by the recipe. If you don't plan to purchase "The New Best Recipe" by the editors of Cooks Illustrated I recommend this book. However, I would suggest that you purchase "Best Recipe" instead since it covers many more recipes including most if not all of these.

I have used this cookbook over and over again, it's an excellent adjunct to my cookbook library. In fact, I've enjoyed it (and it's recipes) so much I purchased two copies as gifts for two "foodie" friends. They each had complimented a dish I prepared from the cookbook--I know they will like the gift! The recipes are sophisticated enough to satisfy their "foodiness" yet simple enough to accomplish fairly quickly.

This was my second purchase of this cookbook - the first was for me and this was a gift, so I obviously like it. I mostly stick to the vegetable sides and they are very good, although a little oily at times. I love how they explain and illustrate all the different cooking terms that I didn't really know. Also the articles on WHY to prepare a vegetable a certain way are very helpful. My only desire to "improve" this would be to star the ones that are small prep time. It is difficult for a cook like me to be doing the excellent green beans (with maple pecans) that require standing and stirring while I am getting the rest of the meal ready.

When first I thumbed through this book it looked like familiar terraine. However, even though the recipes were like ones I had they were also different. Careful thought has gone into the selection of ingredients that lead to a better product. Recipes for German potato salad in many books call for the use of vinegar and mustard; this book explains that white distilled vinegar and german mustard are the perfect choice in terms of flavor.

The how-to explanations and illustrations are very good. I tried the pizza crust and for the first time in my pizza-making career got a crust that was crisp on the bottom and chewy (but not gooey) for the inside.

An isssue I have had with recipes from America's Test Kitchen is the amount of fat and saturated fat in recipes. The German potato salad recipe uses 1/4 cup of bacon fat - Yikes! It certainly makes the salad taste delicious but one cannot have a diet of saturated-fat-filled recipes and expect to not get coronary artery disease.

My pet peeve aside, this is a good book of yummy recipes. As another reviewer has said, an estimate of the time it takes to prepare each recipe would be helpful. I gave it less than 5 stars because of the amount and choice of fats in recipes. But, for those who eat in moderation and balance their diet with lots of fresh greens, vegetables, fruit, and excercise, this may not be a concern.

This book would be a good choice as a gift for newly-weds who are inexperienced cooks.

This is by far my favorite cookbook. It has a little of everything, and each recipe is a jewel in itself. This is to enjoy yourself using and recommend to your friends. D. Smith

Es un excelente libro de recetas para guarniciones, caseras, imágenes, instrucciones paso a paso y salen todas las recetas que he hecho... MUY recomendable¡¡