Customer Reviews

Best of the Best from Bell's Best Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes from the Four Classic Bell's Best Cookbooks (Best of the Best Cookbook) (Best of the Best Cookbook)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, when I saw this Cookbook, I just had to have it. I have the Original Bell's Best cookbook. I was thrilled to see a compilation of all 4 cookbooks combined. I bought copies for some relatives of mine as well. The Bell's Best are well known here in the south (at least I think they are). I only wish there were more recipes added. It could easily been made a much bigger cookbook, esp. since the other Bell's Best cookbooks are hundreds of pages in length. I guess this will leave room for sequels so others can enjoy these recipes as much as I have!

I'm ordering this now -- I can't wait! The original Bell's Best cookbook from Jackson, MS that my mom still uses lies in loose pages in a kitchen drawer. Some of its food-spattered pages are still held together with a ragged duct-tape binding; others are tucked into plastic bags or wrapped with a rubber band. We don't care. We still keep going back to it, more than any other cookbook. Ever.

I'm so excited to see what this version contains. The recipes in the original Bell's Best, published in the early '80s, I think, were easy to prepare with ingredients found in any grocery store. The results were always fantastic. God bless the BellSouth Telephone Pioneers for their wonderful donations of recipes and memories.

The TelecomPioneers of Mississippi have published a series of four volumes of cookbook recipes, beginning with "Bell's Best" in 1981, followed by "Bell's Best 2"; "Savory Classics"; and "Bell's Best IV". The accumulative total of these four previously published cookbooks adds up to more than six thousand recipes! Now available from Quail Ridge Press is their fifth cookbook volume, "Best Of The Best From Bell's Best Cookbook" which is a distillation and compilation of 429 recipes taken from the previous four volumes of the 'Bell's Best Cookbook' series and presented along with informative and fascinating historical facts and illustrations showing the development of the telephone over the years from its inception with Alexander Graham Bell's initial transmission over a telephone line to his assistant Thomas Watson, down to the touch tone and cell phones present day. This outstanding compendium include recipes for beverages and appetizers; breads and breakfasts; soups, stews and chilies; salads; pastas and rice dishes; meats; poultry; seafood; cakes; cookies and candies; as well as pies and other desserts. Of special note is the chapter devoted to equivalents and substitutions. From an Almond-Bacon Cheese Dip; to Chicken Tortilla Soup; to Fruit Salad with Apricot Dressing; to a Sausage Rice Casserole; to Barbequed Shrimp; to Crushed Pineapple Cream Cake; to Old-Fashioned Chocolate Fudge, these are dishes that would grace any dining occasion, please any palate, and satisfy any appetite. "Best Of The Best From Bell's Best Cookbook" is a welcome and recommended addition to both personal and community library cookbook collections!

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Since I have most of the original 'Bell's Best' cookbooks, I wondered if I needed this 'Best of the Best'. I do need this cookbook. It's so easy to find the recipes and so much easier to handle. Really am glad I got this one.

I grew up in Mississippi and have since traveled and lived all over the world. Trust me, unless you are a total foodie (heck, even if you are- I am and I STILL like these recipes) you will adore this cookbook. If you are trying to master regional southern cookery this is a WONDERFUL place to start. Real recipes from real people- this is the everyday food of Mississippi. If you want some of the more refined food order this (because it's great) but also order Southern Sideboards from the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi. Together they make a wonderful set as a gift!

Especially 1 & 2. You can't go wrong with this cookbook. It has everything but the kitchen sink in it!!! I have never made a bad recipe from these books!

I purchased this cookbook based solely on two factors, it's being a Southern recipe book ( particularly Mississippi ) and the across the board positive reviews shown here. At the time of my purchase, out of 7 reviews, it was given 5 stars by six people and 4 stars by one. That does indeed sound like a "Best of The Best" recipe collection.

However, as in all things, I suppose this is subjective. In my own opinion the book is simply "okay" or "pretty good", the recipes middle of the road. Not much unique here or even a real traditional "keeper" in a recipe in the whole lot. They aren't really bad, just not great, most falling in the area of recipes that would usually be included in church fund raising cookbooks, or regional ladies auxiliary yearly recipe contributions. If I wanted that, I would just buy a local one. There seems to be a heavy reliance on powdered sugar and boxed cake mixes in most of the desserts, which always seemed to me to remind one of the taste of latter day store bought sweets or of someone too lazy to actually take the time to bake a real "home made" cake or pie. If things taste like plain grocery store bought desserts, then why bother to bake it yourself? As for main dishes, too many recipes relied on canned condensed soups and casserole type meals.

I can always judge the value to me of a cookbook and it's recipes by whether or not I would mind loaning it out, and this one I wouldn't mind at all loaning it to almost any of my friends, even those who don't really set great store on books in general or don't have much concern about losing books loaned to them or even passing them on to a third party without asking the owner first and then just laughing or shrugging when asked where the book might be. All my best recipe books are ones I panic at the thought of them not being returned to me, and I hide them from untrustworthy borrowers to keep them from even asking, but this one, I would mind, of course, if it wasn't returned to me, as it wasn't cheap and does contain a few good recipes, but I wouldn't get angry at the borrower or even bother to replace the book. To sum up, if told I could only keep half dozen of my cookbooks, for whatever reason, this would not be one of my choices, therefore I can only give it a three star rating. Perhaps the first and original cookbook in the series was much better since most reviewers mentioned it fondly, but I would not be willing to buy more of these in the series, based on the quality of this one's recipes.

This cookbook is everything that I wanted and more...I like the fact that the recipes are easy to follow and most of the ingredients are either already in your pantry or not hard to find at your local grocery stores...Good old fashion recipes for those who like down home good cooking...