Customer Reviews

The Big Book of Backyard Cooking: 250 Favorite Recipes for Enjoying the Great Outdoors

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I have every book written by Betty Rosbottom. Her recipes never fail me. The title of this particular outing might lead you to believe that this is simply a book of bar-b-que recipes, but that is not the case. This book covers everthing you might want to go along with your bar-b-que meal or picnic. The apple pie is outstanding. I serve it at Thanksgiving and am always asked to share the recipe.

These aren't huge, complex dishes; they're meant to be something you can whip up and serve at a picnic or outdoor barbecue, although of course many of them will work fine on your dining room table, too. Even those dishes meant to be done at a grill can be cooked on your stove for the most part.

Ms. Rosbottom set out to create something a little different in this cookbook of backyard cooking, so it wouldn't be just another cookbook. When looking for certain favorites, like potato salad, she looked for the best potato salad recipe she could find. When looking for traditional dishes such as salads, she looked for variations on traditional recipes that present us with something new and interesting. I have to say she succeeded at this---going back to the potato dishes for a moment, there were recipes in here for simple potato dishes that normally make me shrug, but that I went wild over when done her way. She includes simple relish recipes that transform meat into something extraordinary.

Backyard Cooking is a large book with more than 250 recipes in it. It doesn't have any photographs, but I don't think it needs them---these are pretty simple dishes.