Customer Reviews

The Bride and Groom's First Cookbook

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the best cookbooks we received when we got married. The recipies are grouped together in menus that work for different occasions. The brownie recipe makes the most decadent brownies we have ever tasted. Would recommend this to anyone who needs a starter cookbook with more original dishes than a basic cookbook!

If you're a true beginning cook like me, this book will overwhelm you. I'm a working newlywed and eating three hours after I get home at 7pm just isn't going to work.

Some of the recipes are tempting, but overall they have lots of ingredients (some that i've never heard of or that are expensive to buy and then sit on the shelf) and take a long time to prepare/cook.

If I were having the parents over for brunch one Sunday, I may get up super early to surprise them with a meal from this book, but for everyday cooking, this cookbook is a disappointment. The "First" part of the title is misleading.

I'm looking for a BH&G type book but with modern recipes... hopefully I'll find what I'm looking for soon!

Having been a newlywed at one time, and having experienced many a bad meal, my wife and I have purchased more than enough cookbooks to fill a small library in an effort to improve our skills. We have made significant progress in the last seven years, unfortunately not to the credit of this book. The recipes are really not geared to an everyday lifestyle, nor are they very appetizing.

Pretty good recipes, but they use many ingredients, some unusual, and frankly neither my husband or I thought the results were worth the time and effort. For any couple new to cooking, buy a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook instead. We've tried a number of cookbooks, and BH&G has the most consistently easy and tasty recipes.

Everything I make out of this cookbook is great! I received it a couple years ago when I got married & not only are the recipes laid out clearly & concisely but the dishes are consistently delicious.

I purchased this book for myself--I love to cook and try different things and this book is fabulous! I love how it tells you everything you need-including utensils and wines. And the prep times are fairly accurate. The recipies are easy to prepare and are delicious without being too 'out there'. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cooking or entertaining.

I am not an experienced cook, but have resolved this summer to improve my skills. We got this as a wedding gift last year, and I finally cracked it open. Some of the recipes do call for multiple ingredients, but they haven't been that hard to find, and what I've made (3 or 4 different dishes) have been uniformly delicious. The book is very easy to follow and includes lots of practical hints for novices. It also includes various alternatives (replacement ingredients or kitchen equipment if what's called for isn't in your kitchen) that make the recipes flexible. The results have been tasty meals with a gourmet flair achieved by a kitchen klutz.

What to get the bride and groom if you cant afford those sterling candlesticks, or even a single place setting of the china theyre registered for? If they like to cook but dont necessarily have a huge culinary library, Abigail Kirschs "The Bride and Grooms First Cookbook" might be the gift you want to give.

Abigail Kirsch wants you to know that she knows her stuff. The inside back cover text tells us that she has trained at The Culinary Institute of America and Pariss Le Cordon Bleu, and that she is proprietor and chef of her own catering establishment. Her catering experience includes having prepared meals for the Prince of Wales and literally thousands of parties and charity events. The book is co-authored by Susan M. Greenberg, Kirschs sister-in-law and a professional freelance writer.

This is not the cookbook bridal couples (or, lets face it, just the brides) of a generation or two ago used. It features dozens of recipes that are mostly simple, but elegantly named (sometimes to the point of ridiculous excess--the temptation to go through the book and cross out Double-Dipped Challah French Toast with Warm Poached Orange Syrup and write in Breakfast, Dummy is strong). Still, this is evidence of Kirschs savvy in knowing her audience. Many brides and grooms, especially young, naïve ones, want to make an impression when they cook, especially when they are entertaining guests. These recipes allow them to do so, without being unduly difficult.

The book is laid out in sensible style, each chapter focusing on a different type of food (Soups and Salads, Fish and Shellfish, and so on). While this puts something of a crimp in trying to cook seasonally, it is useful for planning the particular type of meal you want. The menus section is a little too cutesy, with such frighteningly energetic-sounding titles as Tailgate Antics and A Howling Halloween, but again, this addresses many newlyweds idea of fun: theme entertaining, or How Best to Elicit the Most Compliments Possible with the Least Amount of Work Possible. Kirsch provides a dollar-sign guide in this section to allow the beaming couple to entertain within their means, be they meager or grand.

Nothing is left to chance. Each recipe is prefaced with the kitchenware necessary to prepare the dish, the amount of time the dish requires (both preparation and cooking), and how much of the recipe can be made in advance. The instructions are followed with suggestions for serving, and tips on using the leftovers, or using the dish in a manner different from the original intentions.

In addition to a checklist for a bridal registry, Kirsch includes a pantry wish list and a glossary of cooking terms used throughout the book. The glossary is the least satisfactory portion of the book; several of the definitions are vague (she describes dice as to cut food into pieces smaller than a cube, as though cubes come in only one

size--whereas in reality, "to dice" comes from the idea of cutting food into cubes about the size of a gaming die). A few of the terms are out-and-out incorrectly defined, a distressing feature in a book purporting to teach newlyweds how to cook.

The book is handsomely designed, with periwinkle blue text, whimsical line drawings, and a butter-yellow striped cover featuring--of course--a photograph of a radiant, giggling bridal couple confidently preparing something with blueberries, eggs, and a muffin tin, though I could find no listing for blueberry muffins in the book. Im being too picky, I guess, but theyre not wearing wedding bands (are these folks really married, or what?), nor have they donned aprons, despite Kirschs warning on page 5 to always wear an apron.

No matter. "The Bride and Grooms First Cookbook" would make a thoughtful wedding or bridal shower gift, and might even provide some future favorite recipes for the blushing couple you have in mind. Its very title--that first--suggests an expectation of many other volumes keeping it company on the kitchen bookshelf. That, and the well-chosen recipes within, gives you the best sense of Ms. Kirschs sense of generosity and inclusiveness.

Great cookbook for a dual chef kitchen.....fun for a married couple who like to cook and entertain together. I find the recipes to be very tasty and relatively easy to prepare on the whole. Great cookbook...great gift idea.

I haven't made every recipe in this book, or even close to half of them, but I am certainly looking forward to doing so! I tend to use cookbooks as a general guide for a recipe, expanding on it and changing it as I cook, and taking notes on my changes as I go along. This book is a great guide for base recipes, and I have enjoyed using it as such. One recipe that required very little changing is the meatloaf - I think I left out some of the onions and added some extra salt, but this is hands down THE BEST meatloaf recipe I have ever had! I will never use another meatloaf recipe again, because this one is perfect. Love this book.