Can I Freeze It?: How to Use the Most Versatile Appliance in Your Kitchen [Hardcover]

Susie Theodorou (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2007

Freezers are one of the most useful––and most neglected––tools in the kitchen. Particularly great for those dark winter months when you want to get dinner on the table 15 minutes after you get home from work––think lasagna, stews, curries, and soups––freezers are also useful for entertaining friends when time is short. In Can I Freeze It? Susie Theodorou explains the tips, tricks, and rules of freezing food, from containers and wrappers (foil or Tupperware?), to the best methods for retaining moisture and flavor, to what ingredients and dishes can and can't be frozen. She provides a wealth of recipes, along with color photographs, for whole and part dishes. Some are completely pre–assembled (think chicken in a marinade) and then frozen and cooked later. Still others combine frozen ingredients with fresh ones–pair a pastry from the freezer with berries from the farm stand, or defrost a sauce and use it to top fish straight from the market. Can I Freeze It? is the ultimate guide to saving time and money in the kitchen.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of enticing, if not particularly ground-breaking recipes is notable in that almost every dish can be made ahead of time and then frozen. What could be better on a busy weeknight than to open up the freezer and find a few bags full of Lamb Shanks and Preserved Lemon Tagine ready to pour over a bowl of couscous or serve alongside crusty bread? Other tasty main courses include Marsala Beef Stew, a winy, hearty one-dish supper, and a Seafood Pie thick with scallops and shrimp. Some dishes aren't necessarily freezer-ready, but are still time-savers; the author recommends throwing two Lemon Roasted Chickens into the pan, since "it takes no more effort to cook two chickens than to cook one," and urges readers to make extra Roasted Pumpkin Soup to turn into Thai Pumpkin and Coconut Soup later in the week. Several desserts are standouts, including Ice Cream and Mixed Berry Phyllo Packages that go from freezer to skillet to table for a Baked-Alaska like showstopper. Just as good, although much simpler, is a Blueberry and Pear Pie constructed from pre-made frozen pastry dough. But best of all are Theodorou's six variations on traditional Icebox Cookies, tubes of frozen batter which couldn't be easier to slice, bake, and eat way too many of.
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Review

“Shows you how to make the most out of your freezer.” (The State (Columbia, SC) )

“This guide is stocked with every piece of below-zero info you’ve ever wondered about: what foods you should never freeze, thawing times and delicious make-ahead recipes.” (Newsweek )

“Beginning cooks, as well as those who have racked up multiple freezer-burn casualties, will appreciate the food writer and stylist’s practical knowledge, which comes with gentle do’s, don’ts, how-tos and how-longs.” (Washington Post )

“This unusual cookbook offers both practical information on freezing food and a selection of appealing recipes.” (Library Journal )

“Susie’s recipes are both practical and inspired.” (Frances Boswell - Food Director of Real SimpleFrances Boswell, Food Director of Real Simple )

“Susie Theodorou walks you through every step of the way to making delicious, satisfying food that you can enjoy on the spot or freeze for later with crowd-pleasing results.” (Lygeia Grace, senior food editor, Real Simple )

“A good resource for cooks. . . . A lot of very practical information. . . . Sections on how to choose which foods to freeze, techniques for freezing and thawing, and hints for maintaining and organizing a freezer are extremely useful and logically presented.” (Miami Herald )

“[A] clever field guide to freezing that will keep you eating well without breaking the budget.” (Florida Times Union )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060797029
• ISBN-13: 978-0060797027
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, December 17, 2007

By 

M. Singletary "Animal advocate" (Houston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Can I Freeze It?: How to Use the Most Versatile Appliance in Your Kitchen (Hardcover)

A disappointment. From the description, I was expecting advice on how to freeze everything from raw produce to prepared casseroles containing various ingredients. This is primarily a standard cookbook, and an outmolded one, at that. Overall, the author's emphasis is on "rich" (perhaps the most frequently-used adjective in the text), high-calorie items that are almost entirely useful only for entertaining, not for everyday, family meals. Beautiful color pictures of these meal items take up much of the space. The bit of advice on freezing could have been found on the web, without the expense of buying the book.

Cookbooks in my collection from the 50's and 60's occasionally described how one might roast one cut of meat at the beginning of the week, then make several different meals using it as a base. Possibly useful to some readers, this book has a section with the same sort of progression.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your most useful special purpose cookbook., May 4, 2007

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Can I Freeze It?: How to Use the Most Versatile Appliance in Your Kitchen (Hardcover)

'can i freeze it' by Suzie Theodoru has one of the most accurate, informative, and catchy subtitles I've seen on a cookbook, which more than makes up for the catchy but less than accurate main title. The subtitle points out that while there are stacks of books on how to cook with blenders, food processors, slow cookers, pressure cookers, rice cookers, and sloppy cookers (See Martha Stewart's Housekeeping Manual), not everyone has a food processor, slow cooker, pressure cooker, or rice cooker. But, virtually EVERYONE has a freezer. And, I'll guess that only a minority really know all the tips and pitfalls of freezing.

My issue with the title is that a scant 10 percent of the book (the first 22 pages, in chapter entitled `Perfect Freezing Every Time') actually deals with the techniques of freezing. The remainder of the book realizes the subtitle to a tee, in giving one both common and relatively uncommon techniques with which to use the freezer (or freezing compartment of a dual refrigerator - freezer).

`Perfect Freezing Every Time' begins with a section on how freezing works, in order to explain why certain techniques work and why certain practices cause frozen food to go bad. Next is `freezing tips and techniques, which may be just a bit thin for the novice. I think a few good picture series demonstrating some basic techniques would have done well here. Next is `containers', which may offer information which is foreign to most people. I'm just a bit surprised that the author doesn't give a stronger warning against using water in glass in the freezer. In spite of the fact that I, Mr. Smarty Pants chemist for 10 years, have used due care in putting water in glass in the freezer, the glass busts virtually every time! Ms. Theodoru's advice is sound, but there should be a black border around being careful with glass and freezing. (Oils in glass, such as bacon fat, do not have the same problems, as fats do not, like water, expand on solidifying). In `organizing the freezer', Ms. Theodoru gives us possibly the two very best pieces of advice. One is that it is a `good thing' to keep the freezer almost full (75 percent). And, be careful about real freezer temperature (especially if your freezer is an automatically defrosting model). `maintaining the freezer' addresses manual defrosting and maintaining frost-free freezer units. `thawing' is a very nice reference on this procedure which may be hazardous to your health if done incorrectly. `how to choose the right freezer' is very nice, especially in its discussion of `integrated freezers', which can be built into a line of cabinets and opened like a drawer. I would have liked to see a picture of such a model, and know who manufactures them. The five pages from 17 to 22 give material which reflect the title of the book, and may be the most disappointing section. It deals only with a few very general categories of foods. A major improvement would have been a glossary covering freezing dos and don'ts for a large number of specific foods. Ironically, there is a glossary at the end of the book, and entries say little or nothing about the freezability of foods cited there, such as cracked olives, miso, and preserved lemons.

When I got to this point in the book, I was enlightened, but not impressed. Then, I turned the page to the first chapter on cooking techniques using the freezer to assist in prep work. Here begins what may be the real value of the book to people who know their way around the kitchen. The first major suggestion was the technique for combining the marinading and freezing for future use steps in preparing meats for stir-frying. This same theme is carried out for roasting, grilling, and broiling. If I were to suggest one basis on which one may wish to buy this book, it would be the eight meatball recipes, a perfect food preparation mode that has special heath risks the freezer can help to prevent.

The `cook once, eat twice' section is just a bit thin, and is covered in a host of other books, to which this book is a very worthy supplement.

Another very interesting chapter is the one on `Rice', which is notorious for going icky after the initial cooking, followed by refrigeration. Predictably, the first recipe for leftover rice is fried rice, but the introductory method on freezing rice is worth the price of admission.

`Crepes' are almost an expected subject, as freezing crepes is a part of virtually every good recipe, at least since Madame Julia Child's influence made itself felt.

`Cooking for a crowd' is also a natural subject for this book. Many of the recipes, such as Coq au Vin (Chicken braised in a wine sauce) are old war-horses, it's good to have expert freezing tips on these standards.

`Pastry' and desserts in general are also a natural freezer subject, even if you never get to do ice cream. This chapter opens with those two great Swiss Army Knife frozen pastry products, Phyllo dough and Puff Pastry, with far better than average introductory techniques. Choux pastry is another natural, as finished pastries are delicate and do well with freezing.

No surprise that the book ends with true frozen desserts such as sorbets, meringues and icebox cookies. Just a bit surprised that there is no treatment of ice cream makers, but then, that's another book.

The very reasonable price makes this a winner, even if you own lots of other cookbooks. It is especially worthwhile if you own few cookbooks and like to cook ahead.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can cook, but can you thaw?, April 18, 2007

By 

L. Cooke "web obsessed" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Can I Freeze It?: How to Use the Most Versatile Appliance in Your Kitchen (Hardcover)

I probably have more than 100 cookbooks, but this one will be kept in the kitchen. The freezer is the one mystery appliance left in my kitchen and I'd been searching for months for good guides to using the freezer and cooking from the freezer. The Once-A-Month Meals books were helpful with menus but they weren't specific enough about the process of taking food from hot to cold and back to hot. It sounds simple, but I spent plenty of nights delaying dinner by 45 minutes to cook the center of a dish. Thrilled with this book!