Classic American Food Without Fuss:: Over 100 Favorite Recipes Made Easy [Hardcover]

Frances McCullough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1997

With expertise and wit, the authors create a primer for the home cook and host, be they novice or accomplished chef. From the basic All-American Hanburger to Scampi Alla Griglia, McCullough and Witt provide easy-to-follow, lively directions for preparing and serving the ideal "comfort food" easily and with a mimimum of fuss. BOMC Homestyle Club Selection. 272 pp. 25,000 print.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Like Murray Jaffe (The Perfect Recipe Baking Book, LJ 12/96), McCullough and Witt decided what they really wanted was a cookbook with the simplest best recipes for their favorite classic dishes, and here it is. There are easy recipes from Spaghetti with Meatballs to Gingerbread. Most of the recipes are for comfort food, but there are some more elegant dishes, too. The authors (Great Feasts Without Fuss, LJ 11/1/95) have also taken some once-favorite dishes that have been, as they say, "pitifully maltreated"?such as Beef Stroganoff?and revived them. Recommended for most collections. [HomeStyle Bks. main selection.]
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

What is the absolutely best way to mold and cook a hamburger? Name at least two reasons for not adding ice cubes to gazpacho. How do you avoid the southern-named "sad streak" in a pound cake--the runny valley down the middle of this classic dessert? This sequel to Great Feasts without Fuss provides a no-nonsense, 60-minute-or-less alternative approach to home cooking. All of the more than 115 recipes reek of pure tradition, from Caesar salad to strawberry shortcake, and are prepared from recommended brand-name ingredients to shorten time spent in the kitchen. Most valuable, of course, are the author's tips, one example being the directions accompanying the all-American hamburger. Barbara Jacobs

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Villard; 1st edition (January 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679440356
• ISBN-13: 978-0679440352
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #758,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Cookbook For Non-Cooks, May 1, 2002

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classic American Food Without Fuss:: Over 100 Favorite Recipes Made Easy (Hardcover)

Speaking as some one who has very few kitchen skills, I find McCullough and Witt's CLASSIC AMERICAN FOOD WITHOUT FUSS an indispensable work, for it offers more than one hundred receipes of foods I always liked but never actually knew how to make--and it offers them in concise, easy to follow, and surprisingly witty prose.

The sections include starters, soups, salads, main dishes, side dishes, breads, and desserts. In addition to such homey items as deviled eggs, chicken soup, pot roast, and macaroni and cheese, McCullough and Witt also include a surprising number of complex ethnic dishes such as moussaka and duck a l'orange, taking care to reduce their more complicated dishes to an essential level that even non-cooks will find unintimidating. The text is also sprinkled with side-bars on everything from roasting garlic to macaroons, and the various receipes invite experimentation.

Truly advanced cooks will no doubt find this particular cookbook basic, but for some one less interested in spending all day in the kitchen than in simply turning out an enjoyable upper-middle-class dinner for four it is a remarkably useful collection, easy to read and easy to use. It is also quite a bit of fun. Recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No American cook should be without this book, February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Classic American Food Without Fuss:: Over 100 Favorite Recipes Made Easy (Hardcover)

If you're pondering again about what to fix for dinner look no further than this cookbook. It is complete unto itself. You no longer have to sift through the pages of over-built cookbooks that are so heavy one could use them for a doorstop. This is a mere 277 pages but it laden with delicious recipes. From carbonara to rice pudding. Everything I have fixed from this book is both pleasing to the eye as well as to the palate. You can quiet even the most finicky eater with this tome. Nicely laid out and easy to read and understand. The classic, that is to say, original recipe for coq a vin is included. Delicious!!! This book easily lays open on your counter or workspace. Don't be afraid to break the binding. It won't matter becase you will be using this book over and over again anyway. It covers the world. Pasta, fish, lamb, desserts, breads. If it is a comfort food brought over by many of the immigrants, it will most likely be here. Greek; mousaka. Italian; lasagne. French; steak au poivre. Jewish; potato pancakes. English; corn pudding. Too many crowd pleasers to name but absolutely one to have in your home.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delivers on its promise: reliable recipes for the dishes you already know, July 27, 2009

By 

Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classic American Food Without Fuss:: Over 100 Favorite Recipes Made Easy (Hardcover)

I got this cookbook when it came out, more than ten years ago, because I forgot to check the "no book this month" option on the book club postcard. But I liked the book so much that I count that error as one of my better mistakes.

There is little in this collection of 100-or-so recipes that will surprise you. It's all the American home cookin' that you think of fondly -- comfort food not defined by high fat-and-carb content, but comforting in the sense of familiar and a warm, happy belly. There's a wide variation of ethnic influences, from chicken cacciatore to gazpacho to pastitisio, but every recipe I've tried -- and in ten years, that's been a LOT -- has been utterly reliable, easy to follow, and requires no exotic ingredients. It does mean it when it says "without fuss," yet this isn't a cookbook that, in the effort to "save time," cuts so many corners that nothing is left.

This is the cookbook I turn to for Cobb Salad. It's where I learned the trick for making deviled eggs without that weird greenish cast to the yolk. I've used this book's recipe for steak au poivre (with peppercorns, finished with brandy) and have turned often to its cornbread recipe. It's never been the cookbook I use for an impressive dinner; it's what I use for cherished, ordinary family time.

Chicken cacciatore is simmering while I write this, and boy does it smell good. In addition to the standard ingredients (bell pepper, onion, chicken, garlic, a big can of tomatoes) you hit the pan to deglaze with red wine, then add dried herbs and balsamic vinegar. My kitchen smells like an Italian restaurant right now. No... more, it smells like dinner at an Italian friend's house, on a quiet Monday night... yet I have the leisure to wander off and write an Amazon review. That's just what I want. And at the amazingly low price for this book (available used), I expect that's what you want, too.