Customer Reviews

The Comfort of Apples: Modern Recipes for an Old-Fashioned Favorite

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The Complete Comfort of Apples
Modern Recipes for an Old-Fashioned Favorite

By Philip and Lauren Rubin

Although I was skeptical about this cookbook given the similarity in title to Ruth Reichl's "Comfort Me with Apples", I decided to give it a look anyway. Apples are my favorite fruit - my second childhood love (the first being strawberries), and I have always felt that cookbooks simply never do them justice. Lauren and Philip Rubin have done them justice in this superb little cookbook.

In it they bring the apple into realms that I had previously not considered. For instance I would never have thought of Scallops with Green Apple Nage without a nudge from these intrepid cook/writers. I would never have introduced apple-pear puree into Mac'n'Cheese. I would have, and have, used apple cider to cook pork, but found their use of apple cider as a marinade for ribs totally brilliant and the resultant ribs were superb. Their use of apple cider vinegar is also a vindication for me. With all the frou frou vinegars around these days, I like the solid tartness of apple cider vinegar and use it far more than any other.

I have enjoyed the recipes in this cookbook that is not nearly as condescending in tone as many chef-written cookbooks. There are many useful recipes and very charming apple-facts within its covers. If you are a lover of apples, as I am, you should definitely add this cookbook to your shelf and include some of these delightful recipes in your meals this fall!

When I think of recipes for apples, I think of sweet dishes: apple pie, applesauce, apple crisp, and so on. Philip and Lauren Rubin have gone way beyond those dishes in The Comfort of Apples.

Subtitled "Modern Recipes for an Old-Fashioned Favorite," this book contains nearly 100 recipes for snacks, appetizers, meat and poultry dishes, fish, sides, and pasta, as well as breakfast dishes, desserts, condiments, and cocktails. Some of these recipes are twists on traditional dishes--apple risotto, apple bread pudding, apple vinaigrette, BLT with cider aioli, apple ice cream. Some, like a Snapper Napoleon with ginger sauce, were completely new for me.

The Comfort of Apples contains many recipes that I'll probably never try, mostly because they don't fit into my family's taste preferences. But it also includes many that I'm looking forward to trying: German apple pancakes, cider-glazed nuts, baklava, green apple gelato. Eventually I hope to venture beyond the breakfast dishes and desserts!

(I received a review copy of this book, at no cost to me. All opinions in this review are my own.)