Cooking to Beat the Clock : Inspired Meals in 15 Minutes [Paperback]

Sam Gugino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

Busy professionals and harried parents don't have time after a long day to spend an hour preparing dinner, but no one wants to settle for cold pizza or cheese sandwiches everyday either. How does Provencal Mushroom Ragout over Polenta sound? Or Pork Medallions with Cider and Mashed Sweet Potatoes? In 15 minutes? Including the time it takes to chop the vegetables! James Beard Award-winning food journalist Sam Gugino has devised a host of secret strategies for getting organized so cooking dinner is quick and painless. He approaches the overall kitchen scene with four key principles in mind: flavor, organization, focus, and creativity. To this he adds clever time-saving techniques that drastically cut the preparation time for a meal-sized entrZe serving two or four. In all, Cooking to Beat the Clock offers an entirely new way of thinking about any recipe, and just may change the way you cook. It's amazing but truea delicious dinner can be ready in 15 minutes, start to finish!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sure, you can cook up pasta in no time and whip up an omelet in a flash, but Sam Gugino insists you can also make sophisticated dishes, such as Duck Breast on Baby Vegetables, spending only 15 minutes in the kitchen to prepare them. Besides 60 recipes, he offers a strategy to help you quickly produce original, satisfying meals from scratch--and he doesn't mean a quick stir-fry! To prove his point, he offers recipes for a jambalaya studded with shrimp and hot sausage; a chicken curry with coconut milk; and Steak Diane, elegantly sauced with flambéed cognac and melted butter. Flavor, organization, focus, and creativity make this possible. For flavor, you need a pantry and freezer stocked with such staples as aromatic basmati rice and intense, sweet-tasting balsamic vinegar. Organization requires the right equipment, starting with a 12-inch, nonstick skillet. Focus means no radio or TV. Creativity means the ability to make substitutions--to save on a trip to the store.

Frankly, the idea of a 15-minute chili or cassoulet sounds more like a gimmick than good food. Better to use the time to prepare delicious San Diego Fish Tacos and make the cassoulet on a Sunday afternoon, when it can simmer long and slow. But a Tuesday-night dinner of mustard-sparked turkey cutlets served with creamy garlic mashed potatoes, or lamb chops smothered in orzo with olives and rosemary, sounds promising. Chances are high that they'll taste as good as they look in the handsome color photos. --Dana Jacobi

From Publishers Weekly

The title is an attention grabber but unless they have trained as short-order cooks, most readers will have a tough time turning out these recipes in a quarter of an hour. They could do them in under 30 minutes, though, and not collapse into their seats at the dining room table. The few extra minutes are worth it. Gugino, a chef, cooking instructor and food columnist, offers 60 tasty and imaginative dishes that can be put together in about the time it takes to get a pizza delivered. These inspired one-pot or one-platter meals draw on a variety of cuisines including Mediterranean, French, Mexican and Asian. There's Chili with Beans, Smothered Lamb Chops with Orzo, Quick Cassoulet featuring turkey kielbasa, Chicken Fajitas with Mango Salsa, Asian-Spiced Salmon with Braised Bok Choy and a startling 15-Minute Thanksgiving Dinner. There are also soups, such as cumin-scented Moroccan Chicken and?the harried cook's best friend?pasta dishes, including Spaghetti Carbonara. While the focus is on casual family meals, there are dishes fit for company as well (15-Minute Bouillabaisse and Chicken Saltimbocca with Arugula and Tomato Salad, among others). In addition to recipes, the book recommends labor-saving techniques and creative substitutions. Gugino's style is terse and on the bossy side, but cooks in a hurry won't mind.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811818608
• ISBN-13: 978-0811818605
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine cookbook for preparing complete meals quickly., February 26, 1999

By 

David Stokes ([e-mail]) (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooking to Beat the Clock : Inspired Meals in 15 Minutes (Paperback)

This is a cookbook you'll use. I have dozens of cookbooks that I've never made a recipe from. Within a week of buying Cooking to Beat the Clock I had cooked two meals from it.

"Meals" is an important word here. Unlike many "quick" cookbooks, which have recipes for one course, Gugino's recipes provide a full meal: main course, starch, and vegetable.

Can you really prepare a meal in 15 minutes following the recipes? With a little practice I'm sure you can. I prepared the Cassoulet in about 20 minutes without breaking a sweat. I did this despite using a knife to chop the onion instead of a food processor.

Of course, the most important thing is whether the meals you prepare are any good. I've made the Cassoulet twice, so you know I like it. The other meal I cooked, Choucroute Garnie, was also excellent.

Gugino emphasizes four factors to achieve good meals quickly: flavor, organization, focus, and creativity. You can follow his recipes and cook good meals and you can follow his system and create good meals of your own. This is an excellent cookbook for anyone, not just those in a hurry.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick meals, good anyway, February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cooking to Beat the Clock : Inspired Meals in 15 Minutes (Paperback)

Gugino's receipes may take only 15 minutes, more or less, but they are inventive, delicious, with nary a can of Cambell's cream of anything. It pays to read Gugino's introduction carefully - he lays out a well organized larder which is what makes it all possible.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 10 star cookbook, February 19, 1999

By 

C. Parks "mom-n-kid-booksellers" (WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cooking to Beat the Clock : Inspired Meals in 15 Minutes (Paperback)

I love cookbooks, I have a zillion! This is one of the best. The recipes truly are fast and they are excellent. I may take longer than 15 minutes, but I have pulled off every recipe I have tried in under 30 minutes (and I have two kids under age five). Many of these "fast" recipe cookbooks deliver on speed but sacrifice on taste. This cookbook delivers both. I loved the Jambalaya. I made a huge batch and freezed it with excellent results. The tropical curry chicken was great too. Buy this one, you won't be dissapointed!