Customer Reviews

Cooking in a Small Kitchen

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3 star:		(1)
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I think Arthur Schwartz writes the most thorough cookbooks. I found a copy of this one for my daughter when she was moving into her first apartment with the smallest kitchen I ever saw. The book starts with the very basic things that are needed by a beginning cook, including a checklist. While the recipes are somewhat dated, in that they use a great deal more of the fats than we are used to in today's diet, it is the best book for techniques for the beginning cook. I loved the french toast recipe and have made it several times.

This is the best cookbook I have ever owned - regardless of kitchen size! - and I'd love to find some more of Schwartz's books or recipes. I bought it in a used-book store in Champaign, IL, years ago and have cooked many of the recipes. My favorites are the south african lamb stew, the tuscan bean soup, and the chick-pea and sausage soup.

Arthur Schwartz's Cooking in a Small Kitchen was one of the first cookbooks I ever bought, because it addressed my predicament exactly. We lived in a basement apartment in Elmhurst New York that had a "kitchen" consisting of basic stove, fridge, sink, and about two feet of counter space. I think it had one cupboard. We were just starting out, so we didn't own ANYthing... but we both wanted to cook. This little book helped us do so, both because it provided reliable recipes (many of which I still use today -- the spine of this book broke, years ago, from overuse) and because the instructions assume that you have little space to turn around in.

For instance, a whole chapter is devoted to organizing the tiny kitchen so that you own what you need to, and don't bother with the rest. "Assuming you have little or no counter space," he writes, "the most useful piece of equipment you can probably buy is a board that will hinge over your sink." Everything is meant for multiple use. Granted, the book is dated in some ways; he disdains microwave ovens for the space they consume and -- a mark of its 1979 publish date -- their high price. That doesn't keep me from loving this little cookbook.

Primarily that's because he has so many great recipes that are easy to put together (in any kitchen, large or small). Chapters are devoted to equipment & logistics; soups; pasta; salads & raw foods; one-pot dinners; skillet cooking; broiling & roasting; dinners for two; dinners for four; brunches & breakfasts; feeding a crowd; desserts. The menus were particularly helpful when we were new cooks, and the book easily falls open to the "informal Provencal dinner" which includes chicken with 40 cloves of garlic (STILL the recipe I turn to for this delicious, easy, never-fail dish), ratatouille, green salad, and linzertorte. (Somehow I never made the linzertorte.) I never make his egg noodle salad with tuna and cheese anymore because I absolutely wore out my husband on the dish and he got sick of it; at one point it was a regular "bag lunch" (as it's also really cheap). I remember really loving Schwartz's "explode in the mouth chicken" -- which didn't require a wok. (Looking at the recipe again... hey why has it been so long since I made this?) Aside from the "small kitchen" angle, this is a good selection of recipes for relatively new cooks who are enthusiastic about learning but have few resources. That certainly was true for me.

All instructions are given assuming that you have little elbow room; you won't find any "roll out the dough on a big counter" here.

So many people STILL live in teeny apartments with no room to move. I'm amazed that I've never seen any other book attempt to fill the niche. Maybe it's because it couldn't possibly be done better than Schwartz did so many years ago. In case it isn't obvious: If you can find a used copy of this cookbook, grab it. I have 400+ cookbooks now, but I continue to cherish this one.

The book is in ok condition and the recipes are interesting and fairly easy to do. However, the book itself has a slightly moldy, musty smell to it.

This is an early cookbook from Arthur Schwartz. He had not developed his breezy style fully. However, it is full of his practical and satisfying recipes and common-sense suggestions. The emphasis is on recipes, but therre are plenty of small kitchen tips, especially in the introductory essay. The recipes are mainly geared to entertaining, which of course is the biggest problem if you have a small kitchen. The book also brings back memories of thirty or thirty-five years ago for us boomers.