Customer Reviews

Cooking With Wine

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I highly reccomend this cookbook. We have made 15-20 of the recipes over the years and they are consistently good. This is the first cookbook we go to if we want to make something special.

A lot of the wine pairing books written by American authors have the problem that this one has -- very few different wines are used for pairings, and they mostly focus on American wine. There is a whole world of wine out there -- why limit the choices to just a few? Not only that, but the writers don't make distinctions between the variety of wines that are listed. For example, Californian, German, or Alsacian rieslings are VERY different from one another, but most of these books will just say 'riesling' (if they mention it at all -- most stick to Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon).

To make matters worse for this particular book, the pairings they do give are sometimes bizarre, or outright wrong.

There are some other books that are really good for matching food and wine. My first choice is Joanna Simon's "Wine with Food", and a second choice might be Karen McNeil's "Wine Food and Friends".

Compiled by wine and culinary experts Virginia and Robert Hoffman, Cooking With Wine showcase 172 wine-based recipes drawn from 86 winery chefs. Of special value for kitchen cook connoisseurs is the pairing of various wine with diverse foods. After an informative essay on "Cooking with Wine Can Be Good for Your Health" and an informative introduction to "The Varietal Wines of North America", the recipes are organized into Appetizers & Light Foods; Soups; Pastas & Grains; Meats; Seafood; Poultry; and Desserts. From Vegetable Bean Soup with Pistou (with a Chardonnay); Vin Zin Pasta Sauce with Sausage (with a Zinfandel); and Herbed Lamb (with a Pinot Noir); to Sea Scallop Surprise (with Champagne); Rosemary Roast Chicken (with a Chenin Blanc); and Spiced Brandy Apple Cake (with a Moscato Canelli), Cooking With Wine is informed, informative, and enthusiastically recommended. Another indispensable Virginia and Robert Hoffman companion title is The California Wine Country Herbs & Spices Cookbook (096-2992771, $12.95) with 188 recipes contributed by 72 chefs, winemakers, and wineries.