David Rosengarten Entertains: Fabulous Parties for Food Lovers [Hardcover]

David Rosengarten (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

As an award-winning Food Network television host, cookbook author, cooking teacher, and food and wine writer, David Rosengarten clearly knows a thing or two about food and drink???not to mention putting on a great show. Now he brings all three together in an imaginative collection of dinner parties that can transform even a casual get-together into a memorable occasion. Each party features a complete menu of delicious-yet-doable recipes that are centered around a specific food or ethnic theme???a Texas BBQ, Cassoulet ("Show up chez-moi for beans and wienies!"), or a Tapas Time night featuring Spanish Ham and Chorizos. Planning and presentation ideas show how to make a gathering truly special, from table-setting tips to music suggestions and more. Top photographer Quentin Bacon captures the food and the celebratory mood with style and dramatic flair. Throughout the book, Rosengarten is the perfect host, with a style that is as bold, lively, and entertaining as the parties themselves.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Rosengarten, creator of the Rosengarten Report, a newsletter reporting on all the latest food goodies to be found online, has combined the need to shop and the need to entertain and called it David Rosengarten Entertains. It's a party cookbook chock-a-block with where to buy it information and how to make it directions for the entertaining with food challenged.

There are 16 theme parties and they encircle the world: Spanish tapas, Italian pizza, Japanese tempura, Tunisian couscous, Texas BBQ, French bouillabaisse, Mexican tacos, American hot dogs, Indian tandoor chicken, Argentinian steak, Italian bollito miisto, Cajun gumbo, French cassoulet, Greek kebabs and lamb, Cuban roast pig, and English cucumber sandwiches. In each and every chapter (they all have clever titles such as "Love Me Tandoor," and "A Totally Frank Party") there's some central must-have item-- whether the Spanish jamon, the Texas barbecued brisket, the fresh Indian spices, the best steak, etc., and Rosengarten tells you where to shop. This section of the chapter is called The Ingredient. It is preceded by an introduction to the chapter concept called The Plan, followed by potables suggestions under the heading Beverage Time, and finally into the nuts and bolts with The Recipes.

Basically, Rosengarten removes any and all strain from entertaining with food (including the strain of reading--the size of the type makes this book readable from across the kitchen). He declares we are in the Third Epoch of entertaining where it's all about What is Good (if in doubt, he'll tell you). In the First Epoch (1950-1975) it was all about What Sounded Good regardless of truth in tasting. In the Second (1975-2000), What Looked Good was based on trendy restaurant presentation. One is left to wonder about a world of food and entertaining prior to 1950. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

As gourmands well know, food and love are inextricably intertwined; and, says Rosengarten, dinner parties enhance that connection. Such events involve a great deal of work for the host, but Rosengarten has gone to great lengths to think of, and address, every detail of 16 themed fêtes representing a variety of cuisines and settings, from "It's Tapas Time" to "Zydeco Thanksgiving." Rosengarten honed his skills during his seven-year stint on Food Network's Taste show, and he has authored several cookbooks, including The Dean and Deluca Cookbook. Here he combines creative yet doable recipes with clever decorating suggestions and tips for entertainment and beverages. For each party, he focuses on "The Ingredient": the one, perfect food that will make the party authentic and, well, fabulous. Rosengarten's knowledge of food esoterica is broad and impressive; a discourse on Spanish ham, for example, is detailed and fascinating. The author's enthusiasm for entertaining is evident in both the specificity and care taken with each party plan, and the exuberant asides that make readers feel like cooking compatriots ("One taste of the old-fashioned antipasto salad... laden with crunchy hearts of iceberg lettuce, and you'll likely say—as I've been known to— 'Exactly what is so great about radicchio?' "). Photos.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471461989
• ISBN-13: 978-0471461982
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's Party!, December 18, 2005

By 

Virginia Allain "(retired librarian)" (Poinciana, FL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: David Rosengarten Entertains: Fabulous Parties for Food Lovers (Hardcover)

Just reading the table of contents got me excited about entertaining. I sometimes feel stymied for great party ideas to keep up with the accomplished hostesses in our neighborhood. Here it is, all laid out for me. Already I can see my friends enjoying Grilled Pizza in the Backyard or a Mexican Street Party. The Devon Cream Tea sounds so special and for really exotic, I must try the Tunisia for Twelve party.
I've not seen the author's TV show on the Food Channel, but apparently he's one of the world's foremost authorities on food, wine and cooking.
The book isn't just recipes, Rosengarten lays out a plan for integrating the food into the party, how to fit the drinks in with the food. Wow, it's a complete package.