Customer Reviews

Favorite Comfort Food: Classic Favorites and Great New Recipes

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Wow, what a great book! *Most recipe books give lots of "fluff" but no really basic info on "how to" for beginners or for experienced cooks who have just never tried recipes for certain foods. *This book is a very good basic recipe book that has many down to earth, old fashioned, basic recipes that new cooks need, as well as recipes for us older experienced cooks who never tried certain recipes that appeared too complicated before. *Each recipe has basic ingredient lists and explicit instructions. *The best part is that if the recipe calls for an ingredient, such as chicken stock, or focacia bread for a sandwich recipe, right there under the basic recipe is another recipe for that ingredient from scratch if you choose to do that from scratch too. I've never found another cookbook that does this so well. *Also, there are lots of great photos that show each step in the recipe for those procedures that are alien to some of us. *I can't wait to try some of the recipes for items I normally only order at a restaurant, such as French Onion Soup and New England Clam Chowder. *I'm also ordering another copy for my 20 year old son who just moved into his own apartment this summer, as I know he hasn't got a clue how to make Macaroni and Cheese, Waffles, and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches yet - and they're all in this book. *Happy cooking!

I am a Martha Stewart zealot. That's why it pains me to give this a less-than-stellar "3" rating.

Here are a few notes:

- The recipes, while yummy favorites (e.g. macaroni and cheese, egg salad) are quite complicated. (By this I mean that many of the recipies require ingredients you wouldn't readily find in your pantry or take quite long to prepare/bake/cook.) I would suggest buying this book if you have a few extra lbs. of Brie and in your refrigerator and a Sunday afternoon to kill.

- The artwork, as always, is stunning. (For those of you who read "Martha Stewart Living" magazines, the look/feel is very similar.)

- There are fewer recipies than one might expect. This is a very thin volume. If you want more bang for your Martha buck, I might suggest buying one of her compilation cookbooks.

In my mind, anything by Martha is high quality. In the end, though, I wish I spent my pennies on another one of her products.

I was really disappointed. I love watching Martha Stewart weekdays, but she rarely cooks anything I would fix at home. However, from the title of this cookbook, the description and the reviews I decided to take a chance. This is a beautiful book with lovely pictures, but there are very few recipes I would actually fix in my little kitchen. If you are more into onions and potatoes than leeks and parsnips save your money.

Although there were some interesting recipes, I was extremelydisapointed when I opened the box to find a magazine. It is describedas a paperback, but it is printed on magazine-quality paper. Additionally, most of the recipes have appeared in MSL over the past two years. END

The first recipe I made from this book was the fudge brownies. They were scrumptious! Soft, moist and sooo chocolaty! Most of the recipes here are pretty easy to make without alot of "odd" or hard to find ingredients. I must admit though, watching her (T.V.) show somewhat regularly has helped in decyphering a few of Martha's "upper-crust" cooking terms and names for more common items. This book is great for quick and easy meals and snacks for that rainy or snowbound afternoon. The photos of the finished dishes are both helpful and mouthwatering.

This was the first cookbook I ever purchased and it is still the one I use more often than any in my growing cookbook library. So much so that the pages are falling out and I may have to get a new copy.
I purchased "Comfort Foods" because the photographs of the food looked so good they made me groan like Homer Simpson.
Recipes listed included new twists on the classics I loved as a kid: Roasted chicken, meatloaf and mashed potatoes and the best from-scratch brownie recipe I have ever encountered in my life. One bite of these brownies and you will NEVER go back to brownie mixes
For the more daring, also included are some Indian, French and Italian dishes I never knew I loved until I tasted.
Be forewarned: the recipes are specific! Some dishes (like meatloaf) require a ruler. This may turn some people off but for a beginning cook like me, I prefer having detailed instructions because they cut down on the chances of me making a mistake.
Every time I pull a beautiful, perfectly golden roast chicken out of the oven, my twenty-something friends look at me like I'm a wizard. I now have people over for homemade meals and frantically trade recipes with my Grandmother.
It is honestly due in large part to my purchasing this book. Everyone learning to cook starts somewhere. For me personally, this was a great introduction and money VERY well spent.

The photos alone are worth the cost of the book! So far I've made the macaroni & cheese, and the blueberry pancakes. OH MY GOD! Deeelish. Great collection of recipes.

This book is not only about comfort food, but it made me a little cozy while I was reading it too! The recipes are not too complicated and the pictures are a delight to behold. Definitely a book worth buying.

i just received this book and love the format. i don't feel that the presentation is magazine quality and certainly love that some of the recipes i use are finally in one place! i've tried some of martha's other sandwich recipes and loved those, so i can't wait to try the new ones listed in this book. this book would make a great gift for a new cook or a very busy one!

My mother bought this book and I ended up receiving it due to my not-so-surreptitious glances and its frequent disappearances from the shelf.

This book is a repository of the most classic and tempting foods I can imagine. They are presented with the Martha Stewart Living twist. For example, although I was curious to try the macaroni and cheese (Sharp white cheddar plus Gruyere? Hmmm...) this dish has become frequently requested and often talked about. Now onto the potato dishes and beyond!

I phrase my only complaint as a warning: if a reader attempts to make certain recipes from scratch beginning to end, be prepared to spend some time :)!

Thanks for reading.