The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook: Recipes and Reflections for Contemporary Living [Hardcover]

Jeff Smith (Author), Craig Wollam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

Compiles chapters about tempting vegetables for kids, traditional breads, ice cream creations, and food for the elderly, in a volume designed to bring the whole family together around the table. TV tie-in. 400,000 first printing. $300,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 393 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1St Edition edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688069347
• ISBN-13: 978-0688069346
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "THE FRUGS" BRINGS THE FAMILY BACK TO THE TABLE!, June 2, 2008

By 

! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b "DR SHOCK" (TRI STATE AREA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook (Mass Market Paperback)

My title blurb say it all. This book is filled with great recipes, history and family tradition! Jeff Smith spoke about interesting traditions and origins on his entertaining PBS show. Before 'The Food Network' we had the witty and talented 'Frugal Gourmet'. This book deals with some simplistic, yet very good classic family dishes. Nothing fancy, just great traditional family food! Something the world seems to be missing these days is time spent in the kitchen with the family preparing meals for "get togethers". Make time for this book, your family and friends! Even if your not a "religious" person these are words to live by.

This is yet another excellent cook book by Jeff Smith! It's full of great recipes and stories by a very talented cook and writer. This one focuses on family cooking. I have used many of these recipes and found them to be very good. Being a home grown cook myself and having had many of my grandmother's classic recipes handed down to me, I found this book to be very helpful in expanding my culinary taste buds.

Jeff Smith entertained us for years on his PBS program 'The Frugal Gourmet'. Not only did he teach us many savory dishes, he also educated us. Not satisfied with just cooking delicious meals for his viewers, he would give detailed history lessons about the origins of the dish and made it all a lot of fun!

This may be Mr. Smiths best cook book and it is a worthy edition to everyone's cook book library. I own and have read many, if not all of his cook books, not only for the man's knowledge of cooking, but his incredible wit! This guy was funny and I would have loved to have hung out and throw a few beers down with him.

Unfortunately, this man had some very seriously bad press released about his personal life and well..... I am not one to spread rumors.....he seemed like a great guy and sadly he died before he was able to clear his name.

R.I.P. Frugs!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, January 21, 2006

By 

Mimerki "mimerki" (Port Orchard, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook: Recipes and Reflections for Contemporary Living (Hardcover)

I've been cooking from this book for over 10 years now, and I'm still sometimes surprised by the recipes I haven't tried yet. Just today I gave the Potato Gnocchi Liddia recipe to a friend. Not every recipe is a favorite in our household, but the Frug had never led us far astray.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta Love Gus the Dog, He is so Wise, July 16, 2010

By 

Captain Katie (Long Beach, CA and the Sunny Caribbean) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Frugal Gourmet Whole Family Cookbook: Recipes and Reflections for Contemporary Living (Hardcover)

I've had this book for years and I go to it about once a month or so for an idea. I particularly like the comments by Gus the Dog. He is so right when he says that "People become confused when they are all cooking together and having a good time." Gus thinks it's better to stand by the door and watch, because they will feed you sooner or later. That's good advice for all you arm chair chefs.

This book is crammed full of delicious recipes from around the world and down the street. The neighborhood, Europe, Asia and more, all between the pages of one cookbook, can't ask for more than that. But you get more here, because you get Jeff Smiths delicious sense of humor and his doggone good writing. This is so much more than a cookbook, it's good old fashioned entertainment as well. It's a must for any chef.