Gale Gand's Brunch!: 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend's Best Meal [Hardcover]

Gale Gand (Author), Christie Matheson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 7, 2009

Every weekend is worth celebrating when you can relax over a good brunch. Food Network host, cookbook author, celebrated chef, and mother of three, Gale Gand has long made brunch a part of her life because it’s the easiest way to gather around the table with family and friends. Now, in Gale Gand’s Brunch! she shares 100 recipes for scrumptious brunch fare, all destined to become household favorites.

Traditional breakfast treats become inspired dishes when Gale shares how to effortlessly enliven the basics, like Iced Coffee with Cinnamon-Coffee Ice Cubes, Baked Eggs in Ham Cups, and Almond Ciabatta French Toast. In five mini-classes, she teaches how to master easy but impressive classic egg dishes–omelets, quiches, strata, frittata, and crêpes–with numerous variations on each. Finally, no cookbook by Gale would be complete without recipes for the wonderful baked goods she’s famous for, such as Ginger Scones with Peaches and Cream, Moist Orange-Date Muffins, Glazed Crullers, and Quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake.

Special occasion or not, brunch is a cinch with Gale’s irresistible recipes. Start off the day with zesty Breakfast Burritos for the kids, or wow visiting in-laws with Poached Salmon with Cucumber Yogurt. Anyone will find Gale’s salads, soups, and sides delicious and simple, and with 60 color photographs, you’ll be enticed to try a new recipe every weekend. Wake up to a great weekend with Gale Gand’s Brunch!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brunch is one of the weekend's best assets, but people often think they must rely on the same old recipes, or else eat out, to enjoy it. Pastry chef and restaurateur Gand (Short and Sweet Dessert Deck) shows that plenty of brunch dishes, many of them even better than what is served at restaurants, are within reach. Gand, writing with Matheson (coauthor of Wine Mondays) starts with an enticing assortment of drinks (e.g., white hot chocolate and a three-alarm Bloody Mary), then a chapter on brunch's eggy foundations—omelets, stratas, frittatas, quiches and crêpes, each with appetizing variations—that will please any brunch crowd. In subsequent chapters, Gand hits the sweet and savory high points, from pancakes and doughnuts to onion tarts and cheddar grits. She amps up classics like French toast by using sliced almonds and ciabatta bread and transforms others, so that a bacon-scallion scone, for instance, comes out light and flavorful rather than resembling the usual floury hockey puck. She also mixes things up with less common items such as pretzels, pot stickers and a lemony wheat berry salad. Accessible instructions, basic preparation tips and make-ahead hints ensure that both beginners and those who think cooking brunch is too bothersome will find this volume to be inspiring. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

GALE GAND is a James Beard Award—winning pastry chef and executive pastry chef and co-owner of the world-renowned Chicago restaurant Tru. She also is consulting pastry chef and partner of Cenitare Restaurants, LLC, which encompasses Osteria di Tramonto, Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood, and RT Lounge, all in the Chicago area. The host of Sweet Dreams, Food Network’s first daily show devoted to baking, she is the author of six previous cookbooks, including Gale Gand’s Just a Bite and Chocolate and Vanilla.

CHRISTIE MATHESON is a food and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Glamour, Cooking Light, and the Boston Globe Magazine. She is the coauthor of Confetti Cakes and Tea Party.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; First Edition edition (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307406989
• ISBN-13: 978-0307406989
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.8 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars You can entertain first thing in the morning! April 14, 2009

By Carol Peterman

Format:Hardcover

This is a wonderful collection of recipes that makes it easy to take on entertaining first thing in the morning. The recipes have an elegance fitting for special occasion celebrations but are simple to make, and many of the dishes in the book can easily be enjoyed any morning of the week. Like her other books, Gand gives great guidance, tips and lots of personal stories in the recipe introductions that make the book friendly and personal.
The variety of recipes cover the expected pancakes, waffles, muffins and omelets, but all have interesting variations that add a little inspiration beyond the expected. In addition to the standard brunch elements there are some really interesting dishes like Goat Cheese Cake with Slow-Cooked Quince, Bacon-Scallion Scones (I have made these twice. Fantastically delicious!), and Watermelon Gazpacho that has cubed cucumber, bell pepper, and pomegranate seeds in it.
It is a beautifully printed and photographed book that is enjoyable to simply flip through, but I find myself making something from the book every few days because the recipes are very do-able on a whim. Everything I have made I have really enjoyed.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! April 17, 2009

By ILT

Format:Hardcover

This book is an awesome reference for basic brunch recipes like fritattas, stratas, waffles, pancakes, crepes, bread pudding, etc. Even though there is nothing revolutionary in the recipes (although there are many great twists and variations!), they are so well organized, so beautifully presented and so un-intimidating, that I fell in love with this book from the first page. It's just so convenient to have all my brunch needs in one book like this instead of having to go to different sources! So far, every recipe I've tried has been a winner. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves beautiful food without the hassle.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Weekend breakfast planning a cinch! May 5, 2009

By Laura Ellis

Format:Hardcover

Weekend breakfast foods can be pretty boring, but with Gale Gand's new book one just has to open it and randomly select something. There's not a bad recipe in the bunch! Each weekend we make 2 of these, working our way through the entire book. The recipes are easy with ingredients easily obtainable.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! May 1, 2009

By Ellen Sweets

Format:Hardcover

"Brunch" is destined to become a major go-to source for planning elegant brunches of interest to the experienced home cook, but also easily accessible for the novice. This book offers wonderful ways to surprise friends and family with something different for that meal that isn't quite breakfast but isn't exactly lunch. Yes, breakfast pancakes are there, but so are Gand's caramelized apple crepes, which are ridiculously easy to make and good for eating anytime.

By the by, if you love chocolate and you love waffles, get the waffle iron ready.

Finally, as an inveterate egg-lover, I wanted this book to make the baked eggs in ham cups I had seen Gand prepare on the "Today' show. Instead I've gone nuts over Cucurumao, a splendid concoction of eggs baked in a tomato sauce laced with red pepper flakes and fresh basil. Like several other recipes in this nifty book, you could also enjoy this Sicilian dish as a meatless dinner; add a couple of chunks of focaccia or sourdough and, well, wow!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gale Gand's Brunch! June 5, 2009

By Cheryl K. Ogle

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a beautifully done cookbook. I wanted a book that gave me recipes that could be made ahead for next-day brunches when I have friends staying over (so I don't have to get up so early) There are many recipes that fill the bill. Its beautifully illustrated also, which makes it much more fun to cook with. Gale also includes a nice selection of cocktail recipes. I made her Pim's Cup drinks to serve my guests as they arrived the prior evening and they were a big hit. Very different! Just about anything you'd like to see for breakfasts and brunches and general entertaining are here!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars As A Former Breakfast Chef - This Book Was Invaluable! October 14, 2010

By Laura Freed

Format:Hardcover

Okay, 'chef' might be a little over reaching. I was working in a small pizza place that decided to do breakfast and to get it going, I worked for awhile to help the owner get it going. Well, I searched for the best 'breakfast' book and found Gayle Gands Brunch and credit the book for one of the reasons the breakfast menu did so well! The lemon creme that I added to the blueberry pancakes on the menu was by far the biggest hit - but everything I made from the book was so well received.

One of the best features of the book is that there are many sections - from drinks to eggs to toppings to salads.

The pictures are fabulous (for me, a must for any cookbook!) and the book is written as if you're sitting at a table chatting over a cup of white hot chocolate!

One of my favorite all time most used cookbooks.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Gale Gand's Brunch!...is Ok October 9, 2009

By Radek

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

From everything I've read about Gale Gand, I guess I was expecting more. The book is well written with many photos. I really like the way the photos match the recipe. I've seen others where that isn't the case and it is off putting.

However, I have found nearly all of these recipes online for free at other cooking sites. So, the big selling point here is that they are all grouped in one place.

There are plenty of variations on themes to create a wide variety of dishes from one basic dish, but once you have one or two, thinking of others really isn't that much of a challenge.

I will be looking into her other books with more caution.