Bradley Ogden presents his versions of several holiday dinners. They are very elegant, but in many ways not that much different from what most prepare or that are in other cookbooks.
The dinners are for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years and have 8 recipes for warm weather holidays. He has information included on subjects such as setting a holiday table; but no real illustrations on placement of silverware, or plates, which would have been better than the close-up photo of stacked china and a crystal goblet.
The recipes are elegant, not simple, but a bit different. There are 57 recipes for Thanksgiving ranging from apple juice with cranberry and ginger to turkey or chicken stock, with recipes for sole and lamb and ham and turkey.
Christmas has 58 recipes including eggnog, caviar potato puffs, and red onion and parmesan crackers,and Kahlua sabayon. The cinnamon bread with brown sugar swirl is really wonderful and if you've made bread before, is a snap to make. There are menus for various combinations of recipes and preparation schedules.
New Year's contains 37 recipes, including ones for various drinks, desserts and main dishes.
Some pictures of the recipes are included, but they are mostly close ups, not really giving a comprehensive picture of the whole dish. An index is included.
This would be suitable for someone who wants some very elegant meals to fix for a gourmet, instead of a traditional holiday celebration.
