Customer Reviews

Lost Recipes: Meals to Share with Friends and Family

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Did I need this book? Well, I thought I might have done without it--until it arrived and I took it for a spin around the kitchen.

After reading "Lost Recipes," I was agog with renewed respect for Marion Cunningham. She is a woman with a mission--to encourage friends and families to sit down and share a meal, a simple one easily as satisfying (or even more so) as one calculated to impress. Her accessible presentation of the recipes in this book may well persuade even the most food-prep-averse to try out her dishes assembled from ingredients that are almost always more economical to purchase than to resort to mundane restaurant or take-out fare.

Virtually all of the recipes can be prepared with pantry staples or supplies from most any grocery store. If these dishes can't be put together in one go (or if the cook prefers not to), Cunningham offers succinct instructions on how to proceed in simple stages. There are a number of completely do-ahead offerings, and there's much to please vegetarians as well as those who choose not to combine meat and dairy, with a few easy and obvious substitutions.

The art director of "Lost Recipes" merits five stars as well. Layout and illustrations are gorgeous, and the book has an unusual, and most welcome, feature: a front cover that allows the brand-new book to lie flat, as well as providing a roomy pocket to accommodate jotted notes, clippings from newspapers and magazines, and other info that is likely to be lost rather than to be found and followed.

Cunningham enhances her text with relevant quotes on dining ranging from Brillat-Savarin to contemporary writers, many of which are unfamiliar even to rabid cookbook collectors. And as the holidays draw near, it's worth noting that this book is quite reasonably priced. "Lost Recipes" would make a fine gift for anyone from a kitchen neophyte to an experienced cook. Those belonging to the latter group may not have actually "lost" their versions of some of Cunningham's recipes; however, it is warming in every sense to be provided with friendly, workable examples of just how good these home-style dishes are, and how rewarding it is for harried folks (and who isn't, these days?) to relax and enjoy a comforting meal in good company.

As a mother of two small children, I fancied myself too busy to cook "every night." Then one day I realized that, in a world of macaroni & cheese, frozen vegetables, and takeout cuisine of all varieties, I was NEVER cooking at home, unless it was a big, formal "dinner." Marion Cunningham has inspired me to rethink "supper" for my family--I have rediscovered the ease of baked chicken and vegetables, and I make fried rice instead of another night of Chinese takeout. Many of these recipes involve easy preparation that can be done earlier in the day, so at dinnertime it is just a matter of popping something in the oven or cooking it on the stove. The ingredient lists are simple (all things you can actually find at your local supermarket!), but the flavors are wonderful. There is no attempt to cut fat or carbohydrates, but then again, you also aren't adding excess sodium and preservatives to your diet.

If you are new to cooking, I also recommend "Learning to Cook with Marion Cunningham," which has many easy recipes that will impress your friends who are also new cooks! Either book would be a great graduation or wedding gift.

When I received this book, I greatly enjoyed simply reading through it . . . the inserts about the value of simple family cooking were truly inspirational.

Then I settled down to actually try out the recipes, and was delighted with every one that I tried! Even better, I found that the book is a virtual compendium of my family's "favorite dishes" . . . recipes that I had gradually searched out or serendipitously discovered by trial and error from a huge collection of cookbooks over the past several years. What a lot of trouble it would have saved had I simply ordered this cookbook in the first place!

(Chicken and dumplings, Salad Nicoise, Corn pudding, New England Boiled Dinner, Monkey Bread, Strawberry Shortcake with a biscuit-type base . . . the list of simple, down-home style recipes goes on and on.)

The book also includes very useful, concise advice for such things as cutting up a whole chicken or freezing bones for making homemade broth. It gives good ideas for ingredient substitutions according to what you have on hand or what is in season, and even helps you figure out what to do with specific sauces, chutneys, and side dishes once you have made them . . . what to serve them with, for example.

For me, this book is a winner! However, I will have to agree with the reviewers who have complained about the odd physical format of the book. It is definitely not built to stand up well over long-term use. How unfortunate.

Faulting this cookbook for not being as comprehensive as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook is like faulting a vegetarian cookbook for not including a section on pork chops. What Mrs. Cunningham sets out to do here, and what she accomplishes so well, is set forth a group of quickie recipes that don't taste like shortcuts. She is presenting an alternative to calling for pizza or stopping at Boston Market for supper. And believe it or not, she's on the mark. The first recipe I tried (Ozark Pudding) was so quick to prepare I found myself re-reading the recipe while the pudding was in the oven. I wanted to make sure I hadn't skipped a step. I hadn't, and a half hour later, I had a terrific, warm, home-made dessert. Next I tried her Welsh Rarebit recipe. Again I was concerned that the recipe sounded a little too basic to turn out very well. But honestly, in the time it would take to mix up a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, I'd prepared a lovely hot meal that even my 13 year old approved of.

I think this book would make a lovely gift for a new bride, a college graduate or anyone that has the best intentions about trying to call for take-out food just a little less. I agree with the criticisms here about the binding on this one. While the inside pocket to store your own recipes is a cute idea, a spiral bound book would work better in the kitchen. But that doesn't stop me from giving this book 5 stars. I really think you'll love it!

While I am a great fan of Marion Cunningham, this is a disappointing book. First, the book is not actually a hardback, but rather it is a paperback which has been inserted into a cardboard outer binding. It will not last. More disappointing are the recipes - many of them I have seen in other volumes of Mrs Cunningham's. One would do much better buying her most-exellent Fannie Farmer Cookbook and get a monster book of well tried and proven recipes. The graphics in this book are perfectly lovely, but I would heartily recommend that the potential purchaser consider one of Mrs Cunningham's many other cookbooks.

This is an attractive little book but I probably won't be buying it after last night's fiasco with the first recipe I tried (I'd checked the book out of the library). The Prize-Winning Onion Pie sounded quick, easy and tasty, but on reading the recipe through, I was surprised to see that Cunningham didn't specify what oven temperature should be used or what size dish was required. I had to make a guess at both. I'm an experienced cook so this wasn't too hard but it's still a clumsy omission and might be a problem for beginner cooks. Another problem arose when I read the ingredient list...5 cups of water to only 1/2 cup of rice? This didn't make any sense to me - nor did the author tell you what to do with the water when you put the rice into a large serving bowl. Were you supposed to drain it and discard the water, or put the whole lot into the bowl? Again, as an experienced cook I could work out that the water would be needed for the rest of the recipe. But what would an inexperienced cook make of this? My reservations about the quantity of water were fullly justified. After an hour in the oven (the cooking time was specified as 50-60 minutes), my onion pie was still swimming in water as I suspected it would be. We left it in the oven for another 15 minutes. It was still semi-liquid. In the end we treated it like a rather runny risotto and sat down to dinner. The flavour was excellent but the consistency and presentation a total flop. If all the recipes in the book are written as carelessly as this one, not tested properly, and edited so poorly, I feel it isn't worth the risk to purchase.

I absolutely love this cookbook!! And reading the negative review below, I feel I must defend this great cookbook. I suppose if you had enough time you could go through lots of cookbooks and find all of these recipes, but that is not the point. This volume is meant to have a selection of homey, easy to make recipes that will take you back in time to when home cooking was the norm. Reading through this was like a walk down memory lane - most of these dishes were prepared by my grandmother many years ago, and it has been fun for me to prepare them myself for my family. Nothing exotic or nouveau here, just yummy, old-fashioned food that your family will love. Very nice format, too. I highly recommend this cookbook.

I have hundreds of cookbooks and find it hard to justify buying any more... but the title of this one got to me. My mother is, by her own admission, an indifferent cook. But my grandmother was a country cook who taught me how to bake bread and heavenly cinnamon roles. I think this book would have pleased her.

The recipe that I really enjoyed a lot was the one for saltine crackers. I had to try it first, because it sounded so unusual. My sons and husband just loved them! I used extra sturdy crackers I got from Whole Foods, which probably helped.

The idea of reviving the family meal is wonderful and noble, and this book deserves a lot of credit for this concept, if nothing else. I also love the quoted material from other food writers in praise of preparing good food and dining together. Combined with the very attractive collage graphics and the interesting cover design, the book is fun to look at, too.

The recipes are pretty basic -- as another reviewer pointed out -- and not all that "lost" if you have at least two or three other basic cookbooks. (If you don't, you will surely welcome these homey recipes. They are worthy of inclusion!)

My biggest complaint is that the art director -- albeit very talented -- is clearly not a person who cooks. The book does not stay open on the kitchen counter -- even cracking the spine doesn't help. You have to weigh down the corners with heavy objects to get the book to stay open to the recipe you are using. That's why I am giving it three stars and not five.

What a lovely book and wonderful collection of recipes. This reminds me of all the things I have been meaning to cook for my family - but updated recipies to make it easier and healthier than my Mom's versions.

Try the beef stroganoff - a real winner!

Note to review with the binding problem - use a cook book holder - keeps special books like this clean and it will solve your problem. Personally, I think the book is a beautiful presentation and I have already tucked a few clippings into the recipe pocket.