Customer Reviews

Minimalist Entertains

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Realistically, I wish I could give it three and a half stars. It's better than your average cookbook, but not as good as a *typical* Mark Bittman cookbook.

The strength of MOST of Mark Bittman's cookbooks is that they teach you *how* to cook by giving you tons of variation ideas on every recipe and lots of encouragement. They are good books to *read* and not just cook from. This book doesn't give you any variations at all, and little text. Instead, it gives you forty menus, and each menu consists of a short blurb, a few "keys to success", wine recommendations, a rough timetable, and the recipes.

The menus look pretty good, and are categorized by season. The recipes are pretty typical of his style - a few key ingredients, prepared simply, into a somewhat unusual finished dish. He writes in his intro that he keeps menus at a maximum of 2 complex dishes (and the others more simple or store bought, like good bread). I still find this too much when I entertain, especially for a crowd of 8.

I have to admit I'm not sold on the "menu" concept in general. I tend to enjoy doing this sort of planning myself - based on my own tastes, knowledge of my guests' tastes (vegans/non-spicy/no-fish/whatever) and my ability to juggle several courses in the kitchen while holding a coherent conversation with the guest that won't go mingle. I inevitably burn *something* at each dinner party. ;-)

I typically LOVE Mark Bittman books - I have the "Cooks Dinner" one, the "Cooks at Home" one, and "How to Cook Everything" which is in my opinion the most useful cook-book EVER. But this one isn't as good as the rest. I'm giving it 4 stars because the food still looks good, but I've cooked more from Ina Garten's "The Barefoot Contessa: Parties" more than I've cooked from this.

Realistically, I wish I could give it three and a half stars. It's better than your average cookbook, but not as good as a *typical* Mark Bittman cookbook.

The strength of MOST of Mark Bittman's cookbooks is that they teach you *how* to cook by giving you tons of variation ideas on every recipe and lots of encouragement. They are good books to *read* and not just cook from. This book doesn't give you any variations at all, and little text. Instead, it gives you forty menus, and each menu consists of a short blurb, a few "keys to success", wine recommendations, a rough timetable, and the recipes.

The menus look pretty good, and are categorized by season. The recipes are pretty typical of his style - a few key ingredients, prepared simply, into a somewhat unusual finished dish. He writes in his intro that he keeps menus at a maximum of 2 complex dishes (and the others more simple or store bought, like good bread). I still find this too much when I entertain, especially for a crowd of 8.

I have to admit I'm not sold on the "menu" concept in general. I tend to enjoy doing this sort of planning myself - based on my own tastes, knowledge of my guests' tastes (vegans/non-spicy/no-fish/whatever) and my ability to juggle several courses in the kitchen while holding a coherent conversation with the guest that won't go mingle. I inevitably burn *something* at each dinner party. ;-)

I typically LOVE Mark Bittman books - I have the "Cooks Dinner" one, the "Cooks at Home" one, and "How to Cook Everything" which is in my opinion the most useful cook-book EVER. But this one isn't as good as the rest. I'm giving it 4 stars because the food still looks good, but I've cooked more from Ina Garten's "The Barefoot Contessa: Parties" more than I've cooked from this.

I have 3 of his books and this one does the best job of pulling together his widely varied tastes into menu ideas that are unconventional, seasonal, easy to prepare, and delicious. This is different from HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING or even DINNER because it actually pulls things together, which his other books don't do. You have recipes for one dish but if you want to throw a menu together, especially as a beginner, it is a lot harder to find what is unique and goes well with the main course. This does it for you. The recipes are terrific and really quite easy, even for the complicated dishes. Try the Cranberry Clafoutis for a simple, rustic, yet totally gourmet dessert.

A collection of delicious recipes that does more than just give you ingredients and instructions. Bittman gives you concepts, principles, and ideas about cooking. Follow his instructions and your guests will love your food. Learn the concepts and principles and your cooking will amaze you and your guests.

Love Mark Bittman, miss reading his column in the New York Times, but his cookbooks are such a great reference...The recipes are easy to do, look & taste great, and easy to modify. The Minimalist Entertains is especially wonderful when you need to entertain without much notice, and/or crunched for time.

When something I have come to want can be obtained so easily, cheaply and in such great condition, I question the wisdom of ever paying to buy anything new!
I had been borrowing this cookbook, "The Minimalist Entertains", from a local purveyor of meat, fish and produce around the corner from where I live (Concord Prime and Fish). When it seemed the book was at my house more that at the shop, which had been kind enough to repeatedly lend it to me, it was time to buy my own copy. I mess cookbooks up pretty fast by turning under the pages, dripping grease on them, etc. and did not see the point of buying a brand new copy. For under $5 I had a very nearly new copy, in a matter of a very few days. Kudos to this bookseller, and to Amazon for recommending them.