Customer Reviews

The NEW ELEGANT BUT EASY COOKBOOK

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a personal caterer, which means I cook in clients' homes, enough for 2 weeks or a month, and then package the entrees in the refrigerator or freezer. This cookbook is one of the staples of my trade. I highly recommend buying it and trying the jambalaya and Mustard Pork Tenderloin.

This book is a must for anyone who ever has planned or is planning to entertain. I would even recommend it to restauranteurs. Ms. Burros instructions are clear and concise. The recipes I have tried work well, and best of all they have won raves from my guests. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

It is hard to find a cookbook with elegant, low-fat comfort food. This is it. There are many recipes that please and relax yet offer a surprising new twist. Like the jambayla with spicy turkey sausage and shrimp. Superb, like the book.

Cookbook authors Marion Burros and Lois Levine, who co-authored the original Elegant But Easy cookbook in 1960, team up once again, adapting some of their most popular recipes from the past to today's changing tastes. Fifty recipes from the earlier edition are included here, though all these recipes have been purged of MSG, canned soups, and most convenience foods. Butter, cream, eggs, and cheese are used in reduced quantities, and wherever the authors have been able to substitute low fat for high fat, they do so. This cookbook, however, is not about low-calorie or low-fat cooking. The goal is "pure, simple, fresh-tasting" food, and that sometimes means lots of eggs and fat-based dairy products.

Two of the most appealing sections are Appetizers and Hors d'oeuvres, but these are also sections where those on low-fat diets need to pay attention. Sour cream, Roquefort and cream cheeses, and phyllo dough (brushed with 1 - 3 sticks of melted butter) are heavily featured in the appetizers. In the Hors D'Oeuvres section, however, Hummus, Black Bean Dip, Pickled Shrimp, and Caponata (served on bruschetta) offer great low-fat alternatives to cheese and cream-based spreads.

Imaginative chicken recipes--Chicken Gloriosa (with pineapple, cranberries, and tangerines), Grilled Chicken with Black Bean and Mango Salsa, and Curried Chicken and Apples are delicious and relatively low-fat, with turkey or chicken sausage replacing pork sausage in several recipes. Meat recipes, once the biggest section of Elegant But Easy, have been reduced to fifteen recipes, with a delectable Lasagna calling for turkey sausage, lowfat ricotta, a sauce of red wine and tomatoes, and baked eggplant. Desserts range from simple fruit desserts to a Triple Chocolate Mocha Madness Cake, a complex recipe which takes four full pages of instructions. And for those who loved the Plum Torte in the earlier book, it's here, along with a lower fat alternative, just as good.

The authors always tell how far in advance each recipe can be prepared, how long it can be refrigerated, and whether it can be frozen and for how long. An extensive list of mail order addresses for some of the less common ingredients is included at the beginning, and "Ten Menus with [Step-by-Step] Countdown Game Plans" are included at the end. In short, this cookbook tries to be as "elegant but easy" as the 1960 edition, and it succeeds--as long as you recognize that "lower fat" is not the same as "low-fat." Mary Whipple

Now, THIS is what a cookbook is all about: great food that can be prepared ahead--and guides for timing things so you don't burn one dish while trying to prepare another. And a lot of these recipes really are easy. Take it from one who has the joy of eating, but doesn't get the same thrill from the cooking part. 'The New Elegant But Easy Cookbook' is now part of my permanent reference library in the kitchen.

I LOVE this cookbook! My mother purchased the first edition of this book, many, many years ago (1960's???), and has been using it ever since -- both for entertaining large groups and for special family occasions (the Lasagna, stuffed mushrooms, and Beef Burgundy are always impressive, and are just some of our favorites...) The recipes are easy (never compromising the "elegance") and full of flavor to impress anyone. I've recently moved out of state, and borrowing Mom's book is no longer an option... At age 46, I'm purchasing the new edition, and starting a "new" tradition of "Elegant" entertaining, with my own family and special guests.

I've found the recipes here generally simple and easy to make ahead. Mrs. Burros is very clear in her instructions (although I had some problems with a chocolate roll)and the taste combinations are very good. As this book is an update of her original there are a number of amusing asides on changes in food ingredients and cooking styles between the two editions. Not quite a "must-have" but useful.

Last night sit down dinner party for 13 people was so stress free and everyone loved the food. I have just started to enjoy entertaining because of this book.

This book gives me a lot of confidence to entertain because
1) The food recipes are delicious - guaranteed to impress
2) It's easy to make.
3) I don't get stressed on the day of the party because the book gives me the indication on what do 1 day, 2 days, 3 days in advance. What I do on the day is the final step whether to put the food in the oven, heat in the microwave, mix/add the last ingredients.

My all times favorites are Lasange (with eggplants), Chicken Gloriosa, Grilled Salmon, Tabouleh Salad and Brie& Pesto.

My only reservation is that for someone who lives overseas, some ingredients are hard to find. I also think that there are a few too many phylos recipes in the book hor.

I still give it 5 star because of the value it has given me. Everybody who thinks that they're afraid to entertain should definitely buy this book and start entertaining next week!

I've found the recipes here generally simple and easy to make ahead. Mrs. Burros is very clear in her instructions (although I had some problems with a chocolate roll)and the taste combinations are very good. As this book is an update of her original there are a number of amusing asides on changes in food ingredients and cooking styles between the two editions. Not quite a "must-have" but useful.

This book is a must for anyone who ever has planned or is planning to entertain. I would even recommend it to restauranteurs. Ms. Burros instructions are clear and concise. The recipes I have tried work well, and best of all they have won raves from my guests. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.