Customer Reviews

Paula Deen's Kitchen Wisdom and Recipe Journal

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Reviewers surely differ in their evaluation of this work. Given where I am in the kitchen right now, I actually like this book very much. It fills a need for me. As I have purchased a number of cookbooks and downloaded a wide array of recipes from the Web, I have run into information/recipe overload. I try a recipe and like it--and then can't recall where it came from, and I waste too much time trying to run it down (and I can't always find the desired recipe at that).

This book has a smidgeon of recipes, a smidgeon of reflections, some "how to" items (e.g., how to slice onions without tearing up), "cookin' first aid" (What do to after oversalting soup?), cooking trivia (how many kernels are on the average ear of corn?), and so on.

But the special value for me? Many blank pages, in which I can place recipes that I like and am apt to use on numerous occasions. Examples? From the Berghoff cookbook (the Berghoff was a glorious restaurant in Chicago)--chicken schnitzel and red cabbage; from the web--lemon garlic tilapia, chicken piccata, gourmet mushroom risotto, meatloaf, oven fried haddock; from one of Mark Bittman's cookbooks, a combination of two recipes for grilled chicken (each alone is fine, use ingredients from both--the result is even better); Racheal Ray's "My lazy sister Ria's chicken"; and so on.

Deen observes that "The blank pages are for you to jot down your own answers to cookin' dilemmas and recipes you've learned and adapted from your momma. . . ." Well, I'm not so interested in either of those--but I intend to meet the spirit by creating space for collecting my favorite recipes that are scattered about various cookbooks and printout from the Web.

So, for me, this book works.

Paula has done it yet again. I swear she reads the minds of cooks all around the world!
If you're like me and still have that big box stuffed full of recipes...this is the journal for us!
And for the people who are poo pooing this.....it's called a JOURNAL...you actually write things down....yes people get off your lazy duffs and start doing things again! This includes writing...wow...what a novel concept!
Way to go Paula!

Okay, I'm not a fan of Paula Deen, but my wife is, and she LOVES this book. Ummmmm.... do I need to say any more?

when i ordered this book i thought it was a cookbook when it got here i flipped thru it and it was a book to write your own recipes in. well it was a gift for my mom so i wasnt going to give it to her then thought what the heck, christmas eve she got the book, and she was so excited. about a quarter or it is already filled out!!!

This is the greatest little gift book on the planet. As a guy, I never know what to buy ---and here's the solution---a little of Paula, a little of you! I laughed with the wisdom and really understand the joy of creating recipes to hand down to the generations.
Once again, our Ms. Deen has done it. Sure, in the interests of full disclosure, my wife collaborated on this book, but it's phenomenal---I swear I'm impartial!
L. Abbott Cohen

Sometimes I just adore Paula Deen. Don't get me wrong here - no way would I put those 2 hour beans with a pound of butter in them on my table - but she is a blast to watch and often has some great ideas if you like traditional Southern food. So, when this journal showed up I was hoping for something more. The journal pages are ruled too widely to provide adequate space for many recipes. There are no labels for the tabs of any kind. The thing simply is not pretty at all, just very ordinary. And hardly least, Paula's words of wisdom and recipes are scattered willy-nilly throughout the book with no page numbering and no index, making it unusable over the long haul.

Sorry Paula. This is a huge disappointment, one I cannot recommend. If you want a recipes notebook, then take a look at the Moleskin Passions Recipe Journal. I would give you a link, but unlike the rest of the Passions line, it seems to be available only from third party sellers here at Amazon.

Paula Deen's recipe journal is awesome! I am slowly filling it out with family memories, holiday traditions, and recipes and plan on passing it down to one of my children when they get older. Not only is it a wonderful gift for ourselves but it would make a great, inexpensive gift to give others. I definitely plan on giving it to others in the future. Great job, Paula Deen!

This was a Christmas present for my Mother. She has called several times to read excerpts from the book to me.

Paula Deen's Kitchen Wisdom and Recipe Journal (Spiral-bound)
I haven't really found much use for yet.

I found this book very informative and very entertaining. The way in which Paula Deen writes is very Southern and very easy to associate with as I am a southerner too as is the other person I got a copy of the book for. We love the way Paula talks in her writing like we are there and she is telling us things like our own Mom might tell us. It's like being right back in my Granparents home and watching my Aunts cook our meals in the old homeplace. We loved all that comfort food and remember it always and this is what Paula makes--comfort foods--and you can't buy them you just have to make them from scratch. This started my collection of Paula Deen cookbooks and as of now I have three--The Just Desserts--The original
cook book and the Christmas book too. Every time I get one I sit down and read it through and through and just dream of making some of this great food. My friend usually gets the same copies as I do and we both love to make her receipes.