Customer Reviews

Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I stumbled upon this delightful book at my local library. It is filled with wonderful, down-home recipes by Pearl Bailey. Most of the recipes are simple and easy to follow. My husband was even able to follow one and make a complete meal!(without burning down the kitchen). There are recipes for everything from "Sweet potato pie" to "Rice Henry" to "Macaroni & Cheese If I Do Say So". I reccommend this book to anyone who loves to cook.

I picked this book up at the libary where I have a cabin in Northern Idaho and couldn't put it down!

A delightful insight to Ms. Bailey's home life with her family and interesting sidebars about her life on the road.

The recipes make you think that you are sitting in Pearl's kitchen waiting for them to come off of the stove.

Loved this woman - love this cookbook! After many years my copy is wearing out. Sincerely hope it will be published/printed again so I can replace my copy and have copies to give family and friends.

This is quite a surprising book. Its title would lead you to believe that it's yet another celebrity cookbook, and indeed there are plenty of recipes here to try. But it's much more than that. It's really a combination recipe collection, personal history, and philosophical reflection about the place of food and kitchen in one person's life. That person, Pearl Bailey, is of course a well known performer of stage and song, but she reveals herself here as a terrific writer, one with a distinctive and appealing voice that she unfolds into a fascinating history of her relationship with food.

Although Bailey dislikes the term "soul food," that's pretty much exactly what she grew up eating as an African-American girl in Philadelphia: chitlins, pigs' feet, pot likker, sweet potato pie, the works. Her descriptions of this food are mouth watering, but even more interesting are her reflections on her mother's meticulously kept kitchen, which Bailey analyzes with almost philosophical rigor. Even after becoming a star, Bailey never lost her love for momma's food, and even after becoming wealthy, she still followed her basic rules of thrift, economy, and simplicity in the kitchen. I love the image of Pearl Bailey in Hollywood roasting chickens and baking cornbread for her actor/singer colleagues. But Bailey was also an internationally significant performer, one who experienced many culinary traditions, and she includes recipes here from that more cosmopolitan experience, too. You'll also get recipes shared with her by the likes of Bing Crosby, Victor Borge, and Carol Burnett! (If you've ever wondered how Burnett made meatloaf, here's your answer.) The result is a fascinating blend of down home and worldly.

The most surprising passages are the ones where Bailey analyzes her kitchen psychologically, pondering its role in her family, her life, and her world view, and how that thinking affects what she cooks. This is really interesting stuff. But lest you think this book is overly serious in tone, it's also great fun, and Bailey's distinctively sharp wit is ever present here. You will laugh while you read it, but will also think about your own kitchen in new ways.

This is high on my list of books that should be reprinted. It's a fascinating, very entertaining, and thought provoking read.

I inherited this book from my grandma, and did not quite know what to expect. I did not know much about the author, being too young to have enjoyed her. But after reading it, I found it to be a delightful treasure of a book. It is kind of like a conversation with Pearl, or hearing her speak to you about her friends and family. People famous and not-famous, she loved them all it seems, and treated them the same. She is down home in her telling, and intersperses the stories with her own recipes, as well as a few she shares from other celebrities. The recipes are simple, short on ingredients and long on love. Hard to find, getting more rare every day since it has never been reprinted since 1974.
Also the book has what appears to be an actual signature from the author inside, but it is a facsimile by the printer and author that appears in every copy. Beware of sellers claiming the book is signed.

this book is very warm and folksy like the great entertainer herself. Pearl share recipes she collected over the years and reminisces about family and friends in and out of show business.

Pearl Baily was a great gal! I bought this book out of curiosity, thank goodness I haven't tried the recipes, cause my arteries would be clogged up nice n tight!!!

Great Book. Not your everyday cookbook. makes a great gift. Gave to my daughter and the first recipe she made was a HIT!! at the church potluck. Written with so much famiily love. It gives you a new touch to evryday cooking. Has recipes from Burt Reynolds and Foster Brooks. Fantastic read.

Did not receive in the mail, it was returned to sender, supposedly
"undeliverable to address", which makes no sense whatsoever, as I have
never had any purchase returned anywhere else for this reason. Not very
happy with this service myself.