The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life [Hardcover]

Suzanne Pirret (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2009

With The Pleasure is All Mine, anyone can enjoy a Steak au Poivre with Frites, Three-Cheese Ravioli, Coconut Fish Curry with Homemade Naan Bread, or a Wild Blueberry Free-Form Tart without the expense and hassle of restaurants or fussy dinner guests. The 100 uncomplicated, exquisite recipes in this collection are simple to prepare and require no fancy equipment. With just a skillet, bowl, knife, and a few perfect ingredients, Pirret makes great solo dining effortless-and she offers inspired wine and cocktail pairings, too, to make dinner complete. Edgy and bursting with personality, The Pleasure is All Mine is also filled with a wealth of devilishly entertaining stories based on her experiences living in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A collection of 100 excellent recipes-for-one…. [Suzanne Pirret] displays a disarming blend of naked egotism, self-deprecating humor and, most important, a keen understanding of good cooking. While many of Ms. Pirret’s recipes are sophisticated, they can all be produced in real-world kitchen conditions.” (Wall Street Journal )

“Back away from the frozen pizza. Suzanne Pirret’s cheeky new book offers elegant, decadent dishes for one.” (Metro )

“Intoxicatingly indulgent… Cooking for yourself doesn’t need to be about self-deprivation or about you’re-not-worth-anything-better recipes… Pirret’s hilarious recipe headnotes, fictional interludes and essays are worth the price of the book even if you don’t make a single one of the dishes.” (Washington Post )

“A wickedly funny manifesto for the hungry single girl that makes solo dining effortless as well as fabulous, with musings on the catering industries of New York, LA, Paris and London, where Pirret was a chef at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, Fifteen.” (Marie Claire (UK) )

“A saucy, snarky take on cooking for one, with ‘simple (yet not stupid) recipes’ accompanied by wine and cocktail pairings, and roguish, funny stories from her experiences living in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and London.” (Publishers Weekly )

“The type of book one can curl up with and read as well as take to the kitchen and actually use.... Refreshingly casual and conversational.... I’m inspired to get back to the kitchen and treat myself to more home-cooked meals.” (Epicurious.com )

“I couldn’t put this book down! Everyone will be begging to be a guest or even a dishwasher in Suzanne Pirret’s kitchen after reading and cooking from The Pleasure Is All Mine. She’s infectious!” (Bobby Flay )

About the Author

Suzanne Pirret is a Harvard-trained actor, an award-winning voiceover artist, and a graduate of the Cordon Bleu in both Paris and London. For more than a decade, she has worked in the restaurant and catering industries in New York and London, notably as Jamie Oliver's pastry chef in London at the critically acclaimed nonprofit restaurant Fifteen. She lives in London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (March 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006168712X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061687129
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #632,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cooking for One and liking it, March 22, 2009

By 

Lawrence W. Meegan (Jackson, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life (Hardcover)

Suzanne's book was a fun read. It's filled with lots of quirky anecdotes and food recipes for one.
The personal stories range from the seven guests who turned down her dinner invitation (the morons, but the story sounds vaguely familiar, like the New Testament incident in the gospels) to work-life in professional kitchens to an interesting ingredient in her "take-out" food chapter.
Ah, and the recipes. They range from the exotic to simple pleasures, like blueberry pancakes. Try the pancake recipe. I messed it up the first time (I confess, I deviated from the recipe) but the second time I saw the light and repented. They were the best - tall and fluffy. Great!
I can't wait to dip into the pool of dessert recipes.
Take it from an overweight guy who enjoys eating - buy the book!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I guess I'm selfish enough to really enjoy this book..., May 14, 2009

By 

E. Dunagan "happy traveller" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life (Hardcover)

While my lifestyle is not comparable, I did find many of Suzanne Pirret's recipes fun to read and even better to cook. They are easy to double when you do have company and the instructions are clear. I have already referred the book to others who have also purchased it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's About Time!, May 5, 2009

By 

Prospero's Daughter (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pleasure Is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life (Hardcover)

Toss that can of Soup-For-One! At last someone is celebrating the delight of preparing a wonderful meal to savor alone. Suzanne's take is refreshing, blithe, snarky at times and always entertaining. What a breath of fresh air and a relief from the exhausting earnestness that can overtake food writing. Prepare her Steak Au Poivre with Frites, pour yourself a glass of Cabernet Franc (from the Collio hills in Friuli!)sit down and start reading!