More than just a cookbook, a guide to entertaining at home also helps readers learn how to cook for company, from backyard barbecues to the more formal sit-down dinner, and includes menus, recipes, and game plans to make timing simple and efficient. Tour.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
O'Neill, food columnist for The New York Times Sunday Magazine overplays a coy device in her third cookbook (after A Well-Seasoned Appetite). She offers 150 recipes arranged in 25 dinner-party menus; preceding each menu is a two- or three-page tale about any of five selected cosmopolitan hostesses and their caterer fretting about entertaining in a hectic, health-conscious world. Many recipes are of the cook-ahead variety?but with caveats. O'Neill advises that Vanilla Scented Sauteed Fruit, a dessert, can be prepared "up to one hour before guests arrive," and that it's preferable to bake Caramelized Onion Biscuits after friends have walked in the door. Several recipes, among them Stilton-Walnut Rice Balls and White Bean Croquettes Stuffed with Mozzarella and Tomato, call for deep-frying and then serving immediately?a sure challenge for an edgy hostess. The recipes run from the familiar (yogurt cheese as an appetizer dip base and Stewed Lamb Shanks with White Beans and Rosemary) to the more unusual (Indian-Spiced Cucumber-Squid Salad and Japanese Chicken Salad with Nori Rolls). Simplifying suggestions include buffet dinners or stylish casseroles (Southwestern Chicken Pie with Cheddar Spoonbread Crust). When sanity is really threatened, a reader can do what O'Neill's hostesses sometimes do: hire someone to serve and clean or just have the party, either partly or entirely, catered.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Food columnist for the New York Times Magazine, O'Neill here offers sophisticated menus for entertaining. Unfortunately, she has chosen to set them in an awkward context, for the book follows five characters, from "Mr. D, the famous if not infamous Manhattan caterer" to "Johanna, the recovering Hostess with the Mostess," as they struggle to deal with the changing social customs surrounding the dinner party. O'Neill's intent is to show too-busy working couples and singles that they can find time to entertain, but the idea gets bogged down in the oh-so-clever agonizings of her cast?most of whom apparently can afford to hire a caterer anyway. Some of the menus are on the extravagant side, and a New Year's Eve party that consists of seven hors d'oeuvres all best served hot sounds like a nightmare. Other more useful titles in this vein include Cheryl Merser's Relax! It's Only Dinner (LJ 8/95) and, for real neophytes, Elaine Corn's Now You're Cooking for Company (LJ 9/15/96).
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful Hints on How Not to Go Mad,
By
This review is from: The Pleasure of Your Company (Hardcover)
There are some of us who have to entertain frequently for business purposes and this book is good reading on how not to go insane. I finally read this book cover to cover the other night and even though I am not a NYC resident, all the anxieties of the characters are my own. Great writing and soon I'll find out if the recipes match O'Neill's advice.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Reading: Susan Sontag meets Martha Stewart!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Pleasure of Your Company (Hardcover)
O'Neill is an excellent writer and has stretched the boundaries of cookbook writing in an interesting way. Although her characters are not always interesting, the philosophy of the dinner party they evolve is. The recipes aren't really the heart of the book, but they, too, are interesting.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My go-to entertaining cookbook,
This review is from: The Pleasure of Your Company (Hardcover)
I average dinner parties ever six weeks, or so. Many of these recipes have become a staple. Thank you Ms. O'Neill.
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