Customer Reviews

Process This: New Recipes for the New Generation of Food Processors Plus Dozens of Time-Saving Tips

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was looking for a book that would give me some great recipes to use with my new food processor. I was not happy with this one. There aren't a whole lot of recipes and a lot of the ingredients are not very common in our household. I usually have capers, anchovy paste, greek olive etc. So I am not talking ketchup and mustard here. I am talking about tahini, lemon grass, and indian relish (what is that, and where do you get it?) I enjoy cooking for my family, but I am more apt to use recipes with ingredients I will use for other recipes. In addition, a lot of the recipes are very complex, which is okay, but cooking doesn't have to be complex to be either gourmet, or tastey. There are a couple of recipes I will try: Mushroom caviar, Oh-my-God Cheesecake and Stuffed Artichokes. Other recipes I will probably never do are: Sweet Potato Soup w/ coconut milk, lemongrass & cilantro, Terrine of Pork & Ham w/ Calvados & Juniper Berries, Leek & Sweet Red Pepper flan, Chicken Liver & Red Onion Jam. I also ordered The Food Processor Bible. There are many more recipes that aren't so elaborate and more for daily use.

This book is good in offering techniques for using a food processor. However, if you are interested in healthier recipes this isn't the best book. I have already donated my copy to a second hand store... as the recipes are higher in calories than we want to eat.

Every recipe I tried was easy to do and resulted in compliments to the chef. Though I love the praise, the honors should go to the author of Process This. Recipes are easy to follow, contain helpful hints and result in meals that please the palate and wake up the tastebuds. As a working woman, one of my biggest challenges is to prepare meals that are more than just something to eat.

I made three of the recipes immediately after buying the book: Two-Pepper Parmesan Wafers, Jansson's Temptation, and Sweet and Mild Red Pepper Salad with Tomatoes; all three were easy to make and went perfectly with the main course I selected. I took the leftover potatoes (Jansson's Temptation) to work and my co-workers feasted so happily I couldn't get a bite myself.

This cookbook has opened up a new world of fun in the kitchen and delightful dining. My food processor can thank Jean Anderson for its move from the back of the cabinet to a place of honor on my kitchen counter.

If you're looking for meatloaf and potatoes book, this one is not for you. But if you're looking to surprise your guests and yourself, from the back porch party to a funky soirée, this book will do it. It's not a mammoth like the Joy of Cooking is or other "anthology" type collections. Process This! is more of an art show, the few carefully chosen pieces displayed for effect. In other words, don't expect the plethora of basic things. These are highly polished, wonderfully eclectic (from French countryside to American south), thoughtfully researched interpretations of beloved foods. A lot of the recipes are quite old but modernized for the our kitchens.

In some way, the book is technical: it presumes that cooks follow its logic on ways of measurement, treatment of ingredients, etc. The introduction is devoted exclusively to technique. But the basic premise is intuitive and accessible to even the most basic of cooks. And while there are no pictures, a staple in American cook book publishing nowadays, Process This! provides foolproof guidance with many tips and personal commentaries. As a result, there is a sort of respectful intimacy that arises. I know I can always count on it to plan my party menu. I also know that it's not for everyday use. There is something romantic about its collection that just begs a special show off occasion. Except for deserts. The Toasted Hazelnut Tart redefines comfort food.

Someone just gave me a copy of PROCESS THIS! and to be honest, I didn't think it was a book I'd use. Then I saw the author show how to make a killer fat-free ice cream at a local bookstore and was blown away. I've now made at least a dozen recipes from the book and they have all been terrific. And EASY. One night I served the Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut Milk, Lemongrass, and Cilantro, and man, was it a hit. I also love the Toasted Hazelnut Tart, Jansson's Temptation, Swiss Steak and Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes.

I never knew I could make cake in a food processor and I certainly never knew I could make ice cream in it in a couple of minutes. Amazing! Now that I know how many things I can make in my food processor, I'm going to keep it out on the counter. There are a lot of other recipes in the book that sound really good and I'm going to try them soon

When my twenty-year old food processor stopped working last year I filled its space in the cupboard and thought I would just not get another one. Then I was shopping for a present and noticed a crowd watching Jean Anderson, author of Process This!, making an amazingly-quick Soft Raspberry-Lime "Ice Cream" and Lemon Poppy-Seed Cupcakes. Now I not only have a copy of her book, but a brand new food processor and thanks to Process This!, the food processor isn't going into that cupboard. In addition to making several whole meals from this book, I made a birthday cake using the Lemon Poppy-Seed Cupcake batter, my family just loved the Cheddar Scones, and the Processor Pastry for Tarts and Pies is so easy to make, it is habit forming. I just ordered two copies for my children who each got food processors for wedding presents and are always looking for fast, good-for-you recipes to make when they get home from work.

I have to admit that I was thoroughly intimidated by my food processor until I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Jean Anderson's Process This! With mistrust and full of doubt, I began scanning How to Use This Book and Getting Down to Basics, and by the time I reached Equilavents, my confidence had blossomed and I couldn't wait to get started. With company coming for Thanksgiving, I decided to try a new vegetable dish and chose Red Cabbage Braised the Bavarian Way. By following Jean's excellent directions and tips, I did it! and it was a big hit with my guests! I have also mixed up a batch of Parmesan Wafers (easy!) and am saving it for my 5-year old grand-daughter to help push through a cookie press as Jean suggests. I can hardly wait to try that fat-free ice cream! Thank you, Jean Anderson!

This book was too advanced for a first-time food processor like me. The ingredients, long instructions and recipes were overwhelming.

I'm sure that the recipes are fabulous though because Jean Anderson is a wonderful cook. A stopper for me to try the recipes was the amount of butter, heavy cream and sugar in some of the recipes.

However, two healthy desserts, that I modified by cutting the sugar amount in half, were the 'soft peach-amaretto "ice cream" and 'soft raspberry-lime "ice cream", very delicious!

'the food processor bible' by norene gilletz, has healthier recipes to choose from.

I would recommend 'process this' to advanced-creative cooks who are not watching their weight.

Use this book to maximize your food processor. There are a number of good recipes in here -- my favorite is the angel biscuits. I think the best part of the book is basics section from pages five to 41. It gives advice on how to prep and process various items.

Jean Anderson is a member of `old school' cookbook authors and culinary educators such as Barbara Kafka, Marion Cunningham, Sheila Lukins, and Sara Moulton many of whom are protégés of James Beard or Julia Child. Among them, Anderson and Cunningham have been responsible for editing two of the better `how to do everything' cookbooks in America. These are the `American Century Cookbook' and the `Fanny Farmer Cookbook' respectively. Except for Moulton, who is a staple of the Food Network programming, these authors typically do not get as much attention as their more internationally oriented colleagues such as Patricia Wells and Paula Wolfert; TV educators such as Ina Garten, Rachael Ray, and Nigella Lawson; or magazine magnate Martha Stewart.

In spite of this, these authors are probably the ones who write some of the most commonly picked titles among non-foodies who never watch the Food Network and simply want a reliable source of menus.

On the face of it, this book, `Process This!' is very similar to Barbara Kafka's highly rated `Microwave Gourmet' to which I gave five stars. Both books are about new kitchen appliances that became popular in the early nineteen-seventies and both of which tend to be misused, overused, or underused.

I am probably like many people who use both appliances for a relatively small range of tasks and wonder why they persist in taking up so much space on my countertop. I do, however, sense some differences in the two appliances. The biggest I believe is the fact that while the microwave is at its best doing small, quick jobs which often arise in small households or households with lots of different schedules, the food processor is best when it is used to tackle a big job.

The reasons for this are simple. A microwave can make popcorn, heat up a cup of coffee, cook bacon, and defrost frozen food quickly, with less electricity than a range or oven, and require little or no cleanup when you are done. And, there are few alternatives to doing these tasks as quickly or as easily. A standard size food processor can mix a pie dough, dice onions, finely chop zest, mix a mayonnaise, shred cabbage for slaw, chop garlic, and slice carrots or a hundred other vegetables in a thrice. But, after each operation, a rather sizable cleanup job is left and with most slicing and dicing, the results leave a fair amount of unevenly sized pieces. And, there are good alternatives to doing each and every one of these tasks, generally with less mess. A pastry cutter will do pie dough very nicely. A sharp chef's knife will give you evenly sized chopped onions very quickly with no slime, a microplane will give fine zest in a thrice, a blender will do an equally good job with Mayonnaises, a knife will do garlic much better than a standard food processor, and a knife can do veggies to a much greater range of sizes and much tighter consistency than can a food processor.

The things for which I always go to a food processor are when I wish to shred large vegetables such as cabbage to make slaw and when I wish to powder or crumb a large portion of hard, dry material, as when I want to make bread crumbs. I have gone to a fair amount of trouble to cultivate pretty good knife skills and to buy very sharp knives. I also need to cook for only two people. Therefore, my bias tends against using the large task food processor. This is not to say this tool has no good user base. It is probably at its best in preparing vegetables for salads when the vegetables are not to be cooked, but eaten raw. It is also excellent for shredding hard, awkwardly shaped vegetables such as carrots for a cooked carrot filling, not to mention an ingredient for carrot cake. Lastly, it will very commonly do an acceptable job subbing for a blender if you do not have one. Just don't try crushing ice with it!

So how does this book help this audience? First, I thing the introductory material on general suggestions on food processor use is very good. But, I think it would have been a lot better with a few pictures. It is not entirely obvious how the chopping blade compared to the slicing blade. The dictionary of foods and how to process them was quite good, if only to show what foods and results it is wise to prepare with some other tool. The author very wisely advises against using the processor to shred meat or to grind spices. I was also happy to see that the author did not paint a rosy picture of your making peanut butter with a food processor.

My first sense that there was something amiss in the book is when I saw the recipes for stock making. The instructions for the meat and the cooking times were all kosher, but I believe the instructions for chopping the vegetables is all wrong. For years, until I started making stocks for myself, I never understood why recipe writers of every stripe tell you to simply toss the peeled vegetables into the stockpot with no more than a quick cut in half, if that. Well, they were right. Simmer whole carrots and onions and celery for four hours and there will simply be no flavor left behind, and there will be no unnecessary cloudiness in your stock from vigorously chopped veg flesh.

My reaction to most other recipes is that I already have an ample number of recipes for all these dishes. Why do I need another that uses a tool I would not normally use?

This book will be helpful if you make three or four meals a week for four or more people, and, you already have a full size (11 cup bowl) food processor. Otherwise, you may find it gathering dust on your shelf.