Customer Reviews

Roast Figs Sugar Snow: Winter Food to Warm the Soul

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

 

 

The ideas and flavor combinations in the book are great - some flat-out fabulous but the recipe testing, editing and index leave plenty to be desired. There is a wonderful Kringle recipe - but there is so much butter in both the dough and filling that it doesn't rise well and there was a good two tablespoons of melted butter in the pan when it came out of the oven! I tried it again using half the butter in both dough and filling and an additional teaspoon of yeast and it was excellent.
In the editing department she uses terms that may be familiar in the UK but are incomprehensible in the US. WHAT is"pudding rice"? It is not regular Uncle Ben"s!
The index is not cross referenced. You have to know her name for the recipe to find it in the index.
To sum it up -she has some great ideas and flavor combinations but the technical side has been neglected. NOT a book for and inexperienced cook!

I am enjoying this cookbook after hearing a review about it on NPR, Nov 2009. For Christmas Eve I made the pecan and pear upside-down cake (p. 30). It was a great cake, perfect recipe proportions and not too sweet. For this particular recipe, I would advise that you add a dough hook when mixing the cake batter as it's very sticky and thick. Also, I generously buttered a large, round cake pan and placed it in the fridge while I made the recipe (the author suggests using the same pan you cook in on stovetop as the baking pan). Then I transferred the fruit mixture into the buttered pan and spread the batter over the top. This assured a non-sticky upside-down cake. It turned out perfect and was the hit of our Christmas Eve party. Thank you, Diana. I'm looking forward to trying more of these.

A culinary trip around Europe and beyond with great recipes and commentary. The food is traditional some with a twist all easy to do in a domestic kitchen with food at hand, some specialty items may need to be ordered. Great pictures great food a really nice product. I originally had this book from my local library and decided to add it to my collection

this is a beautiful book! if you like to read about your food, the stories and notes are delightful. wonderful recipes. breath-taking photos. measurements are metric, so have a scale handy