Customer Reviews

Serves One: Super Meals for Solo Cooks

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

 

 

Serves One is the model follow-up to anyone's first cookbook or introductory cooking experience. Besides the helpful first few pages about an appropriately stocked pantry and the necessary equipment, the rest of Toni Lydecker's book assumes that you know the working end of a frying pan from the other. Taking off from there, she supplements her recipes with personal notes about how to add an expert touch to the meal or how to vary it specifically to your liking. I'm a guy, so I'm not going to use words like 'yummy' or 'scrumptious,' but I will say that everything I have made from Serves One has been awesome.
Even so, Toni's recipes are never intimidating, and their relative simplicity is surprising because the food still turns out delicious. Although Serves One isn't a health/dieting book, Toni keeps to the lighter side of food. I find that tendency is a nice alternative to the otherwise grease-laden diet of people eating on their own, who choose to order instead of cook. My single problem is with a few of the ingredients. Most people aren't going to keep Japanese sweet rice wine or Swiss chard around, but then again, this book is about treating yourself to something special.
And it can certainly be about treating others as well. So, even though I'm a fairly busy med school student, I don't keep to the title of Serves One but often double or quadruple the recipes for company. Some personal favorites: the grilled tuna with mango sauce, the one-pot bean and corn dinner, and the spaghetti alla carbonara. And even though some planning is required for making the homemade pizza dough, definitely try the grilled pizza with brie and arugula as well. Just saying the recipe title to a dinner guest will be impressive. But regardless of whether you have company or not, get yourself Serves One and get to treating yourself right.

I was given Serves One (the "Simple Meals to Savor When You're on Your Own" edition, though) for Christmas and I've been using it all of the time. The choices are really appitizing and easy to shop for/prepare, so it's better than take-out. Definately try the spinach/orzo/pistachio/onion salad, which I've made pretty much every week since I got the book, and actually looks like it does in the picture.

Even with my limited experience, (but I've dated and lived with some very good, experienced cooks), I can tell that about half the recipes in this book are uninspired, workaday fare. They are there to fill out the pages and create a thicker book that the average cookbook shopper will think gives more "bang" for the buck.

But even with that caveat, I feel that this book deserves an extra star for its attempt to focus on the needs of an underserved American market : beginning and intermediate cooks who need (or want) to start cooking for themselves. For this audience, "Serves One" is a great choice, especially if they need to get started right away and can't wait to score a copy of "Going Solo In the Kitchen".

I am OK with the "averageness" of many of these recipes. I don't need gourmet cooking, I don't need bistro fare, I don't need Mario Batali cuisine. I can go to my local bistros for that. At this stage in my cooking career, I need simple, foolproof recipes that deliver decent results with a minimum of fancy ingredients, and I need them scaled for 1 or 2 servings so I don't waste time doing algebra in my head while I'm trying to master the basics of braising or sauteing...or else stuffing my refrigerator with more wasted leftovers than I'll ever be able to finish. I also want some variety, so I don't get bored with making the same 5 or 6 dishes again and again. It's OK if some of the food I produce is unexciting - whatever I cook and make for myself with 'Serves One" is bound to be cheaper, fresher, tastier and better for me than any pizza, takeout or drive through food around.

And in fact, some of the recipes do sound promising ( I'm looking forward to making the "Pickled,Spiced Grapes"), and a couple have rewarded my inexpert efforts with pleasant, satisfying dishes that gave me confidence in my abilities to cook proper, worthwhile meals.

So in that spirit, I would recommend this as a worthwhile addition to the beginning/intermediate cooks' library. My ex-girlfriends might turn their noses up at it, but this has been a very useful book for me, well worth the purchase price and the time spent going through it.

What if you're cooking just for yourself? Try the completely revised edition of Toni Lydecker's SERVES ONE: SIMPLE MEALS TO SAVOR WHEN YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN. The tendency is to revert to canned, boxed or fast food when you're alone - or to eat leftovers of the same food for weeks. SERVES ONE presents over a hundred fast bite- sized meals which quick quickly. First build a staples shelf from canned goods and condiments. Then, think small on perishables, shopping for a few days only. Then use SERVES ONE to whip up gourmet delights. Color photos mid-book add to the excitement and appeal.

A pretty complete cook book. The beginning is really good for beginning cooks. The recipes are basic and substitues are provided in some cases. The only thing missing is the nutrional values which could be helpful for people with special needs.

I am very satisfied with this cookbook. It does a good job of suggesting a number of simple possibilities for easy meals to make on a week night for one or two people. Most are not exotic, just hearty and healthy home cooked meals. There is alot of variety and I think some imagination. For example, the section on pasta has eleven recipes that don't use use tomato sauce,though there is also an easy recipe for homemade tomato sauce. There is a recipe for grilled tuna with mango dipping sauce if you are in the mood for something a little more out of the ordinary.

If you don't already cook some Chinese or have an Asian market nearby, you may find some recipes a little unfamiliar since they call for fresh ginger and garlic, soy sauce, Asian noodles or even miso or tofu. One rice recipe is seasoned with the Indian spice garam masala. I make some Indian curries or Chinese stir fry from time to time and typically have these things on hand anyway so this is not a problem for me. Most would be available at a good grocery store with an international section and they are worth getting to know if you don't use them already.

There are also some useful explanations and general tips on the ingredients and suggestions to expand on or improvise with the recipes. One slight negative is that there are only a few photos of the prepared dishes and they are all grouped together in one section of the book rather than being with the recipes. Another for some will be the requirement in some recipes for ingredients or seasonings only used in Indian or Chinese cooking. As for me, there are several recipes in this book which I enjoy and will return to so I am not at all sorry I bought it.

Looking through amazon.com for cookbooks tailored to cooking meals for one is an interesting experience. They either of the "men can't cook" variety around how to boil water or use soup as the base for life. Or a famous chef's idea of "tossing a few things together" for a gourmet feast for one. Neither of which helps me figure out what I can plan on having for dinner when I get home at 6:30 -- and like tonight forgot to pull anything out from the freezer.

One book that had good reviews was Serves One: Super Meals for Solo Cooks by Toni Lydecker. Available used for $4.00 including shipping (and 2 day amazon prime shipping at that!)

Leafing through it tonight I'm struck that there's no pictures and that there's a lot of filler. I mean really, a section on salads? I think we can figure out how to make a basic salad or a Caesar salad. Soups? From scratch..got plenty of those in all my "regular" cookbooks. On to the pasta dishes....First recipe is... spaghetti with butter and cheese...Hope this gets better.

Stove top cooking, first two of three are: Cooking a steak with pepper in it (seriously) and chicken fingers. OK so we're off to a very slow start and there's a lot of fillers in here.

But maybe there are some recipe's that I might actually try? Shellfish Steamer for one is promising, a Belgian beef stew that uses two bottles of dark beer? interesting....a mini-meatloaf or a single Cornish Hen ok so there's a few in here.

Things were looking up until I got to the section of sandwiches and then even found a recipe for french toast :(

My recommendation: You can skip this one (although at $4.00 I don't regret buying it)

I'll post a review on that belgian beer stew as soon as the weather gets a little cooler on my blog meals4one.

The book is put together well with servings for one. What I would have liked is a few more simple meals. Even though the recipes are sized for one I still find it difficult to find and cook just one piece of meat to make the dishes in the book.

I got some ideas from this book, but a lot of the recipes required exotic items that take time to find and add to cost.

I received what I ordered in good shape and minimum time. Would buy again.