Customer Reviews

Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm sort of baffled as to how to review this cookbook, because I think it's great for her intended audience, but the marketing is a bit misleading. Someone who is looking for truly SIMPLE meals to make for one person may be a bit dissappointed. So I'll just sum up my impressions of it so far.

First of all, it's a beautiful book. Nicely laid out, gorgeous photographs, personal antecdotes - it's just the sort of book I love browsing through when I'm feeling excited about cooking. I like the stylistic layout of the recipes, with the ingredients in a separate column on the side, and it's printed on thick, quality paper. It's a high quality paperback, perfect for laying flat on the counter.

Her attitude throughout is kind of gratingly pretentious at times. It's as if she expects the readers to look at her as some kind of culinary snob, so she deliberately makes comments to diffuse it, but the comments are sort of more pretentious than just snobbiness. For example, discussing eating polenta straight from the pot with a spoon: "... I make no apologies for my childish eating habits." Or, discussing microwave cooking - "... I will confess I have reheated coffee a few times. I am no longer a total culinary snob." Besides blatent examples like that, her tone and choice of words throughout are sort of exclusionary. I find it amusing and charming, but I'm sure other people will be put off by it.

In her introduction, she plainly says that this is not another book of quick meals for singles. Alot of the dishes in this book are rather lengthy and complicated. Her persian meatball soup, for example, requires mixing and rolling 30 tiny meatballs, soaking and precooking 2 different dried grains, and has 20 ingredients - all for 1-2 servings. On top of that, it's a yogurt based soup, which I found very difficult to not curdle and ruin. Is it good? I'm not sure, because I've tried it twice, investing hours each time, and haven't been successful. My mom saw the recipe and laughed - she's started calling this my "snooty single person cookbook."

Alot of the flavors she likes are strange. Lots of exotic herbs and ethnic spices, (cinnamon in the meatballs was a little strange). The recipes also seem pretty high in fat and cholesterol. Here's my favorite quote of the whole book (about spaghetti alla carbonara): "Yes, I realize that this is a high cholesterol special, but I don't care. I only eat this pasta twice a year. The rest of the time I am a model of Mediterranean dietary restraint." Haha. I guess she doesn't eat the other recipes in the book that call for several eggs, butter, cheese and heavy cream.

But if you can get past the pretentiousness, the apparent unhealthiness, and the complicated nature of some recipes, - most of them are REALLY good. The poached salmon is SO delicious that it's my new favorite way to eat salmon. All of the egg dishes are great, so are some of the soups.

I consider myself somewhat of an amatuer gourmet. I enjoy grocery shopping and reading cookbooks and trying new recipes, and most nights it is just me for dinner. I like this book because the food is good, and reading it makes me want to become a true gourmet. I think that I'm probably close to her target audience.

I'm sure anybody who has experience cooking or a desire to spend a lot of time cooking and shopping would enjoy this book a lot. I was hoping for something less complicated because I am not much of a chef, and I don't have the time to find exotic ingredients and prepare them. I was hoping for a cook book that would help me eat healthier (no frozen dinners), and save some money by not eating out 4 or 5 nights a week. Here is a quote from the introduction which sums up why this book is not right for me, "There is a growing market of sophisticated single diners who have traveled extensively, dined out in all manner of restaurants, know how to cook, and love to eat well." I would say that is a perfect description of the intended audience for this book. Unfortunately I am not part of it.

This cookbook features elegant recipes with long lists of exotic ingredients. Everything looks delicious, but I've only made a couple of recipes because they are not practical for my busy life. To cook from this cookbook, you have to plan ahead, buy unusual ingredients that are sometimes hard to find and are unlikely to be called for in other recipes, and be prepared to put some real time in to prepare the meal. If you enjoy cooking this way as a hobby, you may well enjoy this cookbook. However, if when you cook for yourself, you want flavorful, healthy food without a lot of effort, this is not the cookbook for you. I like the book for browsing through, looking at the pretty pictures, and imagining the recipes all made up. I rarely cook from it.

A few recipes in here are delicious -- especially the Tortilla and Lime Soup, and the Chicken and Bread Soup. I also really liked the quesadilla, the spaghetti alla carbonara and (especially) the risotto. But the author often writes things like "This will make a double batch" or "Reserve this for another use." To me, that contradicts the point of the book!

For example, the salad dressing recipes are WAY TOO MUCH, so be prepared to divide into fourths. (Solo cooks are used to this already.) Sometimes, she calls for 1/2 cup of olive oil, or 3/4 cup of sour cream. This, for one person! And where the heck can I find the grain known as farro? It's in three recipes. I've looked all over Nashville and can't find it anywhere. Still, Solo Suppers is worth purchasing for the recipes I mentioned above. I haven't cooked any of the meat, seafood or dessert dishes yet, but some of them look promising. I'd say it's a good gift for a friend, and then you can copy a few recipes first. Only two of the recipes have been awful, but the pictures are terrific.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the stack of Solo Suppers at my local
Barnes & Noble. This reaction was provoked by the mere name of the book's author: Joyce Esersky Goldstein. I am a long time admirer (okay - fan) of the works of Ms. Goldstein. My own grease stained, butter spotted copies are a
testament to the fact these are truly books to cook by - not just cook books.

As a frequent solo cook, her latest publication radiates with the culinary possibilities of eating alone. Leftovers are the lifeline of a solo diner and this book unabashedly endorses the practicalities of using leftovers in a creative and delicious manner. Solo Suppers is worth the price for Ms. Goldstein's recipe for Parmesan Pudding. This is get down, good eatin'. Although not all the selections are this inventive, each has a "spin" which makes you look at
old standards with a new palate. All of her accompanying sauces are Must Make. I've had the book only a few days, but I'm working my way (yeah!) through them and they are knockouts.

Finally, a deep thank you to Joyce Goldstein for her intelligent and delicious support of the last social group to come out of the closet: The Solo Cook.
She has validated our sect in the highest and most honored way imaginable:
Great Recipes.

This is a lovely & well-presented book with recipes that are upscale and tasty-sounding. I have to figure out where to buy the ingredients for several, though. The well-traveled author apparently loves to shop in gourmet import stores. I shop at the local supermarket so I'm sure I'm disadvantaged from her point of view. I enjoyed her introduction where someone finally put to print the fact that just because you live alone, it doesn't mean that you're not interested in cooking or eating well. Living alone doesn't mean that you don't DESERVE to eat well. There is a large population of people (27% percent of Americans as stated in the book) who live alone - it's time that cookbooks and other types of books addressed this fact (gosh I'm tired of cookbooks full of recipes for huge family portions). This is a lovely cookbook that finally addresses singles. My only problem is that it addresses the wealthy, upscale single. The author comes off sounding snobbish at times. But I'll go ahead and take that over another family cookbook or college dorm singles cookbook anytime.

After reading some of the other customer reviews for this book, I had to step up to the plate and defend a really great cook book. This book is for the solo diner not the solo eater. If you don't enjoy cooking, if you don't enjoy using fresh and/or exotic ingredients, then this book is not for you.

I find the recipes adapt well if I want to increase the serving portion to share with someone else or if I just won't have time to cook for a few days. I love this book. Many of these recipes are quickly becoming part of my core favorites.

I feel like Joyce Goldstein wrote this book just for me, and many other singles will, too. Finally! A tasteful, savvy, cookbook on cooking for one. "Solo" isn't patronizing or insulting (unlike the names of so many singles-targeted books), so the title attracted me straightaway. The recipes are tempting, they're laid out nicely, and the photos are beautiful and mouthwatering. The dishes are indeed just right for one, and the recipes are timed well.

Most recipes in this world are written for 4 to 6, meaning that if you live alone, you're eating the leftovers for a week straight. At which time it's officially *over* between you and that dish--you'll never ever want to have it again. (Consigning extra portions to the freezer doesn't always help, in my opinion.)

On the other hand, this book speaks straight to a food-loving, solo person's situation and needs, with an overall message that's extremely important: you, yes you, are worth cooking well for, even if you eat by yourself six nights a week. The book is filled with exuberant flavors--just the kind that can hoist you out of a funk when you've had a bad day and have no one at home to talk about it with. Joyce's variations and serving suggestions are right-on, as is most of the advice about shopping, keeping a reasonable, well-stocked pantry, and making just enough of certain dishes to use the leftovers in a completely different way the next night.

This is the most sophisticated, useful book of its kind that I've ever run across. I love that it's for food-smart, single cooks who want to eat well, use great ingredients, and cook beautifully, rather than young hipsters who don't know better yet (and that's with all due respect to young hipsters). At the same time, the book seems right for devoted beginner cooks who want to cook better, as well as advanced-beginners and higher.

So... I don't pretend to be Julia Childs in the kitchen and yes, often I create items which include the suffix n'cheese. I bought this book, expecting to find recipes for those like myself who can't figure out how to reduce ingredients down to a "solo supper," really how do you reduce one egg? Anyhow, I found this book to be out of touch with those who would be most likely to use it. Yes I love a great meal as much as the next person but honestly I will not be cooking duck for myself anytime soon. If you are looking for a cookbook for everyday use for those of us who live alone, I don't recommend this book. If you are someone who likes a multi-course multi-hour preparation meal for you and your lonesome than buy this book immediately.

I bought this book hoping that it would broaden my meals when I come home from work. However I am not the intended reader. This is a book for lonely chefs, not lonely engineers. Most recipes are complicated and require stocking up on all kinds of ingredients that would rarely get used otherwise. You may want to make each meal 2 weeks in a row since you'll have plenty of ingredients left over. It was not the simple solution I was looking for.