Customer Reviews

Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day

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`tasty' by master culinary editor, Roy Finamore is an odd book by many counts, but if you happen to fit its best audience, it may be one of the best cookbooks you will see for many a moon. The blurb on the front from Ina Garten, `Recipes every cook should know' goes a long way to explaining what this book is all about, especially as it has a lot of similarities to Garten's own friendly `comfort food' style of recipes. But, I must point out at the outset that while Garten's books have less than half the recipes of this volume, they are all more expensive than this very thrifty list price of $30.

The very best audience for this book is not the `I hate to cook, but have to' crowd, or the `I like to cook, but don't have the time Rachael Ray fan club' or the foodie cookbook collector who pores over good celebrity chef offerings from Sara Moulton, Susan Spungen, Tyler Florence, and Deborah Madison. It is also not necessarily for the dedicated professional who studies volumes from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) or `Cooks illustrated'. It is for people like the author who like to cook, have the time to do moderately complicated recipes (work at home men are a perfect audience here), who like tasty, classic recipes, but who don't want to assemble a large library of cookbooks to garner twenty (20) good recipes. As someone who does own over 500 cookbooks, my first impression is that I have seen almost all these recipes in some other book. Maybe not the exact recipe, but something like it, as with the tomato pie, which has a family resemblance to a Sara Moulton tomato tart or the Welsh Rabbit, which I have seen in several English cookbooks from Nigel Slater and Jane Grigson, not to mention a gaggle of Irish cookbooks.

Finamore is a cookbook editor who has worked with many important cookbook authors such as Garten, Martha Stewart, Tom Colicchio, Diana Kennedy, Anne Willan, and Gale Gand. This, I sense just a bit of the culinary `fellow traveler's point of view I taste in the work of Alton Brown, with not quite as much humor and not quite as much circumspection with words as I appreciate from Brown. For example, Finamore grossly misuses the term `melt' when referring to the breakdown of one ingredient into another as when mashing up anchovies or garlic into vinaigrette. Finamore is also not entirely rigorous in explaining all his terms, as when he uses the term gorgonzola `dolce' cheese in a recipe with no explanation of the two different varieties of gorgonzola in his introductory glossary of ingredients.

But all this is minor nit-picking. In general, this is a superb cookbook for the casual cook who wants a reliable source of `tasty' recipes. The fact that many of the recipes will look familiar to even the non-foodie is a good thing, because even if they are not strictly `comfort food', they will have the feel of well worn slippers instead of the straitlaced feel of a totally unfamiliar `original' restaurant recipe from Emeril or Mario or Bobby or Daniel or Thomas or even bad boy Tony. Just to take one example from my experience, I have just started to do cooking without the safety net of a published recipe, and as I had two quarts of leftover homemade chicken stock, I wanted to make chicken noodle soup. Now, I searched all my favorite soup books from Barbara Kafka, James Peterson, the CIA and what have you, and I just couldn't quite come up with a validation of what I had in mind. Most were just a bit more complicated than I thought it should be. So, I did my best, making two annoying mistakes in using too many noodles and the washed up chicken meat from the stock recipe. But here, in Finamore's book is the most lovely little chicken soup recipe you can ask for, using homemade stock and some boneless chicken breast.

One of the better things about the recipes in this book is that they do not rely on a lot of unfamiliar ingredients. If you have a good working knowledge of the standard American / French / Italian pantry, you will find nothing here which will be hard to find in your local Wegmans market.

I also give extra credit to the book for covering breakfast and lunch. Any good cookbook for the casual cook must include these items, as they are usually only covered in specialty books. I also give the book extra credit for giving us several recipes which make good use of ingredients we commonly have left over, such as ricotta cheese.

Finamore mentions several lessons he learned from the likes of Jacques Pepin, which brings to mind the fact that this book replaces Pepin's `Fast Food My Way' as my favorite book to recommend to anyone who is looking for one good cookbook for when they like to cook. That is not to say this is not a good book for the foodie crowd. It is an excellent book for when the food sophisticate wants to let down their hair and make some `comfort food', but they want something just a bit more interesting than the latest Rachael Ray quickie. Looking through the `weekend dinners' chapter, I find, for example, the perfect combination of sophistication and simplicity in the `beef tenderloin stuffed with summer salsa' for serving 8. The beef tenderloin is impressive, the roulade technique is fancy, the salsa is `tasty, the prep and grilling requires some skill and experience, and the end result is great, even for leftovers. In the same chapter, the recipe for pork chops is careful to use a brine, without preaching about the lean state of modern porkers.

Highly recommended for everyday recipes, like it says!

Picture this: You're sitting around a kitchen table on metal and vinyl chairs talking with your brother whom the family acknowledges to be the fancy cook in the family. Your brother relates to you his riffs on recipes from his famous friends or family and one thing is clear; this man knows how to cook. He knows how to kick classic recipes in the butt and give them new life. This is what it is like to read and use Roy Finamore's "Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day."

Finamore lovingly acknowledges the contributions of his family and friends but kicks the recipes up a notch or two to make them his own. Check out the recipes for Roast Chicken and Cod-Puttanesca style. Finamore is funny and ingenious, and he torques classic recipes to a level one would not normally consider. The man knows his way around a kitchen and the book reads like a family recipe collection on fire. Clearly Mr. Finamore loves his family and cherishes the family gatherings he has experienced in the past. He is a blast to read and his food is amazing. My recommendation? BUY IT...NOW...AND USE IT DAILY.

this is available for a ridiculous price and worth, at least, five times as much. His name is not well-known, but his friends and clients are which certainly speaks well for him.

I like the style of writing and the recipes, the few I've tried so far, have turned out very well. I also like the author's attitude. You have permission to enhance your result, if desired, without inciting his scorn. Latitude in cooking is a nice attribute.

I found his web site, asked a question, and got a PROMPT answer.

Nice photography and I like the serving suggestions that relate to other recipes in the book.

This revision is written months later and i still like and use the book quite often. Some of his recipes have spilled over into other recipes I have devised and it's been a helppful read when I'm just looking for "ideas" on what to cook even when I don't follow a recipe.

First checked this book out from my local library. Within ten miinutes, I knew I needed it for my own collection. Creative, simple -- and love the "pairing" suggestions. Very inspiring! Thanks Mr. Finamore!

This is easily the best cookbook we've ever purchased. Every recipe in here works and most are fairly light on the amount of effort works. Even better, we've enjoyed everything we've made--some of these items are outstanding. The dijon pork tenderloin is dead simple and one of our 2 or 3 favorite dishes. It's well written in an entertaining style and much better value than any of the Contessa, Martha, Flay, etc. cookbooks we own. Most cookbooks yield a couple recipes that are keepers. We've yet to make something out of Tasty that isn't worth making again (and again and again).

Having cooked out of this cookbook for about two months, I continue to be amazed by it. The recipes are clearly written and easy to prepare. Usually when this is the case, the authors have sacrificed flavor in an effort to entice people who don't cook to learn to cook. The strategy backfires, of course, since who would want to learn to do something whose results consistently disappoint? Roy Finamore starts from the premise that regular people who have lives outside the kitchen can make really tasty food without depending on lots of sugar, salt, or fat to equal "taste." As I have explored the book, I start almost every recipe thinking, "This doesn't sound hard, how good can it be?" and am consistently--pleasantly--amazed by the results. The food is joyful and colorful, nourishing and comforting. What a great find!

This is one of my all time favorite cookbooks. There are so many flavorful, easy recipes. I will never buy ricotta cheese again. It is so easy to make. The English muffins are better than in stores.
White beans simmered with a parmesean rind, Wow! The list goes on.
Roy Finamore's sense of humor and great ways with dishes are amazing.

Whether you are a professional or a beginer his explanations on preparation and cooking are for everyone who loves good food. Our family uses this cook book many times to make favorites or find new ideas for dinner or desert.

Every once in awhile I come upon a cookbook that is as much inspiration as instruction, and this is one of those. I loved all of the short introductions of the recipes, why they were included in the book and what makes them special. Like many of the other reviewers, I found this book to include recipes for ingredients that most every home cook should already have in the pantry. I live in somewhat of a rural area, so it is important that I am able to find recipes that don't call for all sorts of specialty ingredients since we just can't find them here. I would highly recommend this cookbook to anyone interested in making simple yet delicious food.

We were looking for a new cookbook and I heard about this one on an NPR segment. It was billed as great recipes that were simple and of fabulous quality. We have tried the pancakes and the overnight steel-cut oats, and the oven-roasted tomato soup. All were fantastic.

IN THESE DAYS IT IS RARE TO FIND A BOOK OF THIS TYPE WHICH iS LARGELY ORIGINAL IN CONTENT. THIS IS ESPECIALLY SURPRISING IN VIEW OF THE AUTHOR'S EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND WITH THIS GENRE. ALL THE RECIPES I'VE TRIED HAVE BEEN PLEASANTLY SUCCULENT AND SUCCESSFUL WHILE BEING (APPARENTLY) KLUTZ-FRIENDLY. THE COPIES I HAVE PRESENTED TO MY STOVE-USER FRIENDS WERE VERY WELL RECEIVED AND GREATLY APPRECIATED. ONE ACQUAINTANCE WHO OWNS MORE THAN 600 COOKBOOKS WAS HERSELF IMPRESSED WITH THE SCOPE AND QUALITY OF THE RECIPES AND MEAL PLANS.
DEMI-GOURMAND
HARRY LIEBEN