The Jimtown Store Cookbook: Recipes from Sonoma County's Favorite Country Market [Hardcover]

Carrie Brown (Author), John Werner (Author), Michael McLaughlin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 2, 2002

One sunny summer day in 1987, Carrie Brown and John Werner happened on Jimtown, an abandoned country store in northern California. Founded more than 100 years earlier, the Jimtown Store had held fast to its original building and its old-fashioned charm. Enchanted by its possibilities, Carrie and John decided to turn Jimtown into a new kind of country store: a gathering place for people to share down-to-earth, honest food in a beautiful setting.

The new Jimtown quickly became a favorite, offering exceptional main courses, soups, salads, sandwiches, sweets, and breakfast goods, all made from fresh local produce. Now everyone can enjoy the dishes that have made Jimtown so popular, faithfully recorded by Michael McLaughlin, who collaborated on the legendary Silver Palate cookbooks. Each of the more than 135 recipes blends time-honored simplicity with updated flavors and a modern-day appreciation of quality ingredients. From sophisticated starters such as Crisp Grilled Dates with Manchego and Bacon to their famous Pan-Fried Petaluma Duck Burgers to such homey desserts as the delicious Buttermilk Pie, the recipes are all accessible and imaginative. Unencumbered by national boundaries, The Jimtown Store Cookbook offers a tasty bazaar of international food. Also included are cooking tips, menus for entertaining, and as a welcome bonus, colorful profiles of local vendors. So invite the Jimtown spirit into your home and enjoy the bounties of a very special country store.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sonoma County's Jimtown Store, a country market that was dilapidated until it was bought and renovated by Carrie Brown and John Werner in 1987, now serves uniquely good food to locals and visitors alike. Brown and Werner's The Jimtown Store Cookbook, written with Michael McLaughlin, offers 130 of Jimtown's best recipes--robust yet sophisticated dishes that range from Pumpkin Chipotle Soup and Paella Salad with Seared Tuna and Shellfish to Maple-Glazed Meat Loaf and Duck and Olive Ragout with Buttered Noodles. The store also has committed itself to local food producers, and their products help define Jimtown's globe-spanning yet all-American cuisine. This is a truly accomplished blend, and readers will find a ready supply of tantalizing recipes for everyday and special-occasion eating.

Brown and Werner first spotted Jimtown on the Fourth of July, so it's only fitting that they've developed a mouthwatering barbecue repertoire, with many accompanying sauces, condiments, pickles, and relishes. These signature items include Romesco Sauce and Lupe's Tomatillo Salsa; a number of these are fitting accompaniments to dishes like Grilled Fish Tacos, Roast Pork Loin with Bacon and Rosemary, and Grilled Chicken Breasts with Herbed Honey Butter. Other Jimtown specialties include sandwiches like roast beef with horseradish sauce and desserts such as Bittersweet Chocolate Pinwheel Cake and Buttermilk Pie. With the purveyors' cooking tips and menus for entertaining, the book, like the store, rewards digging into. --Arthur Boehm

From Library Journal

Brown and Werner opened their "general store"/restaurant on Sonoma County's Route 128 ten years ago, and it has been popular ever since. Werner was one of the original partners in New York City's Silver Palate shop, and McLaughlin was the coauthor of the incredibly successful first Silver Palate cookbook. Jimtown's recipes are in a similar vein, upscale but easy food such as Green Four-Bean Salad with Caesar Dressing and Roast Pork Loin with Bacon and Rosemary. Suggestions for special menus are scattered throughout, along with sketches of their "resident gentleman organic farmer" and other favorite purveyors. For area and other larger collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1st edition (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060197021
• ISBN-13: 978-0060197025
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seasonal best--all year long. May 9, 2002

By Frank Dunnigan

Format:Hardcover

From a small-town country store in the Northern California wine region, comes a great collection of recipes and entertaining ideas using a variety of seasonal products. Authors Carrie Brown and John Werner (with a wonderful assist from cookbook pro Michael McLaughlin) have compiled the very best of seasonal recipes and menu ideas used in the Jimtown Store and its catering business. The recipes are clear and easy to follow (though I wish that the publisher had worked harder to print the COMPLETE recipe on 1 or 2 facing pages--flipping the page in the middle of food prep is a real hassle!). Overall, though, it is a nicely written volume, which provides ideas for springtime suppers, autumn tailgate parties, Fourth of July barbecues, as well as holiday meals. There is an extensive chapter on salads of all sorts, plus another on sauces, condiments, and relishes, just to give us a few new twists on some old stand-by themes. There are some great weekend ideas in the chapter entitled Breakfast Baking. I've already made the maple-glazed meatloaf for dinner (leftovers make terrific sandwiches), and am now planning Grilled Steak with Backyard Bourbon Marinade as well as Apple-Buttermilk Slaw for some weekend lunch guests. Just in time for summer entertaining, this book is destined to become a year-round classic in my kitchen!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My new favorite August 19, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

This has quickly become the cookbook I turn to most often (and I have hundreds of them). Everything I've tried has been so flavorful and so easy to pull off. The roasted figs and Indian cashews are now a cocktail party staple (and I keep getting calls for the recipe). Same goes for the cheese and pecan crackers. The bourbon-marinaded steak has made me a much more frequent meat-eater. And just this past weekend I made the incredibly easy buttermilk pie, to much fanfare. Do yourself a favor and buy this book. It's OUTSTANDING.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jimtown takes the cake! April 18, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

One of those unique cookbooks where you'll want to make every recipe, and where you'll actually be able to. Jimtown's style is unfussy, focused on flavor and experience. These recipes mix old and new, national and international cuisine with witty and informative writing. I'm busy working my way through making the recipes and haven't had a dud yet!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A cookbook with many recipes to cook October 9, 2009

By Sparkle

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I LOVE this oookbook. I entertain a lot and am always in need of a new recipes that look or give the perception of "fancy" without killing me in the kitchen. This book is the one. For instance, many of the appetizer and hors d'oeuvre recipes serve 12. In addition, they have included stories about their suppliers, recommended menus for get togethers and little tips or stories before each recipe. If you are a cookbook "reader" this one is a nice one to curl up with and enjoy.

I have about 300 cookbooks and the trouble with most of them is that mostly they serve only as inspiration because each book contains too few recipes to make them a staple. Not this one, it sits right in my kitchen. I'm making the Dried Apricots with Chutney CHeese & Pomegranate Seeds next, since the pos are everywhere. And the chutney cheese.. not scary, just goat cheese mixed with plum, or other fruit chutney. Simple, looks and sounds fancy! Just my style!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Oldie but goodie May 18, 2009

By M. Lythcott

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The recipes in this book have stood the test of time. They are not dated in the least and the combination of flavors is amazing. This is one book that will never end up at Goodwill.

5.0 out of 5 stars A great gift - and even a used copy!! November 3, 2012

By K. Joppich

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great cookbook!!! Carrie Brown is an awesome cook!! I met her at Chateau Steve Jeane - I highly recommend this cookbook!! The JamesTown Brownies are like no others!!!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Christmas Purchase December 16, 2012

By Patrick E. Garrett

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Again, another Christmas purchase; and since it's not yet Christmas, don't know about reviewing the book. I will say that my son has been to Napa and requested this book.