The Way We Cook: Recipes from the New American Kitchen [Hardcover]

Sheryl Julian (Author), Julie Riven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 2003

For the past twenty years, in their wildly popular newspaper and cooking columns, Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven have been providing hundreds of thousands of cooks with recipes they can depend on. Now, in this long-awaited cookbook which is an essential reference for anyone who wants to get the most out of time in the kitchen, they present 250 of their favorites. From Roast Side of Salmon to Creamy Chocolate Tart, each dish is straightforward, contemporary, and elegant: home cooking at its best. Julian and Riven have an unerring sense of what busy people need: appetite-provoking nibbles that won't set back dinner preparations; easy meals for the time of day when the cook is most exhausted; impressive but relaxed dinners for company; simple side dishes; slow-cooked suppers served straight from the pot; weekend breakfasts that leave plenty of time for reading the paper; desserts anyone can master.
It's all here in The Way We Cook: Appetizers: Spicy Pecans * Honey-Roasted Chicken Wings * Marinated Shrimp in White Wine Vinaigrette Salads: Eggless Caesar Salad * Wilted Spinach Salad * Cucumber and Red Onion Salad When You're in a Rush: Ten-Minute Bolognese * Pork Tenderloins with Caramelized Onions * Chicken Roasted on a Bed of Apples Dishes We Make All the Time: Chicken and Corn Chili * Yankee Pot Roast with Caramelized Vegetables * Old-Fashioned Vegetable Soup New Classics: Succotash with Seared Scallops * Chicken Pot Pie Good Enough for Company: Herb-Roasted Flattened Chicken * Ossobuco * Orange-Marinated Turkey Breast Simmering Pots: Spring Garden Stew * Portuguese Chicken Stew Sides: Asparagus Cooked for Two Minutes * Potato Crisps with Fresh Herbs * Casserole-Roasted Fall Vegetables Rise and Dine: Sour Cream Coffee Cake * Leek and Egg Frittata If You Love to Bake: Lemon Pudding Cake * Free-Form Apple Tart * Double-Chocolate Refrigerator Cookies

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The "we" of the The Way We Cook are authors Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, co-creators of a widely popular Boston Globe food column. The book offers over 250 recipes for simple yet attractive fare that's rooted in American home cooking but which also satisfies worldly palates. Thus the couple provides recipes like Grilled Chicken in Lettuce Leaves with Asian Vinaigrette, Braised Beef in Balsamic Vinegar, and Quick Fish Stew with Ginger and Thyme, while also offering recipes for too-good-to-mess-with favorites including Shrimp and Spanish Rice, Hot and Sour Soup, and a particularly good rendering of roast loin of pork with dry fruits. There's also a fine chapter on sides--don't miss the Crusty Smashed Potatoes--and sections on sweets including Sour Cream Coffee Cake, Congo Bars, Ice Cream Pie, and Julie's Mother's Apple Cake. Other cookbooks work the same territory that Julian and Riven do, but The Way We Cook offers exemplary taste, especially well-crafted recipes, and, perhaps above all, a keen response to the modern cook's need to make limited kitchen time count. -–Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

Julian and Riven, cooking columnists for the Boston Globe, promise their book to be uncomplicated and practical while at the same time elegant and informed-and they more than live up to their promise. "We aren't restaurateurs and we don't think people at home, taking times from their busy lives, should pretend to be either," they tell the reader, and say they've written a book the average American household can really use. Filled with simple recipes for the modern kitchen, the book offers enthusiastic introductions to each dish, and the recipes, which are written in a warm, mentoring tone, have ample guidelines and helpful tips. The authors shed light on cooking the Roast Pork Tenderloins with Caramelized Onions: "Pork is safe-and quite good-cooked until it is pink, not grayish-white like everyone did years ago." The suggestions for variations on any recipe are novel without being showy: for Chicken Pot Pie with Rich Pastry, they recommend a Salmon and Mushroom Pot Pie variation, which instructs the cook to simply halve the pastry recipe. The photographs that accompany the recipes are simple and instructive. Sections, aptly named "When You're in a Rush," "Good Enough for Company" and "If You Like to Bake," make choosing the right recipe a snap. Reminiscent of that 1980s standby, The Silver Palate, Julian and Riven's cookbook is innovative enough to be inspiring but familiar enough not to strike fear in the heart of the average cook.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; None edition (May 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618171495
• ISBN-13: 978-0618171491
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A home cook's dream July 5, 2003

By Barbara D. Roby

Format:Hardcover

I am a cook who needs a recipe. No experience at my mother's knee. (She worked.) At long last here is a cookbook of recipes that are not too complicated but that have a certain flair. They are, I would say, uncommon but uncomplicated. The onion tart, for instance, consists of onions and thyme, with a dollop of sour cream in its crust. Simple, yes; devoured by my guests, yes. I suggest one should read it through first, for the introduction and the chapter headings are very informative and present the authors' wonderful philospohy that the home cook should not try to duplicate restaurant presentations. This is a cookbook that informs, encourages, promises -- and delivers. Trust me, you will enjoy this cookbook. You can, with this collection of recipes, relax and enjoy cooking for family and for discerning guests. Julia, Silver Palate, and Joy will remain on my shelves, but "The Way We Cook" will remain on my counter!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The relaxed approach September 23, 2003

By Lynn Harnett TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The first cool crispness of fall sends many home cooks back to the kitchen, eager to cook something new and different. Julian and Riven, who write a weekly column for the Boston Globe's food section, understand this seasonal urge for something new to cook. Their first book is designed for "accomplished" and busy home cooks and features straightforward, unfussy recipes with plenty of room for variation and timing options.

After "Salads" and "Appetizers" the book is organized around occasion. "When You're in a Rush" features weeknight meals like Ten-minute Bolognese Sauce, Pork Chops with Apples and Onion, and the five-ingredient Shrimp in Coconut Milk with Red Curry Paste, which takes longer to say than to cook. Not all of the dishes are so quick - Eggplant Lasagna requires assembly and baking - but they share a simplifying "one-pot meal" approach.

"Dishes We Make All The Time" includes homey fare like Baked Meatballs and Tomato Sauce, Yankee Pot Roast with Caramelized Vegetables and Bow Ties with Pot Cheese and Peas. There's also a French Onion Soup made with roasted onions and Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce that can be served in bowls or over pasta.

"New Classics" offers tweaks to the tried and true to reflect the modern tastes for leaner, more highly seasoned food, like Oven Fried Fish and Chips and Roasted Coq Au Vin with Sugar Snap Peas. "Good Enough for Company" features Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Sauce, Chicken breasts stuffed under the skin with Ricotta and herbs, Roast Side of Salmon, Salmon and Mushroom Pot Pie.

There's a chapter of stews and braises - Spring Garden Stew, Braised Beef in Balsamic Vinegar and another of side dishes like Harvard Beets, Sautéed Apples, and Noodle Pudding. "Rise and Dine" features Salmon Kedgeree, Warm Cheese Pie and Blueberry Muffins; a baking chapter focuses on cakes, cookies and pies and the book ends with Simple Fruit Deserts from Apple Crisp to Baked Peaches in Brown Sugar.

Attractively designed, the book is a comfortable combination of the familiar and the new, with simple, practical advice for serving combinations, do ahead tips and variations. A book for cooks who like a relaxed feel in the kitchen, and who doesn't?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars simple food, simple recipes July 20, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I bought this book after reading a review of it. The recipes are simple and easy to follow. They do not use any ingredients that you cannot get at a regular supermarket. No recipe requires the cook to stand over the stove stirring or watching it cook. I highlighted all the recipes I want to try and easily have a month's worth of dinners. I'm so glad there's finally a cookbook for cooks who don't have time to cook!