Customer Reviews

The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A NYC Chef, I took this book with me when going down south to cook for 2 older southern gentlemen because I was informed under no uncertain terms that I would have to cook old-fashioned American country food. This book turned out to be very dependable. I am intrigued by the less than satisfactory reviews of the book. He definitely backtracks on some of his recipes in the Cook's Bible (he tells you where) but he also talks about how he improved the recipe here. To be sure, I have modifications in mind for my own taste on several of the recipes, and find the "master recipe" concept for things like mashed potatoes amusing, but this book's results are very enjoyable home-style cooking. One major feature for me was that I've been used to the organic produce and variety one finds in NY, but there, that wasn't available. These recipes came through because they are written for what one can find in a grocery store anywhere in the country.

This is a fantastic cookbook if you want the best of American cooking. It's also two cookbooks in one. For me, it is first an invitation to smart cooking that gets results every time. After reading the cookbook and with the holiday season, I decided to make pie for company for the first time. Three terrific pies later (one friend said it was the best pie he had ever had), I know this is a reliable recipe. And now my friends think I am an expert on pie! These recipes work because Kimball finds the right balance between health and taste.The second aspect of the cookbook is the collection of stories that you want to curl up with in front of a fire. After reading the stories, I want to keep cooking. Kimball brings with the recipes the smell and taste of American cooking. Most of my cookbooks are gathering dust - they are just hollow renditions of recipes, some of which work, some of which don't. This one is at the center of my kitchen: I can trust what Kimball says and I can read a good food story before I start chopping vegetables.

There is great comfort for any cook who finds a cookbook author he or she likes: you know what to expect, you trust their judgement and their recipes, you like their voice. That's the case with Christopher Kimball and me.

Christopher Kimball founded and still edits COOK'S ILLUSTRATED magazine. I always learn something from COOK'S. Its laconic, thorough approach is Chris incarnate, and this unfussy spirit is echoed in "The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook" as well. With its yellow-checked cover, an old-fashioned typeface (Poor Richard, perhaps?), and illustrations reminiscent of woodblock prints by Rockwell Kent or Barry Moser, this is a conscious visual effort to call up the gentle past.

The recipes, however, are anything but nostalgic. Chris flatly debunks assumption after assumption about recipes we thought we knew. He is a demon tester, and has charted wonderful new paths to the same old dishes, making them bright and newly delicious in our mouths. Several "Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook" recipes have become family favorites in my home (especially the scalloped potatoes, which get requested on practically a weekly basis). This book is a stroke of good fortune for any home cook.

I have just baked my second Lemon Meringue Pie (p. 312), and thanks to the exhaustive research and excellent, easy to understand instruction, it is perfect. Never again will I have to tolerate gummy, stiff, overly sweet lemon pies with topped with weepy, puddled meringue. Master recipes for old standards with new variations make this book a must have for anyone who cooks. Mr. Kimball's narrative is just as entertaining outside of the kitchen as in it. We can't wait for his next installment!

The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook is aimed for those with second houses OR startup kitchens. It is complete with what utensils and pots to buy, with reviews right out of the Cooks Illustrated Magagine. It gives lots of information on the science of cooking too. There are not allot of recipes in here but this is a basic book that lets you understand cooking & what to buy to get started.

If you get this with the Joy and you'll be okay.
The Cook's bible is the upscale version of the Farmhouse, the pots and kitchen equipment are more top-end; Farmhouse is how to make a kitchen on a budget -- your call.

Besides being a good read, with Kimball's charming reminiscences of growing up in a quaint Vermont country town, this cookbook is a treasure because of the multitude of absolutely reliable recipes for the best country cooking to be had! I just love this cookbook, and it is the first one I reach for when making meals everyday for my family. It is full of recipes for the type of good, hearty, down-home cooking that you grew up with and/or crave. These recipes are so thoroughly tested and well explained that they are, well, fool-proof. Kimball tells you why and how. All the recipes I have tried have been superb. The chicken pot pie is homey and satisfying. The buttermilk biscuits are so tender and fluffy and high, I threw away my old biscuit recipe and will not make biscuits any other way now. The buttermilk pancakes are the best and most tender I have ever had -- the secret is in the egg whites. Read why inexpensive cast-iron cookware is all you need for good cooking. Now I understand why my expensive Calphalon pans and non-stick coatings have long disappointed me. As soon as I had finished reading this book cover to cover, I bought a cast-iron Dutch oven and two skillets, and now I am cooking happy. If you want a cookbook to cook real meals by, this is the one!!!

I like this book very much. As usual Chris Kimball gifts us his knowledge and expertise, along with wonderful stories and thoughts. So then, with all his expertise and knowledge...why does Christopher Kimball mess up so horribly in the index? I spent 30 mintues trying to find a recipe for cinnamon rolls. Then I gave up and went to my old standard The Farm Journals Baking Book. The index is one powerful tool in any book like this...we need an index. If there is an order to it I have yet to figure it out. When I want or need a recipe I want to be able to find it right now, not waste a huge chunk of time searching for the subject.

I picked up THE YELLOW FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK while my wife was preparing a meal from one of Kimball's recipes. I literally could not put the book down after having read the acknowledgements and introduction. The volume is invaluable for anyone serious about what happens in the kitchen, and is a practical and indespensible reference tool for any home. More importantly, from my point of view, it is remarkably well-written. Mr. Kimball writes with an ingenuous warmth that not only makes the reader feel a closeness to this special Vermont community, but to the author, as well. All culinary concerns aside, this is a very good read.

This cookbook is a must if you are into country cooking. The stories that accompany the recipes are also very entertaining. However, I did expect this book to be slightly more informative as it was published by the author of Cook's Illustrated magazine. Also, color photographs would have been preferred.

to order it (especially since I drive by that little yellow farmhouse every day). This is not dinner at Chantarelle. This is comfort-food for the long winter and picnics on the Fourth. If you like country cooking and doing things the old-fashioned way, this is the book for you. The index is a little funky, but this book belongs in every country kitchen.