Best of the Best from Hawaii: Selected Recipes from Hawaii's Favorite Cookbooks (Best of the Best State Cookbook) (Plastic Comb)

by Gwen McKee (Editor), Barbara Moseley (Editor), Tupper England (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: baling powder, cup shoyu, stalks green onions, Favorite Island Cookery Book, Dd's Table Talk, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Want to... prepare the popular Huli Huli Chicken... bake delicious Coconut Macadamia Nut Crisps... learn all about cooking Oven Kalua Pig an dall the other traditional lu'au recipes? Now you can! This cookbook will introduce you to all these wonderful native dishes, plus many more. Scattered among the recipes are fascinating facts and photos that capture Hawaii's unique history and culture.

Over 300 favorite recipes from sixty-three of Hawaii's leading cookbooks make up this extraordinary collection. These contributing cookbooks are listed in a special section along with ordering information - a treasure for anyone who collects cookbooks.

About the Author
For decades, Quail Ridge Press has been collecting and publishing classic recipes from every corner of the country. The goal of this quest is to Preserve America’s Food Heritage. The editors, Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley have sought out the leading cookbooks within a state, and then selected the most popular recipes from these cookbooks to produce the different volumes in Quail Ridge Press’ acclaimed Best of the Best State Cookbook Series.

Product Details

• Plastic Comb: 286 pages
• Publisher: Quail Ridge Press (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893062627
• ISBN-13: 978-1893062627
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #221,116 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #18 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Asian > Pacific Rim
  #20 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional > Hawaii
  #48 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional > West

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful gathering of the best of the best Local Hawaii Recipes, December 23, 2007

By	Tori Bella (Honolulu, HI & LA, CA) - See all my reviews

This is a great book. It's not original/new recipes but compilations of the best of the best local Hawaii cookbooks up to the date of population. I own a cramp load of local Hawaiian cookbooks, and this is the one of the two (the other one is 50th Anneiversary Best of Our Favorite Recipes 1946 -1996 by Maui Association for Family and Community Education )I grab for when I want to make a local dish. I have also bought and mailed copies to my friends on the mainland, who have left Hawaii.
Anther local cook book I just picked up you want to try once Amazon starts carrying it, is Jean Hee's Best of the Best Hawaii Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee. Hee is one of the top local Hawaii recipe book writers. You might want to check out her other books that Amazon dose carry.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A compilation of other cookbooks, June 7, 2007

By	silia (California USA) - See all my reviews

I have very mixed feelings about this cookbook.

I gather from the introduction that this is one of a series based on visiting different states and putting together a cookbook to "preserve their food heritage". How the authors plan on summarizing the entire culinary experience of a state with such an interesting history, mix of races, and emphasis on FOOD is answered by what you get: a compilation of other cookbooks. So on the plus side, many of their sources are really good. (The entire Honpa Hongwanji series are great and are in my mother's, grandmother's, aunt's, etc collection. They're sort of dated, but have a lot of classic everyday food.) On the negative side taking a few recipes from other recipe collections gives you very little coherence, understanding of where that recipe came from (time period or heritage), or understanding of the ingredients. Plus, the selection of these recipes are just sort of strange. Spicy Garlic Eggplant and Pork (pg 128) and Spicy Szechuan Eggplant (pg 100) are basically the same recipe with minor changes from 2 different cook books. Several recipes are for poke, but the authors don't seem to realize they're related, or, at least, don't explain what it is. I have to wonder if they actually cooked these recipes at all or just leafed through the other books.

Pictures are chosen to be more atmospheric with tourist photos of the authors, scenic places, and some line drawings (not of the food). The photos of people in "native garb" (at tourist sites) also contrast with the recipes, which are largely modern pot luck sort of food. (In particular, there's a cringe-worthy vintage photo near the front that must be just for nostalgia's sake because no one I know in Hawaii would be caught dead looking like that.)

Besides the food, there are also little tidbits of information peppered through the book that are supposed to give you an idea of island life. My question: Who exactly told the authors that curry is often served at parties? What a strange generalization. They also commit the faux-pas in the preface of calling their friend a second generation Hawaiian. Hawaiians are like American Indians; you can't call yourself one just because you've moved somewhere.

So, there are definitely some good recipes in here. It's just that you stumble upon things that are just plain wierd if you're from Hawaii.

5.0 out of 5 stars cook book review, April 22, 2009

By	Michael C. Baker (Central FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good book, good food and simple to prepare.
It is likely what the locals eat, rather than the restuarant food, which is what I wanted.