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Tanis' quantities are all over the place. This good has fantastic recipes - either use his entire meals or do individual recipes. Also, his color palette on the plate is wonderful. Standard recipes in books are for 4 - halve it for two and double for a party of eight. Then there are minor things like a lack of a sensible recipe index.But those are minor gripes. So it's very inspirational (and you can play around with the ingredients a little if any are hard to find - it's the combinations and the colors and the freshness that make it great.Why only 4 stars, then.
Other times, it's much more difficult. I have yet to find one that wasn't both interesting and delicious. Sometimes it's easy to catch - you know that 1lb of protein per person is plain wrong. I fear it's the book's production that lets it down. The worst aspect is the portion control. A competent editor would have put this right.
If you enjoy good food and good cooking, this book is a treat - I've already given three to friends.
I was given this book for Christmas by my family and I must say it is a pleasure to read and I love the way the menus are arranged seasonally. I really enjoy this book and look forward to trying the recipes. I like to cook seasonally and with local ingredient as much as possible and to keep food as close as possible to its natural state. It is easy to read and his recipes are low fuss. I have already seen in the book some pointers I can use in my overall cooking and I love the narrative and explanation that goes along with every menu. Great.
Food is more than just fuel and a cookbook is more than just recipes. Arranging the menus by season makes the book useful all year and the pictures are as enticing as they are beautiful. Tanis reminds the reader of the enjoyment of sharing a meal and the social opportunity of preparation. We share the flavor of memories in his writing. Directions are clear and results satisfying. I hope that he writes more books.
I don't eat meat but there are plenty of veggie recipes here, and good ones at that. This is a cookbook you can read. Informative and entertaining stories from the author's cooking and life experience begin each new section. Lots of tips on how to cook/prepare food that can carry over into different recipes. The book is beautifully designed, nice typography, simple, great photos.
And that's just in the introduction. I had to try, even if it seemed dubious, and he was right: fresh sliced figs sprinkled with good salt and a drizzle of olive oil are delicious.
For some of the recipes you have to be a serious foodie AND have money to burn on exotic ingredients. Like morel mushrooms, saffron, rabbit, lobster, etc.
This cookbook is part memoir, part travelogue, completely beautiful to read. Most only require a decent deli counter, a good produce section or farmers' market, and a sense of adventure.
Not on our budget, nor in our local stores. Some recipes, but not all.
Add a nice frosty beer and that's a good snack for grown-ups. The desserts are especially delightful, we loved almost all of them.
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