Sunday, August 21, 2011

Around My French Table: Earnest Summation

When I was in South Africa, I met a woman from New Jersey and we immediately connected over our love of Dorie Greenspan's cookbooks. She has a lot of fans, that Dorie. I think I've effused sufficiently about Around My French Table over the last 8 months, so I'll be quick. This has become one of my most cherished cookbooks -- for the sardines rillettes, the beggar's linguine, the cheese crackers, the perfect brioche, the super-easy curried chicken and peas that you roast in a triangle of foil. For the generosity and reliability and abundance. I keep going back to this book and suspect I always will.

During my initial fling with this book, I made 32 recipes:

Worth the price of the book -- 5 (the recipes listed above)
Great -- 12
Good -- 13
So-so -- 2
Flat-out bad -- 0

One of the best ratios since I started this blog.

Now, a little Heidi Swanson, a little Guy Fieri, and I'm current.

9 comments:

  1. Thank you. I just found my tin of sardines and thought, What on EARTH did I buy this for? And now I know. Rillettes tomorrow!

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  2. dang it. just when I thought I had convinced myself I didn't need any more cookbooks.

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  3. Bought this after reading your earlier posts, can't wait to actually cook out of it!

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  4. Love, love, love Dorie. Like, embarrassing fan-girl love.

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  5. Couldn't agree with you more. We have a monthly cookbook club at work where everyone brings a dish from a specific book. Last month we did Ethan Stowell and I found it unapproachable and in the end, a quite boring meal (though the blueberry basil sorbet was delish as were the cardamom sables). So this month, when it was my turn to suggest a book, I brought Dorie to work. Not only was the meal outstanding - every single dish - but three of my coworkers immediately ordered it online when lunch was finished. Love love love.

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  6. bought it today at Border's...50% off, it was the last copy. Karma, right?

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  7. Based on your recommendation I checked Around My French Table out of the library and then bought it. My ratio of books checked out to books actually purchased is about 50:1 so Dorie overcame some tough odds. I love this cookbook for all the reasons you mentioned-- her magpie sensibility, the idea I get that she actually does cook this food (which would be why the recipes work), the ease and clarity and deliciousness of the food. Loved the broccoli with breadcrumbs and the curry chicken in foil, of which my current dinner-resister, aged 5, said "THIS IS THE YUMMIEST CHICKEN EVER!" Then I made the olive-olive cornish game hen. "THIS IS THE BEST CHICKEN I'VE EVER EATEN!"

    Thank you so much for this and your other cookbook write-ups, and for your own book which we're also enjoying enormously. The vanilla extract is coming along nicely. The homemade crack[erjack] is dangerous, dangerous stuff though.

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  8. I read cookbooks and rarely cook from them. I took one look at Dorie Greenspan's new recipes and knew I would be cooking from the book. They are terrific, trustworthy and great to eat. I made her cheese crackers for a party. They were very easy and really good. My friends were shocked that I used a recipe from a cookbook and that it was wonderful.

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  9. In my opinion you should get this cookbook. It is reliable and the recipes taste wonderful. Dorie has outdone herself with this one.

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