Courageously honest, downright inspiring, and just a little bit saucy, Paula shares the highs and lows of her life in the inimitable charming and irreverent style that you know from her television shows and personal appearances. She talks about long childhood summers spent in a bathing suit and roller skates and hard years living in the back of her father's gas station; a buzzing high school social life of sleepovers, parties, cheerleading, and boys; and a difficult marriage. The death of her beloved parents precipitated a debilitating agoraphobia that crippled her for years. But even when the going got tough, Paula never lost the good grace and sense of humor that would eventually help carry her to success and stardom. Of course, you can't get by on charm alone: as Paula has learned, you need plenty of willpower, hard work, and, above all, the love and support of family and friends to finance, sustain, and run a successful restaurant.
In each chapter, Paula shares new recipes: there's serious comfort food like her momma's Chocolate-Dippy Doughnuts, Courage Chili for when you know life's going to get tough, Sexy Oxtails for seducing that special someone, and the recipe for her new mother-in-law's Banana Nut Delight Cake that Paula finally got just right. And you'll love the never-before-seen photos of her family.
In this memoir, Paula Deen speaks as frankly and intimately as few women in the public eye have ever dared. Whether she's telling tales of good times or bad, her story is proof that the old-fashioned American dream is alive and kicking, and there still is such a thing as a real-life happy ending.
The only mandatory Italian cookbook for the home cook, Mario Batali's MOLTO ITALIANO is rich in local lore, with Batali's humorous and enthusiastic voice, familiar to those who have come to know him on his popular Food Network programs, larded through about 220 recipes of simple, healthy, seasonal Italian cooking for the American audience.
Easy to use and simple to read, some of these recipes will be those "as seen" on TV in the eight years of "Molto Mario" programs on the Food Network, including those from "Mediterranean Mario," "Mario Eats Italy," and the all–new "Ciao America with Mario Batali." Batali's distinctive voice will provide a historical and cultural perspective with a humorous bent to demystify even the more elaborate dishes as well as showing ways to shorten or simplify everything from the purchasing of good ingredients to pre–production and countdown schedules of holiday meals. Informative head notes will include bits about the provenance of the recipes and the odd historical fact.
Mario Batali's MOLTO ITALIANO will feature ten soups, thirty antipasti (many vegetarian or vegetable based), forty pasta dishes representing many of the twenty–one regions of Italy, twenty fish and shellfish dishes, twenty chicken dishes, twenty pork or lamb dishes and twenty side dishes, each of which can be served as a light meal. Add twenty desserts and a foundation of basic formation recipes and this book will be the only Italian cooking book needed in the home cook's library.
The success of Chez Panisse--Gourmet magazine named it the best American restaurant in 2002--has everything to do with Waters, yet she remains an elusive protagonist. Sophisticated yet naive, professional and amateur, hard-driving but emotionally blurry, she invites reader interest but doesn't always satisfy it, as least as presented here. If McNamee cannot quite bring her to life, and if his tale lacks an insider's full conversance with his subject, he still engages readers in the considerable drama of people finding their way--blunderingly, with talented intent--to something new. With menus, narrated recipes, and photographs throughout, the book is vital reading for anyone interested in food, period. --Arthur Boehm
Secondly, the book is a long overdue portrait of the real Mario Batali and of the real Marco Pierre White--two complicated and brilliant chefs whose coverage in the press--while appropriately fawning--has never described them in their fully debauched, delightful glory. Buford has--for the first time--managed to explain White's peculiar--almost freakish brilliance--while humanizing a man known for terrorizing cooks, customers (and Batali). As for Mario--he is finally revealed for the Falstaffian, larger than life, mercurial, frighteningly intelligent chef/enterpreneur he really is. No small accomplishment. Other cooks, chefs, butchers, artisans and restaurant lifers are described with similar insight.
Thirdly, Heat reveals a dead-on understanding--rare among non-chef writers--of the pleasures of "making" food; the real human cost, the real requirements and the real adrenelin-rush-inducing pleasures of cranking out hundreds of high quality meals. One is left with a truly unique appreciation of not only what is truly good about food--but as importantly, who cooks--and why. I can't think of another book which takes such an unsparing, uncompromising and ultimately thrilling look at the quest for culinary excellence. Heat brims with fascinating observations on cooking, incredible characters, useful discourse and argument-ending arcania. I read my copy and immediately started reading it again. It's going right in between Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London and Zola's The Belly of Paris on my bookshelf. --Anthony Bourdain
Book Description
Bill Buford—author of the highly acclaimed best-selling Among the Thugs—had long thought of himself as a reasonably comfortable cook when in 2002 he finally decided to answer a question that had nagged him every time he prepared a meal: What kind of cook could he be if he worked in a professional kitchen? When the opportunity arose to train in the kitchen of Mario Batali’s three-star New York restaurant, Babbo, Buford grabbed it. Heat is the chronicle—sharp, funny, wonderfully exuberant—of his time spent as Batali’s “slave” and of his far-flung apprenticeships with culinary masters in Italy.
In a fast-paced, candid narrative, Buford describes the frenetic experience of working in Babbo’s kitchen: the trials and errors (and more errors), humiliations and hopes, disappointments and triumphs as he worked his way up the ladder from slave to cook. He talks about his relationships with his kitchen colleagues and with the larger-than-life, hard-living Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters.
Buford takes us to the restaurant in a remote Appennine village where Batali first apprenticed in Italy and where Buford learns the intricacies of handmade pasta . . . the hill town in Chianti where he is tutored in the art of butchery by Italy’s most famous butcher, a man who insists that his meat is an expression of the Italian soul . . . to London, where he is instructed in the preparation of game by Marco Pierre White, one of England’s most celebrated (or perhaps notorious) chefs. And throughout, we follow the thread of Buford’s fascinating reflections on food as a bearer of culture, on the history and development of a few special dishes (Is the shape of tortellini really based on a woman’s navel? And just what is a short rib?), and on the what and why of the foods we eat today.
Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a richly evocative memoir of Buford’s kitchen adventure, the story of Batali’s amazing rise to culinary (and extra-culinary) fame, a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters.
It is a book to delight in—and to savor.
Customer Reviews:
A humorous read that made me hungry!.......2007-10-07
Who wouldn't want to go on Buford's journey? He's a great tour guide on his gasto-tour of the kitchens of the Mario Batali and Pierre Marco White. He shows that kitchens can be places that are filled with potential dangers and loads of passion. It took me awhile to get through this book, in part because I kept getting hungry and had to go make something to eat! I'm ready to go clamp the pasta machine to the counter and whip up some fresh pasta.
It's a pretty dense book to get through, and the author wanders away from the main story often. Most of the time, it's to an interesting place, but sometimes, it's just a tangent. But aside from a few of those as a distraction, I thought this was a great book.
Interesting but not what I thought it was going to be.......2007-09-19
I got this book because my husband heard an interview on the radio and thought I would like it since I love to cook. It was interesting but spent too much time, for me, on the politics of working in a restaurant kitchen and not enough on the workings of food in a restaurant. I bored with the personalities and gave up trying to figure out who was who.
I think I made the pages soggy..........2007-09-17
This guy, Bill Buford, is pretty amazing. Despite the danger of slicing off his hands entirely (an accident that he somehow manages to repeat) under various huge, sharp, professional knives, he insisted going (back again and again) to Italy to learn about things so obscure even professional chefs wouldn't have much idea about.
If you're looking for a book about Batali, this isn't the most comprehensive one, but it's scathingly honest and if you really live and breathe food, you'll gain a whole lot more than goss about the inner workings of Batali's businesses. It gets a bit soppy at times - a bit too "Tuscany is beautiful, and Provence is the ultimate foodie heaven", but only fleetingly, and all can be forgiven once you read about the author's hilarious effort to cook a whole pig...
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......2007-09-11
The chapters on Mario Batali and the dynamics of his kitchen were really interesting and engaging. I was intrigud by the sections on Marco Pierre White as I had just read Gordon Ramsey's autobiography in which his tempestuous relationship with White plays a significant role. The rest of Buford's book is just too tediously, self-indulgently written to the point where it killed my interest in the underlying subjects of pasta making and butchery (I ended up skimming page after page as I just couldn't take it). It reminded me of a computer spitting forth every bit of information in its memory regardless of relevance or interest. Just too many tedious, boorish details.
BRAVO!.......2007-09-11
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to work in a professional kitchen... this is the book makes you feel like you are there. Ver interesting and delightful to read. Very different than any other book I've read.
Amazon.com
In its many publications and on TV, Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen offers exhaustively tested "best" recipes, tips, and product evaluations. Among its cookbooks, The Best Make-Ahead Recipe offers over 300 formulas that can be prepared in advance, held, and finished later. The recipes range widely from pre-prepared oven-ready dishes like Baked Fish Provençal; "double-duty" recipes, such as Mexican-Style Pork and Chorizo Stew, that use leftovers imaginatively; slow-cooker items like Tuscan white bean soup; and desserts, such as a chocolate soufflé that can go from freezer to oven successfully. In addition, the fully illustrated book offers helpful charts like How to Reheat, which provides advice according to portion size and heating method; special-occasion menus that can be started up to a month ahead; and discerning product and equipment advice.
As with other Cook's Illustrated projects, Make-Ahead includes recipes that have appeared previously in its other works, though a majority of these have been amended with make-ahead or scaling-up data. Almost all the recipes are prefaced with their trademark testing "diaries," exhaustively detailed accounts of the recipe-making process ("With the onion shells figured out, we focused next on the filling...," gives the flavor), which some readers will find enlightening, but others will think excessive. Of course, certain recipes, or recipe classes, like that for desserts, are necessarily made wholly or partially in advance--but the book's point is to provide formulas designed to yield superior results even when the uncompleted dishes are held, as most can be, in the refrigerator or freezer. Mission accomplished. Readers will find the book a consistently reliable resource for superior make-ahead dishes for everyday and special-occasion cooking. --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous Cookbook From A Cookbook Collecter.......2007-09-14
I have well over 200 cookbooks. I purchased this cookbook because I love cookbooks of course and I love the publication Cook's. If you have to have color photographs this book is not for you. But it is so well illustrated in black and white that you cannot miss a trick with it.
Very well illustrated and a great reference book. I would suggest all in the series for a beginner cook too. I LOVE it. I can honestly say that I do not have a cookbook in this catagory. It is truly worth the money and should be in every cooks library.
easy to understand directions.......2007-09-08
they actually tell you how to make things not try to make them more complecated than they need to be. easy to understand.great product.The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook
Do You Own "Cover & Bake?".......2007-08-26
If you don't own "Cover & Bake," this a five-star book; skip down to "Here's What I Like ..."
I think this may be the lowest rating I've ever given to a CI book (I own seven in the Best series and a handful of others.) If you own "Cover & Bake," you have many of the recipes in this book, hence the low rating.
Some of the shared recipes include:
Slow Cooker Favorites (5 of the 17 are shared with C&B)
-Pot Roast
-Beef Stew
-Brisket
-Chili
-Beef & Barley Soup
Sides (There are two shared recipes)
Casseroles (There are more variations of the recipes in this book) both books share:
-Baked Ziti
-Lasagna
-Manicotti
-Mac & Cheese
-Chicken Enchiladas
-Chicken Pot Pie
-Beef Pot Pie
-Tamale Pie
-Shepherd's Pie
Lamb & Eggplant Moussaka
-Chicken & Rice Casserole
Breakfast & Breads (only the bread recipes are unique to this book. What irks me is that the same photo is used for the start of the breakfast chapters in each book.) Shared recipes are:
-24-Hour Omelet
-French Toast Casserole
-Breakfast Strata
Here is what I like about the book
-TOC in each chapter
-The Double-Duty Cooking Chapter is great -- cook a little extra now for tomorrow's dish that doesn't taste like leftovers
-All of the stews and the majority of the casseroles can be made ahead and frozen. Outside of those categories, you'll find maybe 10 additional recipes that can be frozen.
-Desserts
-Make-Ahead Holiday Menus
If you don't have "Cover & Bake" get this book. When reviewed in isolation, it is a five-star book. If you're deciding which to choose, this book has a range of recipes across appetizers, sides, main courses and desserts. If you're looking for a complete make-ahead meal, this book is the way to go.
An exceptional purchase any public library or busy cook must have........2007-07-27
Busy cooks who want to prepare meals ahead have plenty of cookbooks to choose from, but the advantage to The Best Make-Ahead Recipe is that all these dishes are fail-safe and have been tested by the professionals. Another advantage: chapters are divided by cooking method, from 'Open-Ready Entrees' to 'Slow-Cooker Favorites' and 'Baked Goods That Go From Freezer to Oven'. Some 300 recipes suitable for entertaining or daily meals are presented with accompanying color photos: all have been streamlined with the busy cook in mind. An exceptional purchase any public library or busy cook must have.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Wonderful cookbook!!!.......2007-07-22
I have purchased other make-ahead cookbooks, such as Once a Meal Cooking and Frozen Assets. This cookbook is the best I've found. This cookbook teaches you how to prepare dishes so that they test fresh when reheated.
I have tried several recipes in this cookbook and they have been great. I was skeptical that it was possible to freeze pasta dishes and reheat them without the pasta tasting mushy. But to my pleasant surprise, the pasta dishes were very good.
Some of the recipes in this book are not recommended for freezing. They are considered "make ahead" since they can be stored in your refrigerator for a few days before cooking or baking.
Book Description
Cooking cocaine is remarkably similar to cooking foie gras. Both are costly ingredients and require careful attention. Left unattended, cocaine will go up in smoke; foie gras dissipates into a puddle of fat.
So begins one man's remarkable journey of transformation. Jeff Henderson grew up in the inner–city streets of San Diego. He spent nine years in federal prison for dealing drugs, where he became fascinated with cooking and decided to pursue a career as a chef when released. Little did he know how hard it would be to climb to the top of this profession. He is now the executive chef at the Café Bellagio in Las Vegas.
A combination of Angela's Ashes and Finding Fish, this is the enthralling story of someone who has managed to overcome the most unimaginable adversity. Alive with the energy of street life, the sober reality of prison, and the visceral thrill of being inside the intense kitchens of great restaurants, Cooked is a journey through the America of crime, punishment, and redemption. And at it's heart, it is a very human story of how even the worst mistakes can be overcome.
Customer Reviews:
Great read, compelling story.......2007-09-24
Wow, Jeff Henderson had a real "rags to riches" story. This book captures all the details of how Mr. Henderson went from "nothing to something". It's a good read because the story captures you from the beginning.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading a "feel good" story, but i would also recommend it to youths who want to know what it's like to go from "something to nothing" real fast.
This book chronicles the good, the bad and the ugly of Mr. Henderson's life. What I really liked is how he did not make any excuses for his failures (his anger, temper, mistakes, etc). Youths will learn about responsibility from reading this book.
What an interesting life..........2007-09-14
Wow! Well written. It was so great to learn about how a person could change their life into something so positive after it was so worthless.
Awesome.......2007-09-03
I loved this book and would recommend it to familes that have youth in their homes, especially with drug crimes so high in our communities. I have a son that is currently serving a 11 year Federal sentence for crack cocaine and will share this book with him and his children. This is a great book to teach youth in Boys and Girls Club that what they see as far as drugs and living the good life, will come to an end. I work in the school system and ask youth on a regular basis what they want to be when they grow up, most boys say a drug dealer, that's what my father was. I ask where is father now, "in prison" but, I will be smarter than him and not get caught. I tell them from personal experience not what someone told me but they will end up one of two places in jail or dead, and to choose a more promising career, and to remember the choice is yours.
Cooked from the Streets to the Stove.......2007-08-13
This was an excellent book. It showed how someone can change their life no matter what obtacles are in front of them. This book is a book for all ages to read it allows you to see if a person wants to have change in their life it can happen by setting your mind to it, living a clean life and working hard.
I am very glad I saw this guy on Oprah and I decided to purchase the book.
Great Story, Great Read.......2007-07-27
You'll learn more than you thought you would ever want to know about selling crack on the streets, the prison system, and the world of culinary art...quite a trifecta. I wasn't particularly interested in any of these things but the book certainly kept my attention. It seems unlikely to me that Mr. Henderson wrote the book - if he did, he can add author to his list of accomplishments - if he didn't, his ghostwriter did a terrific job.
Book Description
Written with humor and insight, 21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me provides hands on advice that will help agents start, or maintain, a sucessful career in real estate. This has real life stories from dozens of sucessful, top producing, real estate professionals will help new agents know what to expect and how to succeed.
Customer Reviews:
FIne book, Easy read--.......2007-09-21
This book is ok. It's nothing really new that most people with some common sense don't already know....If you can get it in a library or borrow it, go that route. Not worth it.
Brass Tactics.......2007-07-30
Excellent book! I have been taking classes online and this book has kept me interested in real estate. It gives you plenty of tips on how to gain the edge in real estate.
Must have for new agents.......2007-06-14
If you are new to real estate, this is a must read... I still have mine 3 years later and although I haven't gone back to read it again - I won't get rid of it!
Great for a new agent!.......2007-06-12
Not knowing what to expect as a brand new agent, I found this book to be a really excellent training resource. It was a great way to get a glimpse of what to do and not to do. I highly recommend it! Also, it's a very easy read.
21 THINGS I WISH MY BROKER TOLD ME.......2007-05-16
Great book! if you go with a smaller, less pressure brokerage house that has bare bones training, this is perfect. it reminds you of all your responsibilities to yourself and your clients. it gives you direction in finding clients. i highly recommend this book.
Book Description
300 Fast and Flavorful Recipes from America's Most Trusted Test Kitchen
Tired of quick recipes that aren't really quick or don't taste very good? While some cookbooks promise 30-minute meals, America's Test Kitchen delivers. The Best 30-Minute Recipe is packed with more than 300 great-tasting recipes, along with time-saving techniques that will help you become more efficient in the kitchen. You'll also find honest evaluations of ingredients important to quick cooking, such as chicken broth, preshredded cheese, instant rice, and more. And because the type of equipment you use is important to the success of any recipe—made in 30 minutes or not—we tell you which brands are worth buying.
The Best 30-Minute Recipe features a surprisingly wide range of recipes. You get not only the very best versions of naturally quick dishes like salads and stir-fries, but also quick and easy recipes for typically long-cooking dishes that you'd never even think of making on a weeknight—including meatloaf, lasagna, beef pot pie, and a pad thai so easy that you may never call for takeout again. With efficiency and good taste, The Best 30-Minute Recipe is the time-pressed cook's guide to getting dinner on the table, night after night.
Customer Reviews:
Yummiest recipes, shortest amount of time.......2007-09-25
I have only tried three recipes so far, but I can tell you they all have been absolutely delicious and they are really only 30 minutes (if not less)! I highly recommend this!
Absolutely fantabulicious!!!.......2007-09-17
I bought this book and "The Best Light Recipe" for my husband, who's been a long-time fan of all things Cook's Illustrated-related. I became curious and got instantly hooked. These guys are geniuses! They really know how to communicate effectively to help make cooking fun, because their recipes are so dependable. The instructions are quite different from what I've seen elsewhere (such as MSL's Everyday Food, Real Simple, etc.). Yet these instructions have turned out dishes that are just absolutely wonderful and so much more flavorful and thoughtful than any I've done in the past following other cookbooks!
I'm also a big fan of baking, and I highly recommend "Baking Illustrated" as well. Try the "raspberry almond coffee cake": it's quite yummy!
The best cookbook I have .......2007-08-11
I have too many cookbooks and lately this one has been the one I keep turning to for truly successful recipes time and time again. I'm never afraid of what it will taste like or turn out like because they have all been fabulous. My friend's sister recommended it to her and then she did to me and we have the best time going "Have you tried this one yet??" I agree with another poster though-it's definately a book I would give as a gift!
Go-To Recipe Book.......2007-08-03
When I am planning out dinners for the week, this is my favorite cookbook to use. In the short time I have had this book I have made 5 different recipes and all have been pretty easy and turned out great. Unlike the other reviewers, they do take me longer than 30 minutes to make, although I think it'll be faster when I make something the second time. Our favorites so far are the Chicken Teriyaki, Sweet & Sour Stir Fry, and Steak Salad. I highly recommend it.
Different recipes?.......2007-05-30
I too am a Cook's Illustrated fanatic. Some of the comments seem to say that CI just takes the same recipes and shuffles them around in various cook books without much thought. I believed this too until I started doing some comparisons. For example, the recipe for skillet lasagna is now different than a previous version. Whether for the better or not, we'll see. I do believe that they go back to the individual recipes to make sure they work within the premise of the cookbook, here meals in 30-minutes. I can just see Kimball with his stopwatch timing them all.
Books:
- Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich
- Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture
- Public Relations: The Complete Guide
- Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence
- Quick & Healthy Volume II: More Help for People Who Say They Don't Have Time to Cook Healthy Meals
- Real Food for Dogs: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Canine Gastronome
- Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
- Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?
- Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics
- The Age of Innocence
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Road to Wealth: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Money--Everything You Need to Know in Good and Bad
- Prefab
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail Screenplay
- Mas Vida y Gloria del Teatro Colon
- Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
- Ozark Wildflowers
- Value Investing in Commodity Futures
- Oil, Jihad and Destiny: Will Declining Oil Production Plunge Our Planet into a Depression
- ArchiCAD: The User Handbook
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
The Deen Bros. Cookbook
Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life
Everyday Pasta
Christmas with Paula Deen: Recipes and Stories from My Favorite Holiday
Paula Deen's 2008 Calendar
