2024 the best of both worlds cookbook review

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There are good recipes and there are great ones—and then, there are genius recipes.
 
ONE OF THE NEW YORKER’S FIFTEEN ESSENTIAL COOKBOOKS

Genius recipes surprise us and make us rethink the way we cook. They might involve an unexpectedly simple technique, debunk a kitchen myth, or apply a familiar ingredient in a new way. They’re handed down by luminaries of the food world and become their legacies. And, once we’ve folded them into our repertoires, they make us feel pretty genius too. In this collection are 100 of the smartest and most remarkable ones.
 
There isn’t yet a single cookbook where you can find Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter, Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread, and Nigella Lawson’s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake—plus dozens more of the most talked about, just-crazy-enough-to-work recipes of our time. Until now.
 
These are what Food52 Executive Editor Kristen Miglore calls genius recipes. Passed down from the cookbook authors, chefs, and bloggers who made them legendary, these foolproof recipes rethink cooking tropes, solve problems, get us talking, and make cooking more fun. Every week, Kristen features one such recipe and explains just what’s so brilliant about it in the James Beard Award-nominated Genius Recipes column on Food52. Here, in this book, she compiles 100 of the most essential ones—nearly half of which have never been featured in the column—with tips, riffs, mini-recipes, and stunning photographs from James Ransom, to create a cooking canon that will stand the test of time.
 
Once you try Michael Ruhlman’s fried chicken or Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s hummus, you’ll never want to go back to other versions. But there’s also a surprising ginger juice you didn’t realize you were missing and will want to put on everything—and a way to cook white chocolate that (finally) exposes its hidden glory. Some of these recipes you’ll follow to a T, but others will be jumping-off points for you to experiment with and make your own. Either way, with Kristen at the helm, revealing and explaining the genius of each recipe, Genius Recipes is destined to become every home cook’s go-to resource for smart, memorable cooking—because no one cook could have taught us so much.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Press (April 7, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1607747979
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1607747970
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.38 x 1.2 x 10.3 inches
Reviewer: Mary C.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Beautifully-curated collection of 100 classic, truly genius recipes
Review: These 100 recipes are ever-so-carefully curated from "luminaries of the food world." I'm pretty sure I didn't know about the food52 com website until I bought the book, but today I'm a faithful reader.The recipes in this book, for which the author dug far and beyond those that had appeared in her column, all come with amazing pedigrees: every one is authored by a highly-respected chef and/or cookbook author. It must have taken Ms. Miglore, the author, months simply to secure copyright permissions.The book, which I own in hardcover, is organized by "course," beginning with "breakfast." The very first recipe, "fried eggs with wine vinegar," from Roger Verge, is so amazing that, to this day, I'll usually crack a pinch (Verge calls for much more) of vinegar du jour into my morning eggs. Union Square Cafe's "Bar Nuts" is a staple for parties and, on occasion, holiday Ball-jar gifts (the "genius" part of the recipe is that they toast the nuts first and then toss then with the spicy butter coating--no chance of burning the coating).Other tried-and-trues:Marcella Hazan's famous super-simple "Tomato Sauce with Butter & Onions," which, by the way, I've been making (with canned tomatoes) from her seminal cookbook since the 1980's; Jim Lahey's famous "No-Knead Bread;" "Warm Squash & Chickpea Salad with Tahini" from Moro Restaurant (I don't know the London restaurant, but if a recipe includes chickpeas and tahinis, I'm in; "Green Lentil Salad" from Patricia Wells (I make as a side dish and I don't discard the onions and garlic); "Gratin of Zucchini, Rice & Onions with Cheese" (Julia Child) which I modify for altitude (rice) and using a spiralizer instead of a grater; "Broccoli Cooked Forever" from Roy Finamore: I don't know who he is, but I know that the dish is indeed genius; and "Shrimp Grits" (from Edna Lewis & Scott Peacock): my notes say "it was ridiculously complicated--even for me." Still, I keep making it, even adding an extra step (reserving 1/4 of the cooked shrimp for garnish). "Onion Carbonara" from Michel Richard is phenomenal in the opinion of this onion lover. The "genius" here is using onions sliced into long ribbons (I use the mandoline) to mimic pasta. The recipe calls for bacon, which I omit. Yum! Finally, "Fresh Blueberry Pie" from Rose Levy Beranbaum is a classic show-stopper. If I'm invited for dinner in blueberry season, I'm bringing this pie (I make it as a tart and, in lieu of a lattice top, I add cut-outs for fun--see photo).Every recipe is beautifully presented, with a headnote telling us why the dish is special, plus, perhaps, a bit of its history. Every dish has a color photo, and some have up to 12 photos demonstrating technique. Not sure how to cut up butternut squash? 12 photos show you how.Since I don't eat meat other than fish, I did not make most of the many recipes in their "Meaty Mains" chapter. However, there are plenty of classics that I make and again--plus, in the course of paging through the book for this review, I slapped 5 Post-It's on the pages for other recipes I want to make!This is a book that's well worth the price--and, as demonstrated by my new Post-It's, worth coming back to from time to time for new inspiration.

Reviewer: Shawkins
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Was told "Best pumpkin pie I've ever eaten" after serving this recipe
Review: Some reviewers said this book has "basic" recipes, and I think they missed the point of this cookbook. I own more cookbooks than I can count and this has become a go-to. These are recipes that are tested and tweaked to deliver amazing results. Plenty of cookbooks out there tout interesting recipes, but do not deliver on the results. Usually I do not plan to serve a recipe for an event until I've tested it at least once. With this book, I am confident using these recipes for the first time when serving for a holiday or dinner party. Yesterday, for Thanksgiving, I baked the Pumpkin Pie for the first time (I've made pumpkin pies before. Last year I went with an Ina Garten recipe.) This pie BLEW me away it is so good. One person who ate it told me it was the best pumpkin pie he's ever had in his life (and he's honest - he took one bite of a devils-on-horseback stuffed date I made and dropped it out of his mouth). He said it was like velvet. The top didn't crack, the pumpkin was incredibly smooth and cooked evenly throughout. The recipe even looked pretty as I made it (the sugar with spices especially).Point being, even the "basic" recipes in this book are not basic. This is a trove of keepers. Like a book full of secret recipes. So happy I bought this.

Reviewer: April Johnson Stearns
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I made the No-Knead Bread literally 15x to give as holiday gifts... and everyone raved!
Review: I have owned and cooked from this book for more than six months now and while I still use other sources and cookbooks for recipes, Genius Recipes as quickly become a favorite in my kitchen. If you are unsure whether to buy it, I strongly recommend cooking from the Genius Recipes blog at the Food52 website. If you do, you will know two things: 1) whether these recipes are to your taste, and 2) whether you really need to invest in a cookbook for which most of the recipes are available for free on the site. I chose to buy the cookbook because my family and I loved the recipes I was making from the site, and because I like books -- I like to hold them, own them, make notes on recipes, etc. I also love the aesthetics of this book. The pictures are mouth-watering and inspiring. My favorites from the book so far (ones I've made more than once and always please my family): Roasted Applesauce, Olive Oil & Maple Granola, Raised Waffles, Deviled Eggs, No-Knead Bread (I made this literally 15 times in the month of December to give loaves as gifts!), Salt Crusted Potatoes with Cilantro Mojo, Watermelon, Mint & Cider Vinegar Tonic, Spiced Red Wine (again, given as gifts), Romaine Hearts with Caesar Salad Dressing, Chicken Thighs with Lemon (my go-to for easy, weeknight chicken now), Tomato Sauce with Butter & Onion, Strawberry Lemon Sorbet (made for 50 children -- twice!), Strawberry Shortcakes, Purple Plum Torte, Marie-Helene's Apple Cake.And because it is possible to still love something even if it isn't 100% amazing, here are the recipes that I didn't love or didn't work for me (but doesn't mean they won't for you!): Touch-of-Grace Biscuits, Crepes, Cauliflower Soup, Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake, Caramelized White Chocolate.Just as the subtitle promises, these Food52 recipes have taught me tricks and techniques and changed the way I cook. I agree that cooking delicious, crowd-pleasing food doesn't necessarily have to mean more time in the kitchen or investing in fancy ingredients. I have always found all the ingredients I need to cook these recipes at my local grocery store.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent recipes - sometimes ridiculously simple, but all the better for it. So many recipes that I go back to again and again. A wonderful collection.

Reviewer: Daniele Ceccarelli
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Livro muito bem explicado, com dicas excelentes!

Reviewer: Jenny V
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was not sure what this book would be like but was surprisingly taken by it. There are all sorts of different recipes from Chefs or Restaurants which I do know somewaht about some of them so it was nice to see what they submitted for the book to share with others. I have made a couple of things out of it. They were not outstanding but I was happy with the results overall. I need to cook more from it before making a more informed decision, and there are quite a few things that I would like to try.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The first time I flipped through this book I was amazed. All of the recipes sounded so good that I wanted to make almost every single one, which is rare, since I'm kind of a picky eater. It's like a "Best of the Best" collection made up of tried-and-true classics with a little spin to make them even more delicious and/or simple, as well as things you've maybe never made or heard of before but you can't wait to try. It includes recipes from top chefs around the world as well as family treasures that have been passed down. I've made a few of the recipes so far and they're wonderful! The granola is absolutely delicious and has become a weekly staple -- it's so simple and healthy, and my son loves it, too. Many more to try -- I actually look forward to cooking now! Also, the author's writing style is wonderful and down-to-earth and often hilarious. She provides lots of tips, information, and humour to make this book even more enjoyable. Buy this book -- it's amazing and you won't regret it!

Reviewer: AdriRips
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ricette interessanti, e molti trucchi del mestiere che non conoscevo. Da apprezzare che nelle liste degli ingredienti, accanto al sistema di misura classico americano (cucchiai e tazze), c'è anche l'indicazione della corrispondente quantità in grammi o litri.