The Bon Appetit Cookbook
by Barbara Fairchild
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barbara FairchildBrand: Koen Books
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-28
ISBN: 0764596861
Number of pages: 848
Publisher: Wiley
Book Reviews of The Bon Appetit Cookbook
Book Review: Fine Selection of Entertaining Recipes. Comparable to 'Gourmet'
Summary: 5 Stars
`The Bon Appetit Cookbook', with `Bon Appetit' editor in chief, Barbara Fairchild credited as author, is about as predictable as night following day, given the publishing of the `The Gourmet Cookbook' about two years ago, edited by a star of culinary journalism, Ruth Reichl. Not only do the two magazines have almost identical readerships, they are both owned by Conde Nast. They even share a common web site for access to their recipes online. So, we are waiting to hear which of these two great tomes is better.
For starters, both reflect the style of the respective magazines. `Gourmet' aims for more high-end recipes, meaning there is more use of basic rather than prepared ingredients. `Bon Appetit' claims to aim for easier recipes, of course `easier' is a highly relative term. They do NOT mean they are the model for Rachael Ray's '30 Minute Meal' mantra. Rather, they cover the widest range of recipes, but tend to go for the easier recipe with a few `prepared' ingredients.
A comparison of the recipes for New England Clam chowder in the two books is a perfect example. While `Gourmet' calls for live clams and includes in the recipe the steps required to steam the clams, retrieve the clam juice, and shell the clams. In `Bon Appetit's otherwise very similar recipe, we use bottled clam juice and canned clams. On the other side of the coin, where the pork of choice in the traditional recipe is salt pork (See Jasper White, '50 Chowders'), both recipes call for the much more common everyday bacon.
A second example on this same theme is a comparison of the two recipes for Gazpacho. While `Bon Appetit' asks us to use canned tomato juice, canned salsa, and prepared croutons, `Gourmet' starts with fresh tomatoes and a loaf of country bread. `Gourmet' is also a bit truer to the original Spanish recipe in that it calls for sherry vinegar (a Spanish product) while `Bon Appetit' calls for balsamic vinegar (a strictly Italian product).
Another symptom of the differences between the two books is how they treat their recipes for the great Spanish dish `tortilla Espagnole'. For starters, neither book gives us the unvarnished traditional recipe which you may find in a good book on Spanish food (such as Penelope Casas' `The Food and Wine of Spain'), and both freely state that they are presenting a variation on the classic. However, when you look at the procedure for making the dish, it is clear that `Gourmet' is closer to a traditional recipe. While `Bon Appetit' would have us boil the potatoes before dicing, `Gourmet', like every Spanish cookbook I have read, dices the raw potatoes and sautes the potatoes and onions together. Similarly, `Gourmet' uses the traditional method of combining the raw eggs and the cooked vegetables before the final step of cooking the dish, while `Bon Appetit' cooks the egg separately, almost like an omelet, before adding the potato mixture on top of the egg tortilla and folding the eggy disk over, exactly as if it were an omelet. In fact, `Bon Appetit' names the recipe an omelet, but still claims it is a version of the classic Spanish dish.
Another symptom of where each book falls on the scale of culinary sophistication is the fact that while `Bon Appetit' has no references whatsoever in their index for making stocks, `Gourmet' has at least eight (8) stock recipes.
A fourth symptom is in the way the two books describe the technique for blind baking a pie or tart crust. The salient difference is that while `Bon Appetit' calls for docking the bottom after first baking and after removing the pie weights, `Gourmet' follows what I believe is the better method of docking the unbaked crust before adding the pie weights. This is a small point, but in a book with 1200 recipes, these little points add up.
This brings me to the important point of the way the two great volumes are laid out. This is especially important considering the literally disastrous light yellow fonts used to state the names of the recipes for every single one of `Gourmet's 1000 or more recipes. Needless to say, `Bon Appetit's pages are simply a lot easier to read, and not only because they use black and a very legible dark tan to label the recipes. They also use different fonts for ingredients and procedures, with very nice leading procedure words for each paragraph of the procedure. The Table of contents of both books show us 20 (`Gourmet') or 21 (`Bon Appetit') chapters of recipes, with remarkably similar groupings, albeit in a somewhat different order. There are things I like and things I don't like about both, so I'll call it a tie, except that the `Bon Appetit' Table of Contents is all on a single page and is easier to read.
Both books have simply monstrous indices, so that is also a tie. On organizing `sidebar' procedures, the two books take very different strategies. Where `Bon Appetit' collects all its mini-tutorials in the front of the book in `Notes from the Test Kitchen', `Gourmet' scatters them about throughout the volume. And, I believe `Gourmet' is generally superior in this department (see piece of piecrusts).
I have to give a major credit to both books for the attention both pay to preparing their recipes for entertaining. Since most readers of both magazines probably use the recipes for just that purpose, it is not surprising that both books shine in this department. `Gourmet' however does a much better job of providing time required to make each dish.
Last but not least, `Gourmet' lists for $40 for 1000 recipes and `Bon Appetit' lists for $34.95 for 1200 recipes. I suggest that both books are great if you use lots of recipes to entertain and you don't want to own 50 cookbooks. But, neither is a replacement for basic cooking manuals such as `The New Making of a Cook, The Art, Techniques, and Science of Good Cooking' by Madeleine Kamman.
Summary of The Bon Appetit Cookbook
"You can always tell a Bon App?tit recipe: It's a sophisticated twist on a beloved classic, and it's easy to make...our goal is to give you the cumulative expertise of Bon App?tit, with more than 1,200 recipes that will be delicious, first time out."?Barbara FairchildFirst launched in 1956, Bon App?tit is America?s favorite and most widely read food and entertaining magazine, with a circulation of 1.3 million. Now, for the first time, The Bon App?tit Cookbook brings together more than 1,200 of the magazine?s all-time best-loved recipes for every meal and occasion. The book is accessible and user-friendly -- just like the magazine -- and includes clear explanations and exclusive tips from the Bon App?tit test kitchen, along with 59 detailed illustrations of ingredients and techniques.
The recipes have been skillfully selected to represent the very best of the magazine?s sophisticated, foolproof style: easy-to-make dishes that incorporate a variety of regional and international influences -- recipes that are delicious the first time out. From Cajun-Grilled Shrimp to Artichoke and Mushroom Lasagna to Hot and Sticky Apricot-Glazed Chicken to Molasses Chewies with Brown Sugar Glaze, there are dishes that will tempt every palate. Complete with a gorgeous 32-page color insert and a simple yet elegant design throughout, The Bon App?tit Cookbook is a must for those who truly love to make and enjoy great food.
It's high time that Bon Appétit, one of our longest-running cooking magazines, published a collection of its recipes. The Bon Appétit Cookbook offers over 1,200 formulas--a vast selection that includes dishes for every menu stop and occasion, with sections on bread, burgers, pizza and sandwiches. Characteristically, the majority of the formulas--like Chinese-Flavored Fried Chicken with Green Onion Ginger Dipping Sauce, and Spicy Steak with Corn Soft Tacos--reflect an inventive, cross-cultural approach. A wide selection of sweets, such as Chocolate Chunk, Orange and Hazelnut Cookies, and Lemon Blueberry Shortcakes, is also offered; there's even a chapter on drinks.
Though most of the dishes invite good eating, and all are approachable, a surprising number, like Blue and Red Flannel Hash (with potatoes, hot sausage, pickled beets, and blue cheese) are overwrought or of questionable taste. Herbs are sometimes used excessively (a seafood-cake recipe for six calls for 1-1/3 cups of chopped cilantro), or in dubious combination, like rosemary and tarragon. Readers should also know that ingredients are sometimes not named in the methods, but are called for by number--for example, "add the first five ingredients"--obliging cooks to stop, search and count. In addition, recipe yields in a given chapter can vary by four servings or more. Though some of the larger-yield recipes, like that for cassoulet, are obviously meant for groups, others, like Greek Orzo and Shrimp Salad, which yields twenty servings, could be offered as appropriately for a family meal.
These things said, the book, which is photo-illustrated, will make a welcome addition to many cooking libraries, and should be especially handy when guests must be fed. Readers who have long loved and relied on the magazine will be particularly happy to have so many of its recipes in one place. --Arthur Boehm
