Merrill Stubbs

Very upscale New England bent. Contains many foods a lot of people will never have heard of (Lamb merguez, orecchiette with ramps! Garlic scapes, charmoula, schlumpf!) That said, it's a great learning opportunity, & I suspect many substitutions will be made. I like the concept of prepping meals for the week, but I can't imagine many kids eating these. It's a beautiful cookbook, and if you have a live-in nanny to keep your kids busy while you cook, this is a great collection.

First book for the Cookbook Club & Potluck at the library! The organization leaves something to be desired; it's separated by season, but there are "wildcards" in each section, and the seasons aren't necessarily based on seasonal ingredients. There's also no central table of contents, you have to go to each season or the index.

But the recipes themselves are great! Everything everyone made for the potluck turned out really well, though the star of the show might have been the Faulknerian show more Family Spice Cake (sooo much butter). The stuffed olives were excellent too, and the savory bread pudding, and the kale and quinoa pilaf, and the secret cookies. I made the pita chips and they were indeed better than the store-bought ones. show less

The Food52 Cookbook is a “crowd-sourced” book, the content coming from recipes submitted for weekly contests over the course of a year on the authors’ Food52 blog and judged best by readers of the blog.

The 140 winning recipes (two each week, plus extra “wild card” winners chosen by the authors) are presented seasonally, each introduced with a description of the dish and comments about why it won, followed by ingredients and preparation instructions; a full-color photo of the show more finished dish (those are Zucchini/Potato Pancakes on the cover) and sometimes extra photos that show interim steps or are just "art-y"; number of servings (but no nutritional information); a short bio of the winning contributor; and comments from the Food52 community. It concludes with two somewhat useful Indexes -- one organized by season and then meal/type of food (e.g. Breakfast Dishes, Weeknight Suppers, Dinner Party Menus) and the other alphabetic by ingredient.

The book’s Introduction (“[H]ome cooks are both practical and inventive, and these qualities tend to lead to great recipes”) and subtitle (“140 winning recipes from exceptional home cooks”) combine to imply that this is a book of home cooking by home cooks. The reality is that the majority of recipes are from chefs, recipe developers, food writers and food bloggers. And while the techniques aren’t necessarily difficult nor the ingredients eccentric, the recipes tend more toward home-gourmet than everyday-home.

That said, it’s a visually lovely collection of exceptional recipes, presented with enthusiasm and positivity. “Daddy’s Carbonara” and “Sweet and Spicy Horseradish Dressing” are delicious, and I’m looking forward to numerous others, including three lemon recipes: a tart; a posset (like a custard); and cream-cheese/blueberry pancakes. I don’t know when I’m going to tackle “Norma’s Eggnog” (serves 30 and seems a heart-attack-in-a-glass) but until I do, reading the recipe and gazing at the photo is satisfying in itself.

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.) show less

I received this book as a gift and I have turned to it several times since. The book is a set of recipes that won weekly contests on the Food52 website. Recipes have category titles, like "Your Best Brunch Eggs" or "Your Best Recipe with Horseradish," and winners were picked by the site's editors. Photos are gorgeous, as should be expected from a group of food bloggers. Comments at the end of the recipe from the dish's creator, site editors, or members of the community include anecdotes or show more helpful tips. I turn to blogs frequently for recipes, and the problems I find there - recipes that are poorly written or not detailed enough - are not problems with this book. However, it is not a comprehensive cooking guide and some of the more challenging recipes (like the Meyer Lemon Macarons, p324) lack the basic instruction that usually comes from a more structured cookbook.

I have tried a few recipes from this book and am planning a nice dinner to feature something fancy for my mother, who gave me the book. Every vegetable side I have made has come out perfectly, and I must recommend the Absurdly Addictive Asparagus (p338), which is every bit as wonderful as it sounds. show less