Better Than Store-Bought: A Cookbook Authoritative recipes for the foods that most people never knew they could make at home.

I blame them for my DIY addiction!

OK, maybe not entirely the fault of these authors... but they fed it yeaqrs before hone preserving, pickling, chaucuterie, breadmaking etc. were trendy Things. I grew up on the Little House books, and was primed to start making things myself... and this book fed that addiction!

I'm dating myself, but I know I got it early in our marriage, which was over 30 years ago- WAY before there was much available for DIY cooks, except classics like the Ball book for canning. And this book had SO MUCH! Duck confit! Pastrami! many kinds of pickles and condiments! CAVIAR, for heaven's sake, which I would love to try but have not! The only really obvious gap is that they have no recipe for home-made bacon... but they show more have versions of damn near everything else I can think of.

Although I've been in a very DIY mood of late I hadn't dug this one up... until I saw a video on an easier way to peel chestnuts. The first year we were married, I used the recipe in this book to make a totally gorgeous chestnut/vanilla syrup for holiday gifts... but peeling the nuts was such a pain I haven't made it since, though I remember it with great adoration. I think I'll do it again this year!

And in flipping through the pages, I am reminded of what a valuable resource it is. Many of the recipes and directions pre-date more specialized cookbooks now, but with no less skill and imagination and a far vaster focus.

HIGHLY recommended! I wouldn't give up my tatty copy for anything! show less

A compulsive read. Some recipes are very useful, eg Chocolate Sauce or Flaky Cheese Twists. Others, let us be honest, are less likely to see the light of reality, such as Gefullte Fish or Pastrami. It is, after all, our duty (as Hillaire Belloc recognised) to give employment to the artisan, in the form of the delicatessen.

Love this book! Lots of good recipes for things that I may be able to locate at the store but, like many foods, are much better made at home. A staple cookbook at my house.

This is an interesting little book. Wanna know how to make saltines? Wanna know how to make ketchup. Wanna make whatever you'd never actually consider making because it's readily available at the store? This is your book. Very clearly written.

I've had great sucess with everything I've tried from this cookbook. Sometimes I've decided that if I can't get the store-bought version we'll just do without. At least we know whether we want to go to the effort it will take.