Best of the Best from Calling All Cooks Cookbook The Most Popular Recipes from the Four Classic Calling All Cooks Cookbooks
September 2, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars The Best
This yellow ‘Calling All Cooks’ cookbook is wonderful. My sister gave it to me for my birthday several years ago. Now I am trying to buy the set of 4 for each of my daughters. If they have these they are all they will ever need!!!Calling All Cooks
These books have ingredients that you use on a daily basis, not the kind that you have to go out and buy for one recipe and then never use it again. These are just some good ol’ recipes from some Southern women that REALLY KNOW HOW TO COOK!!! And there are great dishes of all kinds in each book. If you are considering buying them…you better be quick, because I think whatever few that are left will be all there is!
I carry different dishes to church when meet and then eat and I have someone always wanting the recipe. You will be glad you bought one when you get it and see all the yummy recipes that are in it!!
5 Stars Calling All Cooks
If you are looking for a cookbook with old fashioned, time-tested, basic recipes, then look no further. This book is full of recipes handed down from generation to generation. All ingredients are readily available in your neighborhood grocery store with no need for a run to the gourmet or specialty shop.
By purchasing this book, you are also supporting a very worthwhile organization. The Telephone Pioneers of America have been the main volunteer services group within the various companies of the former Bell System for over 125 years. The Pioneers constantly give of their volunteer hours in their local communities helping those in need. I am proud to be a Pioneer and also proud to have worked on the cookbook committee that brought you this book.
I hope you enjoy it!
400 Wok and Stir Fry Recipes Discover The Delights And Simplicity Of Successful Stir Fry Cooking With Sensational Classic And Modern Wok Dishes For Every Meal And Every Occasion
September 1, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Everything you could ever want to know about cooking with a wok in one sumptuous volume, with a comprehensive guide to getting the most from your wok and over 400 wok and stir-fry recipes.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Well Put Together Book For A Beginner
I just purchased this book, along with some utensils and a wok. Trying to vary up meals while cooking at home, which is becoming a trend not to go out to eat as often. So to save money and perhaps improve my culinary skills, I thought why not try stir fry, etc…
This book is an inch thick, dense (as my fiance and I joked about it halting a bullet it’s so dense), and is littered with helpful information in the first few chapters. The recipes have pictures, step by step instructions, and most of the time if it lists an ingredient, it’ll list another name it could be known as. I have, however, come across some ingredients I’m not familiar with, but I have a feeling I’d be able to order these spices online or find them in a local foreign foods market isle if I took the time to look. They’re usually not one of the major ingredients listed either, but I want to have everything together when I try a new recipe, even if I might doctor it later. I like to taste it how the writer intended, then alter it to meet my taste needs.
Overall, a lovely book. I think the only thing I would do differently would be to spiral bind it instead of standard book binding…so it’s easier to use in a kitchen environment.
1 Star Teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy, ridiculously small print.
I have no idea if this is a good cookbook or not, I cannot read the print. It does have a great deal of pictures but I have no idea what the pictures are of. If you are young, with great vision, I think you will enjoy the book. HOWEVER, if you, like me, are over forty, pick a different book.
5 Stars The master collection of wok recipes
The cookbook starts out explaining stir fry equipment and tools. It further goes into showing and explaining all types of noodles and wrappers. The book outlines stir fry techniques and breaks it down into step by step directions. This is especially helpful for the person who has never cooked like this before. This is true asian cuisine cooked the asian way.
The cookbook goes into making your own dips and garnishes such as wasabi and soy dip, ginger and hoisin dip, thai red curry dip and as well your own sweet chili sauce.
This book covers finger foods, soups, appetizers, main dishes and even desserts…all made using your wok or bamboo steamer. It’s absolutely awesome. I could see this being a wonderful wedding gift given with a wok.
I think all 400 of the recipes have pictures, they’re all good quality pics with step by step instructions for ease of use. It even shows you how to chiffonade a mixture of fresh herbs. There are foods in here that I’ve never heard of such as Sotong Sambal (squid), Deep-Fried Plaice (flounder bones), Boemboe Bali of Fish which I still don’t know what it is. The list of ingredients is galangal, shrimp paste, mooli, poppadums, asian shallots, naan and many other ingredients I’d think you’d have to get at a Whole Foods type store. However, this book is certainly full of every imaginable wok/asian recipe as well as recipes for making plain old fried rice.
It might be a little over the top for the beginner but what is so great are the photos of step by step procedures. I think it would really break down a complicated recipe so even the beginner could handle it with ease. If you’re looking for a little more americanized asian cuisine then I would suggest The Complete Book of Asian Cooking: Ingredients, Techniques, 100 Classic Recipes, 800 Photographs by Sallie Morris. It has lots of step by step instructions with pictures as well.
4 Stars Nice Book, Need an Indoor Wok Though
I picked up one of those Weber Woks (terrific product, by the way). This book has loads of great looking recipes, but I think they are a bit extreme for a wok over charcoal; too many temperature changes required. If your wok is indoors, then this is a great book, and why I gave it 4 stars. If your wok is outdoors, try the book by Graimes.
The Little New Orleans Cookbook Fifty Seven Classic Creole Recipes That Will Enable Everyone to Enjoy the Special Cuisine of New Orleans
August 10, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Want to capture the cuisine of New Orleans? Here it is! Now you can re-create that special Crescent City magic right in your own kitchen.
In the same manner and style of The Little Gumbo Book, author Gwen McKee presents fifty-seven classic New Orleans dishes, with entertaining notes and stories woven throughout. All are popular favorites that originated in, became famous in, or simply are enjoyed in New Orleans.
In clear presentations that include microwave, low-calorie and substitution suggestions, there are easy methods for Shrimp Creole, Crawfish Etouffee, Remoulade Sauce, Seafood Gumbo and Blackened Redfish, as well as a way to prepare Perfect Boiled Shrimp
American Classics More Than 300 Exhaustively Tested Recipes For Americas Favorite Dishes
July 18, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
American Classics More Than 300 Exhaustively Tested Recipes For Americas Favorite Dishes
Derived from the pages of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, American Classics (part of the successful Best Recipe series) offers 300 formulas for a soup-to-nuts trove of American standards–everything from clam chowder, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken to brownies, carrot cake, and lemon meringue pie (which required 28 tryouts before the “best” was achieved). The book goes far to realize its mission with exhaustive “what-we-were-looking-for-and-how-we-got-it” investigations; tons of useful asides on techniques, ingredients, and equipment; great how-to illustrations; and the recipes themselves, which are precisely thought through and clearly rendered. All in all, even a cursory dip into the book takes readers into the very heart of cooking.
How does it work? Let’s take the recipe for Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, a simple dish but one that’s frequently botched. First, the problem of achieving the right filling distribution: “Tradition … suggests that the cheese be cut into thin, even slices for easy melting,” say the authors, but this can be problematic as “cheese planes don’t work well on soft, rubbery cheeses” and cutting with a knife “requires patience, practice, and a relatively hard block of cheese.” After a number of slicing failures, the authors opt for “the common box grater … which is quick and efficient.” Next, the bread: “Some like it soft and some like it firm,” but even so, a supermarket brand gets the nod. Testing a full range of fats reveals salted butter is best for “superior flavor and its ability to turn bread deeply golden,” and so it goes through the choice of skillet (heavy gauge with a flat bottom) and the correct cooking temperature (no more than medium low). An exemplary recipe for grilled cheese sandwiches follows.
If all of this sounds obsessive, it is. More compelling is the fact that this approach helps readers understand the parameters of any cooking task, thus educating their tastes while also providing true technical empowerment. And the dishes really are keepers. –Arthur Boehm
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars great all-around cookbook
This couldn’t be your only cookbook, but almost. It covers many of the recipes that you use on a regular basis, and tells you how to make them great, and WHY you need to do what it says. The books Cook’s puts out would be wonderful for a beginner cook - you might as well start out doing it the right way. I only wish they had been around when I was a kid. And if you haven’t yet, you should catch their tv show on PBS.
5 Stars I was a good cook…but this made my dinners Excellent!
If you take any interest at all in cooking, you will LOVE reading this book! But the proof is in the pudding, of course, and time after time, the recipes I use from this book have been successful. For instance, my husband and adult son agreed that the macaroni and cheese I made from this collection was the absolute BEST I had ever made. You may think I was an average cook to begin with, but that isn’t the case. The editors were right, evaporated milk was the key to a smooth cheese sauce. And who would have thought of using fettucini instead of egg noodles in the tuna casserole, but once I did it, I would never use anything but.
I read the long, ranting and complaining about this and other books by one reviewer and thought it was petty. I consider this American Classics book to have two solid attributes: excellent discussion of testing and methods as well as reliable recipes. Not only did I purchase the Italian Classics and the Best Recipes books (both of which I enjoyed as well), I plan to purchase the large basic cookbook by the same publisher as gifts to my adult children this holiday season.
This book has given me a HUGE boost of energy and enthusiasm for cooking, and we’re all enjoying the benefits.
4 Stars Interesting American Recipes for Brits- and Americans
I spent time in the States when younger, and some things that I ate were a little eclectic for British Tastes. However, when I saw this book reviewed in the British press, I knew it would have all the recipes I would need. I wasn’t wrong! Not many pictures, but clear, concise instructions, and reading it has made my tummy rumble! Can’t wait to try the stuffing recipes - so much different to British stuffing, and the Coca-cola glazed Ham. This will keep me busy for ages!
5 Stars Loved it!
I bought this book for my brother and instead of wrapping it, I read it during the three hour trip to his house. He almost didn’t get it! It has so many great ideas in it even for someone like me who has been cooking a long time. Buy this for the foodie in your life!
5 Stars Excellent Cookbook for First Time Cooks
I have tried nearly every recipe in this cookbook. All of them came out well, and the explanations that come with the recipes are excellent.
You can find more recipes in the Joy of Cooking, but you won’t be as assured the food will taste good. Cooks Illustrated runs through several iterations to create the “perfect” recipe. Most of the ingredients are simple and readily available. The instructions are easy to follow.
This is an excellent cookbook for inexperienced and experienced cooks alike.
Williams Sonoma New Flavors for Chicken Classic Recipes Redefined NEW FLAVORS FOR SERIES
June 16, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Williams Sonoma New Flavors for Chicken Classic Recipes Redefined NEW FLAVORS FOR SERIES
Chicken is one of the world’s most popular choices for a home-cooked meal because it’s so easily adapted to different preparations and seasonings. In this volume from our New Flavors series, you’ll learn how to transform the familiar bird into a delicious array of new dishes. Grouped by season, the more than 40 easy-to-prepare recipes include poached chicken in lemongrass broth with baby spring vegetables, grilled chicken with jalapeno-plum relish and roasted chicken with pumpkin seed sauce. Each recipe is accompanied by a color photograph of the finished dish, along with notes about the ingredients. Informative food-and-wine pairing charts and a complete glossary are also included. Hardcover, 160 pages. A Williams-Sonoma exclusive.
Williams Sonoma New Flavors for Appetizers Classic Recipes Redefined New Flavors For Series
June 10, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Williams Sonoma New Flavors for Appetizers Classic Recipes Redefined New Flavors For Series
Best of the Best from Bells Best Cookbook The Most Popular Recipes from the Four Classic Bells Best Cookbooks Best of the Best Cookbook Best of the Best Cookbook
June 1, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Bell’s Best cookbooks, with over 6,000 outstanding recipes, have been condensed into one cookbook, with 429 of the most exceptional recipes to be found anywhere! Included among the recipes are fascinating facts and illustrations that show the development of the telephone.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Best of the Best…
This cookbook is everything that I wanted and more…I like the fact that the recipes are easy to follow and most of the ingredients are either already in your pantry or not hard to find at your local grocery stores…Good old fashion recipes for those who like down home good cooking…
5 Stars Little cookbooks are good, too
Since I have most of the original ‘Bell’s Best’ cookbooks, I wondered if I needed this ‘Best of the Best’. I do need this cookbook. It’s so easy to find the recipes and so much easier to handle. Really am glad I got this one.
5 Stars Dishes to grace any dining occasion, please any palate, and satisfy any appetite
The TelecomPioneers of Mississippi have published a series of four volumes of cookbook recipes, beginning with “Bell’s Best” in 1981, followed by “Bell’s Best 2″; “Savory Classics”; and “Bell’s Best IV”. The accumulative total of these four previously published cookbooks adds up to more than six thousand recipes! Now available from Quail Ridge Press is their fifth cookbook volume, “Best Of The Best From Bell’s Best Cookbook” which is a distillation and compilation of 429 recipes taken from the previous four volumes of the ‘Bell’s Best Cookbook’ series and presented along with informative and fascinating historical facts and illustrations showing the development of the telephone over the years from its inception with Alexander Graham Bell’s initial transmission over a telephone line to his assistant Thomas Watson, down to the touch tone and cell phones present day. This outstanding compendium include recipes for beverages and appetizers; breads and breakfasts; soups, stews and chilies; salads; pastas and rice dishes; meats; poultry; seafood; cakes; cookies and candies; as well as pies and other desserts. Of special note is the chapter devoted to equivalents and substitutions. From an Almond-Bacon Cheese Dip; to Chicken Tortilla Soup; to Fruit Salad with Apricot Dressing; to a Sausage Rice Casserole; to Barbequed Shrimp; to Crushed Pineapple Cream Cake; to Old-Fashioned Chocolate Fudge, these are dishes that would grace any dining occasion, please any palate, and satisfy any appetite. “Best Of The Best From Bell’s Best Cookbook” is a welcome and recommended addition to both personal and community library cookbook collections!
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
5 Stars Mississippi girls know how to cook!!
I grew up in Mississippi and have since traveled and lived all over the world. Trust me, unless you are a total foodie (heck, even if you are- I am and I STILL like these recipes) you will adore this cookbook. If you are trying to master regional southern cookery this is a WONDERFUL place to start. Real recipes from real people- this is the everyday food of Mississippi. If you want some of the more refined food order this (because it’s great) but also order Southern Sideboards from the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi. Together they make a wonderful set as a gift!
4 Stars Best of the Best
Okay, when I saw this Cookbook, I just had to have it. I have the Original Bell’s Best cookbook. I was thrilled to see a compilation of all 4 cookbooks combined. I bought copies for some relatives of mine as well. The Bell’s Best are well known here in the south (at least I think they are). I only wish there were more recipes added. It could easily been made a much bigger cookbook, esp. since the other Bell’s Best cookbooks are hundreds of pages in length. I guess this will leave room for sequels so others can enjoy these recipes as much as I have!
The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan Classic Diet Recipe Cards from the 1970s
May 22, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan Classic Diet Recipe Cards from the 1970s
Several years ago, while dutifully helping clean out her parents’ basement, Wendy McClure struck comic gold when she discovered an intact and well-preserved collection of Weight Watchers Recipe Cards from 1974:
They were neatly arranged in their own plastic file box. Plenty of the dishes seemed normal enough, but as I flipped through them, some of the recipes began to alarm me. And then I found the card for the Rosy Perfection Salad. I fell over. I laughed so hard I started coughing, and I fell back on the floor and I waved the card at my mom, who just rolled her eyes. ‘Can I please have these? Please?‘ I begged. ‘What do you want them for?’ she asked. ‘To cook?’ ‘No,’ I said. She let me have them. I think they might have been my grandma’s, but she never copped to actually buying them. Nobody else did, either.
What McClure unearthed were astonishingly grim, unintentionally hilarious recipe cards (sample dishes: Aspic-Glazed Lamb Loaf and Snappy Mackerel Casserole) containing no nutritional information but illustrated with eerie photos clearly staged by a props department not averse to self-medicating. Compelled to share her discovery with the world, McClure posted the cards on a website, framing each with her own side-splitting and appropriately warped comments. The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan–a titled borrowed from one of the myriad improbably named recipes contained within–unleashes the entire god-awful collection. No review can quite capture the horrors of the recipe cards or the genius of McClure’s riotous quips. Suffice to say these are milk-through-the-nose, tears-down-the-cheeks funny and a striking reminder of just how bent the 1970s were. Worth the price for the Molded Asparagus Salad and the Stuffed Apples Ganges cards alone. –Kim Hughes
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars SOOOOOOOOOO funny
My sister and I read this book and we CRACK UP. Wendy has our type of humor and she is our hero. When you see the pictures in this book you’ll be horrified and wonder WHO created these disgusting recipes. They shouldnt exist, but Im glad they do, otherwise we wouldnt have this book!
5 Stars I grew up with a mother who dieted
Although I don’t know that my mother ever had these cards, I know she was a member of weight-watchers from way back, and I just wish she was around to see this book - she’d find it as hilarious as I do. I loved the commentary. There are some reviewer for this book that said that the humor was low-brow; but to be honest, their reviews are somewhat coarse and harsh. Some of them are are offended by the fun being poked at the past. This is one of a many books out now that lets us have fun with the past.
And, yes, someone will make fun of things we do now 30 years from now. I’ll buy those books, too. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you need to reexamine the life you’re living and try not to take things too seriously! If you have a mom who may have made any of these recipes way back then, buy this book for them as a stocking stuffer. They’ll probably enjoy it.
4 Stars Hysterical!
I bought this for a friend as she and I try to lose weight. The food is bad enough but the commentary is priceless.
5 Stars Health Warning!
Made the mistake of reading this alone. Laughed so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. I got a little panicked. I strongly suggest reading only when someone is nearby, listening for choking sounds.
4 Stars Hilarious
This book was on the clearance table at the book store so I bought it for fun and I laughed out loud reading it. The one about the frozen cheese log was hilarious. Thanks for making me laugh Wendy.
Betty Crockers Classics 55 Recipe Cards
May 18, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Betty Crockers Classics 55 Recipe Cards
Our secret guilty pleasure that would most likely be mocked by true foodies. The Betty Crocker Classics Cookbook is one of our favorite cookbooks to go to when we crave simple comfort foods. This collection includes a generous helping of the best-loved recipes from the original 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book. From Fluffy Pancakes and Blueberry Pie to Pigs in Blankets and Pioneer Macaroni and Cheese Betty Crocker’s Classics presents easy-to-follow instructions for dishes just like Grandma used to make. The vintage appeal makes it the perfect gift for Mom Grandma and daughters of all ages. The Betty Crocker brand name has stood for convenient delicious meals and great desserts for more than 80 years. The Betty Crocker Cookbook in all of its 10 editions has sold millions of copies. 6-3/4 x 4-7/8 x 2 in; includes 50 4 x 6 cards and 5 tabbed divider cards
Dallas Classic Desserts Classic Recipes Series
May 13, 2009 by Classic Recipes · Leave a Comment
Dallas Classic Desserts Classic Recipes Series
A beautifully photographed cookbook celebrating the rich desserts of Dallas, this collection presents the best sweets from the city’s finest restaurants and chefs. A cosmopolitan melting pot of flavors, Dallas lays claim to hundreds of fabulously diverse eateries, each ranging in specialty from Southern and Tex-Mex fare to French contemporary, Latin American, and Asian cuisine. Highlighting iconic Dallas dishes and the confections made famous by the city’s favorite restaurants, “Dallas Classic Desserts” shares the secrets behind such indulgences as Fearing’s Caramelized Apple Fritters and Al Biernat’s Texas Pecan Pie
