Dec 09 2008
The Splendid Tables – How to Eat Supper Recipes Stories and Opinions from Public Radios Award Winning Food Show
Just when you thought the last thing the world needed was another book on weeknight cooking, along comes an entirely fresh take on the subject. As they do on their weekly show, host Lynne Rossetto Kasper and producer Sally Swift approach their topic with attitude and originality, making The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper one of the most engaging cookbooks of this or any other year.
As loyal listeners know, Lynne and Sally share an unrelenting curiosity about everything to do with food. Their show, The Splendid Table, looks at the role food plays in our lives—inspiring us, making us laugh, nourishing us, and opening us up to the world around us. Now they have compiled all the most trenchant tips, never-fail recipes, and everyday culinary know-how from the program in How to Eat Supper, a kitchen companion unlike any other.
This is no mere cookbook. Like the show, this book goes far beyond the recipe, introducing the people and stories that are shaping America’s changing sense of food. We don’t eat, shop, or cook as we used to. Our relationship with food has intensified, become more controversial, richer, more pleasurable, and sometimes more puzzling. How to Eat Supper gives voice to rarely heard perspectives on food—from the quirky to the political, from the grassroots to the scholarly, from the highbrow to the humble—and shows the essential role breaking bread together plays in our world.
How to Eat Supper takes you through a plethora of inviting recipes simple enough to ensure success even if you’ve never cooked before. And if you are experienced in the kitchen, you’ll find challenging new concepts and dishes to spark your imagination.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Delicious and inspiring
I received this book from my girlfriend, who knows how much I love Lynne’s show and collecting cookbooks. I am usually skeptical of books written by media personalities (e.g., nearly everyone on the Food Network) because the books are almost always hyped and are no more special than cookbooks written by others. A pretty face does not always a good cookbook make.
Many others have commented on the book’s layout and design, so I’ll focus on the recipes contained within the book. Most of the them require a lot of little ingredients, especially spices, oils, and herbs, so most of your time in the kitchen will involve gathering and preparing these than actually cooking the food. I found that nearly all of these dishes tasted better the next day and needed more salt than specified.
Nearly every recipe has been a revelation of some sort:
1. The Pan-Crisped Deviled Eggs are a new take on the American classic: you brown the the recipe’s deviled eggs in a skillet, which enhances the taste and texture.
2. The Cuban Black Bean Stew is hearty and simple; it’s perfect for a chilly fall day. It’s inexpensive, too: my grocery store practically gives away smoked ham hocks.
3. The recipe for Tomato-Cheddar-Packed Turkey Burgers produces wonderfully moist burgers and the splash of wine adds a welcome (but light) complexity. Word of warning: You’ll think there’s something wrong after you mix the ground turkey with the rest of the ingredients: the patties will be very wet and not hold shape. Don’t worry: drop them on the hot skillet and everything will work out in the end.
4. Lynne’s Winter Tart of Roast Vegetables and Endive demonstrates how easy it is to use frozen puff pastry and how well it works as a “pizza” crust. The use of Asiago cheese adds a nice tang and makes the dish so savory. Lynne’s variations show how easy it is to improvise on this recipe so it can work with nearly whatever vegetable you have on hand. Happily, she even includes a page describing how to roast vegetables. My mouth is watering just remembering this dish.
5. Lynne’s recipe for pho is divine. The “cheater’s Asian broth” that is the base of this recipe is savory, a wonderfully balanced blend of onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, pepper, chicken broth, sugar, and fish sauce.
6. Jane and Michael Stern’s broccoli casserole calls for 3 tablespoons of sugar, white bread, 3 eggs, a cup of shredded cheddar, and half a stick of butter. The sugar really is the surprise in this dish; I never expected that in a casserole in which I would assume salt to dominate.
7. The 21st Century Mac ‘n’ Cheese is definitely an adult take on mac and cheese. The use of cheddar, cream cheese, and Gruyere, along with a finely minced onion, give this dish a real zip that is so often lacking in traditional recipes.
8. The Pork Tenderloin Pan Roast with Black Olives and Orange is delicious, juicy, and tender. I never had before thought of the combination of black olives, orange, and white wine.
What hasn’t worked? It was the Sicilian corkscrews with white beans. I’m not sure what happened, but the dish lacked any flavor. I had to pour salt on it, even though I generously salted the pasta water, as Lynne is always recommending. And I am just not sure about the iced cantaloupe soup with jalapeno and basil. I think the recipe called for *too* much salt. It just may not be a taste that I like.
In conclusion, Lynne has an impressive sense of how to boost the savoriness and depth of flavor through the use of sensible amounts of simple ingredients, like wine, onions, and tangy cheeses, all without sacrificing the balance of flavor in a dish. The overall effect is a filling supper without extraordinary amounts of added fats. I would recommend this book to the amateur cook who likes cooking, new tastes, and isn’t afraid to try using wine as a cooking ingredient.
5 Stars Practical AND inspiring
I work full time and cook for my husband and me. It is important to me to cook healthy meals and I am willing to purchase quality ingredients although my budget is limited and I hate waste (buying a jar when I need a quarter cup of a rarely used ingredient, for example). Once in awhile I’ll cook an elaborate meal, but my preference is for meals that can get on the table with less than a half hour of my time and rely mostly on staples I can keep around. So far I LOVE the “Warm white bean salad with fragrent garlic and rosemary” which is now a weekday,throw-together-at-the-last-minute meal for us on a regular basis. I also LOVE the “Summer Zucchini Pasta.” But the cookbook is worth the price for the French Fudge Cakes alone. I made the panna cotta and served it along with the fudge cakes for guests who haven’t stopped talking about it when I see them. I can’t remember the last cookbook where I found both weekday staples along with dishes that impress. I also appreciate that Lynne teaches techniques and encourages experimenting. I’ve riffed on the zuchinni pasta but now always add the pasta water to create the “sauce.” I feel like I am learning to cook, not just following a recipe. I agree with one reviewer that the graphic design is a bit distracting in some cases, but I’ve taken to writing on the recipes myself – notes about substitutions and favorites – so it feels like a two-way conversation. This cookbook is for the just beyond basic beginner or the cook who has more ambition than time. A cooking 102 from a master teacher.
4 Stars Creative Cook
My daughter bought The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper after listening The Splendid Table podcasts and wanting a book based on Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s and Sally Swift’s recipes and recommendations. I loved the book so much that I bought one for myself. The book has loads of pictures and many recipes are enhanced with variations and advice. In fact, the book is just plain fun to read! The menu suggestions on the inside of each cover will give your everyday suppers more pizazz and make company worthy meals a snap. This book is a gourmet-wanna-be’s dream.
4 Stars Satisfying and Quick Meals
I love Lynn Rosetto Kasper (even though I always think her middle name is Risotto). Her efforts to support local organic agriculture are terrific and the depth and breadth of her knowledge about food is amazing. She loves a good story to go with her meals and to entice the reader. Little introductions to the recipes provide humor and extra motivation to the chef/working mom’s out there with brains who need a smart & interesting boost at the end of the day knowing that the recipes will inevitably take a little extra time, but provide a way more satisfying experience. In my mind, that is the perfect cookbook for a working cook, one that is a little funny, a little smart, that motivates you even when you want to sit down, and rewards you with a thoroughly delightful result. This cookbook is no different from her others, but except for its intention to allow you to make dinner after work without being too time consuming.
I have only tried a couple recipes so far and adapted one for another meal. In each case the meal was as advertised, simple and made reasonably quickly. My family so far has loved each one. That is a home cook’s best praise.
My only complaint is that the style & size of the type-face throughout the book is changed to “add interest” I suspect. But it ubiquitous & over the top, only serving to make it hard for me to quickly browse the contents when trying to select a meal to make. I would suggest that future editions omit most of the high impact typesetting and thereby help save the reader even more time by limiting its distracting quality.
3 Stars A departure in style
Being used to a simpler format, I was distracted by the use of so many sizes and styles of type. I have two books by her and use them, but haven’t tried any in this one.
