Drink Books

You don't have to be a cook to enjoy this book. Apart from the recipes which are generally not complicated, you will find within it's pages a comprehensive reference to truffles, caviar and fois gras, explaining history, production methods, buying tips and what it is that makes these three the most expensive cooking ingredients on the planet.

With nice glossy pages and color photos, this would make a great gift for any food enthousiast!

This book comes at a perfect time. Everyone is a litle down and worried about life. What a great time to indulge yourself at home. The recipes in this book are clear and "cookable" (and you do not have to be a master chef to cook them), the ingredients tell your guests that you really care and it is no more expensive than cooking a prime rib dinner. The writing is excellent and the pictures are beautiful.

Very clear recipes, beautiful pictures, very thoughtful writing on the environmental issues. Most importantly I have now actually cooked with Foie Gras in my own home and the meal was no more expensive than a good cut of meat and wowed my guests.

This is a translated version of the book "Livre de recettes d' un Compagnon du Tour de France". The book is organized in sections according to the type of dough used. At the end of the book the author included the basic recipes for items such creams and batters. That is the only disadvantage of the book - you need to flip back and forth to different sections of the book, and sometimes a single recipe involves 4 sub-recipes in different sections. While this prevents repetition, it does make the book harder to use. The quantities listed usually make 3-4 full-size items (4 loaves, 4 cakes, etc.). Scaling down is not complicated, since all quantities are given in both metric and imperial measurements, but it is hard to figure out how much to prepare of everything if you only want to cook for a family and not for sale. I suggest to make a summary card of the whole recipe you are trying to make... before you break the first egg!. The recipes are very detailed and most items include drawings of the inner layers and a picture of the final product. I have tested about 20 recipes and the results are always impressive, although it always takes 2-3 times longer than I thought. An almond meringue cake with 4 components took a whole day to prepare. Similarly, the Saint-Honoré cake takes a whole day of work. I do recommend this book for people wanting to start a business in cake-making, as well as those like me that cook at home for a single family, but enjoys challenging cooking projects.

The Classic and Contemporary Recipes of Yves Thuries: French Pastry is without a doubt my favorate source for pastries. I am a 1984 graduate of the Culinary Institue of America and I currently own my own restaurant in Grand Lake Colorado. I only wish that Chef Thuries' book hadn't taken so long to become recognized in the states. This book has been long awaited in its translation.

Yves THURIES has put on paper an incredible study of the pastry arts! He has presented an organized, detailed and interesting study . His text is easy to follow and it captures you to move on to the next skill. Every possible detail is explained allowing one to move through the recipes without culinary stress. I have met Yves THURIES and found him to be a genuine master of the culinary arts. I found this book to be a life long reference book on the level of an encyclopaedia. I recommend this book for those that understand that it is not just pastry but it is an art form to be enjoyed and respected. Chef R. Sebastian-Young

This is my go-to book. I've loaned it out, lost it and bought it more than once. If you've never made liqueurs, this is the book for you. The authors include many noteworthy tips and set you up for sure success. I've tried over 10 recipes in the book and they've all been winners. And when you show up at a party with home-made liqueurs, the look on people's faces is just priceless!

The collaborative work of Cheryl Long and Heather Kibby, Classic Liqueurs: The Art Of Making & Cooking With Liqueurs is the newest and highly recommended addition the the outstanding "Creative Cooking" series from Sibyl Publications. Offering one hundred liqueur recipes and more than one hundred ways to cook with delicately flavored liqueurs. From Hawaiian Fruit Liqueur; California Lemon Liqueur; American Whiskey Punch; and Long Island Iced "Tea"; to Mandarin Yam Bake; Creme De Menthe Frosting; Italian Anise Stars; and Cranberry Jewels in Liqueur, these are drinks and dishes that will add a gourmet element to any and every dining occasion.

So, I call my hobby, "What Can I soak in Vodka?" ... I've tried many, many of the recipes in the book & they have all turned out very, very well. It has simple recipes with clear instructions (no super expensive ingredients!). It's a great book to learn how to make liqueurs & will give those of you who are more experiences some new ideas -- AND food recipes for your creations! The basic idea is to mix the ingredients and let them soak in vodka, etc. for a period of time. The beauty is, the longer you let it sit, the better it is! If you get busy, no worries!! Now that I know what I am doing, I have started experimenting with local, Alaskan wild berries & flowers (Fireweed is the BEST!). It's a great after dinner drink in January!! :)

There used to be a TV commercial of a mom whipping together a yummy treat. It took her about two seconds, but to impress her family with her hard work, she would dust herself with flour and otherwise tousle herself. With this book, you could do that.

Leslie Revsin had an absolute gift for reducing recipes to a few well-chosen ingredients and easy-to-understand instructions. Her book allows you to dine well at home without exhausting your energy or your budget: just the thing for entertaining. There's a nice variety of recipes and she helpfully offers suggestions and alternatives.

I am not a novice cook, but in order to prepare for making a new recipe, I usually find that it is best for me to read the recipe at least half a dozen times to make sure I catch all the steps and have a clear idea of sequence. The beauty of this book (and Revsin's others) is that the recipes are so clearly written and, in essence, so easy that I read once and commence cooking. It's a beautifully written tutorial for cooking simply and dining well.

I like Leslie Revsin's books (see also "Great Fish, Quick")but they do not seem to be very easy to find. But I was worried about this one because I usually do not like menu cookbooks - they are fun to read but it can be so hard to find a recipe afterwards. This one is organized into chapters on menus and then separate chapters with the recipes organized by course (dessert, etc.) The menus each have a simple (just right!) version and several "for a bigger feast" ideas.
Her approach is low key and she wants to help you have fun at your own dinners. She's very reassuring and the food is robust, not finicky. In addition to all this, she intersperses a stories of her restaurant days which makes it fun for armchair cooks too.

My wife and I have recently retired, and in our "new life", cooking at home has become a very important part of our time together. (We were accustomed to eating out at least 4 times a week!). Leslie Revsin's new cookbook has added an incredibly exciting dimension to our "dining in" experience. The recipes are simple, easy to follow...but deliver a rich, complex pay-off. We especially enjoy the way the book is laid out. A brief description at the top of each recipe, ingredients on the left margin, and every step in the preparation and cooking process clearly numbered in the middle. Our only regret is that we never had the privilege of dining at Restaurant Leslie, and we can only hope that our preparation of Leslie's double breast of chicken with two mustards (unbelievable!)comes close to her famous original. We've made 15 recipes already, and every one a winner!

The recipes are delicious, easy to make for anyone who knows how to cook a little more than the basics. The roast and salmon entrees are wonderful enough to serve the most distinguished guest.

I got this book for Christmas from my sister and now I'm a believer. After moving into my own place after college a couple of years ago I have struggled to find new things to cook, the days of raman noodle must pass. The only problem being that most of my attempts at cooking have come out looking more like my childhood mud pies then the pictures on the box. Now that I have made one or two of these simple meals for friends and a very impressed girlfriend I wonder why other cook books aren't so simply written. In the end I have to say get this book.

Quite a few cook books that I have purchased in the past, have been impossible for me to use, as my skills as a cook, are only basic, and their recipes difficult to follow. This book however is user friendly, with delicious results. I am sure these nuns must have considered her a "god send".

This is a great book for teaching individual portion cooking and I have used it from preschool all the way through elementary grades as so few kids get to handle and mix foods at home. BUT, the price is WAY out of control. A 400% markup from the publisher price seems a bit over the top.

This is a wonderful cookbook that I am using to lead a weekly kindergarten cooking class. It has easy to understand pictures, so that the kids can "read" the recipes. The recipes are from around the world with at least 100 recipes. A detailed table of contents makes recipes easy to find.

I have used this cook book with numerous groups of young children from 3-12 years old. When using this cookbook the children get to actually make their own food rather than pouring in one ingredient and stirring a little. The teachers guide is very helpful in showing tricks to make cooking activities safe for young children.

Another bonus is that the book is representative of foods from many cultures. One of my favorites is the crepe recipe which I have actually multipied to make at home for my family and friends.

Although I've never been to Texas, I *LOVE* this cookbook, as does everyone to whom I've given it as a gift. The recipes are all delectable, and written clearly enough for even northerners to understand. They are also preceded by clear descriptions of what makes them so wonderful (which I, myself, find invaluable in cookbooks), and many are quick and easy to prepare. You can't help but love this one!

I absolutely love this book! Over the last ten years, it has become a staple in my kitchen and the kitchens of friends who I have blessed with a copy. I am not a very talented cook, but I find these recipes easy to follow and virtually fail proof. My husband, a fabulous cook, also loves cooking with recipes from Cooking Texas Style. The book is filled with great unheard of recipes as well as Texas and Tex-Mex classics. In addition to the recipes, the personal notes that Ms. Marquez and Ms. Wagner have included are a thrill to read. There is information about the origin of some of the dishes as well as great family stories. I highly recommend this book to the novice or master chef! Enjoy!

This cookbook is the best book on regional Texas cooking that I have ever read. The recipes are clear and informative, spanning Mexican, German, and Southern dishes. The work is made all the more interesting by its insights into Texan life and culture.

This book is absolutely amazing, although it is geared towards the professional baker. There are great photographs of some of the decorative pieces, as well as helpful charts and tables. There are recipes for a number of unusual breads, as well as how to form animals, letters, woven bread baskets, wagons, and many other unusual and impressive breads. This is a great book for anyone interested in the nitty-gritty on bread-making and bread-shaping.

This book is an excelient book for both professional and student bakers. Not only does the book introduce the basics of bread baking, it also goes into the chemistry aspects of baking. This wonderful book offers a number of fasinating pictures that show many diffrent folds, rolls and techniques of developing dough. I highly recomend this book for someone who is interested in becoming a professional baker like myself.

If you are a seasoned bread baker, manager or owner of a small neighborhood bakery, this book is a must-have. It has hard to find information that will be extremely useful to you. This book is a valuable reference for professionals.

The first 30 pages is formal information on bread making techniques and ingredients in the professional bakery (e.g. base temperature calculations).

It has almost 50 recipes for specialty and flavored bread. These are extremely profitable, as they represent bread you can charge more for. If you are already doing standard breads, you should be able to do all the breads in this section without any additional difficulty. In addition, they will allow you to present good variety to your customers. The recipes are geared for about a dozen loaves, just about right for a neighborhood bakery.

It presents about 2 dozen different bread shapes that you can mostly apply to breads you are already making.

The second half of the book is devoted to bread sculpture, for those who feel artistic or who need a start for a professional competition.

Great reference book. I have been in the foodservice business for years and I learned a few things from reading this book.

As a professional health facilities planner, I was in need of a definative reference on planning institutional kitchens and cafeterias. This book is particularly informative and exceeded my expectations.

I like the fact that this book discusses how to make the design and layout of a facility function in its favor. As I read it, it continues to remind me that a lot of thought has to be put into the environment of the facility and people within various specialties must be integrated to make everything work smoothly.

i learned so many things. each chapter was so helpful. everyone dealing with this situation is addressed. i am sending copies to my parents and also my children. thank you for your expertise, dr. spickard.

I have a book ministry. ( I give helpful books to people) I considered the first edition one of the best books on alcoholism. I consider this second addition even more helpful.
Elaine R. Williams

As the child of an alcohol dependent father who has since passed, I was able to better understand his sickness. From this book, which I have recommended many times over to providers who treat the alcohol dependent patient, I gained an education in 14 days of reading that would have taken many years otherwise. Thank you Dr. Spickard