cover image Home Cooking 2005 Recipe Annual

Home Cooking 2005 Recipe Annual

Alice Robinson, Judy Shaw. House of White Birches, $24.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-1-59217-091-3

Packed with over 500 recipes, Home Cooking's compilation has something for everyone. Recipes range from the simple Pimento-Cheese Spread, which calls for stirring together processed cheese, mayonnaise and pimentos, to more complex fare such as Greek Roasted-Pepper Salad and Glazed Figs with Soft Cheese Sauce, a heady melange of gorgonzola, mascarpone, balsamic vinegar and citrus. Even with the wide array of recipes, spices are used sparingly, and many of the recipes would not have been out of place in the 1955 edition. Many of these, such as Shrimp and Tomato Aspic, Baked Tuna Foldovers and Sam's Salmon Loaf, might have best been left to the issues of yesteryear, but volume is the order of the day. Purists may scoff at the frequent requests for items such as canned broth, boxed brownie mix or frozen bread dough, but there are enough from-scratch recipes sprinkled throughout the book to satisfy cooks who are willing to put in a little more effort. The emphasis is on speed and ease, not necessarily taste or sophistication. That said, novices looking for standards like Seven Layer Dip, Bananas Foster, or Swedish Meatballs will find this book valuable. Recipes are organized rather haphazardly, although indexes offer alphabetical listings as well as recipes sorted by main ingredient. A chart for conversions and substitutions is also included.