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“A Good Appetite,” Melissa Clark’s weekly feature in the New York Times Dining Section, is about dishes that are easy to cook and that speak to everyone, either stirring a memory or creating one. Now, Clark takes the same freewheeling yet well-informed approach that has won her countless fans and applies it to one hundred and fifty delicious, simply sophisticated recipes.
Clark prefaces each recipe with the story of its creation—the missteps as well as the strokes of genius—to inspire improvisation in her readers. So when discussing her recipe for Crisp Chicken Schnitzel, she offers plenty of tried-and-true tips learned from an Austrian chef; and in My Mother’s Lemon Pot Roast, she gives the same high-quality advice, but culled from her own family’s kitchen.
Memorable chapters reflect the way so many of us like to eat: Things with Cheese (think Baked Camembert with Walnut Crumble and Ginger Marmalade), The Farmers’ Market and Me (Roasted Spiced Cauliflower and Almonds), It Tastes Like Chicken (Garlic and Thyme–Roasted Chicken with Crispy Drippings Croutons), and many more delectable but not overly complicated dishes.
In addition, Clark writes with Laurie Colwin–esque warmth and humor about the relationship that we have with our favorite foods, about the satisfaction of cooking a meal where everyone wants seconds, and about the pleasures of eating. From stories of trips to France with her parents, growing up (where she and her sister were required to sit on unwieldy tuna Nicoise sandwiches to make them more manageable), to bribing a fellow customer for the last piece of dessert at the farmers’ market, Melissa’s stories will delight any reader who starts thinking about what’s for dinner as soon as breakfast is cleared away. This is a cookbook to read, to savor, and most important, to cook delicious, rewarding meals from.
Anonymous
Posted March 12, 2013
Excellent book, great recipes with great directions. Recipes feed the mind
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 8, 2012
The Clark's Traditional Christmas Stuffing is wonderful.
We will be using it again & again; everyone raved...must use the
fresh chestnuts though! Well worth the time to roast them.
Love reading the short stories accompanying the recipes. This is my kind of cookbook!
Highly recommend!
MarieBakes
Posted April 27, 2011
Great recipes!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Reading IN THE KITCHEN WITH A GOOD APPETITE is a bit like being lucky enough to have two scoops of ice cream on a piece of homemade apple pie - the pleasure is doubled because Melissa Clark's stories are super fun to read and her recipes so delicious. This is a book not only to prop open in the kitchen and cook, but one to relax with and thoroughly enjoy Clark's reminiscences. Her writing style is easy and unaffected - a bit like chatting with a good friend.
In addition, to her sharing of memories Clark lets us in on some of her secrets when it comes to inventing a meal in jig time. Now, if I were not to have an ingredient listed in a recipe, I'd pull off the apron and dash to the grocery store. Not Clark - she substitutes with the finished product often being tastier than the original recipe. . Haven't you read some recipes that sound delicious, but the ingredients and directions frighten you off? Not at all so here - Clark's recipes are within reach of everyone.
Born to parents whose dream was "to eat at every Michelin-starred restaurant in France," Clark comes to her appreciation and love of food quite naturally, and she shares that enthusiasm for what we eat via 150 recipes and stories.
IN THE KITCHEN WITH A GOOD APPETITE holds recipes for foods we love, whether pancakes or chicken, corn or spaghetti, sandwiches or toffee. It's a book that not only tickles your palate but warms your heart as well.
Highly recommended.
- Gail Cooke
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Overview
—Tom Colicchio, author of Craft of Cooking
“A Good Appetite,” Melissa Clark’s weekly feature in the New York Times Dining Section, is about dishes that are easy to cook and that speak to everyone, either stirring a memory or creating one. Now, Clark takes the same freewheeling ...