Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook
by Ruby Ann Boxcar

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Book Reviews of Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook

Book Review: A Beautifully Written and Wonderfully Informative Cookbook!
Summary: 4 Stars

Page after page is loaded with information, a tip and guideline for everyday cooking on each page. The recipes require little else than a bit of enterprise and a willingness to work for your meal.

And let me tell you, it's worth it. The book is a wealth of imformation. Ruby Ann Boxcar holds nothing back. She does not simply give you the way she prepares her oysters, but rather a story on her first oyster, an explanation on how, where, and when to pick them, a thorough run-through of oyster classification, the way to shuck them, and a simple method of serving. Five pages. Seven pages on her theory and stories behind duck confit. Fifty-seven pages on introductory cooking technique and theory.

Boxcar focuses on simple (some may disagree with me about that) French, Italian, and Mediteranean food with a light-handed California touch. "This book gives the cook and the reader two accessible temptations: to read from cover to cover, and to cook from cover to cover." Too true.

The recipes are wonderfully hearty and simple. "Mock Porcetta" (a simple herby pork roast) is great for any small dinner party. "Zuni Salt-Cured Anchovies" are a fun but not extreme break from what most would consider ordinary and a great jump-off point to begin experimentation. "Beef Carpaccio and Four Ways to Serve It" is an elegantly fresh way to start off a small dinner party, and likewise, so is "Rosemary-Grilled Chicken Livers and Bacon With Balsamic-Onion Marmalade Toasts." "Asparagus and Rice Soup with Pancetta and Black Pepper," her ricotta gnocchi, her CHAPTER on eggs. They are all wonderful. This is a lovely book.

But I do have a few small complaints. Though this may seem frivolous, I was vexed by the deficit of photos, an element I find to be nearly imperitive in a fun cookbook. As well, some of her views on food, such as her not being crazy about rich desserts sadly carries out in the number of like recipes.

Though some might say that this book is not for the faint-hearted chef, I would say that it is such a chef's fault and not the author's. This book welcomes anyone who is willing to cross away from just "conviency cooking" for boring sustenance. Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook transcends that idea. It is a great cookbook. So well worth the ONLY 25 DOLLARS.

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