The New Basics Cookbook
by Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins
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Book Summary Information
Author: Julee Rosso, Sheila LukinsBrand: Workman Press
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1989-01-10
ISBN: 0894803417
Number of pages: 864
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Book Reviews of The New Basics Cookbook
Book Review: "The New Basics" - An Adventure in False Advertising
Summary: 2 Stars
After moving into my first apartment while in college I bought this cookbook hoping it would be the only cookbook I'd need - 10 years later I've perhaps made a total of 10 recipes and each one has been underwhelming to say the least, never to be repeated. As far as actual recipes go, it is by far the least useful cookbook in my house.
Lets start with the so-called "basics." New England Clam Chowder, to me the ultimate comfort soup. Using this book's recipe the result is an off-color (too dark, likely due to the massive amount of bacon it calls for), too thick, and simply odd-tasting - lacking flavor and possessing an obvious misdirected flavor at the same time. I'd never had more respect for Campbell's. Years later I tried another clam chowder recipe, this time from Williams Sonoma's simply named "Soup" cookbook. It was fantastic! Comparing the 2 recipes, I can now see that The New Basics recipe's flaws lie in the massive amounts of dried thyme and bacon (Williams's Sonoma uses a modest amount of salt ham and no thyme) combined with the complete absence of celery, onion, and fish stock (Lukins and Rosso use water) - simple omissions that completely make or break the success of a clam chowder recipe. These types of flavor and ingredient errors abound and I seriously doubt many of their recipes were actually tested by Lukins or Rosso. Here's another comparison between the same 2 books: Seafood Gumbo, another recipe I consider a "basic": the William's Sonoma Cookbook calls for simply shrimp, crab, and andouille sausage for the meat part of the recipe and uses fish stock. Lukins and Rosso's (chicken stock based) Seafood Gumbo recipe calls for 12 oz sea scallops, 1 pound shrimp, 12 oz LOBSTER, 8 oz crabmeat, and kielbasa (huh?) sausage. Clearly Lukins and Rosso have the motto, "Why spend $25 making a gumbo when you could instead spend $125?"
Beyond the "Basics," which are actually few and far between in this book, you will find countless recipes that will take days to track down rare ingredients, 4 hours to actually cook, and may result in your guests saying, "This is so, um... interesting" as they anxiously await you to say, "I know - it's crap. Lets order Chinese." You'll also need to call in a maid-service to clean all of the pans you've dirtied. But, then again who could resist the hassle of tracking down juniper berries, rutabaga, and pitted dates to add to their 21 ingredient "Venison Stew" recipe? Or instead you could opt for "Grouse on Toast," especially since the authors so cheekily write, "Whether you're lucky enough to have wood grouse, black grouse, red grouse or white grouse, this 'less is more' preparation is best." Seriously, I think I just vomited in my mouth a little bit. By the way, Lukins and Rosso's "Lady Baltimore Cake" holds the special distinction of being the only cake ever to somehow manage to make my boyfriend and me simultaneously gag. True story.
To give credit where credit is due there is a great deal of useful information in "The New Basics." For instance, each section of the book gives a detailed description of various ingredients - the flavors, textures, etc. The herb, fish, and poultry tables along with the roasting charts have been particularly helpful when I am concocting my own recipes. Furthermore, I'm sure there are good recipes in this book - I've simply had too many disasters to justify opting for this book's recipes when I have plenty of other cookbooks that have given me a 100% success rate. Learning to trust my own insticts has perhaps been the best lesson from this book - if a recipe sounds weird, it probably tastes weird.
Overall, "The New Basics" adheres to an unapolagetic 1980's cooking style - pretentious, fussy, and overdone. I find it so refreshing that modern cookbooks have completely rejected this style and instead feature simple flavor combinations, quick preparation, and, most importantly, ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE ingredients. Photographs don't hurt either. Every Williams Sonoma cookbook, "Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food" and Ellie Krieger's "The Food You Crave" are among my current favorites.
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