Review: Good Basic Recipes
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 8, 2012
There's an introduction with some information about the author and her history, which I appreciated.For the most part, the recipes certainly appear to be what they claim to be - comfort food, traditional food, "real" food. One exception is the "Death by Chocolate" recipe.  It's a great dessert, but I don't think it suits this cookbook very well.  There is no canned "cream of X" soup included, no packaged seasoning or dry soup mixes.I was a little bit confused by the Yorkshire pudding recipe, though - I really want a good one and have looked through several (and had some failures along the way from trying them).  The recipe says to put 1/2 teaspoon oil - some recipes I have call for the drippings from the roast, so I'm wondering if that's what was intended, or if some other type of oil is what she used (and if so, what type).  It also doesn't say specifically how many muffin cups to prepare, but it does say 4 servings, so I suppose that's what I would try.The instructions regarding cornstarch are, surprisingly, appropriate for the substance, indicating it should be added at the end and only enough added to thicken.  This adds a vote of confidence to the book for me.  As I have noted elsewhere, cornstarch breaks down after about 10 minutes of cooking.  I had a few gluey, nasty disasters before I caught on, and I frequently see "add cornstarch and cook for 4 hours on low in the crockpot" or "add cornstarch and simmer for an hour."There are a few typos here and there (masked potatoes, last 10 minutes of cooking tome) but everything is still clear and understandable.I liked this cookbook and the recipes look like they would provide a solid foundation in some basic recipes.  Having taught myself to cook without the benefit of family recipes, I know that it is sometimes hard to find recipes for the basics.I wavered between 4 and 5 stars on this one.  On the one hand, it's a good collection of recipes that appear to be from an individual's collection versus pulled off the web.  It has the personal touch so often lacking.  The quality is overall good.  On the other, one recipe leaves me with some questions before I try it and the other doesn't seem to fit the theme.Ultimately, the cornstarch tipped it into 5 stars.  I so rarely see information on using this that coincides with my experience, and it indicates to me that I think I'd really like to eat at this woman's house.