The Frugal Gourmet's Culinary Handbook: An Updated Version of an American Classic on Food and Cooking

by Jeff Smith, Craig Wollam

A comprehensive reference lists essential cooking terms, ingredients, and includes new recipes

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Reference, History

497 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

Jeffrey L. Smith was the author of a dozen best-selling cookbooks and the host of The Frugal Gourmet, a popular American cooking show.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See authors with similar names.

Reviews

[Aprilleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was more a curiosity than a useful addition to my library, and calling it "updated" is a bit of a misnomer. They reprinted the original book and added their own comments in a different color. For example, there are two entries for "aspic" - one in a reddish-brown (the original) and one in black (their version). Without the index it's nearly impossible to find anything that isn't a very basic term because there are an insane amount of variations, all of which have their own entry which break up the otherwise alphabetical dictionary-like approach. For example, I lost track of the number of difference entries for consomme. This might be a fun book to look through if you have a little time to kill, or it might be helpful if you're trying to revive an old recipe that uses terms and assumes knowledge you don't have, but otherwise this isn't much more useful than the very old, very dated book it pretends to have updated.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more a reference book than an actual cookbook, which was probably why it took me so long to finish. However, the recipes included are good, too.

[Modbon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't really a book of recipes (although it does have some), but more like a trip back in time to the early 1900s, the age of Delmonico's and 14-course dinners. It's also a great glossary of terms and ingredients, updated with new information from the 80s.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history lesson through food as the Frugal Gourmet and his sidekick Craig reprint and update a famous cookbook from the turn of the century.
A fun look at the past and lots of interesting notes about the recipes and ingredients included.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good ideas and updates. This one is a keeper. From back in the day when the recipe is take item 1, item 2, item 3... make this... it is for professional chefs and presumes you know technique to accomplish said task... and reading it makes me hungry...

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Premise was intriguing, but prefer actual recipes instead of Fellow's "receipts" and a few scattered explanations by Wollam.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recipes from Jeff Smith's cooking show containing reasonably priced ingredient and that are classical American in nature.