Cooking for Good Times: Super Delicious, Super Simple [A Cookbook]

by Paul Kahan, Perry Hendrix, Rachel Holtzman

Celebrated chef Paul Kahan's game plan and recipe repertoire of rustic, super-delicious, low-stress food to cook for gatherings.

Chicago chef Paul Kahan is legendary for cooking up amazing food at home while everyone--including him--is hanging out in the kitchen, talking, and having a great time. Cooking for Good Times shares Kahan's best secrets for low-stress cooking for friends and family, using his program of twelve basic actions to mix and match (such as "Roast Some Roots, "Make Some Grains," "Braise a Pork Shoulder," and "Make a Simple Dessert"). In every chapter, Kahan gives six to eight customizations for each core recipe for ways to make dishes seem new. Simple recommendations for wine and beer styles to pour remove the fuss over beverage options. With recipes ranging from Roasted Chicken with Smashed Potatoes and Green Sauce to Farro with Roasted Cauliflower and Oranges and Steak with Radicchio and Honey-Roasted Squash, plus more than 125 mouth-watering photographs, Kahan's playbook is guaranteed to make hosting more relaxing, fun, and delicious.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book for a long time and never cooked anything from it (tells you something), so I decided to pull it out and review.

In theory I like the way the sections are built around a single food item or single process, with many variations. But that's also a complaint I have about it - some of the focuses are so simple that it's kind of absurd to ponderously include a bunch of variations. Example: salumi or grilled sausage with watermelon, tomato, and feta; salumi or grilled sausage with oranges, dates, and green olives; salumi or grilled sausage with whipped feta and crushed cucumbers; etc. None of those are involved enough to really warrant separate recipes - it could have been one page, listing all the variations on salumi or grilled sausage.

That format does work better with other sections like whole-roasted fish, roasted chicken, and braised pork shoulder, the variations on which involve actual cooking and therefore warrant separate recipes. I'm happy to have instructions on breaking down a whole fish and might give it a try. I've done a lot of braising of pork shoulders (and recently tried my skills at an entire giant leg of wild pig, which was an experience), and the variations on that look mildly interesting.

Some of the pizza flavors sound good (pistachio pesto, italian sausage, and feta; charred eggplant, smoked mozz, and hot honey).

Here is what I'll make and what saved the book from the donation pile:

Whole-roasted fish with creamy braised beans, green sauce, and pickled lemon

Roasted chicken with roasted grapes and Vetri's fennel (very basic, recipe not really needed, but sounds great anyway and wouldn't have thought to do grapes myself)

Brined and braised pork shoulder with braised apricots, couscous, and fennel yogurt

There are other little ideas I'll give a try, though I wouldn't keep the book for them. Simple things like charred summer squash-sesame dip, charred radicchio with arugula, cherries, and parm, and panzanella with hearty greens, honey-roasted squash, and pear.

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this gorgeous, high-quality book from my public library expecting to tab several pages and copy them into my workbook for future food prep. Nope, after reading the introductory chapter and flipping through the remainder, there is so much here that I am eager to prepare that this one is definitely going to have to be purchased and added into the library.

At a certain level all cookbooks are aspirational, right? But the sheer point of this one is sharing food we like with people we like--everything from small plates on the back porch or around the coffee table to more sit-down with table cloth (but not the stuffy-one) affairs. Kahan, an accomplished chef and Chicago restauranteur, pulls together a host of items that can have a good bit of the prep done in advance so that the host/cook gets to spend the bulk of their time enjoying the visit (and food and drink) with their guests and not frantically to-ing and fro-ing in the kitchen or over the grill. These are real dishes, that normal cooks with pets, hectic lives, and messy houses can prepare for the people they love. He shares several items from his restaurant, and we will definitely be making the bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed dates in the not too distant future.

This is a beautiful, high-quality cookbook. It (the one I buy and not the one from my public library) will stand up well to life on the counter being held open to the right page by the potato masher with what will doubtless be accumulated spills and splats over the years. The paper is high quality, the illustrations are full-color and enticing, and it very much conveys an unfussy "let's get our feed on" vibe. It would make a lovely gift for the home cooks in your life. Great work, Mr. Kahan, and I will definitely check out your restaurant, avec, the next time we are in Chicago.

[Reading Fool · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book: to make some food to eat while you cook, especially while enjoying the time with your friends and family. Paul Kahan presents this endeavor in thirteen steps in thirteen chapters. The recipes are quite approachable, some a little more difficult than others but all are definitely creative and current. The photos are gorgeous. I have tried two recipes so far - Roasted Chicken with Smashed and Crisped Potatoes and Green Sauce #1 and Olive Oil Cake, and both were fantastic. Raves from my guests! As the cover says: super delicious, super simple.
Thanks for the free book, @tenspeedpress!

[Ailbhe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The veg content is delightful, but so much of this book is about meat and alcohol that it's hard to get very excited about it.

[Lisa Daleiden-Brugman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super delicious? Maybe. Super simple. Not so much.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the way this book is written, with each chapter a focus on an underlying food type. Lots of delicious recipes and all very doable. Good inspiration for shopping at a farmers market.

[A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing really interesting

[Amy Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

We’ve cooked most of this book, and it’s easily our favorite!