Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others

by Amy Thielen

One of Food & Wine's Best Cookbooks of Fall 2023

From beloved writer and cook Amy Thielen comes a year of inventive recipes and twenty menus for the “let’s do it at my house” set―and those who aspire to it. In her much-anticipated follow-up to The New Midwestern Table , Amy writes, “no one will ever care about the food as much as you and I do.” Company will have you rethinking the way you entertain, throwing dinner parties that are less formal, more frequent, and as fun for the cook as for the guests. Preaching leniency, not-guilty pleasures, and the art of making it in advance, Amy soothes the most common party anxieties one by one. Her reflections on writing menus, produce shopping, and how to time a meal are novel but timeless. Not afraid of meat (but obsessed with vegetables), these 125 loyal recipes are arranged in menu form―from intimate dinner parties to larger holiday feasts to parties that serve up to twenty. With a feast of gorgeous photography and plenty of down-in-the-pan cooking nerdery, Company encourages a return to the habit, and the joy, of cooking for family and friends. 100 color photographs

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Adult

352 pages, Hardcover

Published August 29, 2023

About the author

AMY THIELEN is a chef, TV cook, and two-time James Beard Award–winning writer. She is the author of "The New Midwestern Table" (2013) and host of Heartland Table on Food Network (2013–2014) and worked for celebrated New York City chefs David Bouley, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Daniel Boulud before moving back home to the Midwest. Amy speaks widely about home cooking and contributes to radio programs and magazines, including Saveur, where she’s a contributing editor. She lives with her husband, visual artist Aaron Spangler, their son, his dog, and a bunch of chickens, in Park Rapids, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Margaret Gerberding · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did make me want to invited people over for dinner, but I didn't really want to make any of the recipes.

[Katie Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Christmas break, I put 8-10 cookbooks on hold at the library and spend the relaxed evenings perusing them (but not cooking from them). This year, Company was on my list and I really loved reading through the headnotes, the essays, and the appendices. I think I may purchase this one, especially if I don’t find the time to cook from it before it has to be returned to the library. While I don’t think I’ll be digging an 8-foot trench in my backyard to roast a whole pig anytime soon (!), I love the ideas and themes presented here and many of the recipes look tasty and accessible.

[Ainsley McElwee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and pretty stories to read; I just didn’t find most of the recipes radically casual. Not sure if there are many I’d get around to making! I learned interesting culinary ways of thinking about hosting and cooking. The recipe descriptions and culinary history were nice. I also now can organize my kitchen and pantry in a better way. Photos were pretty too.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is nothing casual about these recipes. Most of my guests won’t eat a gizzards confit. I can’t buy yuca locally to make the yuca fries. Again, nobody in my family or circle of friends will eat pate grandmère or deer liver mousse. If you’re a huge foodie, you might relish this cookbook but I’ll pass on this one.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable reading, good recipes, but absolutely get it from the library or wait for it to go on sale. When I checked the price, the Kindle edition was $36 and some change. I realize authors need to pay their mortgages, too, but $36 for this sort of "warm, fuzzy, but you could figure this stuff out for yourself" cookbook is presumptuous.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's interesting in that the book claims to be for the down-home, unpretentious set while being one of the more pretentious cookbooks I have read in awhile. The cranberry tart cookie might have some promise.

[Jenna Hazzard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a beautiful book but I feel that the title is misleading. I didn't find it "radically casual," but that's just me.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enticing writing that made it feel like you were invited to a really good party. I miss that.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kind of cookbook. I like it because I like a days long lead up process to having people over - making the menu, buying ingredients, cleaning the house, listening to music, prepping the food, making the food, setting the table, etc.

There are pre-set menus according to how many people you're cooking for - 4-6, 6-8, 8-12, etc. The menu table of contents are organized throughout the cookbook as opposed to all at the front. While I did enjoy this, I think there still should have been a table of contents at the front of the book for easier to find reference. I didn't observe if there was good crossover of ingredients in the menus though.... hmm, will go back and check.

Personally - really dislike this cover and don't feel it's an accurate reflection of the tone of the book! There are so many wonderful, cozy photographs of gathering in the woods of Minnesota! I think the cover art should've represented the content better. On the cover alone I would have never picked it up (legit hate it) but I work at a cookstore so had time to peruse and discover what I do like about it.

This was the first cookbook we used for a cookbook book club. I made the braised red cabbage (too sweet - I should've doubled the caramelized red onions). The standouts from the book club were the cilantro lime cocktail (for na subbed with an na amaro type) and the chocolate cake with vanilla bean whipped cream. When my coworker described the steps she took to make the cocktail though - it was laughable! So many steps and yet worth it. Some of the cooks in attendance are new to the game and so it turns out this book was overly technical and had too many hard to find ingredients. I wouldn't recommend for new cooks.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to be on a Midwestern theme lately. (See my last post regarding the novel Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club.) Again, I grew up decidedly south of the Midwestern states but there’s something about the ruralness and the rustic setting that Theilen describes in her cookbook. She is prone to cook and host planned and impromptu dinners for neighbors which includes anyone within a twenty mile radius.

Company is a very practical and no nonsense way to entertaining even though Theilen steers clear of the “E-word.” (This is not your mother’s Martha Stewart entertainment bible.) Her take on entertaining is realistic; dinner parties aren’t perfect and good ones aren’t. “They hit both high notes and low notes. They swing. The missteps make us human, and cause the understanding to flow around the table, unbroken, like good conversation” (10).

Company is an old fashioned cookbook. ” Individual recipes are modern; menus are hopelessly analog” (9). The book is full of these analog but inventive menus.

I love a cookbook that includes menus and always have. I have a number of Junior League cookbooks that include menus but Company is composed almost solely of festive and “ordinary” menus, a lot relying on what is local and seasonal. That would be my only complaint with the book. Some of the recipes are out of reach for me because I couldn’t procure the ingredients.

Regardless, this is a great gift book for someone who entertains. (Sorry, I used the “E-word.”)

[Kate]

Made the cast-iron garlic shrimp with chorizo and green olives (the author suggests it as an app but I think it makes a pretty good dinner with some bread and a salad).

Interesting format: a bunch of sample occasions/menus from the author, who is entertaining her friends, so you get a little story and some large-format recipes to feed a crowd. To be honest the likelihood of me specifically having a big backyard feijoada party is…not high. But there are a few recipes here and there that I’d like to try, and in an age where “dinner party” seems like a thing people don’t perform in any specific way, it’s useful, I think, to have some examples of scenarios.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had different expectations for this book after listening to Amy talk about it on a podcast. Somehow I thought it would provide great ideas for casual cooking and spending less time in the kitchen prepping for guests and more time enjoying their company. I found the recipes fairly complex and the ingredients a bit eclectic as if her former NY restaurant pantry was in her current northern Minnesota home. The stories were interesting but I eventually started skimming it and went on to a different book.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are admittedly a number of recipes I will never attempt to make, but there are also many I’m looking forward to trying. What made this a 5 star read for me are the cozy comforting photos and the lush, dreamy prose. Amy’s descriptions of technique, food, and the Midwest left me in awe of her talent as a writer.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m glad I waited to get a copy from the library to check it out before buying it.
I agree with the author’s premise, you can have a “ good enough” dinner for a party.
But I did not find any compelling recipes in the collection.

[Heidi Holtan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love not just the recipes in this book, but the stories and the words of Amy Thielen. KAXE interview here

https://www.kaxe.org/show/91-7-kaxe-9...

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

245: 2024
I think I like this one better than her first one. More things in here I want to try, and most menus can be easily broken down/ split into their components to use the recipes separately if you so chose.

[eclaire de lune · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving 4 stars for now as I have not had a chance to cook any of the recipes yet, but the food looks delicious, the prose fills me with a deep desire to throw more dinner parties, and once I do get to cook from this book, it may very well bump up to a 5.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this and wanted to love this but it fell short of what I needed in a cookbook right now. Sure don’t think that I’m going to be digging an eight foot trench to cook meat any time soon.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, will be using often. Just the right mix of recipe content, advice, other perspective.

[Marianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too fussy for me.

[lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the concept of this book and Amy’s stories. Made the Aligot potatoes for Christmas dinner 2023 and they were as good as the ones I’d enjoyed in France!

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful cookbook with lovely commentary from the author. Yet, it wasn’t as practical as I was hoping for.

[Christina Karvounis · Rating 5 out of 5]

entertaining!

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t made any of the recipes yet, but reading the book was so enjoyable and made me want to host tons of dinner parties.

[Teija]

DNF

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thielen is one of my favorite current food writers, and this is a fun book to read. The point of it is to take some of the stress out of entertaining, and this does make you eager to have people over. There are sample menus, and of course you can mix and match. The backstories for the recipes are great (just enough bio and background), and the book is sprinkled with tips, explanations and options that are very helpful. However, most of these recipes require more planning and cooking time than I'm regularly able to put in. Thielen advocates cooking like chefs do, where you go all day, but it's low maintenance. That is a good idea, but it's not how I'm comfortable doing things. Also, sometimes I just can't go off task. There also isn't any nutritional information, and a lot of the photos are lifestyle photos (people in front of a fire, etc) - I could have done with more food-specific photos, though the quality of the photos is incredible.

This is worth checking out for the food writing and inspiration.

[Karna Converse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful essays that emphasize friends, family, and community. I especially liked those that highlighted her go-to tools and equipment and basic pantry ingredients. Touted as "grandma-style Midwestern cooking" but, unfortunately, I didn't find many recipes to add to my collection.

2024 Des Moines Library Challenge: Cookbook

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A culinary delight. Read it for the storytelling more than anything.

[Noreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Emily Miotke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book and Amy’s approach to cooking for friends. A rare cook book I love as much the recipes as the writing.