Small Victories

Starred review from September 15, 2016

Turshen, a former private chef who has co-authored such cookbooks as Buvette (with Jody Williams) and Hot Bread Kitchen (with Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez), here produces her first solo effort. The headnote of each recipe celebrates at least one of the titular "small victories": making cooking easier or less intimidating by taking advantage of such tips as improving the texture of cooked quinoa by spreading the just-cooked grain on a baking sheet to cool, or whisking cocktail ingredients in a bowl instead of using a cocktail shaker. In addition to these tips, each of the recipes for dishes such as radicchio slaw with warm bacon dressing, Old Bay shrimp cocktail, peach and bourbon milkshakes, and all-day pork shoulder with apple cider includes "spin off" ideas for changing the flavor profile or streamlining the preparation. VERDICT Home cooks aiming to produce delicious, unpretentious fare or those who enjoyed such cookbooks as Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook or Kristen Miglore's Food52 Genius Recipes would do well to add this to their shelves. Highly recommended.--Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2016
Turshen has coauthored cookbooks with many big names, including Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dana Cowin. This book, with a foreword by Ina Garten, is full of a broad mix of classic recipes and those Turshen has adapted with her own unique twists, such as her recipes for Old Bay Shrimp Cocktail and the Happy Wife, Happy Life Chocolate Cake. Beautiful photos are included with each recipe, and Turshen provides several variations on the recipes to give cooks more flexibility. In addition to the main chapters (Breakfast, Vegetables, and Meat and Poultry), there is also a chapter with various recipes for beverages and sauces to keep on hand (e.g., homemade barbecue sauce for chicken). There are seven lists of suggestions of seven things to do with seven different ingredients, such as leftover roast chicken and pizza dough, and recipes for seven easy but memorable desserts, such as vanilla ice cream with jam. Menu suggestions for different occasions include a date night menu, a winter lunch, a holiday cocktail party, and breakfast in bed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)