Washington Post Book World
"The book became my cooking bible. Other cookbooks came my way, all of them good manuals, but I would lose interest in the dull, functional prose. The thing about Marion and Irma was that they could write as well as cook!" - Julia Alvarez 12/08/1996New Yorker
"...I would never be without 'The Joy of Cooking': I can turn to it when I make a foray into the unknown..., and it will give me, without condescension, basic information and the techniques for using it. And, possibly best of all, it isn't scary. It's probably the friendliest cookbook ever written." - Nancy Franklin 01/06/1997 New York Times
"While the old 'Joy of Cooking' signified an era of plain eating and orderly family life, its newly revised pages reflect a chaotic culture seeking solace, and status, in food. It now delivers authentic ethnic recipes, herb-infused oils and restaurant-inspired dishes. It is a comprehensive, well-tested collection of both trendy and homey recipes, paying homage to the moment just as the five previous editions did to the fashions of their times....[A] carefully updated revision that reflects the enormous changes that have occurred in cooking over the last two decades. In tone, it reads like a teaching cookbook rather than the quaint and chaotic ramble it once was....Longtime loyalists may bemoan the loss of recipes for simmered porcupine....'Joy,' the icon, is no longer a guide to daily life and an antidote to the worries of its era. The new 'Joy' is a good cookbook. But it is only a cookbook." - Molly O'Neill 11/05/1997 New York Review of Books
"Many recipes have been discarded, added, or changed. The famous mystery cake made from tomato soup is gone....Versions tend to be lighter..." - Diane Johnson 12/18/1997 Atlantic Unbound
"Sadly, neither I nor any of the dozens of other contributors receives a penny in royalties, so I can objectively say that I think this is a necessary and invaluable reference work for anyone--the book you need in your kitchen as urgently as you thought you needed the old Joy, a completely different sort of book for all its charm. This edition is contemporary, and far more instructive than the previous versions, taking into account the style Julia Child originated, which tells you the underlying reasons for the various steps...." - Corby Kummer 12/17/1997 Cook's Illustrated
"Simply stated, the recipes work, and a whopping two-thirds are ones that we would make again....It should also be noted that the range of recipes is impressive....The prose is competent but impersonal, well-written but pedestrian....As we face the looking glass of the new 'Joy," we may be more accomplished and sophisticated cooks, but lacking, I think the essence of the enterprise, the joy of cooking." - Christopher Kimball March 1998 |
