Barbara Kafka's Food for Friends

by Barbara Kafka

Book Overview

A perfect addition to any kitchen, this volume is chock full of entertaining tips, super recipes, and practical advice on turning ordinary ingredients into a superb meal. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517092786
• ISBN13: 9780517092781
• Release Date: April 1993
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 2.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

another Kafka-esque CB hailed by compote-triots

The key to great entertaining is taking nothing for granted the approach demonstrated by master chef Barbara Kafka as she reveals every aspect of fine dining. This award-winning chef, hostess, and author for Vogue & TheNYTimes also divulges another important ingredient in great entertaining: improvisation. Whether you plan an event months in ad­vance or get a sudden phone call from unexpected guests, FOOD FOR FRIENDS will help you serve delicious meals in the most appetizing arrangement and require little time and effort. This classic book features how-to hints for elegant, yet simple, dining. Complete with charming illustrations that guide and delight, FOOD FOR FRIENDS offers invaluable insight into the preparation of foods, as well as the dining area itself. It opens with a section on planning a meal, choosing which recipes to use, and setting the table. Each of the book's 200 recipes is introduced with a brief description of techniques and tips to make cooking easy and serving so­phisticated. The recipes are arranged in sec­tions based on the ideal times and situations for serving each dish, including: First Courses Pasta Soups Fish and Seafood Roast Meats Various Birds More Main Courses Desserts A final section offers otes on Ingredients and Equipment. The Ingredients section contains helpful advice on using basic flavorings, such as kosher salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, butter and cream, herbs, vinegars and oils, wine and liquor. The EquipÂment section offers insight on which type of cooking tools to use and why. From start to finish, FOOD FOR FRIENDS will have everyone you know raving about your skills as a chef and host. With much cooking advice & how-to available now on the Internet and various TV-and-cable stations/networks, I find printed references, esp. classics like this, even more valuable as a ready resource for a recipe or in the kitchen when the others have long faded into mezzo-tinted vague memories of "he said/she said, do something or other next ...' I dis-remember eggs-actly! Time will tell, but this stands out now 20+years past as a timeless classic. "What goes up must come down, what goes in must come out, you are what you eat, stop school violins!"