I read a lot but don't often write reviews for books, much less cookbooks. However, I really must write a review for An Everlasting Meal because it literally changed my life (in a week!). I am the child of the typical baby-boomer working mother who was too busy to cook, yet too poor to buy anything good -- my childhood was all economy, no grace. After marrying, I became a self-taught cook, learning from those Food Network shows and glossy paged celebrity chef cookbooks. While I am grateful for the techniques I have learned, I have felt the past few years my cooking has suffered from all grace and no economy. This has led to the problem of cooking burnout, and spoiled (lovely, organic) groceries, and way too much Thai takeout. With 3 growing kids, less time to grocery shop, and huge food bills, I needed a change of thinking AND doing. This book has provided that!
Tonight I had a few (lovely, organic) chicken breasts in the fridge that were getting perilously close to the date. As it is the end of the weekend, I haven't shopped in days and I don't have the ingredients to make any of my glossy paged cookbook recipes. There was some stuff in the fridge, yet I would have thought "nothing to make". Thanks to Tamar Adler, I pulled out my trusty pot, boiled some very salty water and starting by boiling the chicken (who does that???) with a handful of Tuscan spice blend. Then I sauteed a diced onion with some leftover mushrooms (that also would have gone bad), chopped celery ends my kids didn't eat from their Ants on a Log, then made a little roux. I created a sauce with a couple of cups of the broth from the chicken breasts and a cup of milk and random cheese bits. Then I tossed some random leftover cooked veggies and the diced chicken breasts in my lovely mushroom sauce. I also found some too-stale-for-salad croutons in the pantry, so I threw them in the rest of my seasoned broth, making a kind of stuffing, and put it on top of my mushroom saucey chicken concoction and baked for a few minutes. My family declared this makeshift casserole the best thing ever. And there was enough to put another one in the freezer, so I have solved "what's for dinner" twice, never having touched a single recipe. Everything except the chicken, onion, and cup of milk was what Tamar calls "ends", most of which would likely have been in the garbage.
If this sounds like the sort of thing that regularly happens at your house, then you probably don't need this book. If kitchen economy and/or grace are sorely lacking in your home, you will probably save the price of this book in one meal.
I did read the Kindle version, which I normally wouldn't do with a cookbook. However, this book is prose, not glossy photos, and meant to be read in order, so Kindle works great.
