This cookbook was reviewed by Ruth of Makey-Cakey.

This is the first of a six part review series - yep you read that correctly! Imagine my excitement when instead of the one cookbook I was expecting to be sent for review, I discovered I’d been sent all six titles in the Hamlyn Quick Cook series. It certainly made the trip to the delivery office to collect them worthwhile, and explained why they wouldn’t fit through the letter box.

First up is Desserts, but before I get to the recipes, I’d better explain the concept behind the series. The tag line on the front of each book is “Every dish, three ways - you choose! 30 minutes | 20 minutes | 10 minutes” For each recipe there are three options, depending on how much time you have available. They all capture the same concept or flavours, and make use of different ingredients, cooking techniques and short-cuts depending on which you choose. I found it a very well thought out concept - I’ve seen cookbooks before with 10, 20 and 30 minute recipes, but none presenting the same dish three ways.

This cookbook was reviewed by Hannah of Rise and Shine.

While definitely very excited at the idea of reviewing a cookbook, I had to pause when I heard the title "Famous Chefs & Fabulous Recipes." It seems that famous chefs are absolutely everywhere. On the restaurant marquee, the television, the store shelves...even as far reaching as the gossip columns. I likely would have passed this book up on the shelf. But I took a seat and gave it look. I need to take that approach more often, I've decided! One quick flip through this wonderful book by Lisa Abraham and I found myself parked in that seat until I'd read the entire book from cover to cover.

This is a cookbook for readers. It will hook you on the history and introduction in chapter one and it's packed with not only recipes but also biographies of fascinating people that have either been born into a world of food or have grown into it. Their stories all lead them in one way or another to The Western Reserve School of Cooking in Hudson, Ohio.

This cookbook was reviewed by Carol – a non-blogging member from Canada.

I love reading cookbooks! Reading recipes can transport me on an armchair food journey ending in salivating taste buds and is often punctuated with a resounding “YUM.” My tastes have evolved and changed in many facets of my life including cookbook styles. Thankfully, this has been aptly matched by a growing trend in cookbook publishing. No longer are cookbooks simply volumes of recipes interspersed with close-ups of food and a few glossy pictures.

Today’s modern cookbook is evolving into more prose-like missive, complete with explanations as to why the recipe is important to the author or what technique can be honed from a particular preparation. This is one reason why I enjoyed Michael Ruhlman’s Twenty so much as he takes this one step further. In Twenty, Ruhlman puts forth a manifesto of the most essential twenty techniques needed in the kitchen to make you a better cook. This is an educational experience indeed! Even the look and feel of Twenty mimics the size and page weight of scores of textbooks familiar to students all around the world.

This book was reviewed by Ilke of Ilke’s Kitchen.

Lately, it seems like all i ever read is cookbooks. They are stacking up on my desk, and I'm yearning for some change to break the recipe marathons. So, when I was asked to review a novel for the Daring Kitchen, I jumped at the opportunity.

It was a nice surprise to find out that the book was Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber. Her Language of Baklava was already on my reading list, and I thought this book would be a good introduction to her writing and style.

Birds of Paradise is about a nuclear family, living in Miami, whose members have lost touch with each other after devoting themselves to work. The young protagonist is Felice, who at 13 decides to leave the family and live on the streets. The mother, Avis, is a professional pastry chef who tries to bring her daughter home but eventually gives up. After Felice's departure, the men of the family also gradually establish their lives around their work: the father, Brian, at his law practice and the son, Stanley, at the natural/healthy food store he owns and operates.

This cookbook was reviewed by Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes.

I’m skeptical of cookbooks written by people who appear out of their element. If you were browsing through a bookstore and found a Szechwan cookbook written by Paula Deen, you’d have to at least raise an eyebrow. Paula is a Southern chef. If you want grits and fried chicken, she’s your gal. When choosing cookbooks, I prefer to find one written by a cook with a name that posits a decent amount of credibility. If I had to choose between an Asian cookbook written between Paula Deen and Shih Ching Phuong. I’d pick the latter.

That being said, the world has changed. Just by the name you couldn’t assume Marie Maggleby is Japanese, went to high school in the Middle East, and is living in the US, yet she’s all of these and my roommate, having been cooking Japanese food with me for years. By name we shouldn’t make many assumptions anyway. The same idea goes for the author of My Japanese Table. My skepticism of a Japanese cookbook written by Debra Samuels, is an outdated notion. She’s been living and/or studying Japanese cooking longer than I’ve been alive. Her cookbook takes me along for the ride on her journey. She started out just where some are now: oblivious the multitudes of sea weed varieties.

This cookbook was reviewed by John of Eat4Fun.

I am always excited to try new recipes and learn new techniques. That’s why it must have been fate when it came my turn to review the cookbook, Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao. Note: Little known facts about myself; I grew up in San Francisco where the local Chinatown is the oldest in North America. Also, growing up in a Chinese family, I am no stranger to eating and cooking Chinese food.

One of the first things I do with a new cookbook is thumb through the pages to get the feel for the layout. Low’s book has great photos of the dishes and photos showing tips/techniques; I wouldn’t expect anything less from a world-renowned blogger. A few more likes, especially appreciated in ethnic cookbooks, are the chapters containing cooking tips and techniques; description of equipment and utensils; and, more importantly, a description of ingredients with photo’s of the common brands of bottled and jarred sauces/condiments. I may not be able to read Chinese, but I’m pretty good at matching pictures.

This cookbook was reviewed by Linda and Dave of Monkeyshines in the Kitchen.

Growing up in the United States, the Indian food that Linda knew was what mom made with leftover Thanksgiving turkey. It was fast and easy: simply cut up the turkey legs, sauté with onions and raisins and a whole lot of curry powder and call it done. To this day, she still has an enormous aversion to the thought of curry. Even to leftover turkey. And don’t get her started on fruit with meat… Sorry mom. Dave on the other hand grew up in the United Kingdom, where good Indian food is a way of life. Much to his dismay, Linda would flinch every time he mentioned going out for Indian food (although inevitably she’d enjoy her dinner immensely.) Even so, Dave’s Indian home cooking experience was mostly restricted to Beef Curry Casserole, from a cookbook by the venerable British cook Katie Stewart. Although this is a tasty dish (which we still make from time to time), it only conveys a hint of what Indian cuisine has to offer.

We therefore excited about the opportunity to review My Indian Kitchen: Preparing Delicious Indian Meals Without Fear or Fuss by Hari Nayak. We both were intrigued by the concept – could we actually make a decent Indian meal without fear or fuss? Perhaps Linda could overcome her aversion to the thought of curry. And perhaps we could find tasty, authentic Indian dishes to make that don’t require 45 obscure ingredients and 8 hours in the kitchen. It was certainly worth a try! Furthermore, this attractive, large format book is lavishly illustrated with beautiful pictures of both ingredients and finished dishes, inviting us to try out the recipes.

This cookbook was reviewed by Ashlae of Ladycakes.

Overall, I found SS&GF, by Amy Green, to be a very well put together cookbook with many simple and healthy recipes. Not to mention, it’s loaded with 180 recipes that you can make in 20 minutes or less. 180 recipes, 20 minutes or less? Now that’s my kind of cookbook.

Being that I’m vegan, I found it very, very difficult to “veganize” some of the recipes. But, much like regular baking, gluten free vegan baking is a science. One that I feared would greatly alter the original recipes if attempted properly.

I made five recipes from the cookbook, three of which I absolutely loved. The other two, well, they were the ones I tried to veganize – so it cannot be held against the author.

This cookbook was reviewed by David and Karen of Twenty-Fingered Cooking.

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical when I opened up the package from the Daring Kitchen crew to find the stars-and-stripes-and-beer-studded cover of Entertain Like a Texas Gentleman by David Harap staring back at me. Full disclosure: I am not from Texas. I do not want to be from Texas. And, while I do try to generally be nice and respectful of people, being called a “gentleman” just makes me feel old. So, in short, I’m definitely not this book’s target audience.

That being said, however, I can’t argue with good food, and to use a bit of Texas slang I just found on the internet, the food in this cookbook is larrupin’! Harap’s recipes look and taste out of this world. He has a knack for taking ingredients that you can’t possibly picture being on the same plate together, and making the most scrumptiously delicious meal out of them that you can imagine.

First, a bit on the overall organization and design of the cookbook. Each chapter is designed as a full-course meal or spread of food for all occasions, from the “Scotch Tasting Affair” with the guys, to a long, detailed “Romantic Dinner” with the woman of your dreams. Each chapter includes a bit of advice for the meal at the beginning, and gives you lots of space at the end of the chapter to scribble down your own notes on the meal. The back of the book gives complete shopping lists for every chapter, so you can just cut them out and run to the store.

If you haven't caught on to the phenomenon that is Twitter, what are you waiting for? Everyone is "tweeting". In the case of Maureen Evans, not only is she tweeting, she's tweeting recipes.

In her book Eat Tweet: 1,020 Recipe Gems from the Twitter Community's @cookbook, Evans condenses recipes down to the very essence to present them in tweet format.