|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 98 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 85 found the following review helpful:
 shelf-worthy Feb 22, 2009
By Kathryn Gawne
I checked this book out from the library to test-drive it before giving it a place on my bookshelf. I was annoyed to see that her primary mix was not the usual rice-potato-tapioca mix, instead using sorghum-potato/corn-tapioca, but I had all the flours on-hand so I decided to mix it up and give it a try. I picked the hardest thing I could find (why waste time?): cut-out sugar cookies. I was flabbergasted. They were great. They kept their shape, and the texture and taste were wonderful: no grit! I made biscuits next (another difficult thing to make GF) and they were also great. The pizza crust recipe produces an actual DOUGH that you can pat out with your hands, not the usual batter that needs to be spread with a wet spatula. In the two weeks that I've had this book from the library, I've made seven baking recipes all with wonderful success, including the first loaf of GF bread that I've eaten plain.
It is a BIG book, and it has a bunch of non-baking recipes, which I don't think I'll use. For me, converting main-dish recipes to be GF is not difficult. The sections on baking are extensive, though, and in my opinion, that makes the book worth the price and worthy of a place on my shelf.
80 of 84 found the following review helpful:
 Good cookbook but with a few problems Feb 22, 2009
By richone
This cookbook has lots of interesting recipes and the ones I have tried are good. However, I wish the instructions were more clear. The author makes some statements at times that are confusing to the inexperienced
new "gluten-free" cook, although not new to baking. For example, she suggests adding extra grains when baking bread but does not say how much to add and if you need to subtract other flours when doing so. One recipe had a complete step(adding the yeast and water) left out. I hate experimenting with expensive ingredients.
53 of 54 found the following review helpful:
This Cookbook Will Change Your GF Life Nov 15, 2008
By J. Armil
"Miss Conviviality"
What sets Carol Fenster and her 1,OOO Gluten-Free Recipes 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes apart from others, is this: She delivers great taste, great texture, and maximum nutrition (something you already know is in short supply in most GF carbohydrates); her recipes and advice are geared to home cooking, i.e., your life and your kitchen; she makes suggestions for brand names of ingredients (this saves so much time!); she writes clearly so your dish will come out great every time (this saves time, money, and so much effort, not to mention the disappointment); her dishes please the most finicky eaters; and she notes alternative ingredients if you wish to make recipes dairy-free, vegan, etc.
Yes, there really are a thousand distinct recipes, but, no, it's not heavy. It is so all encompassing and astoundingly excellent that it'll spoil you for any other cookbook, except...Gluten-Free Quick and EasyGluten-Free Quick & Easy: From Prep to Plate Without the Fuss - 200+ Recipes for People with Food Sensitivities, Carol's 2007 cookbook that uses her unique Carol's-Flour-Blend-turned-into-mixes strategy. Both of these books are amazingly affordable and readily pay for themselves in saved time, effort and money.
20 of 20 found the following review helpful:
 a little narrow Jun 24, 2009
I have been grateful for this book because it has so much in it, much of which is quite good. However, I have become disenchanted with it because all of her recipes use the same sorghum-tapioca flour-potato starch mix, and I don't think that it is the right mix for all of her recipes. Also, she uses SO MUCH starch in all of her recipes that they are just plain really unhealthy to eat. Thirdly, she likes to use modified tapioca starch in a lot of her recipes, which is even worse for you than all of the unmodified starch. There are chemical processes that go into modifying this starch which may have adverse health effects. I have seen in at least one blog that faithful adherents of her book don't care what they're doing to their bodies as long as they enjoy what they are eating. Maybe you feel the same way, in which case this is a great book for you. However, for those who are more interested in their health and in all of the wonderful flours available to gluten-free folks, I only recommend this book in moderation. I do have to say, though, that her pizza crust recipe is absolutely the best.
24 of 25 found the following review helpful:
great cookbook Dec 12, 2008
By Gloria J. Duy
"silly yak"
I have several of Carol Fenster's past cookbooks. This is such a complete book, it is like the Joy of Cooking for gluten-free. Some of the gluten-free cookbooks are just recycled old recipes with the gluten out. The recipes in this book are very innovative and creative. The only down side of that is you might have trouble finding some of the ingredients she uses like the modified tapioca starch and teff. But it is worth searching them out on the internet and it broadened my horizons in gluten-free cooking, and I am a dietitian who has been cooking gluten-free for 15 years.I think I was in a rut with my cooking and this inspired me to try new and healthy recipes. My family is going to be surprised at Christmas!
If my patients can only afford 1 book this is what I would recommend. It is a good value at the price Amazon sells it at.
See all 98 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
| |
|
|
|
