The Bottom Line
If you love to cook, have time to cook, have a well-equiped and stocked kitchen, and like to creatively entertain, then Kosher by Design Entertains may be the cookbook for you. I, on the other hand, personally preferred Fishbein's simpler cookbooks. While I can only recommend Kosher by Design Entertains as a cookbook for serious, committed cooks and hosts, I do think the book's original ideas and beautiful photographs make it a very nice gift and coffee table book for all.
Pros
- Innovative, triple-tested, delicious and eye-pleasing recipes
- Beautiful, inspiring food photography
- Helpful, timesaving tips for entertaining
- Original, elegant table-setting ideas
- Index of recipes for Passover and other Jewish holidays
Cons
- Recipes tend to be complicated and work intensive
- Recipes call for too many and varied ingredients and equipment
Description
- Over 250 triple-tested, elegant, innovative recipes
- Over 200 beautiful color photographs
- 9 party menus: Cocktail, Dessert Buffet, Picnic, Stylish Lunch, Formal Dinner ...
- Helpful, timesaving tips for entertaining, including original, elegant table-setting ideas
- Index of recipes for Passover and other Jewish holidays
Guide Review - Kosher by Design: Entertains, by Susie Fishbein
Susie Fishbein's cookbook, Kosher by Design: Entertains, is a unique kosher cookbook.
The book is a joy to read and view, due to its fresh recipes, innovative entertaining tips and inspiring photographs.
As a cookbook, I think this book works for a specific market only. My Israeli friends would find most of the recipes too complicated in terms of ingredients and equipment required. My American Jewish friends who "cook to feed the crew" would find most recipes in this book too work intensive and time consuming. However, my more orthodox and east-coast American Jewish friends, who like to do it up for the holidays and entertain in their homes, would find this book to be a real gem.
My favorite recipes in the book, which tended to be the more simple recipes in the book, include Tri-Colored Matzo Balls, Roasted Eggplant Soup, Chopped Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing, Tri-Colored Pasta Salad, Zinfandel Chicken, Slow Roasted Rotisserie Chicken and Sorbet Ruffles. The Passover and Holiday recipe index enables one to add original flair to their holiday meals.
Overall, I found Susie Fishbein's Kosher by Design: Entertains to be more of an interesting, educational read and gorgeous picture book than a useful source of recipes. Thus, the book spends more time on my coffee table, where it is enjoyed by many, than in my kitchen.
The book is a joy to read and view, due to its fresh recipes, innovative entertaining tips and inspiring photographs.
As a cookbook, I think this book works for a specific market only. My Israeli friends would find most of the recipes too complicated in terms of ingredients and equipment required. My American Jewish friends who "cook to feed the crew" would find most recipes in this book too work intensive and time consuming. However, my more orthodox and east-coast American Jewish friends, who like to do it up for the holidays and entertain in their homes, would find this book to be a real gem.
My favorite recipes in the book, which tended to be the more simple recipes in the book, include Tri-Colored Matzo Balls, Roasted Eggplant Soup, Chopped Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing, Tri-Colored Pasta Salad, Zinfandel Chicken, Slow Roasted Rotisserie Chicken and Sorbet Ruffles. The Passover and Holiday recipe index enables one to add original flair to their holiday meals.
Overall, I found Susie Fishbein's Kosher by Design: Entertains to be more of an interesting, educational read and gorgeous picture book than a useful source of recipes. Thus, the book spends more time on my coffee table, where it is enjoyed by many, than in my kitchen.
