Friday, March 25, 2011

Book Review: "The Commonsense Kitchen"

Last week I got a really great book through my book club. "The Commonsense Kitchen" by Tom Hudgens

It is a pretty big book. 607 pages. 607 pages filled with recipes and "lessons" for a "hand-crafted" life.

Tom Hudgens was Head Chef at Deep Springs College. The College was founded in 1917 and is situated on a working ranch in California. It is a two year college and only 26 men attend. They accept about 13 students a year. You can read more about the College and its programs in the book.

The book starts off covering "Kitchen Basics" - what tools, spices etc. you should have on hand in your kitchen. Specific kitchen terms are also covered.  Every kind of comfort food and just , well, commonsense recipe is given.  

Canning, bread making, gooey desserts, all kinds of meats, poultry and fish dishes, cakes , pies, tarts, vegetables, breakfast, lunch and dinner are all covered . Sample menus are shared, as well as recipes for taking care of all sorts of stains!

I have been having some difficulty with my bread making and so the first section I turned to was "Bread Making". The recipe and instructions seem to be very comprehensive. A time line is even shown (I could really use that). I will be trying the bread recipe tomorrow and hopefully will have a keeper. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime...live, laugh and love...