Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust: A Cookbook by Ina Garten


Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust: A Cookbook
Title : Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust: A Cookbook
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0307464873
ISBN-10 : 9780307464873
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 272
Publication : First published October 30, 2012

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Millions of people love Ina Garten because she writes recipes that make home cooks look great; family and friends shower them with praise and yet the dishes couldn’t be simpler to prepare using ingredients found in any grocery store. In Barefoot Contessa Foolproof, the Food Network star takes easy a step further, sharing her secrets for pulling off deeply satisfying meals that have that “wow!” factor we all crave.

Start with delicious Dukes Cosmopolitans made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus Jalapeño Cheddar Crackers that everyone will devour. Lunches include Hot Smoked Salmon, Lobster & Potato Salad, and Easy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons, all featuring old-fashioned flavors with the volume turned up. Elegant Slow-Roasted Filet of Beef with Basil Parmesan Mayonnaise and show-stopping Seared Scallops & Potato Celery Root Purée are just two of the many fabulous dinner recipes. And your guests will always remember the desserts, from Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Bourbon Glaze to Salted Caramel Brownies.

For Ina, “foolproof” means more than just making one dish successfully; it’s also about planning a menu, including coordinating everything so it all gets to the table at the same time. In Barefoot Contessa Foolproof, Ina shows you how to make a game plan so everything is served hot while you keep your cool. There are notes throughout detailing where a recipe can go wrong to keep you on track, plus tips for making recipes in advance. It’s as though Ina is there in the kitchen with you guiding you every step of the way.

With 150 gorgeous color photographs and Ina’s invaluable tips, Barefoot Contessa Foolproof is a stunning yet infinitely practical cookbook that home cooks will turn to again and again.
 


Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust: A Cookbook Reviews


  • Shelby *trains flying monkeys*

    I've been in one of those moods lately where I have no dang clue what to cook. You have to feed the men people in my house though so I've been looking for new ideas. Then I decided to stop just hoarding the cookbooks I own and actually use some of them.
    This week it was The Barefoot Contessa. Did you guys know that this chick could cook so well? I thought she just did fancy smancy dinner parties and swooned over Jeffery all the time.

    First up for us was her Easy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese.



    All I can say is..OH MY FREAKING GAWDS! This was some good stuff. I'm not even crazy about tomato soup. I would post a pic of the finished meal that I did but we ate it. All of it. The husband and I stood over the pot and took a spoon and scraped ever last dribble of it up.

    I probably should tell you that I never really follow a recipe exactly and I added cheddar cheese slices instead of Gruyere cheese in the grilled cheese.

    I do what I want.

    Next up, Jambalaya!



    See those food spills all over. I'm messy.
    This was really beyond good too. I had used Justin Wilson's Jambalaya recipe for years and thought it was pretty decent until I had this. My tongue did the happy dance.
    Here is my finished version of this.



    Wondering what I changed in this one? The wine. Some heifer drank all the wine before making this because a friend bought me the best wineglass ever.



    (You know you have to make sure these glasses don't leak or nuthin.)

    And last for the week. (We probably are going to try a few others out of this book next week because dang they good.)
    Was the meatloaf.



    The one recipe that I follow all the dang rules too and I still jack up the garlic sauce somehow.



    It still tasted better than anything I usually make so I'm still calling it a win.

    I will say that Jeffery better be looking out because the boy child is pretty enamored of these recipes and he might be gonna try and take your woman.

  • Jonathan

    Flipped through this and loved it. I'll reserve the last star until I make the recipes. I love watching Ina Garten's show, and I will certainly cook some of these recipes!

  • Heather Alderman

    An excellent, beautiful cookbook, very well written with personal stories and easy to follow directions. I have added this to my to-buy list, definitely want this on my regular rotation.

  • Laura

    Checked this one out from the library on a whim. Great book and wonderful recipes. I made several dishes over the course of a couple weeks and everyone was delicious!

  • Judi

    I hated to bring this back to the library. The Carrot Cake with Ginger Mascarpone Frosting was possibly the best carrot cake I have ever eaten. On a healthier note - the Winter Minestrone is delicious. So many recipes look so good that I might have to buy this book.

  • Jackie

    Love Ina Garten. I've made several recipes from this book and they've all turned out wonderful with rave reviews!

  • Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)

    What can one say? This is a truly superb cookbook, and lavishly illustrated too. Great recipes, and many of them work on the hour time-frame--prep and cooking. This is a keeper, to be sure.

  • Joy

    Beautifully done book with lots of good recipes. I haven't tried any of them yet though.

  • Cindy

    This Barefoot Contessa is . . . . still really good, and not my favorite. It's got a firm focus on entertaining, and 'foolproof' recipes to make entertaining delicious and not stressful. Carmelized Bacon, Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas, Grilled cheese croutons (unsalted butter and grated Gruyere), Tzatziki with Feta, and, best of all, the Barefoot Contessa Barbecue sauce.

  • Hannah

    The helpful tips and guidance she provides make this a very comforting and practical cookbook. I look forward to trying some of the recipes!

  • Lynnie

    Another wonderful cookbook from Ina Garten.

    There are some great recipes in this book and lots of tips on entertaining. I continue to enjoy how she makes everything seem effortless and doable- and I know that her recipes will work every time. I really like that she had menu ideas at the back of the book- ways to put the included dishes together to make a full meal for a dinner party. She is quickly becoming my go-to chef for recipes and ideas.

  • Debby

    Ina Garten cooks and bakes the way I like to eat. Her recipes are simple, yet they can be served at any dinner party to impress. Each recipe is photographed, beautifully. I also enjoy seeing photos of her home, in the Hamptoms. It's a little bit of voyeurism as to how "the 1%" lives. I need to build up a bigger repertoire of appetizers and beverages, so I've bookmarked a few recipes:
    Dukes Cosmopolitan, Mustard & Gruyere Batons, and Jalapeno Cheddar Crackers. The tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons sounds comforting. The Accidental Turkey sounds intriguing, just in time for Thanksgiving. I'd like to try the 1770 Meatloaf recipe and the Seared Scallops with Potato Celery Root Puree. I have no doubt that they'll all be successes.

  • Penny Ramirez

    Well, this was interesting. I read all of the non-recipe bits, and skimmed some of the recipes. I started getting quibblish when one of Garten's first comment was that no one always has a fully-stocked pantry, so she was sure to use items that could easily be found at the grocery store. Then I came across a recipe that used Israeli couscous. And another that called for demerara sugar. Sorry, I cook quite a bit and haven't ever encountered either of those two ingredients.

    The pictures were nice, and some of the recipes sounded quite good. Guess my idea of foolproof isn't fit for the Hamptons. :)

  • Joanne

    Looking forward to trying some of these recipes, particularly the side dishes (brown rice and wheatberries; orange carrots and parsnips). As usual, some of Garten's recipes just seem too fussy for me (e.g., cook salmon, make a sauce, then put the salmon on a charcoal grill) or make me say, "yeah, right," as in the "accidental turkey" recipe with directions such as, "Make sure your oven is really clean."

    And I'm not ever going to make my own chicken stock.

    But I think even I can handle some of these.

  • Kuster

    Another Ina Garten cookbook and another lovely read. This cookbook held a few recipes that have peaked my interest and will be tested in the coming weeks - most likely pared down to feed 4 instead of the party of 8 that it usually describes.

    Recipes to try:
    - 1770 House meatloaf (with or without the garlic gravy sauce)
    - Pumpkin spice cupcakes (skipping the maple frosting)
    - Penne alla vecchia bettola (if I'm feeling carby!)
    - Amelia's jambalaya (only if we're having company over!)

  • Nikki

    Rather disappointed that many of the intros to recipes in this book note, "I've written this recipe for previous books...but here's a twist!" Eg., salt and caramel on brownies she's put in books before. I hadn't actually read previous BC cookbooks but it left me with a pretty 'meh' taste in my mouth.

  • Ann

    Oh Ina, you've never done me wrong. I love you. The recipes I've made from this are sublime, and the text and images are clear and helpful. Even if she is doing variations on past recipes, they're still great.

  • Jan Polep

    I gave this book to Christi for Christmas in hopes that she can lure me away from the peanut butter and jelly.

  • Meredith Henning

    Possibly my favorite Ina yet...

  • Michael

    Loved it! It was better than Cats.

  • Sungyena

    Bought this mostly for a heavily discounted price and to add to my BC collection. There are no bad BC books. This one also uses all the other ones as a tie-in to combine recipes for menus - great integration/sales tactic! Very practical - put in extra work/thought at the beginning to avoid later stresses. Like starting uphill to finish downhill.

    Tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons! Classic cocktails like cosmos and sidecars. “Accidental turkey”, slow roasted beef tenderloin - reverse methods! Pumpkin spice cupcakes with (cream cheese based) maple frosting! German chocolate cupcakes. Didn’t know milky soups can curdle when reheated.

  • Nickie

    I definitely have to buy this book. I checked this book out at the Library hoping to read the tips and to see if there was any recipes I wanted to try. After reading the book I have to purchase it.

    It is my dream to start at the beginning of the book and make every recipe. I doubt that will ever happen but there is very many I want to try.

  • Kent District Library

    Join us for an informal discussion about cookbooks and sample delectable examples, potluck style. Stop by the branch for more details. This month's selection is Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust by Ina Garten.
    Discussion will take place at Kent District Library's Byron Township branch, on January 13, 2020 from 6:30-7:30 pm.

  • Carrie

    Pretty decent cookbook. Lots of great full color pictures. There are several recipes I want to try. Ina still likes to include ingredients that are not readily available where I live. Hopefully the recipe will still taste as good without them. And for the love of god I wish she would stop using coffee grounds in her chocolate recipes.

  • Nancy

    Some of my favs from this book were the Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola, Straw & Hay with Gorgonzola, and the Lobster Corn Fritters. But what I didn't like was that many of the recipes are text heavy and just kind of sprawl across a page or two. Makes it difficult to photocopy. But I was able to find each of these in a printable version on the Food Network website, so..... Yay!

  • Anna Jolley

    Still a bit fancier than my kids are willing to eat but that is my fault and not the author’s.

    Well organized with good tips to make sure you are on track. Fresh ingredients are a must and may be tricky to find in smaller towns.

  • Karen

    Cookbooks don't get much better than this one. Beautiful pictures and recipes you will actually make that look supremely yummy......ginger mascarpone frosting, raspberry crumble bars, osso buco; to name only a few.