500 Treasured Country Recipes from Martha Storey and Friends

September 15, 2000
Storey is the cofounder of Storey Books, which publishes "country cooking" books, gardening guides, and other practical titles, and she's also the mother of three and the grandmother of eight. Many of these 500 recipes are family favorites, while others come from popular Storey authors. Time-honored, as the subtitle says, or dated, depending on your point of view, they include such old standards as Seafood Newburg (with Velveeta) and Frosted Lettuce Wedges; and many of the recipes are available in other standard sources. Perhaps the most useful parts of the book are the introduction and the sections on "Arts of the Country Kitchen" and "Arts of the Country Home," which include illustrated guides to techniques and terms, equipment and ingredients, preserving, cheese making, crafts, gardening, and more. For larger cookery and crafts collections.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2000
For mainstream America, holidays are a time for nostalgia, an opportunity to re-create the dishes that Grandma made or that she should have. With some help from her friends, Martha Storey has assembled 500 Treasured Country Recipes, all suitable for holiday get-togethers with family and friends. Starting with breakfast specialties, Storey tips her hand that her anthology holds more than typical midwestern farm recipes by including jalape\'f1o omelets. Other recipes adapt hearty country dishes to today's demand for lighter, healthier cooking. Thus, she bakes butterscotch brownies with whole-wheat flour and wheat germ. Storey recognizes that today's cooks don't have any time to waste, so she makes good use of the microwave when appropriate. Nevertheless, Storey advocates such old-fashioned skills as sausage making and canning. A section on arts of the country home offers instruction in crafts for decorating and for gift giving. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)