From Publishers Weekly
In entertaining at home, Dupree tells her readers, "perfection isn't the goal... the goal is your comfort and the comfort of your guests." This new collection from the TV cooking show host and prolific author (Nathalie Dupree Cooks Quick Meals for Busy Days, etc.), a companion volume to an upcoming 28-part series on PBS, gives home hosts the culinary and organizational techniques needed to entertain successfully. After outlining planning, preparation, presentation and participation strategies in the first, long and helpful chapter, she offers 26 menus with more than 250 recipes featuring Sit Down Meals, Fork Meals, Finger Meals (think Tortilla Party), Holidays and Core Recipes. With her usual mix of warmth, practicality and flexibility, Dupree suggests a range of ideas from a simple Fruit Plate to multistep Moroccan Chicken B'stilla made in advance with many ingredients. With suggestions from Shrimp and Fennel Risotto to Semisweet Chocolate Pie, Dupree comforts and informs, helping readers carve a melon basket, get the lumps out of gelatin and pull a dinner party out of the hat with two hours' notice. Laced with bits of cooking lore, anecdotes and brimming with cheerful encouragement, Dupree's latest advances the welcoming traditions of Southern hospitality. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Dupree (Nathalie Dupree Cooks Quick Meals for Busy Days, LJ 2/15/96) has been the host of numerous television cooking shows; this book is the companion volume to a PBS series starting this fall. Her intent is to make entertaining unintimidating, and she includes lots of useful material on planning, budgeting, presentation, and more, along with often-amusing anecdotes and cautionary tales from her own experiences. Menus range from Three Simple Suppers to an Eye-Popping Menu for Eight to a Buffet for 12 to 50 in Four Hours; surprisingly, the recipes within a particular menu don't always "match" in terms of number of servings. The true novice may find Elaine Corn's Now You're Cooking for Company (LJ 9/15/96) more helpful, but Dupree's more ambitious menus and informative text should appeal to many readers-and her new series is sure to be popular. [Good Cook/BOMC selection.] Marks's The World of Jewish Cooking (LJ 9/15/96) was a wide-ranging exploration of Jewish food, culture, and culinary history; now he has written a guide to Jewish entertaining equally broad in scope. Marks includes religious holidays rarely mentioned in similar cookbooks, and his family celebrations range from A Middle Eastern Wedding Shower to A Southern Jewish Family Reunion. Marks, both a rabbi and former editor of Kosher Gourmet, provides a lot of information in a straightforward, readable style, starting with "A Guide for the Perplexed Host." Chapter introductions, headnotes, and boxes cover religious as well as culinary history and include many suggestions to make entertaining easier. Recommended.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Those unaccustomed to the meandering, graceful style indigenous to the South might find the slow pace and continual interruptions of Nathalie Dupree irritating at best. Yet her warm hospitality must appeal to many, since Comfortable Entertaining is simply the latest in a long list of books and TV shows to her credit. Here, the concept of hosting a party becomes synonymous with comfortable clothes and a much-loved recliner; following Dupree's five rules--and one of the 26 menus (and more than 250 recipes)--almost guarantees success. There is a cooking timeline for each type of gathering, as well as stories and tips to help enchant and endure. And although the recipes themselves do not equate to a Bouley-an or Trotter-esque cuisine, all represent some great dining occasions. Tales from her own experience will convince readers that anyone, anywhere, can host a memorable gathering of guests. Barbara Jacobs
