When a cook decides on a main course, the meal is only half planned. What about the side dishes? After all, what is a burger without fries? Or barbecue without coleslaw, baked beans, or macaroni and cheese (or all three)? Thanksgiving is a parade of side dishes to go with the turkey: sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and more. But when the cook needs to go beyond these iconic matches, it is easy to draw a blank.
The Big Book of Sides was written to help you choose luscious additions to the main course. This exhaustive cookbook gives the humble side dish its due, elevating it to its proper, important place on the menu. Vegetables of all kinds, pasta dishes, beans, grains, home-baked rolls and savory quick breads, side salads and dressing, sauces, even easy pickles...they are here.
I have been collecting side dish recipes for many years. When I was a caterer, I had an international clientele, and I had to be proficient in many different cuisines. For a holiday meal, when the wife was Irish and the husband was Jewish, I had to cook up a meal that satisfied both sides of the family. (I am thinking of my clients, actors Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, for whom I cooked many meals, and of the holidays where I had to make both colcannon and potato kugel.) Birthday dinners for kids, special meals to impress the boss, backyard cookouts with barbecued ribs, Easter feasts, Passover seders...I cooked them all and kept notes.
In addition to my own cookbooks, I often work with chefs to help them create their books. I’ve worked with celebrity chefs in New York and Chicago, including one of the best-known Chinese restaurants in Manhattan, bakers all over the country, Mexican and Latino restaurants, and more. These excursions into various cuisines and cooking techniques have also informed my cooking, and I have been sure to include a wide variety of ethnic dishes in this collection. And many of my cookbook author colleagues have contributed their recipes.
I come from a family that gives parties at the drop of a hat. It’s a large group (my great-grandmother had nine children, and most of them had large families), and it seemed as if there was a birthday party or holiday dinner every weekend. My great-aunts had an unspoken competition for the title of best cook in the family, so I grew up with a never-ending array of side dish classics like potato salads, coleslaws, baked beans, tossed green salads, garlic bread, and more. You didn’t need to be a
professional chef to figure out that side dishes could make the meal. Many of these beloved family heirloom recipes are included in this book.
All of this experience comes in handy when working with the ever-changing culinary scene. You have to move fast to keep up with the latest ingredients at the market, and many foods that were once esoteric have mainstreamed. This is especially true of produce—some of my favorite recipes were created when an unusual vegetable showed up in my weekly summer CSA delivery. One week, it was kohlrabi, and by the time I had cooked it all, I had a new appreciation for this humble green knob. While I have been sure to offer recipes for classic side dishes, you will find plenty of new favorites, as well.
The Big Book of Sides reflects how I cook at home for my daily meals. My personal cooking style is to produce the most amount of flavor with the least effort. If the main course is complicated, the side dishes should be less so. This isn’t just a question of time or expense. In my opinion, a menu can be ruined if there are too many bold flavors on the plate competing for attention. For everyday cooking, when we are all racing against the clock, it is important to have a repertoire of simple, flavorful side dishes. Along with the actual formula for each recipe, I’ve added appropriate tips to guide you to success every time. But when you need a showstopper for a company meal (say, a caramelized onion tarte Tatin or a luxurious butternut squash and leek gratin), you’ll find them here, too.
My main goal with The Big Book of Sides is to make the book useful for everyone, whether you are an experienced cook or a beginner. After the title and yield amount, every recipe has basic information to help you decide, at a glance, if this is the one for a specific dish or occasion.
Serve with: This lists the most common main courses that you might want to serve with this side dish. I’ve matched these according to my experience.
So, whether you are planning a holiday meal for a crowd, or you need to fill out the menu for a weeknight supper from a lone bag of carrots in the refrigerator, you will never be stumped for a side dish again.
Rick Rodgers